i6o Notes on Jungle and Other Wild Life. 



found contained Darkness only; he has never been able since 

 to endure the light of day." 



There are over two hundred such tales illustrating everv 

 phase of life among the Indians of this region. 



In the same volume is the legend of that wonder-spot, the 

 celebrated Kaietur Fall, which we hope soon to explore. It is 

 given in the words of Barrington Brown, its discoverer : - 

 " Once upon a time there was a large village above the fall, 

 situated on the little savanna (grassy plain), amongst cue inhabi- 

 tants of which was an old Indian, who had arrived at that period 

 of human existence when his life had become a burden to himself 

 and a trouble to his relatives. Amongst other duties, there 

 devolved upon the latter the tedious one of extracting the jiggers 

 from his toes which accumulated there day by day. These 

 duties becoming irksome at least, it was arranged that the 

 old man should be assisted on his way to his long home, that 

 spirit-land lying two-days' journey beyond the setting sun. 

 He was accordingly transferred, with his pegall (basket) of 

 worldly goods, from his house to a woodskin (boat) on the 

 river above the head of the great fall, and launched forth upon 

 the stream. The silent flood bore him to its brink, where the 

 rushing waters received him in their deadly grasp, bearing" his 

 enfeebled body down to its watery grave in the basin below. 

 Not long after, strange to relate, his woodskin appeared in the 

 form of a pointed rock, which to this day is seen not far from 

 our lower barometer station ; while on the sloping mass of 

 talus to the west of the basin, a huge square rock is said to be 

 his petrified pegall. Thus has the fall been named Kaietur 

 (Old Man's Fall) in memory of the victim of this trag'ic event." 



One more tale and we shall leave the realm of Indian 

 fancy. I choose it because my friend Mr. John Ogilvie, who 

 has lived among the Indians of the Guianas for twenty-five 

 years, showed me how to make and solve the puzzle. In spite 

 of the excellent cut (page i8o) in Roth's I can assure you it 

 is not as easily solved as one might think. If I haven't forgot- 

 ten how to do it, when next we meet, I shall be glad to show 

 you. This is the story: — " If an Indian loses his way in the 

 forest, the (Evil) Spirit is the cause. The Caribs, however, 

 know how to circumvent the latter, by making a string puzzle, 

 which is left on the pathway; the object of this puzzle consists 



