roTH] DEFORMATION, DECORATION, ORNAMENTS, CLOTHES 433 
and Arekuna women, young men, and boys wearing acouri tooth 
necklaces. Of unusual composition is a necklace, from the Essequibo 
or Pomeroon Rivers, described as made from the teeth of the byarri 
(?biara), a species of fish (CC, 47). 
532. In the case of women and children certain of the above neck- 
laces would seem to possess properties independent of, or additional 
to, their purely decorative value (sec. 535). Thus Atorai and Wapi- 
shana parents will tie hogs’ teeth round their children’s necks as an 
infallible method for making good huntsmen of them (Cou, 11, 315). 
Makusi women and children wear around their necks jaguar teeth, to 
which they ascribe talismanic power (ScT, 61). Surinam Carib chil- 
dren wear for preference jaguar teeth, which bring them under the 
protection of the spirit of that animal (PEN, 1, 96). On the Uaupes 
River the necklaces made of bush hog and jaguar teeth, worn by 
little children, are intended to preserve them when they grow up 
from being attacked by wild beasts (Cou, m, 171). Wapishana 
women wear certain aromatic seeds (pl. 143 B) as a cure or preven- 
tive for coughs, colds, and fevers. A tapir hoof might be hung on 
the neck as a remedy for fits (sec. 928). I have elsewhere (WER, 
vi, secs. 239, 240) discussed the talismanic virtues of certain of the 
neck and wrist ornaments. 
533. As regards the components of the tooth necklaces it seems 
that in the case of the bush hog, only the two upper canines 
are used, and as some of these articles contain about a couple 
of hundred (pl. 146 B), the labor entailed in their acquisition must 
be enormous. More than this, in addition to the piercing, each 
tooth is ground down until its four sides are square (pl. 141 A), 
and the top ground to a point. On the other hand, teeth of 
acouri, cayman, jaguar, and water haas are just pierced and strung 
(pl. 141 B). Unfortunately, there is no evidence forthcoming as to 
the manner in which, previous to the introduction of European tools, 
these teeth were drilled. 
534, The Arawak of the Demerara employed the spines of the por- 
cupine (Cercolabes prehensilis) as necklaces and other decorations 
(SR, 11, 499). The Arekuna used similar ornaments (ScF, 204; SR, 
11, 208-209). I have seen Patamona using bush-hog claws (pl. 144 A). 
Among other units of animal origin still to be mentioned as entering 
into the composition of necklaces are bugles manufactured out of 
fish teeth (Bol, 145; BA, 257), beads made of snail shell (G, 1, 125), 
and (?) cones (quwilles) made of other shell (PBA, 196) (pl. 147 B). 
535. As a general rule women will load themselves with astonish- 
ing quantities of seeds and European beads in great ropes around 
the neck, across the shoulders, around the waist, arms, wrists, calves, 
and ankles. The most prominent ornament of the Berbice Arawak 
