438 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 



Curupira, and to find it again he twists a liana into 

 a ring or, if he be a Christian, into the form of a 

 cross in such a way that the points of the liana 

 are completely hidden ; he then throws it behind 

 him, taking care not to look which way it goes, and 

 afterwards picks it up and follows the direction in 

 which it has fallen. I cannot here recount all the 

 tales I have heard about this mysterious being, but 

 I suppose they point to the former existence in the 

 regions of some homo primordialis, and that the 

 fact has come down by tradition from untold ages, 

 coupled with the belief that the species is even yet 

 not extinct. Meanwhile, until the animal, or its 

 skeleton, be found which I do not look on as 

 impossible I suppose we must consider the Curu- 

 pira, or Munyi'a, or Yamadu, the analogue of the 

 Barghaist of the north of England and Scotland, 

 the Loup-garou of France, the Lobishomem of 

 Portugal, and other similar mythical creatures. 



A Strange Occurrence and its Explanation 



In my voyage to the Upper Orinoco, by way of 

 the Casiquiari, in 1853-54, when the river was so 

 low at Christmas that I had great difficulty in getting 

 my piragoa up as far as Esmeralda, and it was 

 quite impossible to ascend farther, as I had at first 

 intended, I afterwards explored its northern tribu- 

 tary, the Cunucumima, and re-entered the Casiquiari, 

 intending to go as far down as Lake Vasiva. The 

 dry season should have held all through the months 

 of January and February, and Vasiva was described 

 to me as having at that time broad sandy beaches, 

 sprinkled with curious little plants, and bordered 



