Letters, Extracts, Notices, ^c. 511 



a more detailed examination of the summit than had hitherto 

 been attempted. Leaving the Makusi village of Kwaimatta 

 with 39 Makusi and Arrekuna bearers, and with two taxi- 

 dermists, in the middle of October, we reached the Arrekuna 

 village of Kamaivawong, at the base of the mountain, on 

 November 3rd, after a most arduous walk of 17 days across 

 the intervening mountains, portages of the Ireng and Kotinga 

 Rivers having been made at Karona Falls and Sokoking 

 respectively. 



" Three days were spent in reconnoitring the path and in 

 building a half-way house at a height of 6 iOO ft., and on the 

 7th the ascent was made to the summit along the path dis- 

 covered by j\Ir. im Thurn, which we found to present no 

 difl&culty whatever as regards climbing, though the walking 

 was intensely arduous and tiring. 



" The general aspect of the plateau on the summit fully 

 bears out the description of it given by Mr. im Thurn, though 

 our more extended examination during the two nights and 

 three days spent there enables us to add to it considerably. 



" The summit should be described as presenting, not the 

 aspect of a hollow basin, but of a plateau which has been 

 worked down by aerial denudation into an altogether irre- 

 gular and broken series of deep valleys and precipitous 

 ridges, the total differences between the lowest and highest 

 points being more than 400 ft. The ridges are frequently 

 broken into isolated peaks, the highest being 87-40 ft. above 

 the sea-level, presenting the aspect of piles and terraces of 

 irregular boulders and masses. 



" The valleys wind about in almost an endless maze, with 

 lake-like shallow pools, more or less obscured by an 

 abundant dwarf vegetation. After the slightest rains the 

 surplus water is carried off along these valleys as an over- 

 flow to the ravines on the edge, descending to the slopes 

 below as waterfalls to swell the various surrounding streams. 

 Many small trees are spread over the valleys and climb up 

 in a densely-packed bushy jungle along the western slopes 

 of the higher ridges, the common species of Bonnetia {B. 

 roraimcE) being at once the most abundant and the largest, 



2n 2 



