RoTH] ANIMAL FOOD 185 
the (arrow) reed rippling the surface of the water. In this manner 
he pursues his game, blowing the shell whenever it appears, until 
the beast, quite exhausted with loss of blood, floats on the surface 
and becomes an easy prey (StC, 1, 333). It is also said that the 
manati can be occasionally caught in the river by taking a portion 
of the flower of the moku-moku and hanging this (taking care not 
to handle it except through the medium of a leaf) over, and almost 
touching the water near where the creature is supposed to be. As 
the manati approaches the bait, it is shot with arrows (Ti, June 83, 
p. 110). Wallace, on the Amazons, speaks of the manati being caught 
in a strong net at the narrow entrance of a lake or stream and killed 
by driving a wooden plug up its nostrils with a mallet (ARW, 128, 
319-3820). The Wapishana similarly plug the two nostrils with a 
forked stick (JO). 
170. Monkeys may be “called” within arrow shot, either of the 
bow or blowpipe. J. G. Quelch, when on a journey up the Essequibo 
and Potaro, speaks of a Makusi huntsman imitating the cry of a 
couata monkey so exactly that when the man had disappeared some 
little time in the bush, so that the loudness of his voice was deadened, 
it was perfectly impossible for him to distinguish which was the 
imitation and which the real cry of the brute (Ti, June 89, p. 159). 
To secure the half-grown young Cebus apella, the Makusi will shoot 
them with stumped, instead of pointed, arrows, and thus stun them 
(App, mu, 442). It would seem that on the Orinoco monkeys were 
shot with the harpoon arrow (G, 1, 260). 
171. In recording his experiences among otters or “ water dogs” 
on the Berbice, Dance says that when the boys see them they emit a 
wide open-mouth sound, while tapping the larynx with their fingers. 
The gurgling sound, which somewhat resembles the tone of the 
otter’s voice, often brings these animals around a corial, apparently 
infuriated (Da, 119). I have met with similar experiences on the 
Moruca River, but do not know of its flesh being eaten by any of the 
tribes, except perhaps the Carib. 
172. The rat trap (pl. 41, fig. 1) of the Arawak and of the Warrau, 
who use a species of this animal for food, consists of a noose (7), bent 
switch spring (s), bar (6), hook (h), and inclosure (¢, e). The noose 
is made of an itiriti strip about 4 feet long, twisted upon itself, and 
then allowed to double over, so as to form a two-strand locked by its 
own torsion. Its free ends are knotted together (/). Twine, etc., 
can not be substituted for the itiriti, the latter being the only ma- 
terial to hand which will not “stick” should rain or moisture fall. 
The bar, from 12 to 16 inches long, is strong yet pliable, and after 
being stuck firmly into the ground has its exposed portion bent over 
at right angles, a position maintained by means of the forked stick or 
60160°—24—_13 + 
