BOTH] THE BODY AND ITS ASSOCIATED SPIRITS 155 



would be mortally offended, and would say, "You can cross me only 

 when 1 am dead. I am not dead yet." This is of interest in con- 

 nection with the procedure described by Schomburgk (ScR, i, 421) at 

 the burial of a Makusi woman: all the relatives next surrounded the 

 grave, and each one jumped over it in the direction whence he had 

 come. Even the barely twelve-week old orphan was taken in the 

 arms and made to jump over it. So also at the anniversary of the 

 death of a captain among the Guahiba of the Vichada River (Orinoco) 

 the pyre is jumped over by the piai, the men, and women, at the 

 same time that they blow wnth fuU force (Sect. 85) in the direction 

 of the country occupied by the Piaroa, their terrible neighbors who 

 make them die through throwing spells over them (Cr, 548) . 



73. However beloved or despised during life, the spirit of the dead 

 is always an object of dread, and is to be pro[)itiated by kind and 

 flattering expressions, by festivals and feasts. At York HiU, near 

 Tinadu Creek, Demerara, says Dance (2.56), an Indian child had 

 taken to the habit of eating sand, wliich contributed to its early death. 

 Wliile the dead body of the chUd lay in the open coffin, which his 

 father had procured from a Creole carpenter in the neighborhood, 

 and just before the interment, the gi-andmother of the child stood 

 over it and in wailing tones said : 



Sty child, I always told you not to oat sand. I novor gave you any, for I knew it waa 

 not good for you; you always sought it yourself. I told you that it was bad. Now, 

 see, it has killed you. Don't trouble me, for it was your own doing; some evil thing 

 put it into your head (mind) to eat it. Look, I put your arrow and bow by your side 

 that you may amuse your.self. I was always kind to you; be good and don't trouble 

 me. 



Then the mother came up crying, and said as in a chant: 



My chUd, I brought you into the world to see and enjoy all the good things. This 

 breast [and she exposed it, or rather held it up, for it was already exposed] nourished 

 you as long as yon were willing to take it. I made your laps and pretty shirts. I took 

 care of you and fed you, and played with you, and never beat you. You must be good 

 and not bring evil upon me. 



The father of the dead child likewise approached and said: 



My boy, when I told you that the sand would kill you, you would not listen to me, 

 and now see, you are dead . I went out and got a beautiful coffin for you. I shall have 

 to work to pay for it. I made your grave in a pleasant spot where you loved to play. 

 I shall place you comfortably, and put some sand for you to eat, for now it can not harm 

 you, and I know that you like it. You must not bring bad luck to me; but look for 

 him who made you eat the sand. 



This was a family of Christian Arawaks, but the roots of inbred 

 traditional beliefs could not at once be eradicated. 



74. At the burial of a Makusi woman at Nappi, upper Essequibo : 

 SurrouncUng the hammock in wMch the corpse lay, in and between 

 the wailing, the women were chanting eulogiums ujjon the deceased — 

 one had lost her best friend; another praised the fine cotton thread 

 that she had' woven; another, the various objects that she had pos- 



