^32 A NATURALIST IN THE GUIANAS 



the work of titanic forces at a time of violent change, but 

 if we speculate calmly on the erosive power of the streams 

 in this region of heavy rains, we can imagine how 

 immense areas of the country have been washed away, 

 leaving these strange mountains as mementoes of an 

 incalculable past. 



The best known of these so-called inaccessible 

 mountains scattered over a large extent of the Guianas 

 is undoubtedly Eoraima. Since the Spectator for April 

 1877 wrote : ' Will no one explore Eoraima, and bring 

 us back the tidings which it has been waiting these 

 thousands of years to give us ? ' the mountain has been 

 ascended and the secrets of its summit laid bare. To the 

 Quelch-McConnell expeditions is due the honour of having 

 performed the most valuable scientific work in the 

 exploration of this interesting mountain. Considering 

 that Koraima is only one of a whole series of such 

 masses, the existence of some of which may not even 

 be suspected, we can form some idea of what yet remains 

 to be done in the exploration of this little known part of 

 South America. When we consider, moreover, that the 

 summits of these masses are plateaux isolated from the 

 surrounding country during countless ages, we cannot 

 help thinking that each of them must be a field of absorb- 

 ing interest to the naturalist and botanist. 



Where we had pitched our camp it was impossible to 

 see Ameha on account of the height of the trees of the 

 forest which stretches to the mountain and clothes its 

 slopes as far as the clififs. The day after our arrival and 

 a part of the 14th (April) were devoted to the construction 

 of our huts, which were completed a little before noon. 

 We then had our midday meal, and as three of the men 

 had been employed cutting n track through the forest 



