52 



WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



a dice-box used at backgammon. The inside is prettily 

 done in basket work, with wood not unlike bamboo, 

 and the outside has a coat of wax. The cover is all 

 of one piece, formed out of the skin of the tapir. 

 Eound the centre there is fastened a loop, large 

 enough to admit the arm and shoulder, from which it 

 hangs when used. To the rim is tied a little bunch 

 of silk-grass, and half of the jaw-bone of the fish called 

 pirai, with which the Indian scrapes the point of his 

 arrow. 



Eefore he puts the arrows into the quiver, he links 

 them together by two strings of cotton, one string at 

 each end, and then folds them round a stick, which is 

 nearly the length of the quiver. The end of the stick, 

 which is uppermost, is guarded by two, little pieces 

 of wood crosswise, with a hoop round their extre- 

 mities, which appears something like a wheel; and 

 this saves the hand from being wounded when the 

 quiver is reversed, in order to let the bunch of arrows 

 drop out. 



There is also attached to the quiver a little kind of 

 basket, to hold the wild cotton which is put on the 

 blunt end of the arrow. With a quiver of poisoned 

 arrows slung over his shoulder, and with his blow-pipe 

 in his hand, in the same position as a soldier carries his 

 musket, see the Macoushi Indian advancing towards 

 the forest in quest of powises, maroudis, waracabas, 

 and other feathered game. 



These generally sit high up in the tall and tufted 

 trees, but still are not out of the Indian's 

 in pursuit of reach ; for his blow-pipe, at its greatest 

 IS game. elcvatiou, will send an arrow three hundred 

 feet. Silent as midnight he steals under them, and so 



