8 A NATURALIST IN THE GUIANAS 



most considerable of which is the SeiTania de Mato. 

 On the right bank of the Caura mountains of similar 

 formation, of which Turagua is the highest point, also 

 exist. The average altitude of these ranges is between 

 3,000 and 4,000 feet, but there are peaks that attain an 

 elevation of nearly 6,000 feet. Besides the mountain 

 ranges many isolated hills and large open masses of 

 granite, onlj^ a little higher than the surrounding country, 

 are scattered through the forest. The land in the vicinity 

 of these mountains and lajas consists largely of granitic 

 grit, and it is in this soil that the tonca-bean tree appears 

 to be at home. Although met with in patches this tree 

 is not by any means gregarious, so that the collecting of 

 the fruit is arduous work. 



So irregular are the crops that it is almost impossible 

 to forecast the yield of any particular year. It may how- 

 ever be taken as a general rule, that for one or two years 

 after a plentiful harvest the production is so scant that 

 it does not pay to collect beans. In Venezuela the tree 

 is known as sarrapia and the men engaged in the 

 collection of the seed are called sarrapieros. The sarra- 

 pieros begin to arrive on the Caura early in February. 

 Some of them come from considerable distances ; a good 

 many are from Ciudad-Bolivar. 



During the months of October and November, while 

 the fruit is still quite small and green, the large macaws 

 and several other members of the parrot family commit 

 great havoc upon the young crop. No birds are more 

 extravagant than parrots in their method of feeding, not 

 so much on account of what they consume as of what 

 they waste. Wherever these birds have eaten the ground 

 is strewn with fruit only clawed and then awkwardly 

 topped, or perhaps with just a small piece bitten off. 



