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Overview

Roth's Arawak narrative begins with repeated disappearances: people enter the forest and do not return. A search party tracks the latest victim to two enormous silk-cotton trees. Oroli stretches between their crowns like a living bridge. Pieces falling from the serpent's flesh take the appearance of dry wood; anyone collecting them brings the creature down upon them. The searchers decide to kill it, using blowpipes and poisoned arrows. They cover its body with branches and saplings, then burn the carcass. Plants used as hunting binas grow from the ashes.

The account joins forest danger to the origin of useful cultivated plants. Roth also gives Kolekondro, glossed as the slow walker, as a name for the Arawak serpent. His surrounding discussion describes collectors distinguishing plants associated with different quarry, then propagating valued varieties near their houses. Nearby Carib accounts distinguish a ground-dwelling Orupéri from a larger treetop Aramári, associated with storm-attracting plants as well as game. Those names provide comparison; Roth's fuller Oroli episode is specifically assigned to his Arawak contributors, and their separate names are not silently combined into one universal Guianan snake.

Enormous body bridging two silk-cotton treesFlesh fragments masquerading as dry firewoodBurned remains become plants associated with hunting
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Origins & earliest records

The inspected witness is Roth's 1915 inquiry, section 235, pages 283–284, within his discussion of hunting binas. He attributes the narrative to Arawak accounts after describing conversations with older contributors around the Pomeroon and Moruca rivers. Publication dates a recorded version, not the beginning of the oral narrative or of the plant practices.

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Records & interpretation

The complete disappearance, firewood lure, communal killing and plant-origin episode was read. Roth's ethnographic observations about cultivated plants are separate from the serpent narrative. His comparisons with Orupéri and Aramári are retained as named, differently attributed accounts, without making a taxonomic identity or claiming that all details apply to each serpent.

In the literature

“stretched across, somewhat like a bridge”
Walter Edmund Roth · An Inquiry into the Animism and Folk-lore of the Guiana Indians
Section235, printed p.284

Arawak Oroli spans two tree summits; separate Carib serpents are comparative context.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    An inquiry into the animism and folk-lore of the Guiana Indians

    Walter E. Roth · 1915

    Section 235, pp. 283–284; complete Arawak Oroli account, with Carib serpent comparisons and hunting-plant context.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Located primary passages

Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.

An inquiry into the animism and folk-lore of the Guiana Indians

Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office,1915; selected Cornell scan. Catalogue year independently checked; field preface dated Pomeroon,June1913.

  1. Roth distinguishes the Carib ground serpent Orupéri and treetop Aramári from his fuller Arawak Oroli narrative. He reports accounts from older contributors around the Pomeroon and Moruca while admitting he could obtain no specimen of the remote-habitat creature. Figure2 belongs to the Aramári comparative context, not an Oroli portrait.

    Section235, printed pp.283–284; section number visually checked onp.283

  2. Searchers find Oroli spanning the summits of two silk-cotton trees. Pieces of its flesh become apparent dry firewood; the serpent catches people who touch them. The community kills and burns the serpent, and hunting plants arise from its ashes. Roth’s surrounding observations describe cultivated hunting binas.

    Section235, printed p.284; complete Arawak disappearance and firewood-lure episode

OCR misreads235as335. Separately attributed regional names are not collapsed into one animal. Narrative plant origin is distinguished from the collector’s observations; no medical or hunting efficacy claimed.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. ResearchRoth 1915: Oroli and the origin of hunting binasResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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