Legends of the Waraus.

INTRODUCTION.

WHERE Orinoco, through his delta wide, By numerous channels, seeks the ocean tide; Where, annually, his waters flood the ground, And wide lagoons, with muddy isles, abound, The fan-like branches of the ita palm By thousands wave above his waters calm. Those stately trees supply the rude abode Which the poor Warau makes above the rising flood.

That race, of old from other regions driven, Could not have lived, but for that shelter given. Unwarlike, they could not their foes withstand, But had to yield to them the higher land. On fish and crabs those Waraus chiefly live, Which in abundance there the waters give. Their palm-tree1 pith a kind of bread affords, Its leaves give thatch and cords, the split trunk serves for boards.

Yet some provision grounds those Waraus have, Where land appears above the tidal wave; And from their swampy refuges they come, Beneath our rule to find a peaceful home. From Orinoco to Moruca's stream, More numerous than other tribes they seem. And farther east, where ita swamps abound, Even in Surinam, the Warau race is found.

We called the tribes—a mission space to clear At Waramuri, for the Waraus near. Unkempt, unclad, their women there we found; Their naked children wallowed on the ground, With filth and ashes grimed—sad sight to see: We wondered how such way of life could be! Most wild and gaunt the men, who took no care, And only wished to be—just what they were. Lower than others, as he would allow, And satisfied to be so, was the poor Warau! http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/sa/lmbg/lmbg2b.htm