Notes on Jungle and Other Wild Life. 159 



folklore and fairy-tales (if one can differentiate the two) of the 

 (Suianese Indians, and even thoiiy;'ht of publishing an account of 

 certain minor aspects of the subject, the details of which I would 

 not weary you with for the world; but I abandoned tne scheme, 

 ii for no other reason than that a very observant, diligent and 

 painstaking scholar (for many years resident magistrate in the 

 interior) has practically covered the ground. If you wish to 

 read the remarkable and fascinating pages of this truly scientific 

 Hans Christian Andersen, write to the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology, Washington. D.C.. for Dr. Walter E. Roth's 

 " Inquiry into the Animism and Folk-Lore of the Guiana 

 Indians." For instance, this is How the Deer got his Hoofs 

 (p 212): — 



" The Deer met the Turtle one day. while cleaning his 

 hoofs — for in those days turtles wore hoofs and the deer had 

 claws — and said : ' My friend, you have nice sandals. (Sandals 

 are still commonly worn in the hinterland of Guiana). Let us 

 have a trial of them." The Turtle, who was very proud of his 

 feet, said: ' Certainly. Why not?' and handed them over, 

 receiving in exchange the Deer's nails. When the 1 Jeer put on 

 the hoofs, he found he could walk ever so much quicker than 

 before, and trotted off. The poor Turtle, however, found his 

 progress impeded, and stood still, waiting" every minute for the 

 Deer to return, but he never did." Dr. Roth adds that among 

 certain tribes, the head of a turtle is the ' amulet ' for hunting- 

 deer. Well, I should imagine it well might be! 



Likev.-ise this is how some of the South American birds 

 obtained their remarkable colours (tale No. 142 and notes): — 



Once there was war among the Spirits above the cloud^ 

 oT \vliich the Kiskadee (Lanius sulphuratus, a very common an) 

 very pretty bird, reminding one somewhat of our meadow-lark), 

 though a vaHant little bird, greatly disliked, and bandaged his 

 head with white cotton, pretending to be sick, but being detected, 

 v.as sentenced to wear it constantly. 



The Trumpeter Bird (Psophia crepitans) and the King- 

 fisher quarrelled over the spoil (of the war) and knocked each 

 other into the ashes. The former arose with patches of grey, 

 while the other became grey all over. The Owl discovered 

 among the spoils a package done up with great care, which he 



