KAIETEUR AND RORAIMA 



233 



BORROWING AN INSECT NET,' A YOUTHFUL VOLUNTEER AIDE ENDEAVORED TO ASSIST 



THE AUTHOR IN HIS COLLECTING 



Note the little gold cross which the boy wears suspended from a thread about his neck. 

 His parents procured it from a distant mission. Both he and his sister wear the bead and 

 cotton-thread bands around the arm and leg. 



"his boots every morning to dislodge any 

 of these creatures that may have entered 

 during the night. 



A cheese-cloth covering goes over the 

 hammock, making a tent, into which one 

 crawls by a hole in the bottom. The 

 myriad insects and the vampire bats 

 make this obligatory, although the at- 

 tacks of the latter are not frequent. 



Fires are kept going during the night, 

 for rarely do the jaguars and pumas and 

 other large cats — all called "tigers" in 

 the bush — molest a camp with its fires 

 "burning. 



A few days later the Indian messen- 

 gers returned with eleven others whom 

 they had persuaded to enter my service. 

 They were an interesting and picturesque 

 group, strong and well formed, for the 

 hunting had been good and their cassava 

 fields were flourishing. 



The men wore abbreviated loin-cloths, 

 and the simple garment of the one elderly 

 woman was the small apron of white 

 beads — the "lap," or "queyu" — depend- 



ing 



from a cord about the waist. They 

 were all Caribs and members of the 

 Patamona division of the Ackawoi tribe, 

 into whose ancient territory we had pene- 

 trated. 



THE NATIVES WITHHOLD THEIR REAL 

 NAMES FROM STRANGERS 



At first the newcomers were very shy. 

 but ere long cordial relations had been 

 established and they proved to be chil- 

 dren, like all primitive peoples. 



Each bore a "mission name," such as 

 Joseph, or Albert, and even Chamber- 

 lain, given by a missionary or trader. 

 The native name is not imparted to the 

 traveler until a real friendship is formed, 

 for they believe that knowledge of this 

 enables an ill-wisher to do them harm by 

 sorcery. 



They cheerfully began the transport of 

 our equipment from Tukeit to the higher 

 camp, but so steep was the trail, scarcely 

 five miles in length, that only one load 

 could be brought up in a day. The bur- 



