Carrer X XIX 
TRAVEL, OVERLAND 
Signs and signals on the road (778) ; artificial landmarks, cairns, ete. (779) ; 
rock engravings (780, 781) ; rock paintings (782) ; natural features (783). 
Tracking: Sense of locality (784). 
Traveling in single file (785). 
Accompanied usually by their women (786). 
Means of travel, etc.: Bush-rope ladders over the sandstone terraces (787) ; 
leaves and spars over swamps (788) ; obstructing trees (789) ; tree climbing 
(790) ; streams waded or bridged (791). 
778. To insure a safe return from the journey about to be under- 
taken, Appun has noted the following: Hardly had the troop of 
Arekuna taken 100 steps from the bank of the mountain stream 
than they suddenly right-about wheeled until they got on the river 
they had just left, then right-about wheeled again, and now for the 
first time, without further delay, started on their journey (App, 1, 
312). In speaking of the Orinoco Indians—and the same holds good 
throughout the Guianas—Gumilla says that in traveling they [In- 
dians] break off young. branches as they proceed, because there are 
no roads and a track is very rarely formed. Indeed, any pathway 
is usually covered with a layer of dry leaves a hand deep, and so 
they watch the broken twigs, and by means of these the Indians can 
tell how long it is since that route has been traversed, because the 
broken twig annually shoots forth anew (G, 1, 259). So also St. 
Clair: It is astonishing with what speed and certainty these people 
[Guiana Indians] travel through the immense forests of the country. 
When they intend going far into them they break a small twig at 
every other step as they walk on, and by this means they are certain 
of finding their way back to the same spot (StC, 1, 35). Again, as 
Dance says, every now and again the Indian breaks a branch as an 
indicator to guide his retracing footsteps homeward (Da, 252). 
But the trees themselves might also be marked. Thus the path 
[between Berbice and Essequibo] was barely 12 inches wide, marked 
by notches in the trees (‘ScA, 329). “Indians could only have guided 
us,” says Schomburgk, “and they directed their course mostly after 
broken branches or marks cut in the trees, sometimes standing for 
several moments to consider in which direction to turn” (ScG, 251). 
Pomeroon Indians have told me that since the advent of the balata 
602 
