ROTH] WEAPONS: HUNTING AND FIGHTING 159 
which is finally waxed with turara or karrimanui cement. This 
decoration assumes one of at least three forms (fig. 48): The simple 
roll (a), the crossed (0), or the composite pattern (c¢), i. e., a com- 
bination of the other two, a crossing covered by a roll. Now comes 
the feathering on lines described. elsewhere (sec. 83), care being 
taken that the axes of the arrowhead, the feathers, and the notch 
for the bowstring all lie in the same plane. 
131. As variations from the method of arrow making above de- 
scribed, it is interesting to note that I have often seen Warrau and 
coastal Arawak fixing the head of the weapon previous to the nock, 
and as frequently watched them inserting both head and nock pegs 
into the shaft after undergoing special manipulation to receive them. 
This preparation consists of a pit or hole made by splitting the end 
of the shaft, opening out the split wedgewise and picking out the 
Fic. 48.—Cotton decoration of distal extremity of arrow shaft. 
soft parts. But whether this variation is the lazy man’s method or 
dependent upon the shaft being insufficiently or too much dried, I 
am unable to say. 
132. Arrows are either without feathering or two-feathered. There 
are records of their having been three-feathered. On the upper 
Parou River (Cayenne) it has been stated that when an arrow is 
intended for shooting into the air, it is fitted with feathers; when 
for the water, it is without them (Cr, 277). A similar statement has 
been made for the Rio Negro (KG, 1, 31), and I have found it true 
for the Pomeroon and Moruca. Indeed, the generalization holds 
good, more or less, throughout the Guianas, although, inter alia, it 
will be seen that feathers may or may not be fixed on identical arrows 
(sec. 144), even by members of the same tribe. Thus, with the 
Wapishana, the tukutchi arrow for shooting fish at close range may 
be feathered or not (sec. 139). When feathered, the two feathers 
are fixed on with fine cotton thread or with kuraua fiber, according to 
