EXPLANATOEY INDEX. 419 



native never goes on a journey without his hammock, which 

 he rolls into a sort of rope, and passes it over one shoulder 

 and under the other, just as officers in the army wear their 

 overcoats on the march. 



In such a moist country as Guiana, where to sleep wet 

 means to ensure a fever, and where a traveller will sometimes 

 have to walk day after day up to his knees in water, the 

 hammock is a necessary of life. When a traveller wishes to 

 rest, he has only to hang his hammock between a couple of 

 trees, and he can then clamber into it, rub his wet legs dry, 

 and lie down in comfort and security. 



Hammocks are of various sizes, some being very small and 

 made for children, while others are large enough to hold two 

 or more people. As a rule, however, each person has a 

 hammock to himself. 



Hannaquoi {Ortalida motmot). — If the reader will refer to 

 the Powise, page 461, he will see a typical example of a large 

 family of birds, called popularly the Curassows. 



There is a group' or sub-family of them called Gnans, and 

 distinguishable by the naked and dilatable skin of the throat. 

 To these belongs the Hannaquoi, which is also called the Mot- 

 mot Guan. In size it is about equal to a small gamecock, 

 though it looks larger in consequence of its long tail, which, 

 as Waterton remarks, ha:s caused it to be wrongly ranked 

 among the pheasants. The tail, however, even when closed, 

 resembles that of the pheasant in nothing but its length ; 

 and when it is opened, is shaped almost exactly like that 

 of the Powise, but much longer in proportion to the size of 

 the body. 



As is the case with the Curassows, the flesh of the Guans 

 is peculiarly delicate. 



It is not at all a showy bird, the colours being chiefly 

 brown and grey, darker above than below. There is, however, 

 a tinge of a warm character in the head and upper part of 

 the neck. 



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