146 PICTURE-WRITING OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 
or curved lines in a pattern, and occasionally more elaborate combinations, The in- 
dividual figures are small, averaging from 12 to 18 inches in height, but a consider- 
able number are generally represented in a group. 
Some of the best examples of this latter kind are at Warrapoota cataracts, about 
six days’ journey up the Essequibo. 
* * * The commonest figures at Warrapoota are figures of men or perhaps 
sometimes monkeys. These are very simple and generally consist of one straight line, 
representing the trunk, crossed by two straight lines at right angles to the body 
line; one about two-thirds of the distance from the top, represents the two arms as 
far as the elbows, where upward lines represent the lower part of the arms; the 
other, which is at the lower end, represent the two legs as far as the knees, from 
which point downward lines represent the lower part of the legs. A round dot, or a 
small circle, at the top of the trunk line, forms the head; and there are a few radiat- 
ing lines where the fingers, a few more where the toes, should be. Occasionally the 
trunk line is produced downwards as if to represent a long tail. Perhaps the tail- 
less figures represent men, the tailed monkeys. In afew cases the trunk, instead of 
being indicated by one straight line, is formed by two curved lines, representing the 
rounded outlines of the body; and the body thus formed is bisected by a row of 
dots, almost invariably nine in number, which seem to represent vertebra. 
Most of the other figures at Warrapoota are very simple combinations of two, three, 
or four straight lines similar to the so-called ‘ Greek meander pattern,” which is of 
such widespread occurrence. Combinations of curved and simple spiral lines also 
frequently occur. Many of these combinations closely resemble the figures which 
the Indians of the present day paint on their faces and naked hodies. 
The same author (pp. 368, 369) gives the following account of the 
superstitious reverence entertained for the petroglyphs by the living 
Indians of Guiana: 
Every time a sculptured rock or striking mountain or stone is seen, Indians avert 
the ill will of the spirits of such places by rubbing red peppers (Capsicum) each in 
his or her owneyes. * * * Though the old practitioners inflict this self-torture 
with the utmost stoicism, I have again and again seen that otherwise rare sight of 
Indians children, and even young men, sobbing under the infliction. Yet the cere- 
mony was never omitted. Sometimes, when by a rare chance no member of the party 
had had the forethought to provide peppers, lime juice was used as a substitute; and 
once, when neither peppers nor limes were at hand, a piece of blue indigo-dyed 
cloth was carefully soaked, and the dye was then rubbed into the eyes. 
The saine author (b) adds: 
It may be as well briefly to sum up the few facts that can be said, with any proba- 
bility, of these rock pictures in Guiana. The engravings are of two kinds, which 
may or may not have had different authors and different intention. They were still 
produced after the first arrival of Europeans, as is shown by the sculptured ship. 
They were, therefore, probably made by the ancestors of the Indians now in the , 
country; for, from the writings of Raleigh and other early explorers, as well as from 
the statements of early colonists, it is to be gathered that the present tribes were 
already in Guiana at the time of the first arrival of Europeans, though not perhaps 
in the same relative positions as at present. The art of stone-working being de- 
stroyed by the arrival of Europeans, the practice of rock-engraving ceased. Possibly 
the customary figures were for a time painted instead of engraved; but this degen- 
erated habit was also soon relinquished. As to the intention of the figures, that they 
had some seems certain, but what kind this was is not clear. Finally, these figures 
really seem to indicate some very slight connection with Mexican civilization. 
The following extract from a paper on the Indian picture-writing in 
