186 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [ETH, ANN. 38 
hook (A) clamped over its extremity. It is thus made to he horizon- 
tally with, and about one-half an inch from, the surface of the soil. 
Looped on to this bar is one end of the noose, which is successively 
looped through itself, fastened by a clove hitch on to the extremity 
of the spring, and passed back again from outside under the bar, 
where it is fixed in place by means of a cylindrically cut piece of 
cassava jammed tightly up against the knot into the interspace be- 
tween the bar and the surface of the ground. Except immediately 
in front of the noose, the whole is surrounded with a miniature fence 
or inclosure (¢, é), formed of a broad itiriti or other leaf, set up edge- 
wise between a varying number of light wooden slips. [For dia- 
grammatic purposes, a portion of this inclosure is represented as 
transparent in the illustration.] As a result of this arrangement 
to get at the cassava the rat has to pass through the noose, in which, 
as soon as he starts digging up and removing the bait, and so frees 
the knot, he gets hoisted and caught (WER, 1v). 
173. The Waccawai (Akawai) and Carib eat the flesh of the three- 
toed sloth, which they describe as fat and well flavored (ScE, 168). 
The Waiwai and Parikuta also eat it (JO). 
174. As to the tapir or bush cow, the Achagua watch for these 
animals at the river banks and imitate their call. As they approach 
they shoot them with poisoned arrows (G, 1, 264). On the Rupununi 
Schomburgk also speaks of shooting tapir with the poisoned arrow 
(ScO, 110). Elsewhere they may be snared or shot with the arrow 
trap. Schomburgk also describes how, on the Cotinga, when they 
were cleaning one of these beasts, the [Makusi] Indians carefully 
collected the blood, mixed with it small pieces of finely cut meat, and 
stuffed it into the intestine, which they did not cook, but only smoked 
(SR, 1, 169). ; 
175. The water haas (Wydrochwrus capybara) is apparently the 
creature mentioned by Depons in the following terms: Another 
animal which abounds in the Oroonoko (Orinoco) and the neighbor- 
ing rivers is termed by the Carib capigua, by the Indians chiquire, 
and by the Spaniards guardatinajas. Its muzzle resembles that of a 
sheep, its skin is red, and its tail so short as scarcely to be perceptible. 
These animals are eaten by the inhabitants on fast days from the 
idea that they partake more of the nature of fish than of land ani- 
mals. They always swim in shoals, and occasionally raise their heads 
above water to respire. They feed upon the herbs which grow on 
the banks of the lakes and rivers, and are regarded by the Indians 
as a delicious morsel. They consequently kill them in considerable 
numbers by means of their arrows (FD, 151). An interesting note 
on the preparation of the flesh of this creature for food comes from 
the Upper Rupununi. ... The men took it to the beach, and, re- 
