46 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



taking ; but merely to present to the public a curious example 

 of an evolution of folk lore which has come to my notice, and 

 trace its passage for a few generations. 



This story came to me from a gentleman who was born about 

 the beginning of this century in Essequibo, British Guiana, South 

 America. His father was an English planter, and owned estates 

 and slaves. Brought up, as was the narrator, among these slaves, 

 he heard from them many of the traditions of their race, which 

 his excellent memory preserved in their original entirety. Per- 

 haps the most pleasing of these which his kindly spirit promp- 

 ted him to relate for the amusement of children, and the only 

 one of which I have any clear recollection, was 



The Story of the Hunter. Once upon a time a hunter 

 lived in a little hut on the edge of a great wood in Africa. He 

 lived by himself, for his father and mother had died many years 

 before, leaving him nothing but the hut in which he dwelt, and 

 three magic arrows, which he was only to use in time of great 

 danger. This hunter had two very large and fierce dogs one 

 called Ya-me-o-ro, and the other Con-ga-mo-ro-to which fol- 

 lowed him everywhere he went. In this wood was a great herd 

 of white cows, which the hunter killed when he had need of 

 meat, and whose skins he dried and made into clothes. These 

 cows hated the hunter, and would have torn him in pieces many 

 times, had it not been for his faithful dogs, that always hunted 

 with him, and which the cows feared to attack. So the hunter 

 lived peacefully, and for many a day all went well with him. 



One evening about sunset the hunter, while seated in his hut, 

 heard cries and groans coming from the woods ; and, taking his 

 dogs, went out to find the cause of them. He had not gone far 

 when he came upon a fair, strange woman, lying upon the 

 ground, apparently in great distress. She was tall and slender, 

 and more beautiful than any one that he had ever seen. When 

 she saw him she begged for food and shelter, saying that she was 

 dying of hunger and thirst, and had fallen fainting where he had 

 found her. The hunter carried her back to his hut, and nursed 

 her as tenderly as he could until she became well and strong 

 again. "When she was herself again, she thanked him for his 

 goodness, and said that on the next day she must set out on the 

 journey which she was making when she fell sick. Then for the 

 first time the hunter felt what it was to be lonely ; for as he had 

 always lived by himself he had never before missed the company 

 of other people. So he entreated her not to leave him, and the 

 fair stranger, seeing his loneliness and remembering his kindness, 

 stayed with him and became his wife. 



Not many days after this the hunter started in the morning to 

 hunt, and called his dogs to go with him ; but the fair stranger 



