THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. 53 
They make mats of palmist leaves, which serve them for 
tablecloths, and blankets, or foot-mats, when sometimes 
they sleep on the floor. The hammocks, the principal 
and most useful of all their furniture, consist of square 
pieces of cotton which they hang up by cords to the 
roof; in these they, sleep and pass the greatest part of 
their life, for this reason they cultivate the cotton tree. 
Hammocks are likewise made of the Pzta, but they are 
not so good, as well on account of their hardness, as 
not being wove sufficiently close to prevent mosquito 
bites and fend off other inse&ts. The loom on which 
they make them, consists of four large sticks, five or six 
feet long, fastened at the corners with wooden pins or 
pieces of Zzane, in the shape of a frame, on which they 
cleverly know how to fasten chain-wise cotton threads ; 
this frame being placed against the wall inratheraslanting 
position, they have a sort of shuttle with which they weave 
the hammocks, striking every time the threads close to- 
gether with a piece of hard-wood, a little sharpened, in 
lieu of using a comb, like our weavers,—the hammock 
being finished, they fasten cords to it, and hang it where 
they like ; they often paint them with Roucou and other 
paints which they mix with balsam copaive or other oils, 
in all manners of squares and notions, in no bad taste; 
the best are those of white cotton, seven feet square, 
though they make them of all sizes. In this work 
they are not exceeded but by the Brazilians. The master- 
piece of their arts, in which as in all the sciences they 
are extremely ignorant, is the building of their Pirogues 
and Canoes, with which they paddle exceedingly fast, 
and carry large cargoes, navigating with them the 
Tivers, Over the sea and along the Coasts; they are 
