246 ANIMISM AND FOLK-LORE OF GUIANA INDIANS Ikth. ANN. 30 



surface but Oriyu herself! There she was, the real Spirit of the Water, with all her 

 beautiful hair entangled in the line. It was but the work of a minute to get her 

 into his boat, and she was indeed beautiful to look upon. So beautiful was she that 

 he carried her home to his mother, and made her his wife, the only condition that 

 Oriyu stipulated being that neither her prospective husband nor her mother-in-law 

 should ever di-vidge her origin. Being so accustomed to the water. Oriyu proved an 

 excellent helpmate; out she would go with her husband, in his boat, and look into 

 the depths for fish. These she could see when no one else could, and she would advise 

 him not to throw his line in here, but over there, and so on. And thus day after day 

 they returned home, always bringing the old mother-in-law plenty of fish. As you 

 can well imagine, this happiness did not last very long; it came to an end through 

 the old woman, when in liquor, loosening her tongtie and letting out the secret of 

 Orijni's origin. Oriyu said nothing at this time, so grieved she was, but she waited 

 her opportunity to take her husband with her to her former home under the 

 waters. So on the next occasion that the crabs began to "march'' from out the ocean 

 to the shore, the family made up a large party, and all took their places, with their 

 quakes, in a big corial. As they were coming down the river, Oriyu all of a sudden 

 told her companions tliat she and her husband were about to pay a visit to her people 

 below, but that they would not be gone long, and that in the meantime she would send 

 up something for them to eat and drink, but they must share everything fairly 

 Without more ado she and her man dived into the water. After awhile up came a 

 large jar of cassiri, and a lot of potatoes, a very welcome addition to the few pro- 

 visions they had on board. When they had each had their fill of the cassiri, and 

 had eaten the potatoes, they threw the jug and the useless skins back into the water, 

 where the Oriyu turned the former into the giant low-low [Silurus] and the latter 

 into the squatty little imiri [Scindeicthys]. This is why we old Arawaks always speak 

 of the low-low as the fisherman's water-jug, and of the imiri as his potatoes. 



185. Brett mentions certain other good qualities of the Oriyus. 

 Out on one of the ishinds all the men, women, and children were 

 struck down with siclaiess. Arawanili [cf. Hariwah, Sect. 3], the 

 island chieftain, begged Oriyu for some charm to withstand the Evil 

 Spirit's power which had made liis people sick. She gave liim the 

 branch of an Ida tree, which she told him to go and plant, and 

 to brmg back to her the first fruit that should fall from it. This' 

 turned out to be a calabash {Crescentia) , mth which he did what he 

 was told. Having emptied the rind through certain holes cut in it, 

 she provided him with the feathered handle, and dived into the sea 

 whence she brought the shining white stones to put into it; with 

 these she thereupon showed him how to invoke the Spirits. Thus 

 was the first maral-a (rattle) formed. Besides this, she taught 

 Ai-awaniU the use of tobacco, till then unknown to man (BrB, 18). 



186. Like the Spu-its of the Forest, the Oriyus have strong sexual 

 predilections. Every nlglit, in their anthropomorphic form, both 

 males and females may come after Indians of the opposite sex, 

 respectively, and no disastrous result follows tlie mtimacy.' But 

 the Indians who happen to have stich dealings must keep the fact 

 absolutely secret: if divulged, either they will not live long, or they 



1 Among some of the oki Warraus the product of an abortion is described as the Water Spirit's child, 

 being 2 or 3 inches long, with the head like that of a horse and the feet like those of a lizard. 



