Information respecting Scientific Travellers* 195 



half a day, we should reach high hills and savannahs. We continued, 

 however, the ascent of the Barima, and passed the rivulets Aruta and 

 Pegua ; the latter inhabited by Warrans. 



In lieu of palms, the most stately mora-trees overshadowed the 

 river. In all my former travels in Guiana I have nowhere seen trees 

 of this description so gigantic as on the land adjoining the Barima 

 at its upper course. Indeed, frequently, when our boat rounded some 

 point which the river made in its course, and a long reach was be- 

 fore us, these majestic trees appeared in the background as hillocks 

 clothed with vegetation, until a nearer approach showed our mistake ; 

 and we found that what we considered to have been a hillock was a 

 single tree, rising to the enormous height of 130 to 150 feet; form- 

 ing by itself, as it were, a forest of vegetation. The importance of 

 the mora in naval architecture is now fully recognised in Great Bri- 

 tain, and a new export trade has been opened to the colony. On the 

 Upper Barima this tree is so abundant, and grows to such a size, that 

 the whole British navy might be reconstructed merely from the trees 

 which line its banks ; a circumstance well worth consideration, for 

 the river being navigable to vessels of twelve feet draught, the craft 

 intended for the transport of the timber might load at the very spot 

 where the trees are cut down. It is only lately that the timber of 

 Guiana has come into notice in England ; but so superior is the mora 

 and the green-heart for objects of naval architecture, that a higher 

 price is given for them in seaport towns than for any other wood 

 imported into England. 



I was anxious to examine the Barima beyond its falls, I started 

 accordingly, on the 24th of June, in a small canoe, accompanied by 

 Mr. Glascott, the assistant-surveyor, and Mr. Echlin, the artist of 

 the expedition. Descending the Manari for a short distance, we 

 reached the Barima by two of those natural canals (the Gaima and 

 Ataima) which so frequently connect rivers having a parallel course 

 in these swampy regions. The almost continu^ torrents of rain 

 had caused the Barima to overflow its banks, and we found the cur- 

 rent running at the rate of from four to four and a half miles an 

 hour. Our progress was consequently slow, A short distance above 

 the ofF-flow which connects the Barima and Manari, we visited a 

 Warran settlement called Emu, where we admired a gigantic bam- 

 boo, several hundred yards in circumference. 



We found two of the Indians finishing a native canoe, which they 

 had cut out of cedar {Idea altissima), a species of wood uncommonly 

 well qualified for that purpose, and resembling, in its durability, 

 odour, and reddish colour, the famed Bermuda cedar, although a 

 genus quite distinct from the icica. As the cedar- tree of Guiana is 

 by no means scarce, it deserves more attention. 



We were accompanied by a number of Indians from Simuita and 

 the neighbouring settlements, who intended to ascend the river to 

 the falls, to shoot the delicious fish called maracotto, or ossibu, 

 which, at the time these waters are full, migrate beyond the falls for 

 the purpose of depositing their spawn. We formed a flotilla of boats, 

 our canoe being the leading frigate. Several fish were procured on 



