124 SPORT, TRAVEL, AND ADVENTURE 



on a dewy morning where he will find water which 

 he can collect and store in his water-bag. One 

 tribe which lived where water was at times very scarce 

 learned to seal up the sutures of skulls, which were 

 then used for water-carrying'. It is known to white 

 travellers in Australia that in any kind of country, 

 however desert and waterless it seems, the natives can 

 lead them to stores of water. There have been some 

 grim incidents because of natives either misunderstand- 

 ing or wilfully disobeying the orders of white travellers 

 in the desert to lead them to water. Stupidity or 

 disobedience has been met with torture. In one case, 

 which caused a painful sensation when the facts became 

 known, some white travellers, perishing with thirst, 

 flogged two natives to make them disclose the locality 

 of their wells, and, that failing, filled the mouths of 

 the black fellows with salt and exposed them, bound 

 and gagged, to the full heat of the sun until they led 

 the way to water." 



.While the fishing methods of the natives of 

 British Guiana are quite different to those described 

 above, they show quite as much intelligence on 

 the part of the fisherman. Mr. James Rodway in 

 his fascinating book on the Guiana forest 1 says : " The 

 man of the Guiana forest is at home in the water. 

 Like an amphibious animal, he can often catch his 

 prey in its native element. To wade into a river and 

 catch a fish or strike it with a cutlass is only possible 

 where there is a rock -pool, but when the river is low 

 this is often done. Possibly the greatest feat is to dive, 

 find a fish lurking in some hole, by a quick movement 

 dig the fingers into its eyes, and then grasp the slippery 

 1 See Bibliography, 18. 



