152 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [ETH. ANN. 88 
which are of such a subtle nature that the very smoke of this wood 
when on fire is fatal to those animals that receive it into their lungs. 
This is always seen to grow by itself, as it infallibly kills everything 
around it, even the slaves refusing to cut it down on the planta- 
tions, so much are they afraid of touching or even coming near 
it. . . . Ihave been told that some of the Indians render their 
arrows fatal by dipping the barbs of them in its sap (St, m, 182). 
But, on the other hand, markuri is the Guinau name apparently for 
curare poison (sec. 120). 
124. The Makusi Indians, says Waterton, have shown ingenuity 
in making a quiver to hold their blowpipe arrows. It will contain 
from 500 to 600. It is generally from 12 to 14 inches long and in 
shape resembles a dicebox used at backgammon (pl. 35 B). The in- 
side is prettily done in basketwork, with wood not unlike bamboo, 
and the outside has a coat of wax. The cover is of one piece, formed 
out of the skin of the tapir, deer, etc. Around the center there is 
fastened a loop large enough to admit the arm and shoulder, from 
which it hangs when used. To the rim is tied a little bunch of silk 
grass, and half of the jawbone of the fish called pirai, with which 
the Indian scrapes the point of his arrow. Before he puts his arrows 
into the quiver he links them together by two strings of cotton, one 
string at each end, and then folds them around a stick which is 
nearly the length of the quiver. The end of the stick which is upper- 
most is guarded by two little pieces of wood crosswise, with a hoop 
around their extremities, which appears something like a wheel, and 
this saves the hand from being wounded when the quiver is reversed 
in order to let the bunch of arrows drop out (pl. 35 B). There is 
also attached to the quiver a little basket to hold the wild cotton 
which is put on the blunt end of the arrow (W, 96-98). This de- 
scription of the Makusi quiver for blowpipe darts affords a good 
basis for comparison with other types met with in the Guianas. The 
quiver is usually made of neatly plaited strips of maranta stalks 
(HWB, 295), or probably other material, and covered more or less, 
sometimes on its whole surface, with “pitch” or resin and wax, the 
karamanni. The bottom is either a thin disk of wood or a piece of 
calabash, usually also covered with the resin, etc. On the upper Rio 
Negro—certainly on the Icana and Caiary—the pitch forms an outer 
covering for perhaps the lower third of the article (pl. 35 C), the 
middle third being enveloped in an additional and finer plaitwork 
showing special patterns. These would appear to have no covers. 
Among the Katapolitani (Arawak stock) of the Icana a quiver was 
obtained with the inner of these two layers of basketry replaced by 
a thick wooden tube (KG, 1, 97). The Buhagana (Betoya stock) of 
