236 Timehri. 
dogs that were fed upon Indian babies. The people fled to the great. 
river, taking with them their pepper-pots and other necessaries, including 
the stones on which these pots are supported. These stones were 
valuable because none were to be got in the lower lands of the coast. 
However, one party in coming through one of the channels between the 
islands, was met by chopping seas which upset every corial and over- . 
whelmed people, pots and firestones. The people suffered little, most 
of their pots were recovered and put back into the corials, but the 
tirestones quickly sank out of reach. Hence this great river became the 
River of my firestones (Dissekebe). 
The two great tribes, Arawaks and Caribs, were continually fighting 
with each other and must therefore have been different from our Indians 
of to-day. The Captain’s position was by no means a sinecure ; he must 
undergo severe trials of endurance before his election. The illustrations 
of such tortures are copied from Van Berkel’s little book, 1695, and 
purport to be what he saw ina journey from Fort Nassau, Berbice, to 
the Demerara, when on a visit to Kyk-over-al. 
These old pictures, although by no means life-like, represent the 
ideas of the country and people as given by the writers to draughtsmen 
who otherwise knew nothing of them. It follows therefore that none of 
them represents the figure of the real Indian and very few anything 
like their habitations. The European type was evidently the model for 
every race and people, and the surroundings were as plainly European 
landscapes. In the two pictures from Ralegh’s voyage we see the 
voyagers fully dressed in their finest clothes, when on a river journey 
in open boats, and the knight sitting with the Indian Chief in an 
elaborate tent which could not possibly have been carried on such a 
Journey. 
Possibly the most curious thing in the old pictures is the armour- 
clad man of the time. It is very difficult to conceive of a journey in an 
open boat with a burning sun pouring down upon steel plates, for even 
the woollen underclothing must have been scorched. Yet it is an 
undoubted fact that armour was found in quantity when Cayenne was 
captured in 1667, and we nay presume that it was worn to some extent. 
The Mexicans used quilted cotton and this was soon adopted by the 
Spaniards as a safe and effective protection against arrows and spears. 
That the rough thick woollen clothing of Europe was unfit for the 
tropics was something to be learnt from experience. Even yet Europeans 
have not appreciated the fact that everything worn here should be light 
and loose. When we read that the people of Surinam in 1684 wondered 
that Governor Sommelsdijk wore white clothing and bathed every day, 
we can appreciate the advances made.’ Even a century ago an official 
was supposed to sit down to dinner in the skin-fitting uniform of that 
day. Charles Waterton tells how the Spanish Governor of Guayana 
went to dinner and how he got up and excused himself to lay aside hig 
