BOTH] SEXUAL LIFE 317 



got out to sea. (He was ashamed to expose his ignorance of their manufacture.) 

 "You must be very quick at it," they said. "Not at alll" he replied, "there 

 is no difficulty whatever in the matter. Indeed, I bet that I will make my quakes 

 and catch crabs while you are catching yours, and that 1 will even then beat you." 

 They then all made a start: in the corial were the would-be husUmd, his new 

 wife, the old father-in-law, and some five or six other young men. When they 

 reached the .sea. they anchored their boat at a little distance from the shore, all 

 except Ishe honeymoon couple getting out, each with a basket, to hunt for crabs. 

 After they had gone, the young man told his bride to jump out also, and drive all 

 the little "four-eye" fish [Telrophlhalmus sp.] toward the boat. And while he 

 was there squatting on the bench, with the mukru strands in his hands trying to 

 make his baskft, the fish all passed by.' As might have l)een expected, he realized 

 that he was making no pnigress, so he made the woman surround the slioal a second 

 time, and drive the fish back again, thus allowing him to have another l(X)k. She 

 thus continued driving the fish backward and forward, and still he made no progress. 

 She finally became very angry, and picking up one of the quakes out of the corial, 

 waderl on to shore: he called out to her to come back, but she took no heed of 

 him. Xow^ the particular quake which she had taken belonged, as she well knew, 

 to one of the other men who had accompanied them on the expedition and who was 

 an old lover of hers; it was this same man whom she proceeded to join when she 

 reached shore. She came close to him, and sajing that she wanted to help him, lent 

 her as.sistance in the usual manner: as he dragged the crabs out of their holes, he would 

 every now and then jerk one near her. and she would gather it up into her basket. 

 Her husband now came over and joined them, and though he would drag (jut a crab, 

 and throw it toward her. she took not the .slight est notice. Although he repeatedly 

 shouted, " lx)ok out! It is escaping. Put it into your basket, " she would not even 

 recognize him. With her old lover, on the other hand, it was quite different: they 

 soon filled their quakes, and went back to the boat for two more baskets: and these 

 were soon filled. Back to the boat for two more, and so on, backward and forivard, 

 until all the quakes were full. When the husband realized that the others had gath- 

 ered almost all the crabs that they could po.ssibly carry home with them, he became 

 desperate, and taking his hanunock. wrapped mthin its folds as many of the crus- 

 taceans as he could gather. It was now time for them to start on their return journey, 

 but getting into the boat the bride squatted, not on her husband's l)ench as was the 

 proper thing for a recently married young woman to do. but on that of her old lover. 

 The would-be hu.sband said, "Come here: you are sitting in the wrong place;" but 

 she and the old man t(X)k no notice of the remark, and simply snubt)ed him. Fur- 

 thermore, when they reached home, all the men turned into their hammocks, while 

 the wife Imsied herself over the cooking. This did not take very long, as she was 

 only roasting the crabs, so she wivs soon able to announce, "Father! It is quite ready 

 now." Getting out of liis hammock, the old man called the young men up one after 

 another, giving each one his name, and then called Salchi! Now, on hearing this 

 term of endearment, the husband thought he was intended, and accordingly replied, 

 Wangj" [i. e. Yes, thanks, etc.]. "No, no!" said the old father, "I mean the 

 son-in-law whom I brought in the boat back with me today. He knows how to make 

 quakes. You don't. ' ' Naturally, the erstwhile husl)and was put to shame, and imme- 

 diately wended his steps over to his mother's place, carrying with him his hammock 

 and the few crabs it contained. His mother was indeed a dear old soul, and after 

 cooking the crabs, and gi\ing him a real square meal, consoled him as only a mother 



I The pattern of the weft of these crab-quakes is known to the Arawaks as the kassaroa, or "four-eye 

 fish," from the manner in which the starting strands are" arranged, like so many "eyes." The idea 

 intended to be conveyed iiere is that as the man in question did not really know how to make these baskets, 

 he was anxious to get a full view of the tish, so as to serve him for a model which he could copy. 



