106 JOURNAL OP THE TRINIDAD 



Day broke gloriously without a cloud or blemish and everything 

 seemed favourable to our ascent. We were soon ready, and 

 within a few minutes of 6.30 we heard the signal shout of our 

 friends. They had procured the assistance of three guides, so 

 our party now consisted of nine persons After the usual saluta- 

 tions and after seeing that nothing had been forgotten, we 

 started from the La Florida gap at 6.40 a.m. for the top of 

 Tucuche. Striding along the Las Cuevas Road at a steady pace, 

 the three guides leading, we passed the Road to the Waterfall 

 on our right and many cocoa plantations. Suddenly, after a 

 thirty minutes walk, we turned into a track on the right, 

 leading through Mr. Zepero's cocoa estate, and soon halted 

 on the bank of a clear brook. Here each man filled 

 his water bottle, and took his first drink of water, for 

 on the further side the ascent began. Advancing quickly 

 we climbed through cocoa and provision grounds until we 

 found ourselves in what we were told was Mr. Eligon's cocoa 

 estate. The track took us to the overseer's quarters, where we 

 met two men from whom we obtained permission to proceed 

 and did so without further tarrying. This was the last house 

 or building on the road and soon we found the ascent getting 

 steeper. We pushed our way with little difficulty through tufts 

 of Heliconias and stretches of rastrajo in which the order Mela- 

 stomaceoe was well represented. Once more we emerged into 

 a cocoa piece, apparently a squatting occupancy from its 

 isolated situation, and in the young cultivation on the upper 

 part of this piece we made our first halt at 7.55 a.m. 

 This was the last bit of cultivation met with in the ascent. 

 The air was cool, and its temperature, taken by a small 

 thermometer which I carried, was 70° F. We rested here for 

 about ten minutes, and admired the lovely landscape to the 

 South and West of us. Before starting we refreshed ourselves 

 from a deliciously cool stream (one of the sources of the Maracas 

 River) which trickled through this garden. As the rest of our 

 road lay through the virgin forest, each one of the guides, and 

 those who carried hunting knives, unsheathed his weapon and 

 prepared to cut his way forward. Resuming our upward march, 

 we crossed a patch of high weeds and plunged into a thicket of 

 huge Heliconias, under the shade of which grew in great quantities 

 a pretty white Begonia. It was here that we met with the 

 steepest bit of the ascent, and soon each man was using hands as 

 well as feet in clambering up the steep and yielding side of the 

 ridge. Overcoming all difficulties, and taking advantage of 

 everything in our favour, we soon gained the crest of the main 

 ridge which leads to the summit of the mountain. Without 

 waiting to take breath after the stiff climb, we pushed forward, 

 finding ourselv r es in a cooler and purer atmosphere than that 



