172 TRANSACTIOXS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE [Sess. lv. 



were specially interesting to myself, and of which I have 

 therefore the most distinct recollection. 



Approaching from Georgetown one is conveyed by the 

 Essequibo boat to Suddie at the mouth of that river, and 

 thence drives on a good road for some 13 miles to Anna 

 Eegina through the fertile belt of ground which runs along 

 the sea-coast of the colony from the mouth of the Corentyn 

 to that of the Pomeroon, and which is devoted to the culti- 

 vation of the sugar-cane. It is not necessary to say anything 

 of the vegetation which meets the eye in that part as it 

 consists mainly of cultivated and imported trees and plants, 

 but Eichhornia sjjcciosa was in fine flower in the deep trenches 

 by the road side, and the Victoria rcfjia lily was growing in 

 luxuriance in a large pond at the house of the manager of 

 the Anna Eegina sugar estate. Leaving civilisation at that 

 point, the journey was continued by boat along a water-way 

 connected with the estate, which in two hours communicated 

 with Tapacooma Lake, originally a large wet savannah, now 

 artificially submerged. Quantities of small white water- 

 lilies were growing in it, chiefly Nynqihcea odorata, and 

 amongst them two beautiful Utricularias, one ( U. oligosperma) 

 with yellow, and another {U. purpurea) with purplish-lilac 

 flowers. At the extremity of the lake the boat was hauled 

 over the embankment which retains its water, and launched 

 into the head of the Arapiacru Creek, through which, after 

 four hours' paddling, the Pomeroon liiver itself is gained. 

 Here the forest begins. At first the creek is so narrow that 

 the branches of the trees meet overhead, and little can be 

 distinguished in the dim light but the stems. Soon, however, 

 it broadens, and the view opens out, and both banks present 

 themselves to the curious inspection of tlie stranger, A 

 lovelier water scene I have never gazed upon. The sky was 

 without a cloud, and, as we had spent the night at the head 

 of the Tapacooma Lake, the sun of the early morning, not 

 yet oppressively hot, flooded the air with the purest and 

 brightest light. The creek itself was as calm as a lake, and 

 reflected like a mirror every leaf and bough of the trees on 

 either side which hung out over the water all along. But 

 on a first and general view there were not many features 

 that had a strikingly tropical aspect. I was prepared for 

 something more like the fancy pictures one is accustomed to 



