634 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [BTH. ANN. 38 
take long voyages to the remote Warrau villages to buy the canoes, 
which they in turn will sell to the settlers (Br, 165). In Surmam 
many bush Negroes have among the Indians their “ matti” (=mate, 
friend). Such a matti acts principally the part of a trade agent 
and commercial traveler. When a bush Negro comes to an Indian 
settlement it is the matti’s chief business to see that he is well treated 
and looked after. 
822. The Indian knights of the road do not hesitate to puff and 
advertise their wares to the best advantage on lines similar to those 
employed by their more civilized brethren. Thus, in the well-estab- 
lished trade and barter carried on between the Saluma [Taruma] 
and Trio, the former tell the latter that the glass beads which they 
are selling them grow on bushes which they themselves plant (GO, 
26). In Surinam, de Goeje states that when making a purchase the 
buyer will put some turalla, a vegetable talisman, between his lips 
to prevent the seller overreaching him. I have elsewhere (WER, v1, 
sec. 233) discussed the subject of such charms. It is possible that 
procedures somewhat on these: lines have led up to the trade cere- 
monials, ete., traces of which are still extant. Thus, Hilhouse writes 
as follows of the Warrau: “I bought several of these [bisee tree] 
craft in the Iterite, where a depot of them had been collected. . . 
But the bargaining, except as an instance of national manners, 
was sufficiently tedious. -First came a multiplicity of questions, 
then a jorum of beer made of the fermented fruit of the ite— 
acid, astringent, and a red oil floating on top—this being returned by 
a glass of rum, the trading treaty was concluded . . . one of which 
[craft] I bought for four axes. This, however, I found was only the 
basis of the bargain—a cutlass, a knife, paper of hooks, scissors, 
needles, pins, a razor, beads, and five yards of salempores being 
understood as all included in the term four axes. This was a mere 
feeler. As soon as the old chief or captain saw the complexion of 
my wares, and that I bled freely, five or six other craft gradually 
made their appearance, which I bought reasonably enough, and then 
was proclaimed a general dance (HiB, 328). 
823. The length of journey and time spent on the trading expedi- 
tions often proved to be formidable enough, occupying, as it did, 
from months sometimes to a year or more. From their settlement 
on the Cunucunuma, a tributary of the upper Orinoco, the Maiong- 
kong followed the Orinoco to the Cassaquiare, then the Rio Negro, 
then up through the mouth of the Rio Branco to Fort San Joachim, 
and so through the Takutu and Mahu to Pirara, about 1,000 miles in 
three months, partly by land and partly by water (SR, 1, 402). The 
migratory movements of the Akawai were all conducted with pro- 
found forethought and according to a regular system... There 
