ROTH] SEXUAL LIFE 313 



mock than usual. She must not cat meat from any big animal 

 (as tapir and turtle), or fish which contains much blood. The flesh 

 of any game hunted by dogs is strictly forbidden her; otherwise the 

 dogs would be permanently spoiled for hunting. On no account 

 may she cook, bake, or prepare drink, for other men or women. 

 She must not cross water, travel in a corial, or bathe in a river or a 

 pond; if she wishes to wash she may pour water out of a calabash 

 over herself. Using a separate fire for hei-self, it is inijierative that 

 she never blows one out. She has to cook in a smaller pot, and 

 employ a smaller fan, goblet, etc., all especially made for the purpose. 

 In this comiection I would suggest that many of the "toy vessels," 

 described by im Thurn jis being "seen in and about almost every 

 Indian house" (IT, 27S), are in reality the ])ottery-ware used specially 

 during the periods of menstruation. Finally, the girl must not comb 

 her hair but must let it hang loose. 



In addition to the bathing prohilution, the Makusi women during 

 these times must not go into tiu- forest, where they would be exposed 

 to the embraces of snakes (Sell, ii, 316). On the lower Guaviar the 

 Piapoco husl)and is said to bring the wdfe her food during the few 

 days that she remains isolated in the special hut (Cr, 521)). 



275. In matters of courtship the would-be benedict knows that 

 the acceptance of an offering of food or of other objects is the token 

 of a favorable, tlie rejection, that of an unfavorable issue. The 

 Arawak lover, after making sure beforehand through the girl's relo'- 

 tives that he will not meet \\dth a refusal, pays a visit to her ])arents, 

 tells them how poor he is, that he has no wife, etc. At the conclusion 

 of these preliminaries the young woman puts before him something 

 to eat (SR, ii, 4.59). He knows that the jiath of true love is going to 

 run smooth. So again in the same trii>e if a father wants some 

 well-known person for son-in-law, he lets his daughter place food 

 l)efore the latter during the course of a visit; if he partakes of it, the 

 union is assured; if not, the old man knows that their wishes do not 

 agree (ScR, ii, 459). At the present day, on the Pomeroon, when 

 the Arawak young man returns on the appointed day to receive an 

 answer from the fatlier, he takes care to leave his hannnock at the 

 waterside, or on the pathway. If the girl brings this in, he knows 

 that his prospects are favorable, any doubt being clinched by the 

 father teUing his daughter to give the young man cassava, pepper-pot, 

 beltiri, or anything else that may be on hand. In Siu-inam, it is 

 sufficient for the man anxious to marry, to take to the girl all the 

 game and fish that he has caught during the day; if she accepts this 

 present it is a sign that she is wiUing to have him (Fe, 38). In 

 Cayenne, with the Galibis, as soon as a girl has taken a fancy to an 

 Indian she will offer him drink, together with firewood to light near 



