In Paiwari Veritas. 
1G1 
tree where they will squeeze in tlieir stomachs so as to vomit the 
contents, and directly afterwards accept from the hand of the woman 
waiting for them the newly-tilled calabash, the contents of which 
they will again guzzle at one pull. In the drinking of Paiwari, the Indian 
is never satisfied, and here also the dance and song, if one can still apply 
that name to a dissolute row, continued until the intoxicating liquor was 
drained to the last drop. 
560. Except for its change to “In Paiwari Veritas'’ the old saw 
“In Vino Veritas’’ retains its full worth even in the virgin forests of 
Guiana. With every cup of drink the inner and truer disposition of the 
drinker becomes exposed more distinctly and clearly. Grudges and 
hatreds that have been restrained for years, affronts which the offender 
would seem long to have forgotten, are now again openly referred to and 
expressed in reproaches such as “You are the son of the man who slew 
my father,” or “seduced my woman,” “It was you that poisoned my wife,” 
“You murdered my son,” etc., reminders which every Indian in 
circumstances of sobriety will check with canning caution. These 
reproaches would without doubt immediately lead to the most blood- 
thirsty revenge were it not that upon the very first sign of drunkenness 
all weapons are removed to a distance by the sensible women who 
have been tutored by experience, and by certain of the men whose 
business it is to keep their heads clear and cool. Besides, the 
women had long before decoyed many of these disturbers of the peace 
to their hammocks where they had tightly tied them in. 
561. Our Warraus, whose talent for drinking I had already had 
frequent opportunity for admiring, had utilised the auspicious occasion 
to such an extent that by the following morning they were lying about in 
all directions, and, like the Akawais, only awoke from their dissolute con- 
dition late in the afternoon. According to all indications the effects 
of this drink must be much more weakening and deadening than those 
resulting from spirits. A large quantity of Am piillaria urccus* which 
some bustling women had already boiled and prepared by daybreak the 
following morning, seemed to show prettv plainly that, like herring salad 
with us, it serves as a pick-me-up for the disturbed nervous system. The 
mollusc is cooked in its shell, which is then broken and the entrails of the 
creature removed : sprinkled with vinegar the muscular portions offer- 
ed quite a delicious dish. 
562. While some of the women were employed boiling the snails 
others started afresh on their masticatory muscles so as to replace as 
quickly as possil.de with a new flood the ebb that had set in within the 
pots, and not let their worshipful masters miss their daily drink. 
503. As with the Warraus so with the Akawais, the whole burden 
of the labour falls upon the shoulders of the women, and I must give 
them the praiseworthy testimony that during our stay amongst them they 
never showed themselves idle. They had even to procure the firewood 
for the hearth and for the fires under cur hammocks. The husband who 
*A detailed monograph of the A mv nil aria urceus by Dr, Troschel is to be found ip 
Wiegmanns Archiv für Na! Urgeschichte 1845 
