122 ANIMISM AND FOLK-LORE OF GUIANA INDIANS [eth. ANN. 30 



repeated the performance wiUi tlie rattle; by next morning a stately tree had grown 

 from that one seed. He told his mother to tic all the thuigs which she had packed 

 up, on the branches of this tree (Sect. ^86), and to await his and his brother's return. 



7. It was not long before he reached the Yawahu's place, where, the family being 

 away, he had no difficulty in releasing the captive, untying the bones from the root, 

 and making good his escape. Unfortunately the Sijirit returned earlier than was 

 expected, and seeing the empty hammock and no parcel of bones, was not long in 

 concluding what had happened. He recognized the fresh tracks, and put his 

 dogs on the scent. Poor Hariwali and his brother! They heard the barking of the 

 dogs and the whistling of the Spirit, and barely had time to crawl into an armadillo 

 hole. They just managed to get out of sight when Yawahu came up, threaten- 

 ing that if they did not come out, he would drive a stick into them; the fugitives 

 laid low, and said nothing. Yawahu then shoved a stick in, but Hariwali touched 

 it with his hand, and changed it into a bush-master snake. (This is why, even 

 to the present day, a bush-master snake is always found in an armadillo hole.) At 

 any rate, Yawahu on seeing the serpent thought he must have been mistaken in fol- 

 lowing the tracks and retraced Ms steps. Ha\dng put the bones back into his 

 brother's skin, and waiting till the coast was clear, Hariwali led the way home. 



8. And how glad their mother was to see them! She had everything packed away 

 in and among the Ijranches of the big tree, and she herself, her daughter, and the 

 grandchildren were all prepared for a long journey. As night fell, they all, big 

 and little, climbed up into the lower branches, finding shelter among the leaves, 

 while Hariwali made his way up to the very summit and began again the shah-shak 

 performance. Tliis continued till quite into the middle of the night, when all 

 of a sudden, the family below felt the tree shaking, and heard rumbling noises, followed 

 by a quivering, and experienced a sensation of the trunk being rooted out of the 

 sand, and starting to fly up into the air. Now, it was just about the moment when 

 they were off on their proposed journey that the old woman's daughter, the piai's 

 sister, felt a bit chilly, and casting her eyes downward, remembered that she had 

 left her apron behind in the house. All she could do was to shout out to her 

 brother above, Dekeweyo-daiba {lit. "my apron back"), "I have forgotten my apron," 

 and he told her to slip down quickly and fetch it. But by the time she had reached 

 the old home, she was changed into a wicissi-duck (Anci autumnalis), which even 

 yet can always be heard saying dekeiceyo-daiba, but as it only whistles these two 

 words, they do not sound so distinctly as if they were spoken slowly. As to the 

 rest of the family — well, we know that the wonderful tree flew away somewhere, 

 but we have never heard anything more about the people who were on it. 



The Story of Haburi (W) 



9. Long ago, there were two sisters minding themselve-si; they had no man to look after 

 them. One day they cut down an ite tree (Mauritia), from which they commenced 

 to manufacture flour. It was now late, so they left their work and went home. Next 

 morning when they went back, the starch was lying there all ready prepared, and 

 they were much puzzled to know how this came to be so. Next day, the same thing 

 happened — all the ite starch was found ready; and this happened again, and often. 

 So one night they watched, and about the middle of the night they saw one of tlie 

 leaves of the neighboring manicole tree {Euterpe sp.) bend gradually over and over 

 until it touched the cut which they had made in the trunk of the ite palm lying beneath. 

 As soon as the leaf actually touched, both sisters rushed up and caught hold of it, 

 begging it earnestly to tiu-n into a man. It refused at first, but as they begged so 

 earnestly it did so. His name was Mayara-k6to. The big (elder) sister was now 

 happy and by-and-bye she had a beautiful baby boy, called Haburi. 



