A WOMAN'S EXPERIENCES IN VENEZUELA. 83 



then be killed. The performers themselves, however, will 

 never harm a snake. He told many a story of black magic 

 arts, in which he firmly believed, of sending to one's ene- 

 mies scourges of rats or deadly diseases or departed spirits 

 to make life unendurable. 



FIG. 45. GUARAUNO INDIANS COMING TO TRADE AT CANO COLORADO. 



Finally the crew would roll up in their blankets in the bow, 

 the Captain would disappear beneath his mosqiiilaro, which 

 would tremble and quake in the moonlight until he lay quiet 

 in his hammock. We would creep beneath our tent of 

 netting to write up the last notes of the day or to listen to 

 the sounds of the night. From the bow would come a low 

 murmur of voices in some weird chanting song until the 



