444 EXPLANATORY INDEX. 



ptttcli of white under the throat. I could not resist the temp- 

 tation of having a shot at one occasionally, but never could 

 tell whether it took effect, for, as they always disappeared 

 beneath the surface at the instant of the report, it was diffi- 

 cult to say whether they had dived at the flash or were killed 

 and sunk to the bottom," 



The length of one which was shot by Mr. Brown was five 

 feet four inches, nearly two feet more than the average 

 length of our English otter. The burrows seem to have two 

 entrances, one opening into the river and the other leading to 

 the bank. 



OuRAH [Arundinaria Schomhurghli) . — Waterton did not 

 know the reed called Ourah, neither did the Macoushies, 

 who were in the habit of purchasing it. It is a very local 

 plant, and according to Schomburgk, is only to be found on a 

 sandstone ridge of the Upper Orinoco River. In some respects 

 it resembles the bamboo, and, like that plant, grows in thick 

 clusters, with long slender branches that wave in the wind 

 like magnified tufts of grass. 



Nowhere is the stem more than half an inch in diameter, 

 and the first joint, which is used for the blow-gun, is fifteen 

 or sixteen feet in length, without a single knot, hollow, and 

 polished within. Though its walls are very thin, they are 

 of great strength, owing to the tubular form of the reed, and 

 are thus able to uphold the slender branches, which sometimes 

 reach forty feet in length. 



Pacou {Myletes jiacu). — How this fish is taken by means 

 of poisoning the water is described under "Wourali." 

 Poison, however, is not absolutely necessary, for the Pacous 

 have a fashion of coming to the surface of the water, 

 showing t^eir heads and parts of their backs, and then dis- 

 appearing. Waterton used to shoot pike in the same manner 

 as they came to bask on the surface of the water, after the 



