94 IN THE GUIANA FOREST. 



brought home the wife is ready to complain. 

 We have even heard of a woman leaving her 

 husband because he was too lazy, and brought 

 her nothing. We may safely state that man and 

 wife are equally bound to do their shares of the 

 home work, and that these duties are carried 

 out. 



Some ingenuity is shown in poisoning fishes. 

 Four distinct vegetables are used, known as 

 Haiari, Conami, Yaraconami, and Cunaparu. All 

 are pounded on stones at the sides of a pool, and 

 the pulp stirred into the water until the fish come 

 up gasping, when they can be drawn ashore. 

 Several forms of basket traps are used, and there 

 is a peculiar trap made of the trumpet-tree, 

 which is a hollow cylinder. A length of about 

 five feet is cut, closed at one end where the bait 

 is placed, and suspended by its centre to a branch 

 of a tree overhanging the water, in which it is 

 sunk for a short distance. A fish goes in, over- 

 balances the closed end, and immediately the 

 cylinder becomes perpendicular, thus safely hold- 

 ing the catch until the man comes round. 



Among the Guiana fishes is a most interesting 

 family, the Siluridae, or cat-fishes. Some are very 

 large and all are more or less protected by 

 cuirasses and bony plates instead of scales ; they 



