KAIETEUR AND RORAIMA 



243 



recall the conflict of many diverse emo- 

 tions. Satisfied to have reached the end 

 in view, with the "biological traverse" 

 completed, yet I was somewhat appre- 

 hensive of what might happen before the 

 return journey could be safely ended. 



The Indian bearers had become greatly 

 weakened by the ardors of the trip and 

 also through the effects of the severe in- 

 fluenza, known as the "Brazil cold," 

 which every newcomer contracts. They 

 could carry only the most needful things, 

 including the new supplies of food that 

 we expected to obtain from the Arecunas 

 of Kamaiwa-wong on the morrow. The 

 return must be made without any un- 

 toward hindrances or setbacks, if we 

 were to reach home in safety. Other 

 dangers were fortunately unknown to me 

 at the time. 



With bitter disappointment, having 

 considered all the elements in the situ- 

 ation, I determined to forego the attempt 

 to reach the summit of Roraima, and to 

 turn back after a single day of biological 

 study and association with the Indians 

 of the locality. Sir Everard im Thurn 

 and others had described the top of the 

 mountain, and my own personal desire 

 to view the scene from the crest was less 

 important than the scientific studies for 

 which the journey had been projected. 

 Yet it was a hard decision to make. 



The next day was eventful indeed. 

 Some of my bearers had gone to the vil- 

 lage on the previous evening and had 

 apprised the chief of my arrival. They 

 also learned that an American missionary 

 had died here some two weeks previ- 

 ously, under circumstances that to them, 

 at least, had seemed suspicious. 



Warned by Jeremiah to say nothing to 

 me of that sad event, as he believed that 

 he and his tribe would be blamed by me, 

 nothing was told me of the occurrence. 

 Every injury and death is attributed by 

 these people to "kenaima" work, or sor- 

 cery, and they believed that the white 

 man's death would be laid to them, al- 

 though from what was learned- subse- 

 quently a tribe to the north was perhaps 

 more accountable, if, indeed, the unfor- 

 tunate man's death was due to other than 

 natural causes. 



When, with four or five of my bearers, 

 I approached the village in the early 



morning, no one stood forth to greet 

 me. The Arecunas, clustered about their 

 huts, stolidly awaited events. I asked 

 for Jeremiah's house, but my interpreter 

 said, "Me no sabe"— in effect a refusal 

 to tell me. 



I singled out the largest "banaboo" 

 and approached it; whereupon the old 

 man emerged with his sons and stood 

 silently before us. His failure to order 

 the cassava ceremony of welcome seemed 

 strange and, at the time, unintelligible. 

 But the situation had to be met ; associa- 

 tion elsewhere with primitive peoples had 

 taught me that they are all children of a 

 larger growth, to be humored as such. 



First, I shook hands with all the na- 

 tives, now standing in a great half-circle, 

 and, as if by inadvertence, a second 

 round was begun, which amused them to 

 a degree; but still the cassava was not 

 forthcoming, and something more was 

 needful. 



A DANCE SAVES THE DAY 



By some process of thought, it oc- 

 curred to me to dance a few steps of the 

 simple "paiwari" dance of their carouses, 

 which I had learned from the Guiana 

 bucks. 



The sight of the bearded, spectacled, 

 and khaki-clad stranger solemnly per- 

 forming in such a manner was too much 

 for their sense of humor. Soon all were 

 laughing and chatting. Jeremiah unbent 

 to a degree, the cassava was ordered out, 

 and all was well. 



The remainder of the morning passed 

 off without any really untoward incident. 

 Here some fresh supplies of cassava 

 bread were secured for our return jour- 

 ney, and here also I bartered powder and 

 shot, fish-hooks and pins and cloth for 

 specimens of their basketry, bows and 

 arrows, and blow-guns, which the people 

 used with tiny arrows poisoned with the 

 deadly curare. 



Many of the natives trooped back to 

 my camp to see what the traveler might 

 have for which they could trade. 



During the days that followed the pan- 

 orama of the upward march unrolled be- 

 fore us in reverse order. One night an 

 Arecuna of Kamaiwa-wong became ex- 

 tremely ill — why I do not know, unless 

 he had been meddling with my cyanide 



