146 ANIMISM AND FOLK-LORE OF GUIANA INDIANS [eth. ann. 30 



where they expected them in their turn to change into stone. The 

 Mapoyas would call such a stone as that serving for the sununit of 

 the pinnacle just mentioned, Uruana, describing it as the source of 

 their tribe, and would be deUghted at any one speaking of them as 

 Uruanayes in allusion to tliis fact. These tombs, caverns filled with 

 bones, in the strait of Barraguan, are again referred to by Hum- 

 boldt (ii, 487). Some of the SaUvas would declare that they were 

 cluldren of the soU, and that in former times the earth used to breed 

 men and women in the same way that it now produces thorns and 

 hidden rocks (G, i, 113). Accordmg to the Makusi tradition, Maku- 

 naima sent great waters: only one man escaped . . . tliis one man 

 who survived the flood threw stones behind him, and thus j^eopled 

 the earth anew (ScR, ii, 320). Those of the Achaguas who beUeved 

 in theu' origin from rivers distinguished themselves from the tree- 

 trunk ones (Sect. 57) by the name Uni-verrenais (G, i, 114). 



59. The Yahuna Indians of the Apaporis River have a beUef in 

 certain pahn trees having been derived from the ashes of a human 

 being (Sect. 163A). The Arawaks and Caribs hold similar views as 

 to the origin of certam cultivated plants. In an Arawak story it is 

 one of the Bush Spnits wMch supphes man with the first fruit 

 plants, whereas the Carib version gives a wopderful tree itself 

 as the source (Sect. 60) . The following is the Arawak story : 



The First Fruit Trees (A) 



There were three sisters alone in the house, preparing drink; the men-folk were 

 away at a party. Early in the afternoon a young man came along, bringing a powis 

 with him. He was not what he appeared to be, a friend, but an Adda-kuj-uha (Tree 

 Spirit). (Sect. 96.) The girls, however, did not know this. They asked him inside 

 and offered him pepper-pot and cassiri. He refused the former, saying it did not 

 agree with him, and putting to his mouth the calabash which contained the latter, 

 he broke the vessel. This made the girl who handed it to him laugh. (Sect. 125.) 

 She was the youngest of the three; he told her on taking his departure that he would 

 pay her another visit later in the evening. The afternoon wore on, and night fell, 

 when, sure enough, the young man appeared again, as arranged. The elder sister 

 took a good look at him, and recognized that, though bearing a great resemblance, he 

 was not identical with the person who had visited them in the afternoon. She went 

 into the adjoining room and conveyed her suspicions to the second sister. They both 

 kept watch. He proceeded to get into the hammock where the youngest sister 

 was lying, and began caressing her, whereupon she said she was displeased with his 

 actions. But as he continued troubling her, she said, "What do you want with me? ' ' 

 With this, he slipped his arm round her neck, and broke her "neck-bone," thus 

 killing her. He then began eating her body and finished all except the head, by 

 early dawn. He belched and said: "Yes! I am indeed satisfied. My mother 

 told me to bring her the head, so I must spare it for her." Holding up the head 

 by its beautiful long hair, he carried it away. Now, the sisters who had been 

 keeping their eyes on him all night, watched well where he carried it; they saw 

 him bear it far away into the bush, where he disappeared with it in a hollow tree, 

 of which they, following him, took note. WTien they got back home again, their 

 men-folk had returned from the party, and among them was a piai. They told 



