WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 45 



was of no avail. He went roving on, plundering 

 the "Wild Bees of their honey, and picking up the 

 fallen nuts and fruits of the forest. When he fell 

 in with game, he procured fire from two sticks, 

 and cooked it on the spot. When a hut happened 

 to be in his way, he stepped in, and asked for 

 something to eat, and then months elapsed ere 

 they saw him again. They did not know what 

 had caused him to be thus unsettled ; he had been 

 so for years; nor did they believe that even old 

 age itself would change the habits of this poor, 

 harmless, solitary wanderer. 



From Simon's, the traveller may reach the 

 large fall, with ease, in four days. 



The first falls that he meets are merely rapids, 

 scarce a stone appearing above the water in the 

 rainy season; and those in the bed of the river, 

 barely high enough to arrest the water's course, 

 and by causing a bubbling, show that they are 

 there. 



With this small change of appearance in the 

 stream, the stranger observes nothing new till 

 he comes within eight or ten miles of the great 

 fall. Each side of the river presents an uninter- 

 rupted range of wood, just as it did below. All 

 the productions found betwixt the plantations and 

 the rock Saba, are to be met with here. 



From Simon's to the great fall there are five 

 habitations of the Indians — two of them close to 

 the river's side; the other three a little way in 

 the forest. These habitations consist of from four 

 to eight huts, situated on about an acre of ground 

 which they have cleared from the surrounding 



