84 IN THE GUIANA FOREST. 



teeth want to cut and mutilate him. As if these 

 enemies were not sufficient, he must create 

 another, the Hue-ru, or siren. Some have 

 thought this water sprite to be nothing but an 

 exaggerated manatee. But the Indians know 

 this animal too well to confound it with his 

 mysterious enemy. He shoots the Manatee and 

 feeds his family for a week upon its meat when 

 fortunate enough to secure it. 



An Indian can never be drowned except under 

 supernatural influence. Such is his belief, and 

 there is some justification for it. White, black, 

 and red men go down when a boat is upset at 

 the rapids, but almost invariably the red man 

 comes up alone to report the accident. He is, 

 however, not entirely safe ; he is sometimes 

 drowned, but then the blame is laid upon the 

 water-sprite. Surely such a good swimmer and 

 diver was not overcome by a mere accident. He 

 may have been dragged over and the canoe upset 

 by a desmoncus, entangled in the slimy beds 

 of Podostemaceae, crippled by striking a boulder 

 or rendered helpless by a cayman or perai, but 

 his death is always put down to the water-sprite. 

 Then he may disappear and a story goes round 

 that he met a handsome woman who carried 

 him down to her home beneath the dark water. 



