The Glories of Cast- Off Clothes. 
119 
wended their way next morning guided by the still whirling columns of 
smoke, and killed the beast. The nest was found on to]) of a mountain, 
Avhich is still called Murapa-Yeng, Bat Mountain. The legend is silent as 
to Avhether the woman had to pay for the heroic deed with her life : at any 
rate, there can still he found up there a large heap of bleached human 
bones. Unfortunately our ignorance of the language was a great draw- 
back to our learuing all tlu^ legends which tluw told us of their own accord 
concerniug every sti-ikijig natural formation. 
As on pre vious occasions, so also liere in the mountains one 
settlement quickly carried the news to anotlier that the Paranaghieris 
had reached Toi'ong-Yauwise. Even iiexl day the hitherto still and silent 
valleys aud plains were ;ilive witii gaily-(lecked ligm*es, who came aud 
settled in the village, wliile tlie noisy l)<\'iting of the drums and the shrill 
notes of the accompanying Hfes were re-echoed a thousandfold. I'^very 
fresh procession, as soon as it could be iiuule out on its way in the far dis- 
tance, enticed us out of the house to see it defiling in front of us on arrival 
at the village, aud io enjoy a sight of the Indians" fantastic feather deco- 
rations, their crowns out of wliieli the .\rara tail-feathers were waving 
in the wind, their Avar-clubs, their l»o\vs and arrows. All jiaiuted with red 
and black colours, according to the cnstom of their tribe, — Macusi, Wapi- 
siana, Pauixana and Arekuna, were here — the men and women, old and 
young, climbed the rising gTouud with the chieftain, the only man armed, 
at their head. Immediately following tlie chief were tlu^ mnsieians 
making noise with their drums oi' on flutes carved from the tliigh-lMmes of 
their slain enemies: then came the other men, one behind tlie other, and 
finally the Avomeu, i»auting under the luii'den of their siu-klings and tlieir 
baskets tilled with "trade,"" the girls and little boys, armed with minia- 
iui-e eliibs and 1)(>\\ s, closing in the line of nmrch. As soon as tliey reached 
the village, the procession stoi^ped, the chief came u]i to us with hand 
stretched out in front, offered it to us with the word '^Matti," and then 
instructed his subordinates to do the same, but tlie women, girls and Itoys 
only did it in fear and treml)ling. This ceremony certainly often proved 
a nuisance, and it was difficult enough for me, like the others, not to 
laugh w lien some snch almost naked gentleman dressed in the most hetero- 
genous cast-off garments of the civilised world, strode up to us in the 
proud conscientiousness of their iwssession. Hut it had to be gone through 
regularly without our daring to pull a long face. A powerful Wapisiaua 
chief had squeezed his nude perspiring l)ody into the worn-out red 
uniform of a lieutenant of the Colonial militia that had. finally, in conrse 
of piobably a twelve-montirs trade and barter, been ])assed from Imnd to 
hand over a stretch of more than (iOO miles. Another was fixed up in a 
lady"s riding habit cut short at the knees, in wliich goddness only know s 
some Georgetown beauty may have bewitclied the hearts of the dandies 
on the race-course: at any rate no prouder heart had beaten nnder it 
before than did the one there now. Others again were wearing petticoats, 
or i>ieces of shirts and coats, with their heads stuck in old hats of wiii«-h 
the crowns or brims were wanting, or), in caps that had long lost their 
qi-iginal colour: and yet not one of these silly fops had the slightest 
