164 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [BTH. ANN. 38 
of the base of the head being 9 inches long it is barely half as much. 
The signs of recent cutting also show that, subsequent to the smear- 
ing with the poison, the lanceolate extremity has been secondarily 
and badly trimmed into a jagged one. 
138. Among the knobbed variety perhaps the best example is the 
maroa (Ara., anything round) of the Arawak (fig. 52 B), an arrow 
with composite rounded head, made of any hardwood, and used for 
small birds only. It is feathered. In the case of these Arawak 
specimens, however, I use the term “composite” advisedly, because 
of the knob being often cut out in one piece with the arrowhead. 
I have seen similar ones with the Patamona (A), and Stedman has 
described the same from Surinam (St, 1, 395). So, also, on the upper 
yy) 
WER 
Fig. 52.—Arrow; head composite and fixed, knobbed. 
Parou River, Cayenne, the Indians tip their arrows with a suffi- 
ciently heavy knob carved out of a bone or an awarra seed (Cr, 277). 
The Taurepang have the knob made of the butt end of a deer horn, 
an interesting adaptation of a natural form, wedged into the split 
extremity (fig. 52 C). Included in this knobbed variety is the 
tamaria or tapara of the Makusi and Wapishana, respectively, with 
the knob formed of four crosspieces (D). Different views seem to 
be held as to the object of these knobs. Some arrows have blunted 
heads, instead of points, about the size of a large chestnut, like what 
our ancestors called bols; with these they do not all but stun the 
macaws, parrots, and small monkeys, so that they can take them 
with their hands; soon after which they recover and are sent alive to 
Paramaribo (St, 1, 395). The Makusi and Wapishana assured me 
that they used this arrow with intent to kill the bird; while the 
