or head men with whom I had come in contact, I was able to speak
continuously, and so to hide my ignorance of a dialect which was
still new to me. The Guayana savage judges a man for his staying
powers. To stand as motionless as a bronze statue for one or two
hours watching for a bird; to sit or lie still for half a day; to
endure pain, not seldom self-inflicted, without wincing; and when
delivering a speech to pour it out in a copious stream, without
pausing to take breath or hesitating over a word--to be able to
do all this is to prove yourself a man, an equal, one to be
respected and even made a friend of. What I really wished to say
to him was put in a few words at the conclusion of my well-nigh
meaningless oration. Everywhere, I said, I had been the Indian's
friend, and I wished to be his friend, to live with him at
Parahuari, even as I had lived with other chiefs and heads of
villages and families; to be looked on by him, as these others
had looked on me, not as a stranger or a white man, but as a
friend, a brother, an Indian.

I ceased speaking, and there was a slight murmurous sound in the
room, as of wind long pent up in many lungs suddenly exhaled;
while Runi, still unmoved, emitted a low grunt. Then I rose, and
detaching the silver ornament from my cloak, presented it to him.
He accepted it; not very graciously, as a stranger to these
people might have imagined; but I was satisfied, feeling sure
that I had made a favourable impression. After a little he
handed the box to the person sitting next to him, who examined it
and passed it on to a third, and in this way it went round and
came back once more to Runi. Then he called for a drink. There
happened to be a store of casserie in the house; probably the
women had been busy for some days past in making it, little