154 
Smoked Monkeys no Delicacy. 
compact: with it they develop in all their movements an elasticity, a 
suppleness, and an agility of body that up till now had not been appar- 
ent amongst the Indians. The size and proportion, the whole construc- 
tion of the limbs, the longer neck, the less protruding abdomen, and the 
regular facial features, mostly wanting in the South American Indian, 
are here united in such a high state of perfection that almost every one 
might serve as a model of absolute male beauty, particularly if the 
whole deficiency of fhe growth of beard were to be remedied. 
537. They were just as much surprised at seeing us strangers as 
we were astonished at their physique: they received us as friends and 
gave immediate practical proof of the correspondence between the outer 
signs and inner truth by setting before ns as a present a portion of the 
booty which they had already heaped in front of the chief. As the 
hunters had been away for several days, the greater portion of the game 
bad had to be smoked, a procedure that gave a particularly horrible ap- 
pearance to the dead monkeys because they had not been skinned, but 
only singed: it was long before I could dispel from my mind the idea 
that these were negro children that had died in convulsions. The re- 
maining quarry consisted of hog, which had mostly been cut up in quar- 
ters, deer ( Capreolus shnplicicornis and C. rufus ), agutis ( Dasyprocta ) , 
ant-bears and a number of fowl, especially ducks. 
538. Of the game that was offered us we prudently picked out only 
the fowl, and our share of the slaughtered hog and deer: our stomach 
still stood far too much under the sway of the imagination to allow of 
its wanting to make friends with the ghastly shapes of the huge 
crumpled-up howler-monkeys, although its revolt had to be completely 
quelled on subsequent journeys. 
539. The lovely hunting-dogs had attracted my undivided attention 
at first sight. While those of the Warraus belong to a small gaunt 
breed with pointed snout, upright-standing ears and short hair, those 
of the Waikas on the contrary are distinguished by strong build and 
beautiful hair, and to all appearance resemble our water-dogs ( Was- 
serhunden) : we surmised that they were of Spanish descent, a view that 
was confirmed by the fact that the Waikas often undertake long jour- 
neys to barter breeding-dogs from the tribes of Colombia and Brazil. 
It is a peculiar phenomenon that beneath this hot sky, hydrophobia is 
quite an unknown disease and is hardly ever to be « 6611 : the terrible com- 
plaint does not occur in Georgetown. 
540. The environs of Manari offered evidence of extreme fertility : 
this was especially noticeable in the sugar-cane and maize growing in 
the provision-fields surrounding the settlement, with which the products 
of the coast were out of all comparison, because the maize grew cobs 
to a length of from 10 to 13 inches and many a plantain bunch weighed 
100 lbs. The soil consisted generally of a rich loam strongly mixed 
with humus and sand, that rested upon a thick layer of clay, so that 
even in the dry season of the year, the vegetation remained assured of 
sufficient moisture. 
541. However much I was delighted with my trips in such sur- 
roundings, the miserable condition of my feet forced me to restrict them 
to the narrowest limits, and even then I continually returned home with 
