474 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [BLH, ANN. 38 
death, marriage or adolescence, war, ete. Everybody was invited 
without distinction of nationality, and anyone who could do his 
share of the drinking was welcome. Two days prior to the feast the 
host turned into his hammock to receive his guests, who would now 
commence to arrive in companies. Each brought his own victuals 
with him and, as was the case at other large gatherings, each tribe 
raised a shout in the far distance to let its nationality be known. 
The Arawak yelled “Lokono!”, the Carib “ Kalinya!”, ete. [A 
Surinam Carib performance is now being described.| Immediately 
after arrival each guest visited the host in his hammock, gave him 
the latest news, had a wash in the neighboring creek, and took a 
calabash of cassiri. It was only on the following day that the spree 
began. Young and old rigged themselves out in all sorts of strange 
fashions. The decorations, however, were not limited to the human 
beings, but extended to the accouterments and instruments, as well 
as to the tame monkeys and dogs. The women’s costume was less 
elaborate than the men’s; they wore less feathers but an abundance 
of seeds or beads. Even up to the present day no maid or woman 
dare surpass any young man in prettiness of costume. As soon as 
each guest had decorated himself, or been decorated to his satisfac- 
tion, which occupied several hours, the feast proper commenced with 
the humming-bird game or fight, which had for its object the honor 
of emptying the first calabashful of drink. Young men placed them- 
selves in rows at fixed distances from one another on the trail that 
led to the hut in which stood the huge trough filled with the liquor 
and covered with palm leaves. A troup of young people represented 
the humming birds, who, all fighting like these birds do, had to cut 
a way through the ranks of their comrades. Upon a nod from the 
host, the contest began. The young men raced ahead, but it was 
left only to a few to reach the hut, where they were received by 
women who, without any form of trial, tried to pour pepper in their 
eyes. At last one of the competitors hurled the palm-leaf covering 
off the trough, a deed of heroism that called forth loud applause. 
The victor was then offered the first drink ... and the feast was 
opened. All the dancers commenced capering round the trough, 
giving utterance to a loud “hia-hia,’ followed by all kinds of 
sounds of animals and birds (PEN, 1, 167-170). 
587. This is how Rey. C. D. Dance describes the festival of the 
humming bird on the Demerara River, but, as will be seen, his 
relation deals chiefly with the racing and fight for the liquor. He 
certainly describes it as taking place on the same occasion as the 
Makuari, before the procedure of walking round the coffin, thus 
almost leading the reader to conclude that it formed part and parcel 
of the death ceremony, with which it has really nothing whatever to 
