594 New Publications. 



another, and the retreat was now complete. I had loaded again, but 

 hesitated to wade through the swamp, when the Arawak chieftain 

 Mathias, who had observed my hesitation, requested me to lend him 

 my rifle ; I gave it him, and he started off", while I remained at the spot 

 where I first fell in with them. I heard four or five shots fall, appa- 

 rently at some distance, and while I was yet considering how many of 

 them might have told, I heard a rushing noise like a whirlwind approach- 

 ing through the bushes towards the place where I stood : the peculiar 

 growl and that awful chattering of the teeth, did not leave me long 

 in doubt as to its cause ; it was evident that the herd had divided and 

 were coming directly towards me. I stood alone, unarmed ; these were 

 my last thoughts; the next image which stands fixed in my memory 

 is, that I stood on the lower part of a mora-tree and looked down upon 

 a herd of about fifty Kairunis rushing by in full speed, their rough 

 bristles standing erect, their muzzles almost sweeping the ground, and 

 their white triangular tusks clapping in concert. They came and pas- 

 sed like a whirlwind, and before I had recovered from my astonishment, 

 I heard them plunge into the river to swim across. How I came on 

 that tree I know not ; to the rapid execution of what I must have con- 

 sidered my only means of escape I owed my life. The other hunters 

 had not been so fortunate as I expected ; excitement or fear made them 

 miss, where it would have appeared almost impossible. Including the 

 one which I had shot, three more had been killed with guns, and 

 one by Akuritsh with bow and arrow : they were a most welcome addi- 

 tion to our reduced Commissariat. 



I had never a better opportunity of watching their proceedings 

 when on march than offered itself while traversing from the river 

 Berbice to the Essequibo. We had fallen in with the herd and shot 

 two, of which we took as much as we could carry, and continued our 

 journey. A preconcerted signal called us shortly after back to our 

 camp at the banks of the Berbice, where only a case of urgency could 

 have induced those who were left in command to fire that signal. 

 Anxious to learn the cause, I had distanced my party, and unaware 

 and unperceived I fell in with the herd of the Kairunis ; they were 

 in regular line of march, and walked with slow step, though single, 

 nevertheless so that the preceding covered partly the following; the 

 young were walking under the belly of the mother. We shot two 

 more, which as time did not permit to carry with us, we hung up on 

 a tree, to send for them if circumstances permitted. A large party 

 of Caribi Indians had arrived at the camp, which had been the reason 

 of firing the signals for our return ; they came, however, as friends ; 



