i>8 A NATURALIST IN THE GUIANAS 



plants grow in such dense masses that they form a barrier 

 through which it would be impossible to get without the 

 continuous use of the hunting-knife. Even after the 

 track had been cut we had to exercise a good deal of 

 caution in our movements. Many of the plants bore 

 bunches of yellow fruit, of which the Indians and myself 

 ate a good many. The pulp is white, full of small black 

 seeds, and, although sour, is not disagreeable. I suffered 

 for some time after from a painful itching of the lips, 

 tongue, and palate, and whenever I spat my saliva was 

 streaked v^ith blood. The Indians experienced the same 

 sensations. The fruit of the closely allied Bromelia 

 pinguin produces similar effects when eaten. 



Our track led us to the south-west, and we reached a 

 point on the edge of the cliff from which there was a 

 magnificent view of the country to the south and west. 

 Standing on a rock quite close to the precipice, I looked 

 over the ocean of trees stretching away beneath us. To- 

 wards the west was the Serrania de Mato, where the 

 Piaroas dwell, a long range of dark blue melting away in 

 the distant haze. Through the green of the forest we 

 could see stretches of the Caura glistening in the glare of 

 the afternoon sun. Isidor pointed along the river to the 

 south in the direction of the country from which he had 

 come many years before. It would take several weeks, 

 he said, to get to that distant village on the Merevari 

 mountains, where his people lived. Between us and that 

 small tribe no human habitation existed, nothing but 

 forest, vast and impenetrable, like that which lay beneath 

 us. If I ever cared to go with him to the place of his 

 birth, then he would show me mountains, he said. There 

 was Ameha, where the evil spirits dwell ; and Arawa and 

 Arichi. Those were mountains, not like the hillock we 



