roth] 



OMENS, CHARMS, TALISMANS 



283 



each one broken for huntmg a different species of game; taking 

 the largest for tho wild hog, and the smaller ones for the smtiller 

 animals. 'V\Tien about six montlis old thej' are taken to the hunt 

 with their su'es, ha\'ing previously gone through the process of being 

 washed and rubbed over with a particular leaf named aftei- the annual 

 which feeds on it, and which the dog is intended to bunt; and it is 

 curious that these leaves should partake of the odor of the animal. 

 The game being discovered, the j'oung dog Ls taken forward,. and set 

 on him; but he generally turns tail for the few first times, as this 

 breed is naturally without spirit. He is then taken up, and again 

 goes tlu'ough the same process of washing and rubbing with the leaf; 

 and at length he is treated to a piece of the animal's flesh, which 

 makes him more 

 keen and ravenous. 

 In this mannei-. 

 exerting patience, 

 of which these In- 

 dians have a most 

 abundant stock, 

 and seldom correct- 

 ing the animal, it 

 becomes in time a 

 reliable and valu- 

 able dog (StC, I. 

 315). The method 

 sometimes used by 

 the Zfiparo Indians 

 of the Napo River 

 (upper Amazon) in 

 framing then cele- 

 brated hunting- 

 dogs consists in 

 put ling a dose of 



Fig. 2. Carib drinking-cup, Pomeroon River, bearing design showing 

 tlie two trees (a ) in tlie tops of whicli lives the wonderful Araradri 

 Snake (6). while the roots (d) are surrotinded by scorpions (c). 



tobacco down the animal's throat, his nose and 

 mouth being then also stuffed full of it, until he nearly chokes; this 

 is to clear his scent and sharpen his perceptions (AS, 169). 



235. Old Caribs, Warraus, and Arawaksof the Pomeroon and Moruca 

 Rivers agree in tellmg me that they originall}- obtained their hunting 

 binas — they are not so sure about the binas employed for other pur- 

 poses — from certain very large snakes, which arc invariably to be 

 met with only in localities so far distant from the source of informa- 

 tion as to preclude the possibility of my ever obtaining specimens. 

 The Caribs refer me to two snakes, the Oruperi (Sect. 3) and the 

 Aramari (fig. 2). The former lives on the ground, beyond the Waini 

 and the Barima. The latter, which is much the bigger, lives in the 

 tops of trees and catches its pi-ey by povuicing upon it horn above: it 



