ROTH] WEAPONS: HUNTING AND FIGHTING 153 
the upper Apaporis and Tiquie, on the other hand, have the entire 
article made of a beautiful red wood, which takes on a fine polish. 
The cover, however, is plaitwork encased in pitch. 
The Trio quiver is made of bamboo, engraved in various patterns, 
with a deerskin cover (GOH, pl. v, fig. 12; pl. x1, figs. 18, 19, 22). 
With the Igana and Caiary coverless quivers just mentioned the 
darts are protected by placing them points downward into a loose 
ball of bast fiber (IXG, 1, 98). With the Buhagana ones palm-leaf 
pinnules or the pliable broad stems of a certain grass are bent 
over and tied close to one another with twine, so as to form a 
miniature roll-up mat, in the coils of which, after the style of a 
case of instruments, the darts are firmly secured. When all is 
thus rolled together the mat so closely fits the inner sides of 
the quiver that the downward projecting points do not touch the 
bottom, whereas by means of a string it can be pulled out in its 
entirety as required (KG, 1, 329). Schomburgk has recorded that 
the little basket which contains the cotton has a shape peculiar to, 
and indicative of, each nation (SR, 1, 425-426) ; and within certain 
areas this may be true. Its construction is described elsewhere (sec. 
417). On the other hand, as in the upper Rio Negro quivers, where 
the darts are carried already cotton-plugged, no special basket of any 
description is required. The cotton is obtained from the Bombax 
globosum (SR, 1, 425-426), the Hriodendron samatima (HWB, 295), 
ete. 
125. The bow, shimarabo (Ara.), sumara (Wap.), uraba (Mak.), 
etc., is made from at least half a dozen different timbers, only two 
of which, I believe, have been identified. Among the former are the 
tibikushi and washiba of the Arawak and the tari and wamara of 
the Makusi and Wapishana. The identified timbers are the purple- 
heart (Copaifera pubiflora) and the letter-wood or snakewood (Bro- 
simum aubletii Poepp & Endl.). The latter, also known as burakura, 
burukuru, or burokoro, is a timber of great beauty when polished, 
and thus the finished weapons of this material have come to be 
wrongly regarded as intended more for ornament than for use. 
Letter-wood constituted no unimportant article of trade between the 
Guiana and Brazilian Indians. A large supply comes from the for- 
ests at the back of the Canuku and Pakaraima Mountains. There 
must also be a source of supply somewhere in the Taruma country, 
because these people sell it to the Wapishana, who in turn trade it 
to the Makusi. On the upper Rio Negro a species of Tecoma is said 
to be employed (KG, 1, 104). On the islands the Carib used the 
latanier palm (RO, 81). The outer surface of the Arawak, Carib, 
Akawai, Patamona, Makusi, and Wapishana bow is either concave or 
60160°—24——11 
