374 Sir B. Schomburgk on the Natives of Guiana. 



five feet six inches, that of the women four feet ten inches. 

 The bows of the Maopityans are longer than those of the 

 Maciisis and Wapisianas, being generally from six feet ten 

 inches to seven feet in length. The arrows are pointed with 

 bone, and when required, are poisoned with a preparation 

 made from a plant. It is not strong, nor does it preserve its 

 quality so long as the Macusi Urari. They are a very in- 

 genious people. The combs which they manufacture are 

 really beautiful. The teeth are made of hard palmwood, 

 and fastened into a piece of bone. At the distance of an 

 inch and a half below this bone are fixed two pieces of palm- 

 wood, one on each side of the teeth, and the space between 

 the two pieces and the bone is plaited with red and white 

 cotton, which serves for ornament, and gives the teeth a firm 

 fixture. 



The Pianoghotto and Dries inhabit the upper Corentyne ; 

 but from the uncertainty of the boundaries of British Guiana, 

 I cannot form an estimate of the number which belong to the 

 British territory; therefore, not including the three last 

 tribes, I estimate them at six thousand eight hundred and 

 fifty. 



The Indian tribes of Guiana paint their faces and bodies 

 with lines, sometimes straight, sometimes in imitation of the 

 Etruscan or Grecian patterns. A few, and among them the 

 Warraus, Arawaaks, and Macusis, slightly tatoo their faces. 

 The tatooing generally consists of a few curved lines at the 

 corners of the mouth, and over the eyebrows, giving to the 

 faces of the females, among whom it is more customary than 

 the men, a characteristic and not uninteresting expression. 



They wear glass beads about their arms, neck, and ankles, 

 and when these cannot be procured, they substitute the teeth 

 of monkeys, peccaris, and divers seeds or shells. The dress 

 of the men is restricted to a piece of cloth covering the loins, 

 and of the women to a small apron formed of glass beads. 

 When they are able to procure a kind of blue cotton cloth, 

 which in the colony is called salempor, they give it the pre- 

 ference to their own manufacture, although inferior in dura- 

 bility. The way in which the cloth is worn, or a difference 



