8 Timehri. 



without much difficulty. That a dauce should commemorate a victory or 

 a stage in progress, and be connected with a feast is logical and requires 

 no apology. We must however say that they are not necessarily all 

 dance commemorations, for some suggest feasting on a big catch of game. 

 Here we come to another wide field exemplified in the names of our 

 rivers and creeks, which appear to commemorate useful things found on 

 their banks. This is the Tapir creek (Camouni) because tapirs were 

 found there by those who gave it the name. Spruce asked some Indians 

 of the Cassiquiari the meaning of some figures, several of which were 

 identified, including a cassava slab with fan, barbecue, dolphins, rays, 

 iguanas, etc., all pointing to food and feasting. He gives a story how- 

 ever that suggests a commemoration of a death : — " The most distinct 

 figures are on the top of a rock which rises perpendicularly by the 

 highest fall, and cannot be reached without risk. They were engraved by 

 a young woman who was lamenting the death of her mother, for whose 

 epitaph they were probably intended. Hay by day she sat on the rock 

 engaged in her task, while her fast-falling tears ceased not to mingle with 

 the cataract. Thus months passed away, until one day the maiden, worn 

 with grief and fading almost to a a shadow, fell over the rock and dis- 

 appeared among the roaring breakers at its base." 



Spruce could not copy these figures but from a hasty glance some 

 could be recognised as human. " On the top of the same rock there are 

 shallow impressions, apparently the work of nature, which bear some 

 resemblance to a human form, and are called by the Indians Tupaua- 

 rangaua (the figure of God). The damsels of the Paapuris visit the spot 

 on staged occasions, and kneeling down on the knees of the figure perform 

 some kind of devotion — what I could not learn." 



Spruce suggests that probably pieces of quartz crystal were used to 

 engrave the figures and it may be safely stated that they were not 

 ancient in the district. I may here remind the reader that the area where 

 pictured rocks are most common is immediately behind Guiana and could 

 be reached from the Upper Essequebo. 



In the story told of the Indian girl we have another suggestion 

 which may be taken with all faults. The pictures may commemorate the 

 death of friends and the engraved animals be food for the dead. Models 

 of houses and other necessaries are found in graves, and we can suggest 

 that figures of food — animals and cassava may take the place of the array 

 of meat and drink usually deposited therein. This would not exclude the 

 idea of a dance. 



Mr. Dance tells us that the grave of an Indian boy was surmounted 

 by a tiny benab in which was food and drink in his little drinking cup. 

 We can add a further motive, commemoration of friends killed in the 

 fight. It is easily seen that a supply of game for the dead could 

 be figured, when, perhaps, there could be no proper burial with tbe real 

 food and drink. It is also evident that we must not get any single idea 

 fixed as if it explained the whole problem. Possibly it may be of no real 



