Jo TIMEHRI. 
ing, cry out, Who now will protect them against their 
enemies. go hunting, fishing, catch crabs for the Widows 
or children, &c.. and in this manner the feast is con- 
cluded with hard drinking the whole night through, A ~ | 
year after, the Indians come to bewail their lost 
friends, making a large fire round the different graves, 
round which they carouse and dance, drinking so much 
that they are obliged to vomit, when they allege they 
are sick trom grief. With the Warouws or Guaraunos 
at the Oronoque, the corpse is thrown in the river, but 
tied to a rope, one end of which is fastened to a tree to 
prevent it from floating away; in an instant, certain 
fishes, called Guacantos, who live on human flesh, 
appear and eat away all the flesh, so that the next day 
nothing remains but the skeleton, which they take out 
of the water. After this they place the bones in a 
basket adorned with glass beads of different colours, 
arranging them in such a way that the head is placed 
immediately under the cover ; this done, they hang these 
baskets to the roof of their houses. 
The Achaguas make use of the same _ solemnities 
as the Arowaks with respeét to their Captains, except 
that the last covering of the grave is laid with heavy 
clay, without crevices, which prevents the ants from 
disturbing the’corpse. 
The Caraibs have the custom at the demise of their 
Captains to lay the body in a cotton hammock fastened 
at the ends to the roof; the wives of the deceased 
then range themselves round it, getting up at times; 
within 24 hours, from the great heat, the corpse begins to 
smell and decay, to which also a large number of flies are 
attraéted ; these they are obliged to drive away for 
