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



181. Of Water Spirits in the form of fish I must note the Omars, 

 of which, so far as tlie name is concerned, the only record 1 can Ihid 

 is given by im Thurn. These are beings — 



With Ijodies variously described as like those of exaggerated cralis and fish, who 

 live under water in the rapids, and often drag down the boats of the Indians as they 

 shoot these places. ... A story was told me at Ouropocari fall on the Essequibo. . . . 

 This Omar used to feed on rotten wood, and he dragged down many boats merely in 

 mistake for floating logs, but all the same the Indians were dro\vned. So one day an 

 Ackawoi peaiman carefully wrapped up two pieces of the wood with which fire is 

 rublied, so that no water could make them damp. Then he dived down into the mid- 

 dle of the falls, and got into the belly of the Omar. There he found whole stores of 

 rotten wood. So he set fire to this. Then the Omar, in great pain, rose to the sur- 

 face, belched out the peaiman and died. [IT, 385.] 



I do not know whether this autlior was aware that omar is the 

 Arawak term for that terrible little fish, the pirai, whose peculiarly 

 destructive powers would constitute a capital groundwork on which 

 to weave fabulous embellishment, though there is a susjjicion that 

 the word is but a play on the word Jonah, the exploits of these 

 extraordinary individuals beuag so closely parallel. 



183. I obtained a somewhat similar story from the Warraus of the 

 Moruca River. 



The Piai in the Water Spirit's Belly (W) 



Plenty of men would go fishing down the ri\-er, but every now and again one of 

 their number would disappear: a Ho-aranni. one of the Water Spirits, caught him. 

 It caused the son of the local piai to exclaim: '' \\Tiat ever can be the matter with the 

 stream? Friends of mine go regularly to fish, and just as regularly does one of them 

 disappear." Traveling to the particular spot where the alleged "accident" always 

 took place, he himself was caught and taken away by Ho-aranni. It was now the turn 

 of the piai to say, " I will go to the place where my son disappeared," and wise in his 

 generation he carried with liim. in his corial. bauali posts, firewood, and fire. Before 

 taldug Ms departure he warned his wife that perhaps Ho-ardnni would swallow him 

 also, but that if not. she might expect Mm to return within a month. He traveled 

 down the stream, and turning a point, his boat was suddenly engulfed -n-ithin the open 

 jaws of the AVater Spirit there l>ing in wait: boat, posts, firewood, and fire were all 

 swallowed with him. When at last the piai ' ' caught liimself ' ' [i. e. came to Ms senses], 

 he was in complete darkness; so after lighting Ms fire, he began to make Mmself 

 comfortable and set up Ms liauab, by sticking the half-dozen rods in regular sequence 

 deep into the Water Spiiit's belly. Ho-arinni naturally experienced acute pain and 

 went to consult a piai friend of his who, however, could give Mm no relief, but advised 

 him to go elsewhere. The sufferer therefore visited another medii-ine-man. who told 

 him practically the same tMng: ''I cannot help you. It is just what you can expect 

 for treating people of my profession in the way you do. " As a last resource he went to 

 a third doctor, of even greater renown than the others, but by tMs time the piai 

 within was making the pains ten times worse, with the heaping up of the firewood 

 on the lighted fire, and the sticking in of the posts around. All the consolation he got 

 was, "There's nothing to cure you. It is all your own fault and you must die." 

 Ho-ardnni accordingly considered it time to retrace liis joimiey and make haste 

 homeward. The pains becoming so strong, he raised himself out of the water just 

 as a fi.4i does when he becomes poisoned with the haiari root and, rising to the 

 surface, gasps for breath. The piai inside kept a sharp lookout, and when Ho-ar- 



