176 ANIMISM AND FOLK-LORE OF GUIANA INDIANS [eth. ans. 30 



calabash like a cap. pressed it firmly down upon his head, so that but a little of the 

 hair projected from beneath its circumference. Just then a Konoko-kuyuha put in 

 an ajipearance, and seeing the man in this guise, and not knowing what it was, could 

 not help exclaiming, "Wliat a fine smooth head you have! How did you manage 

 to get it?"' The man told him that ho had just taken a knife and cut his head all 

 the way round, and that if he wished he would gladly do the same for him. The 

 Spirit was delighted, and allowed the skin all round his head to be cut, and peppers 

 to be rubbed over the raw surface to make it heal the quicker; the latter process, 

 however, caused him to groan in pain, but by this time the huntsman had quietly 

 slipped out of sight,- A long time afterward, many years in fact, the same man, 

 going out into the bush close to the neighborhood where the above event had occurred, 

 met the same Konoko-kuyuha, whom he recognized by the peppers on Ms head, 

 which had grown into big bushes. The recognition was mutual, and the Spirit re- ■ 

 preached him after this manner: "You are the man who peeled off my head. I will 

 kill you." But the man replied: "No. You are mistaken. The person who really 

 did it has been dead alongtime. Comewith me and I will show you his bones." And 

 he led him to a place where there was a stack of deer bones. These the Spirit took up 

 and threw one by one into his waiyaiTi. He then said to the man, "Letusdance, and 

 make his bones rattle." Whereupon they botl^ started dancing, and while dancing 

 they sang; the song of the Spirit was "Bassana! Bassana! [lit. meaning unknown.] It 

 was you that peeled my head. It was you that punished me. How do jou like to 

 hear your own bones rattling for music?" After a time, the man remarked, "This is 

 not a good place to dance. Come over there where I can see a fine flat baking-stone 

 that will suit better." So they shifted their quarters, and the Spirit recommenced 

 dancing on the flat stone. "Bend your head lower," said the man, "you are 

 not doing the figure properly." So the Spirit bent his head lower, but his com- 

 panion told him that even this was not low enough; so he tried again, and directly he 

 had bent his head quite close to the stone upon which he was dancing, the man sud- 

 denly crushed it thereon. The Spirit's brainsthuswere scattered, and from each piece 

 there 'grew' a wokorai-yii (goat-sucker). This is why we Indians always dread these 

 birds, and leave them severely alone; they come from the Spirits of the Bush, and 

 give us warning of evil — a token that we may expect trouble of various sorts.^ 



104. vSpeaking generally, the Spirits of the Forest can be recog- 

 nized, even when invisible, by means of the whistling sound which 

 they make. " The first night after leaving Peaimah [Mazaruni River] 

 we heard a long, loud, and most melancholy whistle, proceeding from 

 the direction of the depths of the forest, at which some of the men 

 exclaimed, in an awed tone of voice, 'The Didi' [Dai-dai]. Two or 

 three tunes the wliistle was repeated, sounding like that made by a 

 human being, beginning in a high key, and dpng slowly .and gradu- 

 ally away in a low one" (Bro, 87). But instead of a whistle (Sect. 

 118) they may indicate their presence by a noise somewhat like the 

 neighing of a horse, in places where horses are known not to exist. 



1 Baldness is practically unknown among the Indians; thus far I have not come across any record of its 

 occurrence.— W. E. R. 



2 This is the fi.-'st and only reference to scalping that has been met with in Guiana folk-lore. Scalping was 

 practised both in the Guianas and elsewhere in South America, for example, in Ecuador (AS, 90). 



3 Brett's version (BrB, 17C) is as follows; I'eairaa was an Arai-daiwho had become dissatisfied with his 

 coarse and matted locks and wished them to be made like those of human beings. Pahadun, a captive, 

 undertook to gratify him: he shaved his head close, and on the raw siu-face poured pepper seeds. Thus 

 crowned -.vith pepper seeds, the monster tried to slay the man in a long series cf adventures, but the 

 man with lying tongue outwitted his pursuer. 



