332 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 3 9 



It is not surprising then that the line of communication was a 

 source of constant anxiety and a tremendous item in the expenditure 

 of the commission. Every man on the boundary had to be main- 

 tained by five or more men on line of communication. On occasions 

 when there was a shortage of labor from sickness or other causes, 

 and when boatbuilders worked overtime to repair damaged bottoms, 

 it is no exaggeration to say that the commission would have had to 

 stop for want of rations if air transport had not been used. 



The commission was fortunate in obtaining the services of Arthur 

 Williams, a free-lance American pilot operating a small flying boat 

 on tourist flights and the transport of diamonds and gold out of the 

 interior. Both plane and pilot were ideally suited to this dangerous 

 and arduous task, and Mr. Williams never stinted his efforts to "run 

 his freight." An airport was established at Wonatobo, the first 

 major portage, and the journey from there to Aramatau Camp was 

 reduced from the 3 weeks taken by boats, even under the most suit- 

 able conditions, to 2 hours and 20 minutes. The plane carried only 

 1,000 pounds in addition to pilot and flight mechanic. Two trips a 

 day were made in favorable weather, the start being at dawn and 

 the final return often during the last 10 minutes of daylight. The 

 day's work was then over for everyone except Williams and his 

 mechanic, Harry Wendt. After dinner they would often work 

 till midnight tuning the engine and servicing the hull. 



No praise is too high for these two intrepid airmen. Landing at 

 Aramatau Camp in the confined upper river was thrilling, but the 

 take-off went to the extreme of being unpleasant. The river here is so 

 narrow that to turn the plane on the water required the mechanic on the 

 wing tip ; before he had a chance to scramble to the cabin the machine 

 was taxiing on the step, and as he settled into the seat it took off. 

 The 80-foot bush fencing a bend in the river was charged with com- 

 plete unconcern, and just when the unfortunate passenger had 

 abandoned all hope and got as far as regretting past economies, 

 the plane rose to it like a good hunter, and flattened out above. The 

 proximity of stalling speed was betrayed by the cloud of dust which 

 floated up from the floor of the cabin. 



The open river was always a source of new and ever-changing 

 interest. British Guiana is a fisherman's paradise if his ambition is 

 to land large fish rather than consider delicacy in technique. The 

 tackle consists of stout cord approximating clothesline, a piano-wire 

 trace to resist the teeth of some fish, and a hook reminiscent of a small 

 grapnel. Fish vary in size from the small voracious perai weighing 

 2 pounds to mudfish as large as 150 pounds. The former, although 

 one of the smallest fish in the colony, is perhaps the fiercest. Short, 



