488 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [ETH, ANN. 38 
again. He did as directed and climbed down the line, but when he 
touched the top of a giant silk-cotton tree he thought he was on the 
ground and let go the line as Spider told him. His present difficulty 
was how to get down the tree, and he felt so miserable that he began 
to cry. The Sanka-Sanka [a very big lizard that has a habit of 
running up and down the trunk of the silk-cotton tree] hearing the 
sound, came and inquired what it was, and offered to bring him 
down in safety. He told Maichoppa to jump on his back and hold 
on tight. But Sanka-Sanka was only fooling, and really intended 
eating him, and for very joy ran him up and down the trunk. It was 
the little dance preliminary to the feast. Maichoppa, however, waited 
his opportunity, and when Sanka-Sanka had got a little lower down 
the tree than usual during one of his “turns” he slipped off the 
creature’s back onto the ground. He was now very hungry, but 
found his way to Acouri’s house. Acouri himself was not at home, 
but his wife was. She was alone and very frightened, because she 
well knew that all the cassava she had had been stolen from Mai- 
choppa’s field during his absence. - She therefore said, ‘“‘ Here! Take 
some cassava. It’s all your own. I have just got it from your place 
for you.” And so Maichoppa was quite satisfied, and later on went 
over to his own place. 
602. The spirit of mischief would seem to have been as inherent in 
the Indian of three centuries ago as in his civilized brother of to-day, 
and it need not be at all surprising to learn that the Orinoco boys 
would play ball with the eggs of the larger turtle, and throw them at 
one another for sport (G, 1, 293). 
603. The Otomac had quite an organized game that might almost 
be described as tennis, with all its side-show attractions of drink 
and betting, as is so admirably recorded by Gumilla. During the 
absence of the fishers and the laborers (in the provision grounds), 
the whole of the rest of the tribe gives itself up to keeping holiday, 
and merry making, in the assurance that on the following day they 
will have to do the fishing and the work in their turn, so as to give 
those who are working and fishing to-day a rest from labor. So the 
whole of those who are left at home meet at a beautiful and well- 
kept tennis ground that they have near their village at some little 
distance from the houses. The set consists of 12 Otomac on each 
side. They deposit the stake that is to be played for, and when that 
game is over they again deposit a stake for another match. They do 
not play simply for the sake of the game, but to win something. 
And they stake large baskets of maize when they have it, failing 
which, they stake strings of glass beads. And should the necessity 
arise, they play with a light heart for everything they have in their 
homes. For umpires they have elders of some distinction to call 
out fouls, to decide doubtful points, and to settle any disputes that 
