The Goatsuckers’ Warning. 
239 
voices then awakened in my vicinity: for closely following on the happy 
celebrations there fell upon mv ears the agonising cry of suffering from 
the different species of goat-suckers which, perched upon the bare 
exposed branches of trees sunk beneath the water, voiced their groans 
of lamentation across the silence of the moon-light night. These dull 
notes are indeed so melancholy and uncanny that I could quite unue.- 
stand why people light shy and are so afraid of these creatures : no 
Indian, no Negro, no creole of the coast dare point a gun at these birds, 
in whieli the first recognises the servant of the Evil Being, Yawaliu, and 
his sorcerers, the second the messengers of the bad spirit Juinbi, and the 
third the certain prophecy of a death within the house, as Waterton* 
has so charmingly described in Ids ‘Wanderings.” Now I recognised from 
yonder trees or from the neighbouring waterside the Availing ‘‘ha-ha-ha- 
ha-ha-lia-ha” that commenced Avitli a clear full note and gradually died 
away in a sob, and then the “Who-are you, who, Avho-are-you ?” uttered 
in anxious haste, and uoav again the dull imperious “Work-away-work- 
work-work-away,” Avhile in the next moment a voice, replete with the 
utmost weariness of life, implored “Willy-comie-go- Willy-Willy-' Willy - 
come-go,” and a fifth wailed “Whip-poor, -Whip-whip-whipr-whip- 
poon Will,” until suddenly the piercing shriek of a monkey that had been 
disturbed in its sleep or caught by a tiger-cat rang out from the gloomy 
forest. Wakened by the death-cry of this creature its mates joined in the 
wail of agony, the Avhole forest rose in tumult, and one heard the jumping 
of the frightened pack from tree to tree, till this hubbub likewise 
gradually faded away into the distance and the upset in the stillness of 
the night subsided. Up to the present I had listened quietly to these 
different sounds, and watched the flight of owls and bats swaying over 
the surface of the water, but now a long drawn-out uncanny growl 
frightened me out of my reveries, and as it seemed to indicate the 
presence of a jaguar on the prowl, I hastened to wake my neighbour. 
The terribly menacing roar which re-echoed a thousand times in the 
forest confirmed my fears when, awakened by my call, a number of the 
sleepers jumped out of their hammocks. New Year’s morning showed 
us distinct tracks upon the many different paths along which the fearful 
creature must liaA-e prowled round our camp. 
721. After commencing the day with Divine Service in the course 
of which Mr. Youd gave us an excellent sermon exactly suited to the 
occasion, we spent the rest of the time in fishing and hunting. T have 
already considered worthy of praise the certainty with Avhich the 
coloured folk and Indians, in spite of the optical illusion caused by 
refraction of the image, manage to hit the fish, and will now only 
describe here quite a peculiar arrangement as regards their arroAVs with 
which fish other than the Myletes are killed. These arrows carry a 
powerfully barbed tip, possessing a hollowed-out base into Avhich the 
extremity of the arrow-shaft passes. A thin but strong string is attached 
at its one end to this iron tip and at its other to the shaft, on to which, 
“Wanderings in South America,” by Charles Waterton. 
