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When, some seven years ago, I took up the duties of stipendiary magistrate, medical officer, and protector of Indians in this mosquito-cursed district of the Pomeroon, I determined upon devoting all my spare time-and there has been plenty of it-to an ethnographical survey of the native tribes of British Guiana, somewhat on the lines I had already followed in the case of North Queensland. As the work progressed, I recognized that, for the proper comprehension of my subject, it was necessary to make inquiry concerning the Indians of Venezuela, Surinam, and Cayenne, with the result that the area to be reviewed comprised practically that portion of the South American continent bounded, roughly speaking, by the Atlantic seaboard, the Orinoco, and the northern limits of the watershed of the Rio Negro, and the lower Amazon; and it was not long before I realized that for the proper study of the Arawaks and the Caribs I had to include that of the now almost extinct Antilleans.

Indo-Guyanese are people with roots in South Asia (primarily India) who are citizens or nationals of Guyana. They are often referred to as Indians or East Indians. Indo-Guyanese make up a majority of the population of Guyana and are the largest ethnic group in the country.The Indo-Guyanese are the descendants of the Indentured labourers who were brought from British India, to what was then called British Guiana to work in sugar cane plantations after the abolition of slavery in 1833. Most Indo-Guyanese are Hindu; substantial minorities are Muslim and Christian. Indo Guyanese have made significant contribution to the economical and cultural growth and diversity to the Guyanese culture and festivals such as Holi,Deepavali and Eid are national holidays along with Indian Immigration Day which is celebrated on the 5th of May each year.Chapters include: 'No Evidence Of Belief In A Supreme Being'; 'Tribal Heroes; Traces Of Spirit, Idol, And Fetish Cult'; 'Creation Of Man, Plants, And Animals'; 'The Body And Its Associated Spirits'; 'Dreams; Idiocy'; 'Familiar Spirits; The Spirits Of The Bush'; 'Natural History; The Spirits Of The Bush'; 'Animals As Sentient Human Beings; The Spirits Of The Bush'; 'Associated With Particular Plants''; The Spirits Of The Mountain'; 'The Spirits Of The Water'; 'The Spirits Of The Sky'; 'Omens, Charms, Talismans; Restrictions On Game And Food, Vision, Arts And Crafts, Nomenclature (Taboos)'; 'Sexual Life'; 'The Mediclne-Man'; 'Kanaima; The Invisible Or Broken Arrow'; 'Miscellaneous Indian Beliefs Concerning Man And Animals'; 'Animism And Folk-Tales Of Recent Introduction; Mixed Foreign And Indigenous Beliefs'; and, 'Miscellaneous Folk-Lore, Independent Of Animism'.