A NATURALIST L\ THE GUIANAS 



at Para, and as I had noticed when we had repaired it after 

 the portage that it was worn quite thin below, I could not 

 help thinking that the least strain would cause a rent 

 entailing a delay of days to make good. The men insisted 

 that they would get the boats over without accident, and 

 vvhenever they agreed on any point and made up their 

 minds in a body I knew that it was useless to argue wich 

 them, so I let them have their way, praying devoutly all 

 the while to the Goddess of Fortune to give us some luck. 

 The trouble came when they had got about half-way 

 through, and I had the grim satisfaction of having proved 

 a true prophet. I had, in addition, the unsatisiactorj'^ 

 pleasure of swearing at all 2^^ons in general and at mine 

 in particular in the choice vernacular employed by them- 

 selves when they exchanged courtesies during a misunder- 

 standing. The afternoon and the greater part of the 

 following day were employed repairing the damage caused 

 by the lack of foresight and prudence for which my 

 followers were distinguished. It was fortunate that I had 

 brought some carpenter's tools, nails, oakum, and pitch. 

 We overhauled the old dug-out thoroughly and did the 

 best we could with it, but I could not help noticing how 

 worn and thin and rotten in places was the shell which 

 carried us and our belongings. 



On April 10, at about two o'clock in the afternoon, we 

 not to the mouth of the Arichi. This affluent, like the 

 Arawa, takes its name from the mountain where it rises. 

 What ought to have been our midday meal was cooked 

 on a large bare mass of granite so situated that we had a 

 good view up the Arichi on one side and down the Mere- 

 vari on the other. A sharp bend in the course of the 

 main stream prevented our seeing anything in the direc- 

 tion of Ameha ; the grey cliffs of Arichi, however, were 



