THK B]/)AV-PIPE 299^ 



essentially a Waiomgomo arm, for the other tribes of 

 distant parts of the Guianas get their supply of blow- 

 pipes or of the reeds for making them from the comitry 

 near the sources of the Merevari, and these articles form 

 the principal object of barter the Waiomgomos have to 

 dispose of in their trade relations with other settlements. 



The reeds are obtained from some mountains not far 

 from the compound where Isidor was born. Humboldt^ 

 when he was at Esmeralda, witnessed the return of an 

 expedition of Indians who had gone in search of reeds 

 and other forest products. He says that when he and 

 Bompland arrived at Esmeralda, the greater part of the 

 Indians were returning from an excursion which they had 

 made to the east beyond the Bio Padamo to g&thei juvias, 

 or the fruit of the bertolettia, and the liana which yields 

 the curare. One of the four canoes was filled in great 

 part with that species of reeds (carices) of which blow- 

 pipes are made. They were from fifteen to seventeen feet 

 in length, but without trace of any knot for the insertion 

 of leaves or branches. They were quite straight, smooth 

 externally, and perfectly cylindrical. These carices come 

 from the foot of the mountains of Yumariquin and 

 Guanaja, and are much sought after even beyond the 

 Orinoco, by the name of reeds of Esmeralda. It will be 

 observed by looking at a map of Venezuela that the 

 Padamo, of which Humboldt speaks, rises either in or 

 close to the country of the Waiomgomos ; but, as I have 

 said before, the courses of the rivers and positions of 

 mountains as marked on the maps of this part of the 

 world must be considered to be approximate only, no 

 accurate survey work ever having been performed in these 

 regions. 



In the manufacture of blow-pipes the reeds are 



