INHABITANTS OF GUIANA. 39 



kindred. Coudreau, however, was assured by the E-oucouj-ennes that these Oyari- 

 coulets were "like the other Indians." 



In British Guiana rumour speaks also of the fabulous Didi, a hairy race, whom 

 all the other natives dread without ever having seen them. But in these regions, 

 when an Indian is afraid of seeing any formidable being, or even a rock of 

 fantastic shape, he rubs his eyes with red pepper. Then, seeing nothing, he is 

 happy in the thought that there is nothing more to be seen. 



General Characteristics of the Guiana Indians. 



But to whatever ethnical divisions the Guiana Indians may belong, they have 

 all very much the same usages. Were habits and customs to be taken as a 

 criterion of racial affinity, many peoples of different speech would have to be 

 classed together. Thus the Galibi, Oyambi, Emerillons, and Wapisianas, all 

 practising the couvade, would be grouped in the same category. But such 

 resemblances may be due rather to a common environment and like economic 

 conditions than to blood relationship. 



In none of the tribes has authority been firmly established on the model intro- 

 duced by the European settlers. Certain persons may bear more or less distinctive 

 titles ; but for all that they are not true " chiefs " in the common acceptation of 

 the term. Their personal qualities may ensure them great influence, but they 

 must not interfere so far as to issue orders. Each member of the tribe enjoys 

 full personal liberty in all his movements and actions. This freedom extends 

 even to the children, who are never punished. " Dogs alone are beaten," says a 

 Macusi proverb. 



Nevertheless, the ordeals formerly inflicted on the young of both sexes on 

 reaching the adult period were atrocious. Thus the mother scourged her daughter 

 while father and brothers slept, and woe to her if her cries roused them from their 

 slumbers. Amongst the lloucouyennes the initiatory rites consisted in subjecting 

 both boys and girls to the sting of wasps and bite of ants. The unhappy victims 

 swooned away in sheer agony without uttering a groan. 



To their healing and divining powers the peaimen {picii, priyai, peartzan, or 

 medicine-men) are indebted for a larger share of moral authority than that of the 

 so-called chiefs ; but even they would never presume to exercise any direct 

 control. Perhaps the veneration in which they were formerly held should in 

 great measure be attributed to the severe trials which they had to undergo before 

 being considered worthy of admittance into this primitive order of priesthood. 

 More than one of the candidates succumbed to the prolonged hardships they had 

 to suffer during the terrible years of novitiate. 



But at present the preliminary training has been greatly mitigated and 

 curtailed. The chief instrument of the rite is the maraca, a small calabash 

 about the size of the fist enclosing a few rattling pebbles. This maraca serves 

 to scare the devil and, if need be, to raise him, especially when a Jienaima or 

 avenger has to be summoned in case of bloodshed. Inspired by the relentless 

 spirit of the vendetta, the man who undertakes the duty of following and killing 



