3802 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [ETH. ANN. 38 
being identical with that applied by the Brazilians [ef. colher, the 
Portuguese word] to their own articles made of similar material 
(RO, 491). They were also called couyes in Cayenne (PBA, 139). 
On the lower Amazon Bates speaks of the cuyas, or drinking cups, 
made from gourds, as being sometimes tastefully painted, and then 
describes how the rich black ground color is produced by a dye 
made from the bark of a tree called comateii, the gummy nature of 
which imparts a fine polish. The yellow tints are made with the 
Tabatinga clay; the red with the seeds of the urucu or anatto 
plant; and the blue with indigo, which is planted around the huts. 
The art is indigenous with the Amazonian Indians, but it is only 
the settled agricultural tribes belonging to the Tupi stock who 
practice it (HWB, 114). On the upper Rio Negro the cups are 
polished brown on the outside and lacquered black on the inside; 
while the edge or the whole exterior is ornamented with incised 
patterns. The lacquering is done in a curious way. The calabash, 
after being well smoothed on the inner surface and washed with a 
decoction of carayuru (Bignonia) leaves is turned upside down over 
some cassava leaves sprinkled with human urine, where it re- 
mains until such time as the inside becomes black and shiny (KG, 
11, 232). In Demerara grotesque figures were often carved or painted 
on the calabashes by the Indians (pl. 883 A). Dance makes mention 
of an Indian woman in Georgetown who drove a lucrative trade in 
this artistic embellishment (Da, 186). From the Arawak on the 
Corentyn St. Clair obtained several shells of calabashes of different 
sizes the outsides of which were stained in beautiful patterns, gen- 
erally black on a white ground (StC, 1,329). In Surinam the Negroes 
in similar fashion made all kinds of vessels—plates, bottles, por- 
ringers—out of the calabash. Some of them would engrave the out- 
sides, filling in the lines with chalk (FE, 194). Joest, in discussing 
the adaptation of natural forms in the pottery of the Surinam In- 
dians, says that in all their (clay) water bottles (prapi) can be rec- 
ognized the original form of the bottle gourd, which during growth 
can be made to assume different shapes by tying with string, ete. 
The calabash split lengthwise furnishes the prototype, the model, 
for dishes and cups (WJ, 87). Barrére also states that these cala- 
bashes can be shaped artificially during growth by squeezing with 
a bush-rope vine tied around them (PBA, 139). There would seem 
to be variations in the method of cleaning out these calabashes. 
With the Warrau, after a hole has been made and part of the inside 
has been scraped out, it is boiled for an hour or so, when the rest of 
the contents is easily removed. With the Makusi, when picked off 
the tree and the hole cut, the calabash is roasted a little over the fire, 
