ßiJBGEHOGS AND PORCUPINES. 
899 
1.004. Amongst mammals the strange hedgehog Echinomjs hispidus 
Geotfr. seems most plentifnl, especially in the neighbourhood of the 
small forest streams. It appears to reside upon the trees: at least I 
have never come across it on the) ground. In climbing and springing 
from branch to branch it can vie with the smartest squirrel. The 
female drops 4 young in the hollow liml» of a tree, and these soon follow 
at their mother's heels : they constitute a special dainty for the Indians. 
It seems to be spread all over British Omana, because I at least found 
it everywhere, while the disti-ibution of Loncheres chrj/si(riis Lii-ht. 
is limited to definite locKilities. most frequently to the sources of the 
Coi-entyn. A tame porcupine Cercohihrs prehensiUs that one of ' the 
residents possessed, and which T bought, amused me much: unfor- 
tunately I did not possess it foi- long, l>ecause it ran away. The quills 
of this peculiar creatui'e, which also only lives ui)on trees, are used by 
the Indians as necklaces and other decorations. A second species, the 
Cuyi (C. inmdioaa) is also present here. 
1.005. In the environs of Golden Hill the! residents had set some 
remarkably peculiar traps for catching the simaller mammals such as 
Coelogenij.^, Dasi/proefo , Dasi/pus, etc. The virgin forest which in the 
neighbourhood of the settlement Avas quite free from undergrowth, Avas 
intersected by a long stretch of a 2 to 3 foot high Avattled fence. At 
every 50 to 60 paces were to be uiet openings in which, by means of a 
small supporting board, heavy logs are held a little above the ground. As 
soon as one of the animals specified is blocked by the fence in the 
coui'se of its run it hurries al<»ng it, discovers one of the openings and, 
Avhile creeping through, pushes up against one of the supports, when the 
log falls and kills it. Owing to these traps these animals have already 
become comparatively scarce in the neighbourhood. These were the 
first traps for mammals that I had noticed among the Indians, and I 
have no doubt that they were adapted from the Negroes who in this 
]-esi)ect possess a good deal of ingenuity. Pi4nce von Neuwied men- 
tions similar traps in his Brazilian travels which he calls Fall-traps 
(Schlag-f alien).* 
1.006. My ichthyological collection was also increased by two new 
specimens, of ^^'hich the Rhavi pMchtJiijs ro&tratus Müll. Trosch\. was 
par-ticularly common among the roots of the Caladium : the Ayiodus 
cyprinoides Müll. Trosch. Avas caught plentifully on the hook. After 
an eight days' stay T r-esumed ray journey u]i the Demerara in coimpany 
with 3 Arawak Indians. The rivei* continued from the South. Between 
the thick and flourishing Avoodland of the banks there peeped out at us 
now and again the home of a timber-getter, a coloured man or a Negro, 
shaded as it was with Musa or orange-trees and hidden aAvay among 
the lovely foliage. After passing on the right bank the mouths of the 
small creeks Arraqua and Watuka Ave reached on the left one of the most 
important and extensive timber-yards on the Demerara, known as 
* These traps are still occasionally used by blacks, and perhaps by Indians, in the same 
neighbourhood Their constrnctiim is detailed in Roth's "Arts, Crafts, and Cuatoias, etc" — 
(Ed.) 
