EXPLANATORY INDEX. 473 



England, the name of the capital was changed, and it is now 

 called Georgetown. 



STING RAY (Trygon vastinaca). Many species of Sting Eay 

 are known, and they all belong to the Skate family. They 

 are well known by their long whip-like tails, and the sharp, 

 doubly barbed bone which proceeds from the base of the tail, 

 and becomes a weapon which can be wielded with terrible 

 effect. 



As a rule, the Guianan natives are not a warlike race, but 

 when war is forced upon them, their weapons are very 

 formidable. War arrows, for example, are sometimes headed 

 with the bone of the Sting Ray, and are nearly sure to cause 

 death, as, when the arrow strikes the enemy, the force of the 

 blow causes its very brittle head to snap asunder, and to 

 leave several barbs imbedded in the body. The Polynesian 

 warriors probably took the bone of the Sting Ray as a model 

 for their many-barbed spears. 



SUGAR-CANE. The principal plant which is used for the 

 production of sugar is the gigantic grass known as Sugar-cane 

 (Saccliarinum officinarum). It was originally brought from 

 the E. Indies to Southern Europe by the Crusaders, and so 

 made its way into the colonies. There are many species of 

 saccharinum, or sugar-grasses. Some of our own grasses have 

 a perceptible saccharine flavour. 



SUN BIRD. Sometimes called the Sun-Heron (Eurypyga, 

 helias}. In Barbadoes it is called Tigri-Fowlo. 



The following account of the bird is from C. Kingsley's At 

 Last : 



11 These are strange birds too. One, whom you may see in 

 the Zoological Gardens, like a plover with a straight beak and 

 bittern's plumage, whose business it is to walk about the table 

 at meals uttering sad metallic noises and catching flies. 



" Its name is Sun-Bird, ' sun-fowlo,' of the Surinam negroes, 

 according to dear old Stedman, * because, when it extends its 

 wings, which it often does, there appears on the interior part 

 of each wing a most beautiful representation of a sun. This 



