nor] TRAVEL BY BOATS, RAFTS, ETC. 617 
dle and paddles on either side.... If upset, they sink almost in- 
stantly, owing to the great specific gravity of the bark (ScA, 308). 
Dance gives the following dimensions of one of the smallest wood- 
skins he had seen on the Demerara: length, 14 feet; breadth, 10 
inches; tapering toward the extremities, which were 3 inches wide, 
and greatest depth 4 inches (Da, 197). On the other hand, at the 
head of the Barama, Schomburgk reported that they are generally 
from 25 to 30 feet long, and when laden seldom draw more than 
3 inches of water (ScB, 188). The name of pakasse is applied by 
Schomburgk to a wood-skin (ScK, 92). 
799. As to their paddles, those made from the fluted projections 
of the yaruru, Aspidospermum excelsum, are considered the best 
% 
ty 
b 
a 
S 
Fic. 337.—Types of paddle blade. A, Circular; B, intermediate; O—F, foliate. 
(Br, 32). Indeed, this timber is known as paddle-wood tree (Da, 
211). Schomburgk had frequently seen the Indians split one of the 
flutes off and finish a paddle in the course of a few hours, having 
no other tool but a cutlass and common knife. It was then handed 
to a woman, who painted it with roucou and lana (SecA, 329). Each 
paddle consists of a crossbar or crescentic handle, a shaft, and blade. 
The shaft may be squarish, but is very generally circular in section 
and occasionally is ornately carved. The blade (fig. 337) is either 
leaf-shaped, circular, or intermediate. The first-mentioned (C, D, 
E, F) is common to the central and eastern Guianas and shows slight, 
though perfectly recognizable, modifications throughout many of the 
tribes. The circular variety (A) is peculiar to the western areas, 
e. g., upper Orinoco, upper Rios Negro and Branco districts, e. g., 
among Maiongkong (CC, 51), Patamona, Wapishana. The pad- 
dle met with around Mount Roraima among the Taurepang 
(Arekuna) is an intermediate form (B) used with the wood-skins 
60160°—24——40 
