March 14, 1859.] HILLIARD'S NOTES ON THE MANACUSI. 161 



*' On the west side of the river a ridge of high land, apparently- 

 continuous, but very irregular in its direction and elevation, ex- 

 tended the whole length of our journey ; at a few points it approached 

 the river, but generally a flat, marshy tract of countrj^, many miles 

 in width, and densely covered with a coarse kind of Guinea-grass 

 five or six feet high, lay between it and the river ; on the opposite 

 side flats of the same description reached from the river to the sea, 

 and from the highest point we reached they were only bounded to 

 the northward by the horizon. The lower part of the river, as far 

 as we felt the influence of the tide, was of good width, and much 

 more straight than it was farther up, ihe banks in its whole length 

 generally fringed with a thick border of tall reeds a few yards in 

 width. The banks here were frequently studded with trees or 

 small patches of wood, the trees of the same kinds as those near the 

 mouth of the river ; and two of our party having landed in one of 

 them, in pursuit of some guinea-fowls, were soon glad to retreat, as 

 they found no ground to walk on, but were half way up their legs 

 in soft clayey mud. Near the head of the tide-water the river 

 became narrower, but continued the same uniform depth the whole 

 distance we traversed, having from 6 feet to 9 feet by the banks, 

 and from two to three fathoms in the channel ; only one shallow 

 spot was found in the whole distance (from 100 to 140 miles), 

 where the water suddenly shoaled to 6 feet, and we frequently 

 shaved the banks so close that our little craft brushed the reeda 

 down with her mainsail, with plenty of water under foot. For 

 many miles of the upper part of our journey it was wholly without 

 wood, except here and there a straggling fig-tree, generally on the 

 edge of the bank, and bent over the river by the force of the south- 

 easterly winds (several times much to our annoyance), and all of 

 them destitute of branches on the weather side, and appearing as 

 if swept down by a hurricane, from the efi'ects of which they had 

 never recovered. 



*' We landed several times with the idea of searching for game, 

 but, wherever the grass had not been burnt we found it impossible 

 to penetrate it even for a few yards, and in most parts of it a buffalo 

 might have been started within 3 yards of a person without his 

 being able to see the animal. The course of the river is one of the 

 most serpentine that can well be imagined, and I believe that in 

 passing its interminable bends we headed to almost every point of 

 the compass ; but the same uniform depth and monotonous appear- 

 ance throughout, and our view generally bounded on all sides by 

 a wall of tall reeds and grass, from which myriads of musquitoes 

 issued and tormented us all night." 



