Nothing was left for them but to make the best of a bad business, and first of all to beseech the Great Spirit to send them some water. He listened to their entreaties, created the Essequibo, the Demerara, and other rivers, and made for the special use of the Waraus a small lake of the purest water, of which they were to drink, but in which they were forbidden to bathe.
Now it happened that there was a Warau family of four brothers and two sisters, the latter beautiful, but wilful maidens. They rebelled against the prohibition, plunged into the lake, swam to a pole that was planted in its midst, and shook it. The presiding genius of the lake was a male spirit, who was kept prisoner as long as the pole was untouched, but as soon as it was shaken the spell was broken, and the spirit of the lake pounced on the offending maiden and carried her off. After a while he allowed her to rejoin her friends, but the indignation of her brothers was very great when they found that their sister was about to become a mother, and they determined to kill the child when it was born. However, it was exactly like any other Warau child, and so they allowed it to live.
(1.) MEXICAN STIRRUPS.
(See [page 1272].)
(2.) IRON AND STONE TOMAHAWKS.
(See [page 1285].)
ANOTHER KIND
OF
ORNAMENT
(3.) JAGUAR BONE FLUTE.
(See [page 1264].)