194 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [ETH. ANN. 38 
lana for pacu; the last mentioned, on the Rupununi, will even take a 
hook so baited in the rainy season, June and July. The Taruma spe- 
cially cultivate in their fields particular seeds for fish bait alone (JO). 
A bunch of silk grass has also been mentioned as being made up into an 
artificial-fly bait for lukunanni, but the context (BB, 343) is not too 
clear as to whether this was made by Indians or Negroes. I have seen 
the unopened bud of the white water lily flower quartered and cut into 
a “fly” for lukunanni in the Pomeroon area (fig. 60 A), but this fish 
would not seem to be very particular, because it will often take an 
elongate bait, somewhat after the shape of a wooden bootjack, made 
from moku-moku (B). Wapishana will catch it with red macaw 
feathers tied to the hook (JO). 
193. Finally, there comes the application of the hook for purposes 
of “jagging.” Thus the following is an interesting description of 
the practice on the Demerara. An Indian 
in a woodskin was beating the surface of 
the water with a short stick held in his 
right hand, while in his left he held his 
paddle, controlling the craft. Suddenly 
he stood up and, picking up an arrow, made 
a lunge with it at something in the water, 
and drew out a long, brown, snake-like fish 
called yukunuri or eucanuri, nearly 4 feet 
long. It would seem that these fish swarm 
B 2 various bends of the river in certain 
seasons of the year. The Indian comes to 
such spots with his short rod, barely 3 
Fig, 60.—" Flies” for luku- feet long, to the extremity of which is at- 
Ais tached a line on which are fixed several 
large hooks at intervals. He uses no bait, but lashing the surface 
of the water “to excite the curiosity of the fish,” he every now and 
again jerks his line high out of the water, and in 1 case out of 10 man- 
ages to impale a yukunuri on one or more of the hooks (V. Roth). 
This lashing of the water with a rod, when used at all with 
a line, has been specially drawn attention to by Schomburgk on the 
Essequibo. He considers that the fish regard this commotion on the 
surface of the water as resulting from the falling of overhanging 
fruits, at which they will greedily rise to snap (SR, 1, 307). This 
is not quite correct. It is certainly the lashing sound that attracts 
the carnivorous fish, but the simple, single “blob” only that draws 
the fruit-eating ones (JO). The Arekuna pursue the same practice 
of lashing the water with a rod. The surprise I myself experienced 
on first learning how fish can be attracted by sound has been shared 
by other observers, for it certainly was a canon of successful angling 
on any streams in the homeland that silence was golden and that 
