206 WANDERINGS IN 



THIRD room, and there spends best part of his time in sit- 



JOURNEY. 



ting, till his wife tempts him with something warm 

 for supper. After supper, he still remains on his 

 chair at rest, till he retires to rest for the night. 

 He mounts leisurely up stairs upon a carpet, and 

 enters his bed-room : there, one would hope, that 

 at least he mutters a prayer or two, though 

 perhaps not on bended knee : he then lets himself 

 drop into a soft and downy bed, over which 

 has just passed the comely Jenny's warming-pan. 

 Now, could the Indian in his turn see this, he 

 would call the white men a lazy, indolent set. 



Perhaps then, upon due reflection, you would 

 draw this conclusion ; that men will always be 

 indolent, where there is no object to rouse them. 



As the Indian of Guiana has no idea whatever 



of communicating his intentions by writing, he 



has fallen upon a plan of communication sure 



Indian me- and simple. When two or three families have 



thodof . r 



communi- determined to come down the river and pay you 

 a visit, they send an Indian beforehand with a 

 string of beads. You take one bead off every 

 day; and on the day that the string is beadless, 

 they arrive at your house. 



In finding their way through these pathless 

 wilds, the sun is to them what Ariadne's clue was 

 to Theseus. When he is on the meridian, they 

 generally sit down, and rove onwards again as 

 soon as he has sufficiently declined to the west ; 

 they require no other compass. When in chase, 



