148 
The Story of Bat Mountain. 
w e let onr eyes wonder in the far distance, where one of the most 
charming monutaiu hmdscapes again presented itself. We fonnd onr- 
selves in the midst of the monntains : everywhere mountain towered over 
mountain, out of which in the north-Avest the dome-shaped Zabang, the 
Olympus of the Macusis, the home of the Great S])irit Makunaima, to 
whicli ( Very o])portunity was taken to direct our attention, raised itself 
high al.-ove all. To tlie Xorth and East their contours welted in the blue 
diaphanous distance with tlie horizon, while to the South, one's gaze re- 
mained fixed on the lovely vale of the Cotinga with Morakai and Pataghe 
between which one had a pe( p at Piatzang. From this outlook the resem- 
blance between Piatzang an<l Kyffhiiuser (sect. 354) was so striking that 
even when the young ^iacusi who accompanied us to Germany first saw 
tho latter, he came out with a loudly shouted "Piatzang! Piatzang!" 
060. Geogra}»hically, strictly speaking, the I'acaraima Kange can in 
one seiise be legarcUd as a true Cordillera, because it does not by any 
manner of means consist of a conterminous uninterruptedly-running 
mountain chain bnt i-atlu r of an irregular conglomeration of w hat are for 
the most part bleak mountains divided from one another by plains and 
savannahs that vie willi one another in the ap])earance of both their 
slojies and sumniils as w ell as in the fantastic ])ictnres made of their rock- 
bt>nnd shapes, anK)ng A\hicli, in our own neighbourhood, Yai'ingra and 
^^'arungka-Yeng were priuninently distinguishal)l(\ The ever active fancy 
of the Indians had attached some legend to evei-y one of these mountain 
crests. I will relate the one belonging to Mnrapa Yeng (Bat Mountain). 
Long, long yeai-s ago there lived an inunense bat in this particular moun- 
tain that spread fear and fi-ight among the Macusi. As soon as the sun 
had sunk in the west, the spectral monster would leave its hidden dwel- 
lijig, hover over the i)eaceful spot, like an eagle over the honu^ of the 
young deer, swoop down like an arrow upon anyone to be seen outside the 
houses, seize him in its powerful claws, carry him to its unknown lurking 
hole and there devour him. Fear reigned of an evening in the villages 
and the huts, and lamentation filled the air of a morning when two, yea, 
often three people were missing: not a night went by without an abduc- 
tion, the tribe counted fewer members daily, and their complete annihila- 
tion seemed close at hand. The piaimen exorcised the spirit — it came 
back : the men marched out to search for the house of the cursed ruffian — 
it could not be found : ^fakunaima was not on their side. To prevent the 
complete destruction of the race^who is there that does not call IVlarcns 
Gurtius to mind? — an old woman came foi-w^ard and declared herself 
ready to sacrifice her life for the good of her people. As night wore on 
she took her place with a covered light in the middle of the village, while 
the other inmates, trembling and quaking, remained in their houses listen- 
ing for the ominous fluttering of the mighty wings. Seized in its frightful 
flaws the heroine was beins carried off the cfround and borne away to the 
chaml)er of horrors, a\ hen she uncovered the fire-stick which, like the sun 
that casts its rays backwards (comet), produced a long streak of fire in 
the air, and so let her expectant r>eo]>le know the dii'tn-tion in which the 
charnel-house of their biethreii lay. The tall pillars of fire from the 
burning nest showed the exact situation, to which the whole population 
