^8 
Indian Attacked by a SriNG-RAi'. 
Gß. Our camp to-day, situate in 3° 1' lat. N. on the left bank of 
the Takutu, anus enehjsed with innumerable bushes of tlie Eugenia that 
we had already found at I'irara : here also the delicate branches be-nt 
under the weight of their fruit. The Ontca acaciucfolin Ileuth. with its 
beautiful feather-like leaves was likewise present in large quantity. 
G7, Tliat the condition of our naturally veiy frail vessels should 
daily be getting worse became more and more patent, and Avas not at all 
to be wondered at considering how they had been continually dragged 
across sandbanks or hauled over granite ridges and rubble dams. For 
the last two days, as soon as each of the corials got into deep water, a 
n.an was constantly kejit em]>loyed liailing out the invading water. 
The Great Fall of 8cabuidc, the biggest we had as yet met, proved a 
consideralde oiistacle next day. It has received its name from tlie little 
i-iver Scabuidv, which, fioui tlie Eastward, joins the Takutu at the foot 
of tlie catai-act. ratu-auuru as the Wapisianas call it, means the same 
thing as Scabiüik-oute (Sandy Ei\er), in view of the immense sandbanks 
at its edge. We had already lianled two of our corials sucressfully over 
the rocky barriers, when an accident put a stop to our journey for the 
day. 
68. Auiong the uuiny fisli peculiar to the Takutu, the Sting-ray of 
the Colonists, owing to its nuni,bers, occupies one of the foremost places 
As I mentioned previously it shovels its flat body in such a way into the 
sand or mud that only the eyes are free, whereby even in the clearest 
water it escapes the view of a person wading by: should the latter now 
unfortunately tread upon or disturlt one of these cunning creatures, it 
whips out its tcjil and strikes viüoi-ously at the mischief-maker. The tail 
is provided »s-ith a bony saw-like jagged double-edged spine and gives 
rise not only to very critical convulsions, but can even cause death. Our 
Indians, knowing their dangerous enemy, always prodded the wat-^r 
immediately ahead vriüi a paddle or stick as soon as they had dragged 
or pushed the corials over a bank. In spite of this precaution, one of 
our boat-hands, the Arekuna Indian Awacaipu, was nevertheless wounded 
twice on the instep by one of these fish. Directly the poor fellow got 
ptuck, he staggered on to the sandbank where he colla]ised and, biting 
his lips with the raging agony, rolled about in the sand: yet no tears 
flowed from his eyes, no cry passed bis lips. While still engaged tiying 
to alleviate his sufferings as much as we could, our atte ntion was dis- 
tracted by a loud shriek to long-suffering Cumei-u wlio had Iteen so dan- 
gerously bitten by a pirai at the mouth of the Pirara and whose injury 
was still not healed — a second wound had just been inflicted close to the 
first one on the same foot. The boy had so far not acquired the finfiness 
of character requisite to repress, like Awacaipu, the expression of his 
pain: wdth a piercing cry of suffering, he threw himself about on the 
ground, dug his face and head into the sand, and even bit into it. I have 
never seen an epileptic suffering from convulsions to such an extent. 
Although Awacaipu had been wounded on the instep, and Cnmeru on 
the sole of the foot, both nevertheless felt the greatest pain in the ju-i- 
vates, the neighbourhood of the heart and under the arm pit. Though 
the fits were already apparently bad enough for the Arekuna, they took 
