144 ANIMISM AND FOLK -LOBE OF GUIANA INDIANS [eth. ann. 30 



feminse intravit. Thereupon the brother said, "There is something wrong here; 

 this will not do. Soror mea probabiliter serpentem in corpore suo habet." 80 he 

 told his friends who, in company with him, watched his sister the next day, when the 

 same thing took place, Uamma exeuns sub corpore feminas, climbing the tree, chang- 

 ing into human form, shaking the seeds down, and then becoming a snake again. But 

 just as Uamma was about to reach the ground, the watchers rushed up and cut him 

 into thousands of pieces. The woman grieved sorely, but collected all the fragments 

 under a heap of mold and leaves, each piece of which by and by grew into a Carib. 

 Many years passed; the Caribs growing strong and numerous, became a nation. They 

 lived in harmony with the Warraus, so much so that when one tribe caught some game 

 or other dainty, they would send a child with a piece of it over to the Warraus. The 

 latter would then return the compliment and send a child of theirs with food to the 

 Caribs. This lasted a long time, until one day the original mother of the Caribs — a 

 very old woman now — told them to kill the child which the Warraus had sent to them; 

 this was in revenge for the way the Warraus had slain her snake lover years before. 

 As might have been expected, the Warraus on the next occasion slaughtered the Carib 

 child, and thus a blood feud arose between the two nations, the Caribs finally m-or- 

 whelming the Warraus. 



56. The Carib version of the story was told me on the upper Pome- 

 roon, by probably one of the oldest local survivors of the tribe, who 

 spoke somewhat as follows: 



The water-camudi had an Indian woman for a sweetheart. Diiring the day he 

 took the form of a snake; at night, he was "a people" Uke myself. The couple used 

 'to meet at the water side, and hence the girl's parents knew nothing about their 

 being so fond of each other. After she became pregnant, a baby camudi was bom. 

 The little one used to appear when she reached the river bank, swim about, and after 

 a time return to its nesting place. Now, as she stayed so long each time at the water 

 side, the old father said to his two sons, "^Vhat is the matter with your sister? \^^ly 

 does she take so long to bathe?" Accordingly, the brothers, watching her go down 

 to the stream, videt serpentem parvam exire atque serpentem magnam intrare. 

 They saw also the huge camudi bring his infant son something to eat and saw the baby 

 take the father's place when the latter left. When they reached home, the sons com- 

 plained to the old man about what they had seen: he told them to kill both the snakes. 

 So on the next occasion they killed the huge camudi, and seizing the baby serpent, 

 carried it far away back int.o the bush, where they chopped it up into many small 

 pieces. Some months afterward when hunting in the neighborhood, the brothers 

 heard a great noise and the sound of voices coming from the very same direction, and 

 going to ascertain the cause, found four houses in the identical spot where they had 

 ctit up the baby camudi, all occupied by Indians who had grown out of the fragments 

 of the snake. In the first hut the house-master said he was glad to welcome his two 

 uncles, but in the other three the occupants wanted to kill them for having destroyed 

 their sister's child from which they had all sprung. But the first house-master said: 

 "No, don't do that, because these two visitors are uncles to all of you, and you must 

 not have a bad mind towaxd them." And thus it happened that the two brothers got 

 away without further molestation, and on arrival at home told their old father how the 

 snake fragments had grown into people. And when he expressed a wish to see his 

 grandchildren, his two sons led the way into the bush, and he was right glad to see 

 his numerous progeny, with whom he made good friends, and they all drank paiwarri. 

 And thus the Carib nation arose from a water-camudi. 



57. The vegetable world takes a share of the responsibility for the 

 derivation of man. There is either a story of some fabulous Tree of 

 Life, or reference to certain well-known plants, as the silk-cotton tree 



