WZ ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [ETH. ANN. 38 
the Indians make all their candles by dipping long wicks of cotton 
into it and then rolling them into balls (BA, 231). Humboldt de- 
seribes certain torches on the Rio Tomo, Orinoco, as tubes made of 
bark, 3 inches in diameter, filled with copal resin (AVH, 0, 294). 
[ have met with similar ones of smaller dimensions among the 
Pomeroon Akawai. In many parts, the Indians, instead of oil, 
light themselves with the copal, bound round with the leaves of the 
banana tree; others, for the same end, make use of certain seeds, 
put within the hollow of a poited rod which, being run into the earth, 
serves at the same time as a candlestick (LCo, 39). In a Makusi 
camp at the Warraputa Falls, Essequibo, Schomburgk saw haiowa 
gum in use as a substitute for candles. This not only gave a good 
light but perfumed the air with its incense-like odor (ScG, 230). 
On the other hand, though the Essequibo Indians burned rubber 
(hevea) as candles, which furnished a brilliant light, the scent at the 
time of burning was not very agreeable (StC, m, 104). 
6. The islanders at the time of the conquest used stone celts. 
Thus writes Chanca: None of the natives of these islands [Guade- 
loupe, Porto Rico, Santo Domingo] we have visited, possess any iron. 
They have, however, many implements, also hatchets and axes, all 
made of stone, which are so handsome and well finished that it is a 
wonder how they can contrive to make them without employing 
iron. (DAC, 455.) 
So, on the mainland, celts were used up to comparatively recent 
periods. On the Orinoco with their hatchets made of a stone with 
a cutting edge at each end, inserted midway -in suitable handles 
(hachas de pedernal de dos bocas, o de dos cortes, encaxandolas por el 
medio en garrotes proporciwnados) the Indians would cut the green 
stems of the brambles and briers (maleza). It took them two months 
to cut down a tree (G, 11, 229). I obtained such a celt (pl. 3 A, B) 
from the Moruca Warrau through their captain, who told me that it 
came ‘‘from Orinoc side.” In Cayenne Barrére speaks of similar 
difficulties experienced by certain of the Indians out of touch with 
Kuropeans, in clearing their fields, who know of felling large trees 
only by means of fire applied to their trunks, a procedure not only 
laborious but requiring much time. Others employ small hatchets, 
made of pieces of a very hard black stone, 4 or 5 inches long, to 
which they give the shape of our axes by rubbing them on sandstone. 
The handles consist of a piece of very hard wood wherein they cut 
a socket (fente) to hold the base of the stone with Pitte (Kuraua) 
thread and Many (Karrimanni) resin, which they soften, so that it 
takes the place of a godroon (PBA, 152). The mention of the use of 
the thread suggests that the double narrow-grooved stone ax is re- 
ferred to, as otherwise it is hard to see for what purpose it could be 
