482 TROPICAL WILD LIFE IN BRITISH GUIANA 



Our Indians have caught two species of the sting-ray, 

 in the Rapo-nunni. The brownish one, hardly distinguish- 

 able from mud and sand, near Katoka Creek ; and the grey 

 one with gold and silver markings, upon a granite boulder, 

 in the lower river. The second one cannot easily be detected 

 when lying upon granite, with the sun's rays playing through 

 the liquid prism. The "stings" are barbs, lying one above 

 the other, upon a slender tail. They turn them over the back, 

 as a scorpion does its tail. Many were the Indians who came 

 to me for a dressing, after entering the water to find a pass- 

 age for the boat, or to push it over a shallow. At the mouth 

 of Uruata Creek, I saw some long, narrow fish, not quite a 

 foot in length. The Indian name for them is mawri kuratu, 

 or blow-pipe fish. Savannah Indians do not use blow-pipes. 

 Pata-kai is the Makuchi name for a fish which scatters over 

 the savannahs and into the creeks and ponds, when the floods 

 come out. The name means, "The country over," pata being 

 place, or country, while kai is short for kaichure, evenly, 

 equally. When the floods subside, many of these fish fail to 

 return to the river in time, and they may be found in pud- 

 dles, which, in course of time, evaporate. In the dry bed of 

 Uruata Creek, I have seen a small shoal of them flapping 

 and floundering in a few inches of water. The Indians 

 picked them up and threaded them upon a stick, against their 

 breakfast. The maikang-fish has dog-like teeth ; and the bar- 

 bels of the little thaki are imitated in a design for the Indian 

 fan, which is used for shaping and turning the cassava cakes, 

 sometimes known as wooden-bread. These fish are most 

 curious. 



The Indians tell how, in ages long ago, the Inchkirang, 

 one of their ancient Heroes, plucked leaves from the moka- 

 moka, and scattering them in the Rapo-nunni, turned them 

 into sting-rays, in order to prevent his younger brother from 

 following him on his journey, after the giant snail, to the 

 floor of the mighty ocean. 



