486 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [ETH. ANN. 38 
From his liver grew the konami (sec. 211); from his sweat grew 
the kunapuru (sec. 213): and from his skin grew the wild agave 
(see. 209). 
601. The story of Maichoppa (Makusi).—[Note-—Compare the 
Arawak story of the Medicine-Man and the Carrion Crows, WER, 
vi, sec. 303]. Maichoppa wanted to see Carrion-Crow Governor, 
i. e., the Vulture, and asked Blow-Fly where to find him. Blow- 
Fly said he would never find him until he were dead; he must stink 
first. [The Makusi tell me that they do not see the Vulture now- 
adays. He lives high, high up in the air on the top of a mountain, 
and is believed to have two heads.| Soon after there was a row 
between Maichoppa’s house folk and those next door. All got killed 
except Maichoppa, who lay down very quiet among all the dead 
bodies, and stuffed his nose with cotton so that he might not feel 
the stench. Carrion Crows come along, and at middle night Vulture 
flies down. He tells the crows to call for more crows, and soon 
plenty more come. Vulture then takes off his wings and feathers 
before starting to eat. Were he not to do so, he would get all his 
beautiful clothes soiled with the putrid-‘meat. When the birds finish 
on all the other bodies, and only Maichoppa is left, Vulture starts 
pecking at him, but he jumps up and frightens Vulture away, and 
with him all the other crows. Maichoppa next dresses himself in 
the Vulture’s clothes that were left behind—the lovely wings and 
feathers—and finds he can fly “little bit,’ but he can not steady 
himself as yet. So Spider spins him a line, ties one end onto a tree, 
holds onto the other, and manages to reach a certain height. Spider 
spins and spins again, each time a longer and a longer line, until he 
manages to reach high up in the clouds, on the top of the mountains, 
right in the heart of Vulture’s country. And there Maichoppa meets 
Vulture’s daughter, who goes to her father and says: “ Papa! A man 
has come. I want him. Take him for son-in-law.” “All right,” 
replies Vulture, “but if I take him, he must build me a new house.” 
| Note—He must fulfill certain of the marriage ordeals (WER, v1, 
sec. 277).] When she came back and told this to Maichoppa, he was 
very miserable, because he didn’t want her for his woman, and did 
not know how to build a house on such terribly rocky soil. He 
managed to get the posts, but how to fix them into the ground was 
what troubled him. The eel came along and, learning what was 
the matter, told him to follow her. And as she bored each hole into 
the rocks he must fix in one of the posts. This he did. Then came 
all the trouble of the rafters and the thatch, but the mocking bird, 
the monkey, the squirrel, and other birds and animals who know 
how to make houses (nests) out of thatch (leaves) and rafters (twigs, 
branches), took pity on him, and helped him build. Now, Maichoppa 
