330 



ANIMISM AND FOLK-LORE OF GUIANA INDIANS [etu. ann. 30 



sultLQg-room, so to speak. Were thoy to be profaned, they would 

 lose their intrinsic virtues, whUe the delinquents would suffer mis- 

 fortunes of various descriptions. The bench (the Jia-Tu of the 

 Arawaks) , plate 5, differed from the ordinary article of furniture usually 

 met with in Indian houses, in being larger, often painted, and carved 

 in fanciful designs of various animals, but httle is known concerning 

 the why and wherefore of the selection of the particular beast; thus, 

 I have seen the turtle, alligator, tiger, and macaw more or less faith- 

 fully represented on such Warrau and Arawak divining-stools. 



289. The rattle, mardka (an Arawak 

 Avord) , the sJuilcshaJc of the Creoles, differs 

 somewhat in shape, size, and ornamenta- 

 tion throughout the various tribes. It 

 consists essentially of a large cleaned-out 

 "calabash," containing stones and other 

 objects, through which a closely fitting 

 taperuig stick is run from end to end by 

 means of two apertures cut for the pur- 

 pose (fig. 4) . This gourd shell ( Crescentia 

 cujete Linn.), which may or may not be 

 painted in various colors, is provided with 

 certain small circular holes as well as with 

 a few long narrow shts, both kinds of 

 openings being too small to allow of the 

 contents (either cpiartz-crystals or a spe- 

 cies of agate) droppmg out. Seeds may 

 be employed with or without the stones — 

 small pea-like seeds variegated with black 

 and yellow spots which, it is commonly 

 believed, will occasion the teeth to fall 

 out if they are chewed (Ba, 311), or hard 

 red ones (StC, i, 320). But whether 

 seeds or stones, they usually have some 



Fig. 4. Piai's rattle (Arawak), Pomeroon. „,,. ^j- ii, „ „ „„„;.»;„. +!,„ F„«„, „- -f .. ™ 



out-oi-the-way origm ; the former, tor m- 

 stance, may have been extracted from the piai teacher's stomach (PBa, 

 208); the latter may be the gift of the Water Spu-its (Sect. 185). 

 According to a KaUna, the power of the mardka lies in the stones 

 contamed therein (Go, 14). The thicker, projecting part of the stick 

 constitutes the handle, to prevent its slipping; it may be wrapped 

 vnih. cotton thread. The exposed thinner end is ornamented with 

 feathers, as those, of the parrot, inserted in a cotton band, which 

 is then woimd spirally on it. An Arawak medicine-man assured 

 me that the feathers must not only be those of a special kind of 

 parrot {Psittacus mstivus), but that they must be plucked from the 



