56 
GUATEMALA. 
a sand-spit, and waited for the return through the forest 
of part of our men whom we had sent to explore inland. 
Wild figs of good size came tumbling into the stream from 
the trees above ; but they were not to our taste, although 
Guillermo said they were eaten when ripe. While we 
waited, a large canoe came down from the mahogany re¬ 
gion miles above, and the three Caribs in it dragged it over 
the log with great labor. Besides their petacas, they had 
mahogany mortars for rice-hulling, and mahogany plat¬ 
ters. In the forest their work is task-work, and they often 
have half the day to themselves ; in this leisure time they 
carve the rejected butts into various useful articles, which 
they sell at the Boca , or mouth of the river. As we re¬ 
turned, we saw another use to which the ever-present 
machete is put; it is in turn knife, axe, adze, hammer, 
spoon, back-scratcher, shovel, pump-handle, door-bolt, 
blind-fastener, — and now a fishing-rod ! Guillermo ac¬ 
tually split the head of a large fish that was in the shadow 
of a rock, — a fish weighing some five pounds ! 
In the afternoon we inspected the ehampa our men had 
been building. The building process was certainly a novel 
one. On receiving our orders, the Caribs held a brief con¬ 
sultation, chattering in their very unattractive language; 
while we knew no more of their talk than we knew of 
the intelligent ants, who are equally black, and hold their 
consultations unbeknown to us. The result was, however, 
that they separated and disappeared in the forest. Soon 
we heard the blows of the machetes; and then they came 
straggling back, two with the aucones or main posts of 
the house, others with side-posts, rafters, coils of vejucos, 
and bundles of manaca-leaves. In an incredibly short 
time the frame was tied together. The thatching with the 
