192 ANIMISM AND FOLK-LORE OF GUIANA INDIANS (eth. ANN. 30 



308) . Among the Caribs, the first, two Spirits that are called on by 

 the medicine-man with his rattle are Mawdri (Sect. 309) and Makai- 

 abani. The latter puts in an appearance with the tobacco smoke, 

 in which he is enveloped: otherwise he remains in the rattle {maraka), 

 coming out only when this is shaken. The former's weakness for 

 tobacco constitutes the subject of the Carib legend here given. 



123. Mawari and Tobacco Smoke (C) 



There was once an Indian who was extremely fond of smoking: morning, noon, and 

 night he would bring out his little bit of cotton, strike the stones together, make fire, 

 and then light liis tobacco. Even when walking out in the bush he would continue 

 smoking. While thus trudging through the forest one day and puffing out clouds 

 of smoke, Mawari, one of the Yurokons. or Bush Spirits, smelt the tobacco, and, 

 taking such a fancy to it, sent his daughter to fetch the man in. She was a pretty 

 woman and, approaching the Indian, asked him wliither he was going. He told her 

 he was searching for game, but she advised him to come with her to her father's place; 

 in fact she warned him that as the old Bush Spirit had really sent for him, it would be 

 wiser on his part not to refuse. And perhaps because she was indeed so pretty, he 

 did not hesitate to accompany her. When he reached her home, Mawdri asked him a 

 lot of questions about the tobacco, and begged liim to teach liim how to smoke. Ha\'ing 

 learned the art, and taken a \'iolent fancy to it, MawAri. next insisted upon the Indian 

 remaining, and preparing the tobacco leaves as they might be required. And so it 

 came to pass that the latter took up liis abode with the Bu.sh Spirits as the son-in-law 

 of a Yurokon. Wlien he was given the alligator stool to sit upon, he felt a bit scared, 

 but Ms wife told him not to be afraid, because the creatiu'e would not bite him .' He 

 remained a long time with these Spirits, so long indeed that a luxuriant growth of hair 

 began to cover his face, body, and limbs. His marital relations prospered, Mawtlri's 

 daughter in the meanwhile ha\'ing borne him three children. One day his wife 

 ad\'ised him to go visit his mother, so, making ready for the journey, he started off. 

 On reaching his old home, his mother was very glad to see him, but noticing how 

 he was covered all over with hair, remarked, "WTiere have you been all this while? 

 You have turned into a Yurokon, I think." Although her surmises were not very far 

 from the truth, her son denied all knowledge of those people, and thought it prudent 

 not to remain too long in case he should be asked some more equally awkward ques- 

 tions. And when he took his departure, he carried away with liim the cassava 

 which his mother had baked; but neither he nor his wife ate of it, he having become 

 so accustomed now to the various bush fruits and she never touching that kind of 

 food. The Indian never returned home again to his mother, being ever busy preparing 

 the tobacco for his father-in-law. 



123. Whenever my Indian friends wished to impress mo with the 

 power and unportance of any of their legendary beings, they invaria- 

 bly ascribed to it great size: thus, a black tiger as big as a house 

 meant a very dangerous brute; a bat as big as a tree indicated 

 the "vampire," that sucks people's blood at night with fatal results. 

 I learned that for similar reasons these Forest Spirits are always 

 associated with unusually big thmgs (Sects. 27, 147). Both Arawaks 

 and Warraus have a story of this nature: I attach the former version. 



' The stool upon which the Carib medicine-man sits during the incantation is generally In the form of 

 an alligator. 



