Asked or unasked, the women who come in contact with white people frequently imitate such vessels of European structure as they may see, such as teapots, cups and saucers, tumblers, or wineglasses; but these articles are always misshapen and untrue in curve.

Before passing from the subject of Indian pottery, it must be noted that the vessels made are strikingly similar in form to the ruder forms of those found in the North American earth-mounds. The buck-pot' and the goglet are exactly matched in shape by vessels from these mounds; but those made by the present Indians of Guiana are more highly finished than most, at any rate, of those left behind by the old North American mound-makers. Another significant fact is that, while the Indian women of Guiana are shaping the clay, their children, imitating them, make small pots and goglets. Many of these toy vessels may be seen in and about almost every Indian house. The large number of vessels too small for practical use which occur in the North American mounds, and the object of which has long been a question, were, judging by analogy, probably made by the children of the mound-makers.

The Indians-this time the men-are very skilful basket-makers. Baskets of various shapes are used by them for many different purposes. The material used for all fine basket-work is the split, reed-like stems of a kind of maranta (Ischnosiphon), called iturite by the Indians. For rougher work other species of iturite are used; and for the roughest of all, the unsplit stems of certain creepers, especially one called by the Indians mamoorie (Carludovica plumierii) are used.

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The so-called pegalls are made to contain all loose arrow-heads, a ball of cotton for binding, some wax, such beads and other ornaments as are not in use, and all the other smaller properties of the Indian. The pegalls of the

The word pegalla is possibly a genuine Carib word; but the form pack-all which is used by colonists, is, when the object of this basket is remembered, suspicious.

Arawaks, Ackawoi, and Warraus are generally square in shape. The basket itself and its lid are of exactly the same shape, and the latter, being rather the larger, slips over the former and entirely covers it. It is, perhaps hardly neces

sary to observe that the nests' of these pegalls, which are often exported, are only made as curiosities for Europeans. Many True Caribs make their pegalls of a peculiar oblong shape, with very gracefully curved lines, and adorn them with long strings of thick white cotton on which are knots of coloured feathers. Round pocket-shaped baskets, without

lids, but covered with loose leaves if there is need of protection, are chiefly used by the Indians of the savannah, instead of the more ordinary pegalls.

Sometimes, especially by the True Caribs, each pegall, basket and lid alike, is made double, and between the two

layers of basket-work certain leaves (Ischnosiphon) are inserted, to render the whole basket waterproof.

Most of the implements used in making cassava-bread are of basket-work. The matapie, a very peculiar basket, by means of which the bitter, poisonous juice is expressed from the cassava, has already been described (Fig. 18, p. 261). The square sieve (Fig. 20, p. 279) through which the cassavameal is sifted before it is strewn on the baking-iron is made of basket-work. To hold the cassava-bread when made, large square tray-like baskets (Fig. 21, p. 279), with little or no rim, are made by the Macusis and Arecunas, and similar, but much

deeper baskets (Fig. 22), raised some distance above the ground. on wooden legs, are made and used for the same purpose by the Arawaks, True Caribs, and most other Indians of the forest.

Another basket in common use is the suriana, which is used for carrying heavy loads of cassava and other roots home from the fields, for bringing in firewood, and for carrying hammocks, cooking utensils, and all other goods when travelling. This basket is shaped like a slipper; the flat side, answering to the sole of the slipper, fits against the back of the carrier; a string is laced backward and forward across the open side, so as to keep the contents of the basket from falling out; and a strong and broad band, cut from the inner bark of a tree, passes from the two upper corners

of the basket across the forehead of the carrier so as to support the whole weight. The quake, again, is a muchused basket with rounded bottom, and is made of very open wicker-work. Quakes are used for storing provisions; they also serve as cages to confine young birds and animals which are being tamed; and they are used for half a hundred other everyday purposes. Special baskets are also made to hold the cotton fibre when it has been separated from the seeds before being spun. These are round, shaped like flat basins, or, rather, saucers.

Most of these baskets-all indeed, except some of the surianas and quakes, are made in much the same way, and of the same material. The very strong stems of iturite, which grows commonly in the forest, are split into many parallel pieces. These pieces are sometimes used in their natural state, sometimes peeled and bleached, sometimes stained black. They are closely woven together, so that the walls of the basket are as dense as cloth. If the materials used are of various colours, the different kinds are so carefully interwoven as to produce very intricate patterns in the finished basket.

Waist-belts, to support the cloth lap, are also made of these strips of iturite stems by the Macusi.

The rougher surianas and quakes-those which are only intended for very brief use-are woven either of certain sorts of bush-rope, which are especially strong and suitable for the purpose, or of strips of iturite, as described above, but very roughly prepared; or again, if they are required for some emergency, and only for a very brief time, they are rapidly woven of the leaflets of a single palm-leaf.

The quake, which, next to the buck-pot, is the most used of all the possessions of the Indian, is, as has been said, much used for packing provisions, such as farine, salt, and cassava bread which is to be kept for some time. But the quakes are loosely woven, and have large holes, through which such things as farine-coarse meal made of cassava -and salt would certainly fall out. They are, therefore,

lined with the broad oval leaves of the iturite. The bottom of the basket having been lined with a single layer of leaves placed in beautifully regular order, a line of the leaves is placed, their stalks on the bottom, their upper part against the sides of the baskets. As much farine or salt is then poured in as reaches nearly to the top of the first line of leaves. The lining is then carried up higher, one more row of leaves being added, their stems secured in the farine. More farine is poured in, and the processes are continued until the basket is full. A covering of leaves is then added and tied down. In this way the contents of the basket are entirely guarded against all damp.

The Nikari-karus, a curious hybrid tribe of Indians, living on the Brazilian borders, are peculiar in making their pegalls of the leaves of a palm (Orbigignia) very rare in British Guiana, but growing near the Oorooa rapids on the Roopoonooni. These pegalls are square or oblong in shape, like those of the Arawaks.

Indian basket-work is so beautifully neat, that it is much to be regretted that the art of producing it is fast dying out, at least wherever the influence of white men is felt. Missionaries would certainly be doing good work if they endeavoured to revive and retain this and all other such native arts.

Having so lately spoken of the baskets used in the manufacture of cassava bread, it may be as well to find place here for some account of the cassava-graters. These are, as has been said, made only by the Woyowais and Tarumas, and are distributed throughout the interior of the colony by the Wapianas. They are oblong boards, with a slight curve parallel with their length. On the concave surface of this many small holes are drilled, and in each of these a small and angular fragment of granite or other hard stone is inserted, so as to project slightly. The whole is then rubbed over with a strong black vegetable pitch, called karamanni, so that the holes are entirely filled up; and the stones, as soon as the pitch is dry, are firmly fixed. The result is that