86 
Ibis Proclaim the Dawn of Bay. 
acquainted. Waking of a morning, the husband got up, stood in front 
of the door, where he stretched, flexed and rubbed his limbs several 
times, and then went to a distance to satisfy his natural wants : in this 
latter respect men and women show extraordinary shame, for it is never 
performed in the presence of others, and they cover eveiything up with 
earth, like cats. This done, he returns to the house, squats at the fire, 
and without saying one word to his people, tries to keep it going, roasts 
some fruit or eats the breakfast put before him by the women, and then 
hurries off either to the chase or goes fisliing; in the meantime the 
women smoothc and anoint tlieir own and children's liair, paint their 
bodies, and, undertaking other household duties, then hurry off to the 
field and into the forest to search for fruit : the former, however, owing 
to the bad harvest, offered them little or nothing. In cotton-spinning 
they were just as expert as the Macusis. 
88. Though the AVapisianas appeared so clean as regards their bodies, 
each family nevertheless seemed to regard the cleaning of the house- 
as a trouble that it would rather avoid, the dust and dirt having collected 
in regular heaps. The unpleasantness of the .situation was increased by 
the four or five fires that Avere never extinguished, wli'ile the smoke, 
seeking in vain an exit tlirough the door, slowly crept towards the vaulted 
roof in many a complicated spiral: it became so troublesome that my 
eyes were bathed in a constant flow of tears. To this was still to be 
added the insufferable barking of the many half-starved dogs that broke 
out on every occasion Avhen any of our people entered the house, tlie 
shrieking of innumerable parrots, as well as of other tame birds, and 
the numberless SAvarms of blood-thirsty fleas, for which my presence in 
the hammock seemed to exercise a special attraction. 
89. Several Hokko-hens (Crax tomcntosa) openly exercised their 
sovereignty over the other tame poultry, their oppressive sway reducing 
the fowls, the Psophia and Penelope, to a state of fear and subjection 
that was truly ridiculous. It was not enough for the latter to accommo- 
date themselves to their capricious wills by day, but even witli incoming 
night they did Tfot dare perch where the former wanted to roost. 
90. The fruits of Melicocca hijuga (Macu of the Macusis), Genipa 
Maria iiac Eich, and Gctnipa cduUs Rich, whicli were just then ripe, liad 
to make up for the want of cassava. That of the first is appreciated in 
Georgetown, where the tree is cultivated under the name of Marmolada- 
box ; the Wapisiana.s call it Umpa. 
91. There is still another bird here, the fbis oxycercm Spix., the 
Tah-rong or Tah-rah of the Macusis and Wapisianas, which, like the 
parrot, proclaims the break of day. Every morning at dawn two pairs 
of them that liad settled in the neigh])ourhood of the village, struck 
their shrill protracted rattling note which resembles the syllables 
Tah-rong. They fly in couples from tree to tree, and the female never 
leaves the side of her mate : where the latter flies she follows, both i-eturn- 
ing of an evening at the one time, with tlie same unpleasant cry, to tlieir 
resting place, a Mauritia palm. When tlie male is shot, the hen, like the 
Arara, invariably returns to the spot where she last saw him. The 
