8 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull, 177 
to several of these, sliding off slippery logs and sinking above our 
boottops into the ooze, suffering the attacks of mosquitoes, and inhaling 
the smell of decaying vegetation, we were able to understand why the 
tapirs enjoy this environment, but not why it was sought out by man 
as a place to live. 
We had with us on several trips a boatman who felt it his duty 
to warn us nightly of the perils that surrounded us. He maintained 
that it was unsafe to sleep anywhere except on the launch, and 
described in detail a few of the creatures that might attack us as we 
slept on land. In addition to “turtle tigers,” “labba tigers” and 
“warakaubra tigers,” there was a monster in human shape with a 
globular head, flat on top “like a military cap” and darting fire 
from its eyes, and another river-dwelling beast with 20 horns on its 
head. We personally felt that the mosquitoes were more likely to do 
us in than the “jumbies,” and used our nets for the first time in the 
Colony. 
On March 18, we returned to Georgetown by the coastal steamer 
and made arrangements for the final trip eastward along the coast 
to the Abary River (fig. 1). This trip was organized by the British 
Guiana Museum taxidermist, Ram Singh, who decided that we should 
have the experience of one “real” expedition before leaving the Col- 
ony. He hired a cook, Ivan Vyphius, who brought an assistant, and 
we laid in a huge quantity of supplies, including a tin of “biscuits” 
(soda crackers) 18 inches in diameter and a foot high. We went by 
train from Georgetown to the Abary River on March 31, and then 
by the milk launch upstream, stopping at the sites. Ivan prepared 
fancy salads and other gastronomic delights, including a fine stew of 
howler monkey. In the evening, he regaled us with the story of 
his life, and especially the experiences of a Negro Guianese with 
Colonial British officials, using such inimitable phraseology that we 
were completely convulsed with laughter. 
On April 12, we returned to Georgetown and spent the rest of our 
time finishing notes on the collections in the British Guiana Museum, 
packing specimens for shipment, and attending to other details. The 
rainy season was in full force by then throughout most of the colony, 
and in Georgetown rain fell in remarkable quantities, taxing the 3- 
foot-deep gutters to their capacity. One of our last duties was an 
interview with the press, purportedly for the benefit of science and 
the British Guiana Museum, following which one paper reported that 
we had deposited in the Museum “10 complete Indian chiefs” (we said 
“nots”) ! At 10:30 a.m. on April 20, we took off from Atkinson Field, 
and 14 hours later landed at Idlewild Airport in New York. After 
6 months’ absence, it took only one Jook at the traffic to convince us 
that the interior of South America holds less hazards than a modern 
