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



rock on the western face of the cliffs is called the Caribisce. The 

 legend says it is a man of that nation turned into stone for attempting 

 to scale the cliff (HiA, 32). The Nation of Stone-adzes, where all the 

 people are really stones, has been mentioned (Sect. 158). But how- 

 ever produced, these inorganic objects with human instincts, powers, 

 and ideas, so to speak, all play a more or less important part on the 

 world's stage. Thus, a rugged rock, a real good friend, comes and 

 quells the fountain which tlu-eatens to overwhelm the nation (BrB, 

 106). In those cases in which the transformation is the result of 

 punishment it might only be expected that the propensities of such 

 rocks and stones would be directed into channels other than good. 

 Perhaps it was some idea similar to this which led to the loss of 

 Schomburgk's geological specimens: "One of the Indian carriers 

 said he had lost my geological specimens: my brother had previously 

 warned me of this — the Indian thinks it something evil, and will 

 secretly tlu-ow it away" (ScR, i, 433). The same may possibly be 

 said of the following: Above the cataracts of the River Demerary 

 are abundance of red and white agates, which remain untouched by 

 the natives, who avoid them from a principle of superstitious venera- 

 tion, as they are dedicated to the service of their magical invocations 

 (Ba, 21). Probably some idea of this nature may form the basis of 

 the practice noted by Brown, in the Cotinga District, in connection 

 with certain small artificial stone-heaps on the sides of the paths 

 over the Savannah Mountains. These were 3 or 4 feet in height. 

 The Indians with him, in passing, had added to the heaps by dropping 

 on them stones picked up near by; he could never learn their object 

 in so doing, for when questioned about it, they only laughed (Bro, 

 276). (In the Gran Chaco, the Indians, on going over a pass, will 

 place a stone on the ground, so that thej- will not get tired on the 

 way (Nor, 12).) 



175. Agam, just as in the Old World, the scene of some tragedy 

 apparition, or of any untoward event — real or imagmary — may 

 ultimately assume by the addition of tale and fable a halo of reputed 

 sanctity, so may many a local feature of natural scenery in the 

 Guianas constitute the landmark as it were of some notable occur- 

 rence — a death, a bloody feud, the appearance perhaps of some 

 extraordinary animal — with the result that such a spot becomes 

 weird and eerie, and all kinds of fanciful stories are told in connection 

 with its immediate neighborhood. The Indians have a tradition 

 that the cliffs, hillocks, and other places, about a mile from Kayiwa on 

 the Corentyne are inhabited by a large snake, which from tune to time 

 goes to drink the water of the river, and that its passage tliither has 

 deprived the cliffs of vegetation (ScC, 289). On a low hUl above the 

 Waiquah River, a branch of the Cotinga, Barrington Brown "ob- 



