RoTH] ANIMALS UNDER DOMESTICATION 555 
This is believed to teach the dog better manners and cause it to per- 
form its emunctory functions farther afield. 
722. Monkeys.—There are a great variety of the monkey tribe in 
Guiana, of which the couata is the most intelligent, and may be 
taught to fetch water from the riverside in a calabash. At least, Mis- 
sionary Bernau says so (BE, 9). Several of the smaller kinds—e. g., 
the sakawinki (Chrysothrix)—form part of the domestic animals of 
the Indians, and are seen clinging to their shoulders when at home 
and traveling. The “howlers” (J/ycetes) are often caught, but do 
not survive captivity many weeks (HWB, 151). Schomburgk 
furnishes us with the following description of the Arekuna method 
of taming a stubborn old monkey shot by an arrow tipped with weak 
poison so as only to stupefy it. As the animal falls from the tree the 
Indians immediately suck the wound and bury him up to the neck in 
the ground, and douche him with a solution of certain niter-contained 
earth, or, in the absence of it, with sugar-cane juice. As conscious- 
ness returns he is taken out of the grave and tied up with palm 
leaves just like a little baby in its swaddling band. Every move- 
ment is now impossible. He is left in this strait-jacket for some 
days. Cane juice is his drink, and cooked saltpeter water, strongly 
seasoned with capsicums, is his nourishment. If this does not 
succeed, the creature is hung for a while in the smoke at every out- 
burst of anger. His untamed temper soon disappears, and his wild 
eyes become soft and pine for freedom. The bands are loosened, the 
remembrance of the past is fled with all its customs, and the wildest 
and most savage monkey becomes as tame as if he had never roamed 
the forest (SR, 11, 248). 
723. Other four-footed animals—Domesticated pets may be 
made of the labba and acouri, the otter (SR, 1, 36), the porcupine, 
Cercolabes prehensilis (SR, u, 499), the glutton or hakka, Gulo 
barbarus (SR, u, 99), and the sloth (KG, um, 148). Throughout my 
journey in the Patamona country I came across several tame kibihi 
(Nasua). They were often to be seen carried along clutching onto 
their mistress’s head or shoulders. Bush hogs are also to be seen 
domesticated, but occasionally they may turn out to be very danger- 
ous pets. On the other hand, according to the Arekuna, the Cavia 
leucopygia or white-rumped cavy (SR, u, 249) can never be tamed. 
724. Birds.——On the Uaupes River (upper Rio Negro) the Indians 
use the under tail coverts of the great harpy eagle as head ornaments. 
. . . These are large, snowy white, loose, and downy, and are almost 
equal in beauty to a plume of white ostrich feathers. The Indians 
keep these noble birds in great open houses or cages, feeding them 
with fowls, of which they will consume two a day, solely for the sake 
of these feathers; but as the birds are rare and the young with diffi- 
culty secured, the ornament is one that few possess (ARW, 203). 
