ON THE NATIVE DRINKS OF THE GUIANESE 
INDIAN. 
By Watrer E. Rors, 
Commissioner of the Pomeroon District, British Guiana. 
(I1.)—Water. 
In times of scarcity, water may be obtained from the sap of various creepers, 
etc., from the sheath-bases of the leaves of certain plants, and from the soil 
in close proximity to one or two kinds of palm. B. Brown at Camuti Mt., 
Essequibo R., thus speaks of procuring water from a vine called the Water 
withe, a species of Vitis (? Entada polystachya) : ‘My men sought for and 
found a number of these vines which had wound themselves round the stems of 
large trees. Cutting them off as high as they could reach, they severed them 
quickly lower down, obtaining portions of stem some five feet in length and 
from three to sixinches in diameter. Holding these vertically, the sap, which 
appeared to be nothing but pure clear cool water, ran quickly out, and was 
caught in acup and drunk. From one length of the largest size we obtained at 
least a pint of water ” (BB. 323). Gumilla had previously recorded this method 
of obtaining water from cut vines on the Orinoco (G.ii. 266), and Barrere had 
done the same in Cayenne (PBA. 178). In the latter area of the Guianas, when 
the Indians traverse the mountains they drink the sap of Lonchocarpus rufescens 
—the salisal of the Roucouyennes [Caribs] who use the creeper for poisoning 
fish : though this water is fresher than that of a clear stream, one must only 
drink of its first flow, because that which subsequently comes away is a white 
milky juice possessing toxic properties (Cr. 278). In periods of drought the 
old-time Arawaks of the Pomeroon would obtain water from the young troolie 
(Manicaria saccifera) fruits after breaking: there is nothing strange about 
the taste of this water with which I have more than once refreshed myself. 
The wild pine (Tillandsia spp.) provides the thirsty traveller with miniature 
water-tanks in the sheath-bases of its leaves (BW. 236). So also Schomburgk, 
when on Mt. Warima, expresses himself :—‘ Several others of the families 
related to that genus cover the rocks with their foliage ; each like a natural 
cistern, yielded us upwards of a pint of water—that which was on the top, clear 
and pure, the remainder filled with residue and a slimy matter peculiar to the 
lant ; the water is however well tasted, and our Indians drank copiously 
of it’ (ScF. 232). Since the Ite (Mawritia fleruosa) palms grow only in moist 
soil or swamps, the same traveller relates how, when he failed to procure water 
by digging at the foot of their trunks, he knew that his search would prove 
hopeless anywhere else in the neighbourhood (ScT. 25). He furthermore 
speaks of the Wapisianas of the Takutu digging holes on the edges of certain 
swamps to collect water (SR. ii. 47). Manicole palms (Huterpe edulis) are 
also said to be a sure sign of the vicinity of water. Dance is responsible for 
the statement that in the tropics, the Indian finds his way to the rivers by 
barking a tree, well knowing that in a line with the thickest part is the path 
to the river. (Da. 252) 
