The British Guiana Museum. 227 
blowpipe arrows tipped with ourali poison, while the long 
blowpipes are also shewn, together with hunting arrows 
and bows used for shooting fish etc. Sets of baskets 
of various kinds occupy the bottom at the centre ; 
on each side follow packs for carrying burdens, cassava 
basket sieves, cassava graters made of particles of stone 
fastened to a board by means of a resinous substance ; while 
long cassava squeezers hang above. Leaning in the right 
corner are various paddles ; below is a model of a canoe : 
in the left corner lean various clubs, some paddle-like ; 
while below is a colleftion of fire-sticks. Along the front 
are placed goglets of different kinds, and other pottery ; 
above them stand various hollow dancing-sticks sur- 
mounted by rude imitations of animals; and in the centre 
a rude Eolian harp, made of the leaf-stalk of the ;Eta 
palm, the strings being made of the strong fibres raised 
above the surface. Various other objefts are seen such 
as drums, balls of cotton for hammock-making, a queyu 
in course of manufacture, a model of an Indian house, 
etc. Outside are Indian stools, and large paiwarrie pots. 
Turning along the central row, the visitor sees, first of 
all, a large case containing a water-cow or manatee, caught 
on the East Coast. These animals which are confined to 
the tropical shores and estuaries of the Atlantic, form, with 
the dugong of the East Indian seas, a small herbivorous 
group of mammals, called the Sirenia — though the 
resemblance to a Siren is difficult to imagine. They 
were once classed with the whales, which they resemble 
in the absence of hind-limbs and in the presence of a 
large horizontally placed caudal fin ; but their real 
affinities are with the herbivorous hoofed animals or 
ungulates. The skin in the manatee is very thick and 
