208 A NATURALIST IiN THE GUIANAS 



CHAPTEK XV 



Guayarapo — Ayaima — Block-houses on the Ere wato — Tapir hunting- 

 Strange superstitions— Achaba— The sun-bittern— Suraima — Dining 

 under difficulties. 



The dry season had been such a severe one that there 

 was but little water at the spot where the boats had been 

 launched, and in order to reach the main stream we had 

 to get out frequently and walk along the banks while the 

 men hauled the boats over the shallows. It was late 

 when we got to the mass of rock that runs right across 

 the river, forming a natural dam. Through this dam the 

 Caura flows by several channels, but by none of these 

 channels was it possible, at the time of our visit, to ascend 

 the river. The boats were unloaded so that everything 

 might be in readiness for the following day. Where we 

 had pitched our camp was a very picturesque spot. Below 

 the immense mass of rock over which the river rushes lay 

 a smooth deep pool of considerable extent, with banks of 

 white sand dotted with clumps of trees surrounding it. 

 Flocks of small parrots and numbers of macaws, always 

 in pairs, were flying across the river repairing to their 

 roosting-places. To see the macaw in all his beauty is 

 when the setting sun strikes with its rays the rich reddish 

 bronze of his outspread wings while he wends his way 

 with his constant partner to the leafy bower where he 

 passes the night. 



It took the men the whole of the day (March 19) 



