108 JOURNAL OP THE TRINIDAD 



cloud. Tellandsias with curious flower stalks, creepers with 

 scarlet shoots, mosses and lichens grew around us in wild profusion 

 and covered the almost leafless stem and trunk of the stunted 

 tree under which we stood. In spite of what we were told by 

 the guides we made efforts to proceed if possible, but as every 

 way led downwards from this spot, which seemed above the 

 world, as it were, we concluded that we stood on the highest 

 land in the colony and congratulated ourselves accordingly. We 

 arrived at this spot at 9.45 a.m., having taken three hours 

 to make the ascent from La Florida Gap. As it was near- 

 ing ten o'clock, and as we had had our appetites sharpened by 

 the keen mountain air and the exercise, breakfast was served as 

 soon as we had rested a little ; this being soon over, we began 

 looking out for specimens. AVhile doing so, we saw two Papilio 

 argesilaus, one or two bee ties and flies, but the great mass of clouds 

 in which we were, prevented, I daresay, our seeing many insects 

 on this occasion. At about noon I took the temperature, when 

 the sun seemed inclined to break through our cloudy envelope, 

 and the mercury stood at 76° F. in the open air. While my 

 brother assisted Mr. Broadway with his botanical specimens, 

 of which' he made a rich harvest, Mr. Urich and myself pro- 

 ceeded to investigate the cause of certain mysterious sounds which 

 are to be heard proceeding from the ground as soon as the traveller 

 enters the cooler region of Tucuche. These sounds resemble that 

 produced by the rapid suction of air into a narrow open cylinder 

 or tube in which a partial vacuum is created, and is caused by 

 the sudden descent of a worm or similar creature in the ground, 

 from the top to the bottom of its hole. At each tread in 

 the cooler region of Tucuche we had heard these sounds around 

 us, and marking a spot whence this sound came we dug for 

 about two feet into the wet, soft clayey soil, and unearthed 

 two curious red leeches which apparently had made this noise. 

 A most remarkable feature of our trip was the marked scarcity 

 on Tucuche of animal life. We saw no representative of any 

 of the mammals, and we did not even see a snake or 

 a lizard. After procuring what we could of the few 

 living things to be found on this elevated spot, we made pre- 

 parations to descend, and just before starting we duly recorded 

 our visit, sealing up the document in a bottle, which we stuck in 

 a hole in the old tree. At this moment the clouds showed signs 

 of breaking, and in the rifts we got glimpses, like dissolving views, 

 of the glorious panorama which lay at our feet on the northern 

 side and away to the south. The bays of Maracas and Las 

 Cuevas with their intervening headlands made very pretty pic- 

 tures and on a clear day the view alone from Tucuche would 

 amply repay the toil of a climb to the summit. Now the clouds 

 close over us again, and as we have to catch the evening train to 



