«86 A NATURALIST IN THE GUIANAS 



some of them having their limbs and faces quite swollen. 

 They had made themselves ill by continuous gorging 

 from the moment of our reaching the settlement. 



As there was nothing to be done at La Prision, I 

 decided to spend the time during which we should be 

 waiting the return of the relief party with the Waiom- 

 gomos at Mura. There I would be able to collect 

 Cattleya superba, observe the Indians at home, and 

 take photographs of interesting subjects. We had the 

 small hand-camera, which had luckily been left at La 

 Prision when we went to Ameha. On the morning of 

 June 2 we packed all the things we required, intending 

 to start in the afternoon, so as to spend the night at 

 Mura and begin our work early on the following day. 

 From noon to nightfall, however, it rained so heavily that 

 we were forced to postpone our voyage until the following 

 morning. We left at nine o'clock, reaching the site of the 

 old settlement a couple of hours afterwards. I was quite 

 surprised to meet here with a man from Trinidad, who 

 recognised me the moment he saw me. He had come to 

 Mura a couple of months before, he said, and had hit 

 upon the old settlement, where there were already some 

 cocoa-trees, as the best spot for a conuco or small plan- 

 tation. He had cleared a part of the land and planted it 

 in rice, which was then sprouting. The mango-trees left 

 by the former settlers were laden with fruit and we 

 bought a quantity for a few cents. By midday we 

 reached the Indian clearing on the opposite shore and, 

 having had our things landed and brought up to 

 Vicente's house, where we intended to put up, I sent 

 the men with the boat back to La Prision, keeping only 

 Freddy Hospedales with us. When we arrived one of 

 the Indian women was spinning cotton-twine for making 



