34 
THE ABORIGINES OF GUIANA. 
from cassada bread. The bread is for that purpose made thicker, and is carbonized on its surface ; it is then broken into pieces, and 
after boiling water lias been poured over it, the women begin to turn it about with their hands, the large lumps being taken out and 
chewed, and then put into the pot again. This disgusting process, they say, increases the fermentation of the decoction, and renders it 
intoxicating. Cassiri, which is a fermented liquor from the sweet potato, or yams, is made in a similar manner. 
The preparation of the necessary beverage for a drinking feast will occupy the women in chewing cassada for several days. A 
large trough, in the form of a canoe, is an indispensable piece of furniture in a chief’s hut. Although it may contain from a hundred 
to a hundred and twenty gallons I have seen it emptied in the course of the day by forty or fifty individuals. The cassada bread, 
which is intended for that use, is piled up round the trough, and having been broken into pieces and covered with hot water, the women 
continue their filthy work for hours. 
The scenes incident to a feast of this description do not present much variety. The invitations having been given several days 
before, the young men of the village from whence the invitation emanated, repair the preceding night to the neighbouring settlements to 
repeat the summons. The guests assemble the next day, their faces and figaires much painted and decorated with feathers, necklaces of 
monkey and peccari teeth, seeds, kc. The dancers arrange themselves round the trough which contains the intoxicating drink, their bodies 
bent forwards ; the one who follows the leader has a calabash in his right hand, in the left a maraca or rattle ; the others seize upon any 
object which falls first in their way, perhaps a war-club, or gun, or a cutlass ; the females their baby, a puppy, or a monkey ; and with eyes 
bent to the ground, the dance commences, the measure of which is in triple time ; it is accompanied by a monotonous song, which is 
strongly marked by stamping with the foot, or knocking the ground with a hollow cylinder of bamboo, surrounded with the seed-vessels of a 
species of Cerbera, which make a rattling noise. The words of the dancers, which are extemporaneous, are frequently repeated; they 
continue moving round and round, first one way and then the other, or they follow each other in single file ; after this measured dance, 
which is intended to keep off evil spirits from their amusements, the leader of the column approaches the trough of Paiwori, and taking the 
calabash from the hand of his neighbour, he dips it gravely into the trough and takes a sip ; this is announced by the recommencement 
of the song, and the rattling of the maraca; the calabash is then presented to the others, who help themselves at pleasure. Several 
other dances follow, equally monotonous in song and movements as the others. 
The opening ceremony of a Paiwori feast and dance is delineated in the plate, which represents the Carib village Anai ; the 
large canoe in the middle, filled with the intoxicating drink is surrounded by the dancers, every one bearing some object in his hand. 
Their gaudy feather-dresses, the peculiar expression and drollery of their faces, perhaps produced by deep libations before the dance 
commenced, have been attempted with the pencil, but can scarcely be conveyed by the most skilful artist. 
Anai is situated near the mountain of the same name, and about seven miles from the left bank of the Rupununi, in latitude 
3° 56' N. The house partly boarded up with spars made of the Manicole palm, served us as a residence for nearly six weeks during 
our first expedition. The Carib who inhabited it, had surrendered it with the same hospitality to Mr. Waterton, and to Messrs. Smith 
and Gullifer when they visited these regions. During my last visit, in 1838, I found the village abandoned, and the spot which was 
formerly occupied by the house overgrown with bushes. 
Dancing appears to be a practice which belongs as much to the civilized nations of the world, as to those whom we have termed 
savages ; and all the Indian tribes whom I have had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with, delight in this amusement. While we were 
in Oreala, on the Corentyn, we had an opportunity of witnessing a Warrau dance, which differs in some respects from that of other 
Indian tribes. Mr. Layfield, who possesses a woodcutting establishment, in which many of the Indians who live in the neighbourhood are 
employed, gratified our wish, and the necessary notice was spread through the neighbouring settlements, that at such a day a dance would 
be given at his abode. The previous evening, and when I was just about retiring to my tent, I was forcibly struck by the sound of peculiar 
music, which at first made me think I heard a Russian horn-band ; the sounds, carried by a gentle breeze, swelled and died away until 
they burst fully again upon my ear ; and although there was something wild in it, the cadence softened the harshness, and mellowed it into 
harmony ; the sounds were too varied for an Aiolian harp, and our distance from civilized countries precluded all possibility of ascribing 
the music to a band ; at last I recollected the dance which was to take place the following day, and that I had been told that every 
Warrau settlement had its band-master, called in their language Hohohit, whose duty it was to train his pupils to blow upon fiutes made 
of reeds and bamboo. I followed the music and entered the settlement, which was only a short distance from our encampment, where 
I found all the young men collected around old Morose, under whose guidance those sounds were produced, which had so much astonished 
me. The musicians were grouped, each possessing an instrument consisting of a piece of bamboo, in which a small reed on the principle 
of the mouth of the clarinet, was introduced. According to the size of a slit, the reed produced a higher or deeper sound, and this 
was powerfully increased by a hollow bamboo called Wanawalli, in some instances five feet long. A waive with his hand, a nod with 
his head or instrument, were the different signals to those around him to fall in with their instruments, which naturally produced but 
one tone, but united into something like harmony. Who are now the inventors of that peculiar and mechanical music, which a 
