296 A NATURALIST IN THE GUIANAS 



to dispose of. I noticed that the Indians cannot bear to 

 work with any but the lightest of implements. So far as 

 axes are concerned they should not weigh more than 

 three pounds.) The leaves and smaller branches of the 

 felled trees and brushwood are allowed to wither and dry, 

 after which they are set on fire, and this helps to clear 

 the ground to a certain extent ; but the trunks and larger 

 branches, though they get more or less charred, are hard 

 to burn, and they remain for years lying about with their 

 bare and blackened stumps sticking up in the air, giving 

 anything but a picturesque appearance to the clearing. 

 With the first rains planting is begun. In the case of 

 cassava, slips of the woodj'^ stem of the plant are inserted 

 into holes around which the soil has been slightly loosened. 

 For sowing grain, such as maize or rice, a pole sharpened 

 at one end is used. From my hammock I often observed 

 Isidor planting up the fields he had devoted to these two 

 cereals. As he walked along he would plunge the pole 

 he carried into the ground at regular intervals. He was 

 followed by his son, who dropped a few seeds into each 

 hole and then, as he passed, pressed the earth over them 

 with one of his feet ; and here I may mention that I was 

 repeatedly struck by the dexterity these Indians display 

 in the use of their lower limbs, employing them even for 

 picking up any small article they may have dropped. 



At Mura, besides cassava, maize, and rice, the Indians 

 had planted sugar-cane, bananas, yams, pumpkins, sweet 

 potatoes, and a little cotton and tobacco, so that except on 

 occasions of excessive drought they are well supplied with 

 provisions. For animal food they depend entirely on 

 hunting and fishing, and they almost always smoke what- 

 ever game or fish they may have obtained. They can 

 eat enormous quantities of food when it happens to be 



