364 ANIMISM AND FOLK-LOKE OF GUIANA INDIANS [ETH. ANN. 30 



tiirnmg white, and in time would be white people. The association 

 with white people of the idea of life everlasting in this mundane 

 world, an idea which the Indians themselves possessed, has already 

 been referred to (Sect. 66). In a work by J. J. Hartsinck (ii; 810), 

 occurs the followmg passage concerning certain negroes at Saramacca; 



Regarding the "Touvingas" or Two-fingered Negroes fpl. 7] it is observed that 

 they are a people who had only two large fingers on their hands and two large toes on 

 their feet, similar to those di a crab, as is figured in the ilhistration. The wrist is 

 somewhat larger than that of the average man : the thtimb and little finger are more 

 than twice the usual size, and stand out from the limb, have a bend at the tip, and 

 appear as one piece of flesh on which there is something like a nail. The palm of the 

 hand has no bends, but appears as a solid mass, yet the divisions can be felt. . . . 

 After the declaration of freedom, these negroes of Saramacca walked publicly through 

 Paramaribo. . . . Many argue that they are not a distinct tribe or nation, but just 

 a family who by accident or freak of nature have been thus deformed. These people 

 are becoming very rare indeed, probably through intercourse with others, fast bastard- 

 izing. 



The forests of the River Sipapo, Ormoco, are altogether unknown, 

 and there the missionaries place the nation of the Rayas, whose 

 mouths are believed to be in their navels; they wei-e so called on 

 account of the pretended analogy with the fish of this name, the mouth 

 of which seems as if forced downward below the body: an old Indian 

 at Carichana, who boasted of havuag often eaten human flesh, 

 had seen these acepJiali with his own eyes (AVH, ii, 317). Mianiko, 

 one of the three tribal Kobeua heroes, had no head, but eyes in 

 place of nipples (KG, ii, 162). 



333. Particularly interestmg among all the extraordinary folk 

 coming under our ken are the Amazons, whose existence is believed 

 in among the Indians even up to the present day. Several legends, of 

 which I have given example (Sect. 157), bear reference to them. 

 Like many another, I have striven in vain to discover the exact 

 whereabouts of these valiant females, who, though cast sufficiently 

 in the Spartan mold to amputate the right breast with a view to 

 insuring greater freedom of movement for the arm in battling upon 

 the Field of Mars, were nevertheless women enough to be occasion- 

 ally caught napping under the canopy of Venus. The Jesuit Father 

 Acuna (164) gives the accompanying account of them; he appears 

 to have been more fortunate than I. 



Up the River Cunuris on the north side of the Amazon, to the cast of Toupinambou 

 Island, live the Apotos [?Apautos], the Tagaris [?Tagua-us], and lastly the Guacaras, 

 who are the people that have the Privilege to converse with these valiant Women 

 and enjoy their favors. They dwell upon huge mountains: one that lifts its Head 

 a great height above all the rest is Yacamiaba. These women (as has been said) are 

 very courageous and have always maintained themselves alone without the help and 

 assistance of men; and when their neighbors come into their country at a time con- 

 certed with them, they receive them with weapons in their hands, which are Bows 

 and Arrows, and which they exercise as if they were going against their enemies; but 



