384 ANIMISM AND FOLK-LORE OF GUIANA INDIANS [eth. an.n. 30 



About three months passed. The Arawaks could wait no longer, so they traveled 

 over to Surinam, and came upon the Carib forces, collected in a fortress with enclosing 

 palisade, similar to what they themselves had constructed for their own preservation 

 at Waiba-diki, The Caribs were in overwhelming numbers. So the Arawaks hid 

 themselves, and sent in one of their number to recounoiter. This man, who could 

 talk Carib, painted him.self like one of that nation, and boldly entered the enemy's 

 camp, where he found them all drinking. He .said he was a Carib, and that he had 

 just come from the Pomeroon looking for his family; he accepted a little drink and 

 then took his departure, but not before discovering that very early on the following 

 morning, long before daybreak, a crab whistle (i. e. made from a crab claw) would be 

 blown as a signal for them to prepare for battle. The scout returned to his people, 

 with all the information that he had gleaned. That night, every one of the Arawaks 

 made a crab whistle, and surrounding the Caribs while they were still drinking, blew 

 their whistles, surprising the enemy, and slew them all, save one man and woman, 

 who begged so earnestly for their lives that only their legs were speared. It is from 

 this couple that all the present day Caribs are derived, and this is why there are com- 

 paratively so few of them. It was we Arawaks who broke their power. 



