232 JOURNAL OP THE TRINIDAD 



lianes hanging down in festoons made a deep shade into which 

 the light could hardly penetrate from above, the banks were 

 covered with a beautiful carpet composed of ferns, balisier, arums, 

 and many other small plants. Leaving the river we began to 

 ascend the Turure Jlill by a winding mad from the top of which 

 we sjot glimpses at intervals of beautiful pictures, the frames of 

 which were tall trees and the subjects fine \iews of the surround- 

 ing country. To (he South we saw the Montserrat hills in the 

 distance; Mount Tamana the centre of the Island and at its foot 

 the plain of Arima with its cocoa estates, all marked out by the 

 flaming rvd flowers of the Tmmortel trees. Later our attention 

 was attracted by a beautiful view of the Matura cavestero to the 

 East. From here to our destination the scenery was beautiful. 

 It would take a Kingsley to describe it. The road goes up and 

 down hill, one moment you are on the spur of the hill, the next 

 you find yourself in a shady valley, again, in another, you are 

 looking down into a shady glen from which the murmur of a 

 small stream rises, and what with the bell birds tolling or I 

 should rathersay hammering, and the choruses of the other forest 

 birds, in which the whistling frogs and the insects join, one does 

 not get tired and the journey is agreeably shortened. At a place 

 called Cumaque, where a small stream crosses the road and then 

 loses itself down a beautiful and shady valley we made a halt. 

 So far as natural history was concerned, our interest was always 

 taken up by something. On the Turure hill a beautiful machete 

 escaped us, on another part of the road we caught a little snake 

 Taiitilla melanocephala L, trying to swallow a small centipede 

 which it had already killed. Huge nests of parasol arrts 

 were found all along the road, the inmates of which were 

 all at work in spite of the day-light. When near the Cerro 

 Oropouche we found a fine specimen of coral snake bathing, 

 (or was he fishing 1) in a small pool near the road. After passing 

 a place called La Peila, where I found the first shell we emerged 

 into a clearing in the forest, a natural amphitheatre, all surrounded 

 with high hills covered with rich vegetation, where on gently 

 rising ground General Mendoza's house is situated, which, through 

 the General's kindness, was to be my abode for the next two days. 

 It was about five o'clock and with the help of the Overseer of 

 the estate we set about cooking our dinner. The night was 

 delightfully cool and made a blanket very acceptable. At day- 

 break on Sunday we rose and I wanted to at once explore the 

 Guacharo caves ; but Peel, animated no doubt by the superstitious 

 ideas of the natives of Venezuela, who, according to Humboldt, 

 believe that the souls of their ancestors sojourn in the deep 

 recesses of caverns thought that the Guacharo cave was too black 

 to enter on a Sunday. We went instead to the Oropouche River. 

 We waded down the stream which takes its rise in the Guacharo 

 caves, until we came to the Oropouche. On our way down we 



