624 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [BTH. ANN. 33 
remember the names of their friends and relate some circumstance 
of what had passed at the former interview; and if they were pre- 
sented with anything they will be sure to call it to mind, and if 
the thing be still in being they will show it to him who had be- 
stowed it on them (RO, 513-514). 
808. On the mainland, with regard to the verbal expressions of 
welcome, this varies from the simple “ Have you,come?” and “I 
am come,” uttered in this or reverse order by visited or visitor, as 
the circumstances above detailed require, to the complicated official 
harangue which, learned as a child, is rattled off by rote. Thus, as 
De Goeje reports from Surinam, when a man comes home of an 
afternoon ... the wife says, “ Have you come?” to which the man 
almost laconically replies, “I am come,’ whereupon the wife sets 
food before him. ... One has described similar greetings among 
the Kalirya, Arawak, Makusi, Guanero, and Tamanac (GO, 24). An 
Akawai and Arawak meeting is mentioned by Schomburgk, where 
the same expressions are employed (SR, 1, 205). Gumilla reports 
the use of practically identical phrases from the Orinoco, question 
and answer being repeated in turn by each member of the party 
(G, 1, 309). Among the Makusi, if one visits another’s place in 
ordinary intercourse, visitor and visited engage in a similar curt 
colloquy, “I am come,” etc. But if it is to a feast, ete., the visitor 
is addressed first, and if there are more than one the same formula 
is repeated to each, according to rank and age. When the strangers 
have all entered, the housemistress places a stool, and the owner will 
decry it, but the guest must praise it up. When the cassava and 
pepper pot is handed round, the same thing happens—the host’s dis- 
paragement and the guest’s praise (SR, 1, 361). With the present- 
day Arawak of the Pomeroon the same procedure is followed. 
Standing outside, the visitor addresses the housemaster, who will be 
lying in his hammock. If he knows the latter’s name, or is already 
friends with him, he will call him by name; otherwise, he will 
address him as bilibebe (if older than himself, bili=my) or bili- 
satchi (if younger), as a sign of alleged respect, and say, “I am 
come.” The housemaster, after giving him a “ Have you come?” 
will next ask him where he comes from, his business, etc., and then 
call to the women folk to bring food. If the visitor be accompanied 
by a female, she will slip around to where the women are and the 
same performance will be gone through with the housemistress. If 
the latter is older the word of respect is hiallo; if younger, it is 
hiaro (i. e., girl) or hisa. Schomburgk gives a somewhat different 
account of the salutation which he experienced among the Arawak 
near Wieronie Creek: The chief of the settlement came forward 
and said three short sentences to him whom he considered the first 
