62 WANDERINGS IN 



prettily done in basket work, with wood not un- 

 like bamboo, and the outside has a coat of wax. 

 The cover is all of one piece, formed out of the 

 skin of the tapir. Round the centre there is 

 fastened a loop, large enough to admit the arm 

 and shoulder, from which it hangs when used. 

 To the rim is tied a little bunch of silk grass, and 

 half of the jaw-bone of the fish called pirai, with 

 which the Indian scrapes the point of his 

 arrow. 



Before he puts the arrows into the quiver, he 

 links them together by two strings of cotton, one 

 string at each end, and then folds them round a 

 stick, which is nearly the length of the quiver. 

 The end of the stick, which is uppermost, is 

 guarded by two little pieces of wood crosswise, 

 with a hoop round their extremities, which ap- 

 pears something like a wheel ; and this saves 

 the hand from being wounded when the quiver is 

 reversed, in order to let the bunch of arrows 

 drop out. 



There is also attached to the quiver a little kind 

 of basket, to hold the wild cotton which is put on 

 the blunt end of the arrow. With a quiver of 

 poisoned arrows slung over his shoulder, and with 

 his blow-pipe in his hand, in the same position as 

 a soldier carries his musket, see the Macoushi 

 Indian advancing towards the forest in quest of 

 powises, maroudis, waracabas, and other feathered 

 game. 



