On the Natural HiJ»ry of Guiana. 303 



had been equally expofed to the aftion of the weather, they appeared to have borne it much 

 better than the furrounding granite. The origin of the fanJ was now accounted for. This 

 ftonc, in fome cafes exceedingly firm and durable, is in others very liable to decay ; and the 

 wafli of thefe enormous chains of hills was able to furnifh abundance of fuch fand as we 

 had met with below. The granite afforded many varieties ; indeed, every fliade from large 

 and diftinft grained to that whofe component parts of feltfpar, fcliorl, or quartz, were fo 

 fmall as to refenible pretty compact compound lavas, or fome of our mixed whin-flones in 

 Scotland. All thefe varieties would be found at no great diftance from each other. I 

 brought fome fpecimens from Tiger's Berg, a hill about 500 feet perpendicular height, 

 which have every appearance of having undergone the action of fire. They refemble half 

 vitrified fcoriae, and would be taicen for them, but that they were a£lually broken off from 

 the granite, and difcover all its parts in the fradture. The fummit of this hill is irregular, 

 with fcveral pits and holes among the rocks. A little higher than it, and I fuppofe nearly 

 about 200 miles from the fea, you meet what are called the falls. They are only five or fix 

 rapids within the fpace of a mile or two, formed by ledges of very clofe-grained gray granite 

 that run acrofs the river. There are breaks in each of them, through which the dextrous 

 Indians are able in their light canoes to pafs up at any feafon, even the driefl: ; and when the 

 . river is fwelled by the rains they become totally obliterated. Two days journey or two and 

 a half above this is the great fall, where the ftream comes over the face of a rock, as we are 

 informed, twenty feet high. 



. Savannahs. — Savannahs, ever fince the difcovery of America, have been known to oc- 

 cupy large fpaces in the fouthern parts of that continent. They are to be met with 

 abundantly in Guiana, and are of two kinds very dillinfl; from each other, the luct and the 

 dry. Of the former many are extenfive as the eye can reach — immenfe verdant plains occupy- 

 ing the whole face of a country, with or without a few ftraggling infulated patches of wood. 

 In the dry feafon they appear meadows of long grafs or reeds, and are feldom prafticable 

 for any diftance, for the bottom is very rarely dry. In the wet feafon they are all one entire 

 plain of water, over the furface of which the grafs ftill rifes, but which may be every where 

 navigated in the courialls or canoes. Towards the end of the drought the Indians fet fire 

 to them. The young growth which fucceeds attracts the deer ; and the native, on the re- 

 turn of the half deucalion days, purfues them in his little bark acrofs their former plains. 

 The foil upon thefe favannahs can neither be very deep nor very good; yet water may be 

 always commanded, and labour and induftry might convert thefe deferts into rice fields. 

 It is a queftion whether the days of flavery will ever fee that event. The culture of this 

 ufeful vegetable, which in the eaft has for ages been the ftanding food for millions, brings 

 too moderate a return, at leaft in an infant colony, for the rapacious agricultural fyftem of 

 the Weft Indies. 



The dry favannahs are neither fo frequent nor fo extenfive, yet we have paffed through 

 fome of them feveral leagues in circumference. They are formed along the flats on the 

 top of the fand ridges, and covered by a very thin coat of verdure. They refemble exactly 

 enough fome of the bare moors in Scotland. Many beautiful plants of the clafs gynandria 

 are their chief ornaments, as is alfo the orchis, which grows in fimilar fituations with you. 

 Some melaftomas and more rhexias fupply the place, and bear fomewhat of the habit of 

 the ericje; for your fedums and faxifrages is the little fauvagefia; and, in hollows of the ' 



R r 2 fame 



