The Singing Eeenchman. 
347 
and mixed witli tiny cnt-iip bits of meat so tis to make little balls of 
them ready to be tliiowu into the river as, bait : it was greedily swallowed 
by one species of tish only, and that the Leporinus Friderici Agass. which 
soon rose to the surface and died. Ingenuity was shewn by the way in 
which with a so-called spring-hook the coastal tribes caught the tasty 
haimura {.Mavrodoii Tnihim Miill.) which during many times of the 
year forms the only food ot the Indians. For this inirpose he takes 
a 6 to 7 foot long elastic rod, as thick as his linger, and with a short 
string fixes a hook to the extremity of it. The thick end is stuck firmly 
into the bank at the water-side. Immediately below the surface, the rod 
has a notch in it into which another one at its tip can exactly fit. When 
the thick base of the switch has l)een driven in, the fisherman bends the 
tip over and downwards and fixes the notches together. The hook with 
its bait is dropped into the water, and as soon as the Macroilon or other 
fish takes it, the notches are unloosened, the rod springs u]» and take*^ 
the fish with it. |Shonld the fish prove too heavy for the elasticity of 
the rod and remain in the water, it mostly becomes the prey of the pirai 
Or kaiman. 
84.3. Owing to its sharp bite, the Marrodon 1)elongs to the most 
dangerous of fish and T have seen wounds, consequent on the care- 
lessness of the fishermen, that have surprised me. 
844. The variation that T noticed in Arraia between T'aribs and 
remaining tribes as regards foodstuffs was extraordinary. The Carib 
will never eat a monkey and while the Macusi only partakes of the flesh 
of an ant-bear when forced by necessity, the Carib regards it as a very 
great luxury, etc. 
841"». After providing myself with adequate supplies, I resumed my 
journey up the Pomeroon in company with the old chief and some of 
his subordinates, because my companions from Kuamuta had gone back 
there. The farther we pushed our way, the more ra]>id became the 
current. The 4 to G ft. high banks consisted here also of a reddish 
greasy loam through which veins of white clay in isolated places ran 
their course. The Tiif/a- and F('.'v)»m-bush •■' along the immediate water- 
side was completely covered with the large yellow blossoms of Lioulia 
f^rJwmhiirfß-ii Klotzsch, while the shrill T>iping of the M nf^cira pii 
rnnfrrens Vv. Xeuw. resounding from the tops of the sky-scraping Mora, 
.nnd various Lrr-j/tliis; and JjcmniR trees, re-echoed through the forest. 
Next morning liefore even the dawn of day, the note of another bird 
made a different impr-ession on me, for I thought T heard the sounds of a 
glass harmonicon joining at absolutely regular intervals to form a 
peculiar melody. The notes, as clear as a bell, had something so deeply 
insinuating, so delicately musical about them, that at first I really did 
not know what to refer them to. I listened to th<> singer in silence and 
surprise until my coloured men told me it was the "Flageolet l)ird" or 
"Singing Frenchman" of which I had already heard from the Colonists 
by repute, but hitherto had neither seen nor listened to. Martins and 
* I have never vet anywhere else found tlie genusT'/VTwia so predomiiiiint as on the hanks 
of the Pomeroon. I collected here Vismia tfiiiaiieiisi.i Pers., V, xess:i/ifoIia Pers., V. cauevnpnuifi 
Pers., 7', /a///V»/?o Chois., V. acxtminala ¥er»., besides discovering two new species— T. ^jcAowi- 
hurgkiana Klotzsch. and V. Sieberiana Klotzsch. 
