488 EXPLANATORY INDEX. 



of its occupants sank with it, and, being seized by the child, 

 never came up to the surface again." 



This account, it will be seen, tallies exactly with that of 

 Waterton. 



The same writer mentions this semi-supernatural being 

 under another name, i.e. "didi." 



" The first night after leaving Peaimah we heard a long, 

 loud, and most melancholy whistle, proceeding from the 

 direction of the depths of the forest, at which some of the 

 men exclaimed, in an awed tone of voice, ' The didi ! ' Two 

 or three times the whistle was repeated, sounding like that 

 made by a human being, beginning in a high key, and dying 

 slowly and gradually away in a low one. There were con- 

 flicting opinions amongst the men regarding the origin of 

 these sounds. Some said they proceeded from the wild hairy 

 man, or ' didi/ of the Indians ; others that they were pro- 

 duced by a large and poisonous snake which lives in one tree 

 from its youth up, when it attains a great size, living upon 

 birds which are so unfortunate as to alight near it, and thus 

 become victims to its power of fascination. The 'didi' is 

 said by the Indians to be a short, thick- set, and powerful 

 wild man, whose body is covered with hair, and who lives in 

 the forest. A belief in the existence of this fabulous creature 

 is universal over the whole of British, Venezuelan, and 

 Brazilian Guiana. On the Demerara river, some years after 

 this, I met a half-bred woodcutter, who related an encounter 

 that he had with two didis a male and female in which he 

 successfully resisted their attacks with his axe. In the fray, 

 he stated that he was a good deal scratched. His story 

 requires to be taken with a very large grain of salt." 



WAX. See " Kurumanni." 



WHIP-POOR-WILL. See " Goatsuckers." 



WHIP-SNAKE (Philodryas viridissimus). Several Snakes are 

 called by this name, because their long, slender bodies look 

 very much like the plaited thong of a hunting whip. Indeed, 

 more than once a Whipsnake has been grasped under the 



