BAMBOO RAFT. 77 



These are played by the fingers, and from this apparently 

 rude instrument a very pleasing music can be obtained, re- 

 sembling the tones of a guitar. Many of the people are very 

 skilful in performing upon it. On the eastern coast, long 

 pieces of bamboo form the only waterpots of the people. 

 The soil is not suitable for making earthen vessels, and 

 accordingly in every house half-a-dozen bamboos stand in 

 one corner, from •which the water for domestic use is obtained. 

 All but one of the diaphragms at the joints are broken 

 through, and the upper end is stopped by a handful of grass. 

 In many parts of the interior and on the eastern coast, long 

 pieces of the finer bamboo are used by the boys as blow-guns, 

 with -which they kill small birds and animals, in the same 

 "way as is customary among the Indians of the Brazils. 

 Pieces of a fine kind of bamboo called vdlotdra are used by 

 the people as a snuff-box. These are fitted with a stopper, 

 and beautifully polished, and are sometimes ornamented with 

 designs burnt in on the smooth shining surface. Fifes and 

 flutes are also made of bamboo, so that it is useful both for 

 wind and string instruments. 



On some of the rivers of the south-eastern coast there are 

 no canoes, but a kind of raft made of bamboo, and called a 

 zdhitra, is the only means of crossing them. And of all the 

 rude and primitive contrivances ever invented for water- 

 carriage, commend me to a zdhitra ; at any rate, to the first of 

 which I had experience when crossing the Matitanana. This 

 one consisted of about thirty or forty pieces of bamboo, from 

 ten to twelve feet long, lashed together at the head by bands 

 of some tough creeper, and spreading out like a fan at the 

 stern, these bamboos constantly slipping out of their places 

 and needing trimming at every trip across the river. When 

 loaded, the zdhitra was from a third to a half under water, 

 and although my companion and I crossed safely, he took an 

 involuntary foot-bath, and I a sitz-bath, during our voyage 

 across. But subsequently the whole concern came to pieces, 

 and several of our bearers had to swim ashore from the 

 scattered bamboos composing the crazy craft. 



In the interior and on the western coast a small species of 

 prickly bamboo called bdrardta is very plentiful. The leaves 



