438 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
Curupira, and to find it again he twists a liana into 
a ring — or, if he be a Christian, into the form of a 
cross — in such a way that the points of the Hana 
are completely hidden ; he then throws it behind 
him, taking care not to look which way it goes, and 
afterwards picks it up and follows the direction in 
which it has fallen. I cannot here recount all the 
tales I have heard about this mysterious being, but 
I suppose they point to the former existence in the 
regions of some homo primordialis, and that the 
fact has come down by tradition from untold ages, 
coupled with the belief that the species is even yet 
not extinct. Meanwhile, until the animal, or its 
skeleton, be found — which I do not look on as 
impossible — I suppose we must consider the Curu- 
pira, or Munyia, or Yamadu, the analogue of the 
Barghaist of the north of England and Scotland, 
the Loup-garou of France, the Lobishomem of 
Portugal, and other similar mythical creatures. 
A Strange Occurrence and its Explanation 
In my voyage to the Upper Orinoco, by way of 
the Casiquiari, in 1853-54, when the river was so 
low at Christmas that I had great difficulty in getting 
my piragoa up as far as Esmeralda, and it was 
quite impossible to ascend farther, as I had at first 
intended, I afterwards explored its northern tribu- 
tary, the Cunucuniima, and re-entered the Casiquiari, 
intending to go as far down as Lake Vasiva. The 
dry season should have held all through the months 
of January and February, and Vasiva was described 
to me as having at that time broad sandy beaches, 
sprinkled with curious little plants, and bordered 
