Old Time Indians. 69 
engage his crew. When next morning the young man turned up again the old 
man had everything ready and would get them all into the boat, he himself steer- 
ing. The girl herself had to sit on the left of her would-be husband in the bow. 
When within a comparatively short distance from the tree wherein the wood- 
pecker’s nest lay concealed, the old man would call upon the crew to pull with 
all their strength—and the young man to draw his bow. Before, however, the 
arrow had sped, and while yet the bow was fully stretched, the woman had to 
touch his left side with her hand signifying that if his arrow reached its mark she 
agreed to be his. If he missed the performance had to be postponed to another 
occasion, he having the right to try as many times as he liked until he succeeded 
and in the meantime he might continue practising on his own account. Luck 
might assist him on the first occasion, sometimes on the second, third or fourth 
or he might have to make the attempt so many times that he would give it up 
as well as all thoughts for the girl and proceed to some other settlement 
where the woodpecker’s nests were situated to better advantage. Without 
hitting his arrow into the nest, the wooer would certainly never get possession of 
the girl—neither father nor mother would give way on that particular point. 
On the other hand, supposing his aim to have been finally successful, the girl 
would be as wife to him, and he would take up residence in his father-in-law’s 
house. The next thing was fo: the old man to take him with him and mark out a 
piece of ground which, within so many days, he had to clear for a field, at the 
same time presenting him with an axe for the purpose. The time specified was 
usually short, the young man having to work with might and main, starting 
early and returning late, and finally get it finished. During the time occupied in 
cutting the field, however, the old man had busied himself in making, crab quakes 
—some 40 of them are said to have been usually made. On completing the 
cutting of the field, the old man would then take the lad out to sea ; he accom- 
panied him to make sure that within the one day he really filled all these quakes 
through his own exertions, and did not obtain the assistance of friends. This 
completed, the youth became henceforth one of the legal heirs of the house. 
Should, however, the lad not have cut the field nor filled the requisite number of 
quakes within the allotted period, he would have been laughed and jeered at, at 
subsequent paiwarris. These two ordeals, however, were never so essential 
as that of the shooting the arrow into the woodpecker’s nest 
With one exception certainly, the Otomacs, polygamy would appear to have 
been practised among all the Guiana tribes—arising chiefly from the advantages 
accruing from the women’s field-work, partly from feelings of pride and snobbery 
on the part of the husband to be considered a wealthy man. As a rule, on 
the Orinoco, each woman used to have her separate habitation together with 
her children, and a separate fire-place. The game or fish which the husband 
got, was divided proportionately according to the number of children each 
wife had, At meal time, each woman would stretch a mat for him on the 
ground, place on it the meat and cassava, and retire. Whether he ate or not, 
no one spoke to him After a sufficient time had elapsed, each would bring 
him his drink, place it in front of him, and retire to her habitation. Thus 
strife was avoided. In the field the same separation took place, the husband 
dividing it into as many portions as he had wives, each woman sowing, cultivating 
