negroes say is at certain seasons visited by the celebrated Dominican friar, Père Labat, who arrived in Martinique in 1693. He is said to appear in the guise of a lambent flame."—(P. 65.)
"After the Warimambo (Guiana), we came almost immediately on some very steep rapids . . . . . . Here one of the crew nearly lost his life, as he was swept off his feet by the strong current, and only just caught the rope in time to save himself from being carried over a dangerous eddy . . . . . . He attributed his safety to the strictness with which the Indians had observed the proper respect due to a trogon that had flown over our heads in the morning; they have a superstition that, if on setting out on a journey they should turn their backs to this species of birds, ill-luck will surely follow."—(P. 146.)
"Of game birds we bagged a paui, curasow, and two maroudis, a species of wild turkey. The Indians say that the maroudi obtained its bare red throat by swallowing a fire-stick which it mistook for a glow-worm."— (P. 160.)
"A small accourie (Dastyprocta agouti) was the only four-footed creature we got. This little rodent figures prominently in Indian mythology. One of the legends runs thus: The inhabitants of the sky once peeped through a hole that they had been told not to approach, and on looking down saw another world. They therefore cut down long bush-ropes and let themselves down. After wandering about they became frightened and began to ascend the ladder, but an old lady of too ample proportions stuck in the hole, and, during the fighting and scrambling that ensued, the rope broke and many had to remain on earth. Then as they had no provisions they become very lean, but noticing that the accourie was always plump they set the woodpecker to watch its feeding-ground. But the woodpecker betrayed himself by his tapping. Then the alligator was told to watch, and he found out, but came back and told a lie, so they cut out his tongue.[1] Then the rat was sent off, but he never returned and the people starved. They wandered off and left a little child behind, and when they returned
- ↑ The Indians to the present day do not recognise in the alligator that shapeless fleshy mass, which is incapable of extension, as a tongue. Herodotus, too, who was a keen observer of the crocodile, repeats the idea that it is tongueless and for that reason was regarded by the Egyptians as an emblem of mystery.
