ROTii'l OMENS, CHARMS, TALISMANS 285 



there (Covi, tt, 171). If a (ishennan [Pomeroon Arawaks] has been 

 unlucky, and finally catches any little fish, he will take it off the 

 hook and, blowing into its mouth, say: "I will let you go again, if 

 }'OU tell your friends, the bigger fish, to come." Of coiu-se it tells 

 them, and the fisherman's luck is rewarded. But the httle fish is 

 not given its liberty again as promised, for the Indians say that if 

 they returned it to the water, it would tell its friends not to bite at 

 the hook. There are tiu-ee such fish that are thus supposed to act 

 as binas: the we-shi (Crenicichla saxaitZis), "sun-fish," the shibaUi 

 (J^cff/'ff), "patwa," and the liura-diro {1 Eigenmannia lineatus), a 

 fish 12 to 14 inches long, but of which the long thin taU con- 

 stitutes a good third. Similar ideas underlie a procedure reported 

 from Caracas: "When an Indian slays a wild beast, he opens its 

 mouth, and poui-s dovrn its thrwit some intoxicating hquor, in order 

 that its soul [Spirit] may inform others of a similar species of the 

 kind reception it received, and that they may be encouraged to 

 come anil share the same favor" (FD, 52). 



Game, however, can be attracted to the hunting-dog. There is a 

 certain ant (kudu-kudu-barilya of the Arawaks) which, after being 

 roasted, is put inside a piece of cassava, and given to a dog to make 

 it a good hunter of any animal; the dog is simultaneously trained to 

 go into wood-holes and earth-holes by having its food placed inside a 

 cassava-squeezer. 



237. The next class of binas deals with phases of the sexual ques- 

 tion: conjugal rights, mutual love and afTection, and babies. Where 

 plants take the title roles, these are again mostly caladia. Arawak, 

 Wari'au, Akawai, and Carib women all have their own binas for 

 managing tlie ojiposite sex. The Arawak young woman plants her 

 liiaro (gu'l)-bina usuallj'in some secluded spot known onl\- to herself; 

 she win bathe with a leaf of it, or carr}- it about with her, and, pro- 

 vided the opportunity offers, without her being seen, may rub it 

 over her lover's hammock, or she may rub her own hands with it, 

 and then touch his. In any case, the man must be ignorant of what 

 is going on, and, provided the procedure is strictly earned out as 

 described, he wiU never have am* desire to transfer his affections 

 elsewhere. Again, the same woman may employ another plant, not 

 a caladimn, called the kurua-bina, apparently a Rajania of the Yam 

 family; she wiU similarly bathe with the leaf, but retaining the 

 water in which she has thus made her ablutions, will strew it on the 

 path along which her sweetheart is about to travel, telling it to make 

 him return soon. The male ^\j-awak has a corresponding behef as to 

 the wajili (man)-bina, the leaf of which he generally carries about 

 with the object of brushing over his girl's face or shoulders: he is 

 very intent on gomg tlu-t)ugh this performance when he notices that 

 she has a weakness for other men. Other peoples (as the Caribs) have 



