a76 A NATURALIST IN THE GUIANAS 



the skin. We found at the raiicho two bags of beans left 

 behind because they were so old and hard that we thought 

 them uneatable. We were delighted to get them, bad as 

 they were, and the men soon had a potful simmering on 

 the fire. We also found about ten pounds of rice, half a 

 pound of tea, a small tin of lard, and a demijohn of sour 

 molasses, but not an ounce of salt. For the first time for 

 days we enjoyed the luxury of sweetened tea. In spite of 

 all that we tried with the beans, they remained almost as 

 hard and heavy as buckshot. I found them so tasteless 

 without salt that I tried them mixed with molasses, but 

 this was not an improvement. For dinner we had a little 

 boiled rice and some tea. ' The Pirate ' and Ramon, who 

 had gone to the foot of the falls to see what they could 

 pick up, returned with some yams. These fried with a 

 little lard were the best food we had eaten for days. In 

 spite of all my remonstrances the men sat up to a late 

 hour eating beans and drinking molasses and water, so 

 that by morning the greater part of the syrup had been 

 consumed. It rained heavily from midnight until day- 

 break, the rain being accompanied by vivid flashes 

 of lightning and deafening claps of thunder. The roar 

 of the falls joined to the thunderstorm rendered sleep 

 impossible. 



May 18. — We went early to the spot where the 

 heaviest of the boats had been left on the up journey, 

 Eamon carrying the pulleys and rope. Although we 

 tried our best we could not get the wheels of the pulleys 

 to work ; not only were they so water-logged as to be 

 useless, but the rope in its sodden state could not be 

 made to run. Where we were it would have been waste 

 of time to have attempted to dry this gear, so I de- 

 spatched two of the men to the foot of the falls to spread 



