SOUTH AMERICA. 
31 
nothing but level ground, richly clothed in timber. 
You leave the Siparouni to the right hand, and on 
the third day come to a little hill. The Indians 
have cleared about an acre of ground on it, and 
erected a temporary shed. If it be not intended for 
provision ground alone, perhaps the next white man 
who travels through these remote wilds will find an 
Indian settlement here. 
Two days after leaving this, you get to a rising 
ground on the western bank, where stands a single 
hut 5 and about half a mile in the forest there are a 
few more; some of them square, and some round, 
with spiral roots. 
Here the fish called Pacou is very plentiful: it 
is perhaps the fattest and most delicious fish in 
Guiana. It does not take the hook, but the In¬ 
dians decoy it to the surface of the water by means 
of the seeds of the crabwood tree, and then shoot 
it with an arrow. 
You are now within the borders of Macoushia, in¬ 
habited by a different tribe of people, called Macoushi 
Indians; uncommonly dexterous in the use of the 
blow-pipe, and famous for their skill in preparing the 
deadly vegetable poison, commonly called Wourali. 
It is from this country that those beautiful paro¬ 
quets, named Kessi-kessi, are procured. Here the 
crystal mountains are found; and here the three dif¬ 
ferent species of the ara are seen in great abundance. 
Here, too, grows the tree from which the gum-elastic 
is got: it is large, and as tall as any in the forest. 
The wood has much the appearance of sycamore. 
FIRST 
JOURNJE? 
Macoushi 
Indians. 
