The narrator proceeded to open the cage in front of the man and release the bird. They never said how long the bird had been in captivity, if it was native to that part of the rainforest, or whether it had any chance of surviving again in the wild. But you could tell from the expression on the Maroon man's face that something important had been taken from him. I thought it was very sad. Because the Maroons have such a strong tie to the rivers, one of their main forms of art has to do with canoes.
Amerindian canoes have prows and sterns that are level with the sides of the craft.
You can identify a Maroon canoe because the front and back ends rise high out of the water. The Maroons often decorate these projections of wood with intricate geometric carvings or paintings. Paddles in Suriname are shaped like kayak paddles, pointed at the ends. This leaf shape gives the paddle strength to push off rocks, and Dave informed me that this shape also gives the most efficient stroke through the water. The Saramakans on the Suriname river carve handles that come to two points, like horns, while the Ndyuka use rounded ends on their paddles.