SIO A NATURALIST IN THE GUIANAS 



on the moss-covered trees of the rocky masses Cattleya 

 superha and some other orchids are abmidant, none are 

 to be found on the larger forest trees growing on the 

 islands of alluvial formation. Curassows and penelopes 

 vsrere plentiful, and we saw tracks of tapirs everywhere. 

 So abundant were the former that it was no unusual 

 thing for us to kill ten or twelve of these large game-birds 

 before we stopped for our midday meal. After leaving 

 Guayarapo, the loveliest spot on the Caura is reached. 

 The whole volume of the river rushes through a gorge 

 not more than thirty feet wide, hemmed in by walls of 

 shining black rock. The Indians call these narrows 

 Ayaima. Above and below the passage, lake-like sheets, 

 dotted with islands, add to the beauty of the scene. One 

 can imagine that the stream gathers all its strength to 

 force a passage through the iron barrier in front of it and 

 then rests awhile before cutting its way through the 

 tortuous channels of Guayarapo. While our midday 

 meal was being prepared I wandered along the sand 

 which forms a dazzling fringe to one side of the lower 

 pool, the opposite bank being cliffs of dark rock mottled 

 with grey patches. I felt that I would never tire of 

 viewing from different spots the beauties of Ayaima. 



Quite close to these narrows the Erewato falls into 

 the Caura. The main stream above this point as far as 

 its source is called the Merevari. Maite was unable to 

 explain why the same river should be known by names 

 so different, but he was very particular all the same, from 

 the moment we passed the mouth of the Erewato, never 

 to make use of the word Caura when speaking of the 

 river. '\\Tiile we were in the vicinity of the tributary at 

 whose head-waters our old Indian guide had passed the 

 days of his boj'hood, he described the country where he 



