WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 115 



Thus you must either suppose that the old savage and 

 his companion had a confused idea of the thing, and that 

 probably the Lake Parima they talked of was the Amazons, 

 not far from the city of Para, or that it was their intention 

 to deceive you. You ought to be cautious in giving credit 

 to their stories, otherwise you will be apt to be led astray. 



Many a ridiculous thing concerning the interior of 

 Guiana has been propagated and received as true, merely 

 because six or seven Indians questioned separately, have 

 agreed in their narrative. 



Ask those who live high up in the Demerara, and they 

 will, every one of them, tell you that there is a nation of 

 Indians with long tails ; that they are very malicious, 

 cruel, and ill-natured ; and that the Portuguese have been 

 obliged to stop them off in a certain river, to prevent their 

 depredations. They have also dreadful stories concerning 

 a horrible beast, called the Water mamma, which, when it 

 happens to take a spite against a canoe, rises out of the 

 river, and in the most unrelenting manner possible carries 

 both canoe and Indians down to the bottom with it, and 

 there destroys them. Ludicrous extravagances ; pleasing to 

 those fond of the marvellous, and excellent matter for a 

 distempered brain. 



The misinformed and timid court of policy in Demerara 

 was made the dupe of a savage, who came down the Esse- 

 quibo, and gave himself out as king of a mighty tribe. This 

 naked wild man of the woods seemed to hold the said 

 court in tolerable contempt, and demanded immense 

 supplies, all which he got ; and moreover, some time after, 

 an invitation to come down the ensuing year for more, 

 which he took care not to forget. 



This noisy chieftain boasted so much of his dynasty and 

 domain, that the government was induced to send up an 

 expedition into his territories to see if he had spoken the 



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