168 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [BTH. ANN, 33 
growth after having been struck. It is feathered. The tsararak or 
puya (D) of the Wapishana and Makusi, respectively, is very like 
this Arawak kartimera harpoon arrow. Here, however, there is no 
lateral barb on the harpoon, which is socketed onto the head and 
not onto the shaft, which is of the ordinary grass reed. This arrow 
is feathered; the connecting rope is kept coiled on the shaft when 
shooting and it is intended for catching turtle. It is apparently 
identical with the sararacca harpoon of the Carib, etc. (SR, 1, 307). 
144, Allied to one or other of these, very probably, are the arrows 
described by St. Clair from the Corentyn Arawak as follows: Those 
(arrows) used for large fish consist of one barb (head), which is 
connected with the reed by a socket, to which it is held by a strong 
small cord. When the fish is struck it immediately dives and the 
point (head) of hardwood leaves the reed, which floats on the sur- 
face, by which means the Indians are enabled to haul the prize into 
their canoes. The Karabiss (Carib) nation use feathers on this kind 
of arrow, but not the Arawak (StC, 1. 
331-332). In Cayenne, before the in- 
troduction of iron, the Oyampi and 
Ojana used for “harpoons” a bone 
shaped to a point, usually a splinter 
from the radius of the couata monkey 
attached with tarred thread to the end 
of a piece of hard wood, after the 
manner of a hook (Cr, 148). Unfor- 
tunately, the context is none too clear 
as to whether the author intends by “ harpon” a spear or an arrow 
harpoon. 
145. When shooting the arrow from the bow by hand it is the nock 
of the arrow held between the thumb and forefinger which is pressed 
onto the bowstring, i. e., Morse’s primary release; but I have no- 
ticed, both among the Pomeroon River Carib and the Arawak, that 
the string is often at the same time pressed upon by the index finger 
alone, a form of release (fig. 56) that does not appear to find place in 
that author’s classification. De Goeje speaks of the Surinam Trio 
employing secondary release (GO, 5). ~ So far as the left hand is con- 
cerned, the arrow, lying on the inner edge of the palm and middle 
finger, rests between the bow and forefinger which is supposed te 
guide it. The Baniva (Arawak stock) of the upper Orinoco, like 
the Botocudo Indians, draw their bows with the feet (Cr, 531). On 
the upper Rio Negro, when fisliing at night, the Indian will take 
his torch in the right hand and, holding the bow with the left, will 
draw the string and arrow with his mouth (KG, nm, 31). 
146. The requisite skill in shooting with bow and arrow is ob- 
tained only by years of practice. Among the Otomac the mothers 
Fic. 56.—Arrow release. 
