464 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [ETH. ANN, 38 
Makusi at Pirara village on the head tributary of the Takutu, 
Schomburgk describes how the masters of ceremony had in their 
hands two large pieces of bamboo, the cavities of which were filled 
with small pebbles, and the outside surrounded with cotton hangings 
and feathers. They walked at the head of the dancing column, 
stamping at intervals with their bamboos on the ground, by which 
a rattling noise was caused, women and men accompanying the same 
with a monotonous song (ScG, 257). The “ shak-shak,” i. e., shake- 
shake, of Creoles, Negroes, and civilized Indians.is a hollowed-out 
globular or egg-shaped gourd with a short stick passed through it 
and containing small pebbles or hard seeds. The Arawak call it 
maraka and are credited by legend (WER, vz, sec. 185) and other- 
wise (G, 1, 155) with having introduced it into the Gumianas, 
throughout the entire extent of which it is to be met. The gourd 
is often highly decorated and may have feathers and streamers, 
ete., attached (pl. 168 A, B). Among the Wapishana and neigh- 
boring tribes the handle may be triangular in section and notched 
along the edges. A double form of shak-shak has been described 
by Crévaux from Atures village, a Guahibo settlement: A dumb- 
bell (Aaltére) with hollow balls containing hard seeds. In the 
Hauyari dance of the Arawak, held at a female’s death, the handle 
of the shak-shak reached a length of 5 or 6 feet, the extremity 
of which, prodded into the ground while marching along, caused 
the gourd to rattle. The ordinary short-handled form of maraka 
used at the common dances is probably independent of the similar 
African instrument, a like remark applying to the indigenous “ magic 
shell” or calabash of the medicine men (WER, v1, sec. 289), which 
can usually be distinguished by its comparatively much larger size 
and various purposely made longitudinal and horizontal slits. These 
apertures are, of course, not for the insertion of the contained quartz 
crystals, etc., which are put in at the handle openings previous to 
the handle. Rattles, as children’s toys, are discussed elsewhere (sec. 
620). 
574. I am obliged to employ the term “ bells,” for want of a better, 
to describe certain apparatus composed of hard-shelled seed pods, 
beetle wing-cases, various animals’ hoofs, and other articles, the clink- 
ing together of which gives rise to more or less agreeable sounds. 
They may be attached from the neck, waist, arms, or legs. In the 
case of seeds, it would appear that the particular plant from which 
they are derived has only in one instance been scientifically identified, 
i. e., the Thevetia neriifolia Juss. All other examples in which seeds 
are recorded as employed for this purpose only furnish us with local 
names. Kawa seeds can be strung on cotton thread, which may be 
tied to sticks or hollow cylinders (sec. 576). The cerehu or cerewu 
