116 INTRODUCTION. 



his attempts to intercept the captured fish, before it 

 be drawn on the land, should have proved unsuccess- 

 ful. While we were encamped at the mouth of the 

 river Rewa, or Roiwa, during our last expedition, the 

 afternoon of 21st October had passed under thunder 

 and rain ; but at the approach of night, Nature lulled 

 herself to rest, and only the droppings from the leaves 

 told of the former storm. I was lying sleepless in 

 my hammock, and I watched two Indians who had 

 their lines out to entrap some hungry fish. A kil- 

 hagre^ lured away by the tempting bait, had snapped 

 at it, and the fisherman, acquainted by the stress 

 on his line of his success, drew the unwilling fish 

 towards the canoe, when the roar of a cayman 

 awoke the echo of the woods, and rushing towards 

 the canoe with all its might, he recaptured the fish, 

 as the astonished Indians were just on the point of 

 drawing it in, and with it went the hook and a 

 great part of the line. At our second night's camp, 

 after we had entered the river Rupununi, the In- 

 dians were likewise fishing, and whenever a fish 

 was caught and dra^^Ti towards the canoe, the cay- 

 mans commenced such a rear that it baffled descrip- 

 tion. We distinctly heard that there were three ; 

 first one commenced when the fish that was drawn 

 in began to struggle, and another answered him, 

 until the noise was so great that the Indians, as if 

 in self-defence, and to intimidate the approaching 

 monsters, set up a shout themselves. Indeed, the 

 roaring of the cayman is so strong, that in the still 

 hour of night it may be heard a mile off, — and 



