HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 



monkeys, and two snakes. The snake shown in plate I, b, with the 

 broad head and heavy body is evidently the very poisonous jararaca, 

 common in the region. One monkey has a human head resting on 

 his curved tail, and the other has a head-dress and a forked tail. 

 In all, there were about thirty figures well enough preserved to copy. 



ESSIQUIBO RIVER 



A short distance above the mouth of the Cuduwini, on the west 

 side of the Essiquibo, is a very large sloping granite rock extending 

 150 feet along the river and 60 feet out into the water during the 

 dry season. It is a well-known rock and camping place, called 

 Takarimi by the Wapisiana. On the most conspicuous part of the 

 rock, where everyone who passes must see it, there is the splendid 

 group, consisting of a snake, three monkeys, and three men, shown 

 in plate II, b. The snake, made by drawing two parallel grooves three- 

 quarters of an inch wide and an inch apart, is 12 feet 4 inches long and 

 doubtless represents the anaconda, very common in the region at 

 present, because the Tarumas, who occupy the territory, hold this 

 animal sacred and on this account do not kill it. The six full figures 

 of men all have solid eyes, one a solid head; four are made up of 

 straight lines with right angles at the elbows; one has a body of two 



parallel lines, and one a six- 

 sided body and straight legs 

 without knees and set at an 

 angle to the body — a very well- 

 proportioned man. One monkey 

 is hanging by the tail from the 

 branch of a tree, another has no 

 hind legs. The upper figure of 

 plate 11 gives a very good idea 

 of the weathering of the rock 

 itself and of the groove. In ap- 

 pearance the groove is as badly 

 weathered as the rock, yet to 

 the touch the groove is distinctly 

 smoother. 

 Two days by canoe above the last location, on the same side of 

 the river, at the Bubamana cataract, is another group of glyphs 

 carved on rough angular blocks of porphyry. The work is not so 

 well done, and the rock shows more weathering than at Takarimi. 

 Figure 2 shows all the designs left sufficiently distinct to copy. The 

 groups d and e, with inclosed parallel lines and circles at the side, 



Fig. 2. — Petroglyphs on the Essiquibo. 



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