(4.) SHIELD AND CLUBS.
(See [page 1282].)
(5.) RATTLE.
(See [page 1264].)
Though living among her own friends, the girl could not forget her strange lover, and went off again to him. A second child was born, but this time the upper parts of the body were those of a child, and the lower parts were developed into a water snake. The mother, though terrified at the appearance of her offspring, carried it off into the woods and cherished it, but it was discovered by her brothers, who pierced it with their arrows, and left it for dead. Her attention, however, restored it to life, and it grew to a formidable size. The brothers held a consultation, and at last surrounded it, transfixed it with showers of arrows, and, to make sure of its death cut it to pieces.
“The unhappy Korobona carefully collected the remains into a heap, which she kept continually covered with fresh leaves, and guarded with tender assiduity. After long watching, her patience was rewarded. The vegetable covering began to heave and show signs of life. From it there slowly arose an Indian warrior of majestic and terrible appearance. His color was of a brilliant red, he held bow and arrows in his hand, and was otherwise equipped for instant battle.
“That warrior was the first Carib, the great father of a powerful race. He forthwith commenced the task of revenge for the wrongs suffered in his former existence. Neither his uncles, nor the whole Warau race whom they summoned, could stand before him. He drove them hither and thither like deer, took possession of such of their women as pleased him, and by them became the father of brave and terrible warriors like himself. From their presence the unhappy Waraus retired, till they reached the swampy shores of the Atlantic, forsaking those pleasant hunting grounds which they had occupied on their first descent from heaven.”
The Waraus are wonderfully inventive with regard to legends; and have one which is worthy of notice, if only for the fact that it attributes all the learning of the white men to a Warau origin. This is the legend of Aboré. “Once upon a time,” there was a very ill-conditioned female spirit, named Wowtá, who usually preferred the form of a frog, but who changed herself into a woman for the purpose of stealing a very beautiful little boy called Aboré. In the form of a woman she obtained access to the house of Aboré’s mother, whom she induced to leave the child under her care. No sooner was she alone with Aboré than she pulled and stretched him to such a degree that in a few hours he grew as much as he would have done in several years, so that his mother repudiated him on her return.
As he grew to manhood, Aboré became the slave of his captor, whom he thought to be his mother, until he was undeceived by a friendly spirit who met him in the forest. After trying several plans for escape, and failing in them all, he hit upon the design of making a canoe of wax. He was aided in this task by the fondness of Wowtá for honey, in search of which the unfortunate Aboré passed nearly the whole of his time. Wowtá received the combs with croaks of delight, and as she threw them away after eating the honey, Aboré laid the wax aside, until he had enough for a canoe.
As soon as he had collected a sufficiency of wax, Aboré called his mistress to look at a hollow tree filled with bee-comb. She crept into the tree to regale herself on the honey, and was imprisoned by the crafty Aboré, who fastened up the aperture so that the sorceress could not escape, loaded his canoe with provisions, and set off for a land of refuge. He sailed far away until he came to a strange country where the people were white, naked, uneducated, and utterly barbarous. He taught them the elements of civilization, showed them how to forge iron, and initiated them into the arts and sciences, for which the white man was now so distinguished.