242 ANIMISM AND FOLK-LORE OF GUIANA INDIANS [eth. anx. 30 



except of course in the possibility that the physical attributes and 

 peculiarities of these and other huge creatures have had to be 

 accounted for in the Indian cosmogony. The natives of the Amazons 

 country have their mai d'agoa — Mother or Spirit of the Watsr — in 

 the shape of a water seri^ent said to be many score fathoms in length, 

 a monster doubtless suggested by the occasional appearance of the 

 anaconda {Eunectes murinus), which assumes a gr?at variety of 

 forms (HWB, 236). One of the many mysterious tal?s told of the 

 Bouto, as the large dolphin of the Amazons is called, "was to the 

 effect that a Bouto once had the habit of assuming the shape of a 

 beautiful woman, with hair hanging loose to her heels, and walking 

 ashore at night in the streets of Ega to entice the young men down to 

 the water. If anyone was so much smitten as to follow her to the 

 water-side, she grasped her victim roimd the waist and plunged 

 beneath the waves with a triumphant cry" (HWB, 309). 

 • The accounts of these Water Folk vary a great deal, but I believe 

 the followuag represents the consensus of Arawak opinion. The 

 Oriyus always live in -the water and one at least accompanies every 

 corial. If an accident takes place the Spirit is blamed for it. These 

 Spirits may appear in human shape, impersonating both sexes. 

 The female sometimes can be seen bathing on the banks of a stream, 

 or combing her long hair with a silver comb, which she occasionally 

 forgets and leaves behmd in her hurry to return to the water when 

 suddenly surprised. 



178. Oriyu sometimes splashes and tramples the water like a horse 

 where horses are known not to exist; Brett even goes so far as to tell 

 us that "she sometimes presents herself above the water with the 

 head of a horse or other anunal as it may suit her fancy, or the object 

 she has in view" (Br, 367). On the other hand, I have often heard 

 her or him described by Warraus as having a fish's head. Brett as a 

 matter of fact always speaks of Oriyu as a female. Of remainmg 

 Water People those mentioned by im Thurn as the Huron i (cf. the 

 Warrau term Ho-aranni, Water Spuits in general), "a tribe of 

 Indians livmg beyond the Pakaraima [mountains], who are men 

 by night, but fish by day," etc. (IT, 384), will doubtless remind 

 the reader strongly of the Huri Fish story (Sect. 152). People may 

 actually be transformed into fish (Sect. US). The Piapocos of the 

 lower Guaviar, a branch of the Ormoco, have a belief in Evil Sph-its 

 who live by day at the bottom of the water, but emerge at night, 

 when they walk about, screaming like little children: they call these 

 Spii'its Mami-naimis, and consider that the various rock-carvuigs are 

 their handiwork (Cr, 525, 529). Endowed with somewhat similar 

 habits there must be included here the Water People mentioned by 

 Brown (Bro, 247), who apparentlj^ received Ms information from the 

 Tarumas of the upper Essequibo, and by Crevaux (274) who de- 



