LOWER NEIGHBORS OF CART AGO 167 



We soon climbed over a small ridge where the guide's work 

 with the machete was indispensable, for the trail wound 

 about among huge clumps of "Hoja de Pato, " an unde- 

 scribed Aroid with gigantic arrow- or heart-shaped leaves 

 and strong, partly recumbent stems three to six inches thick. 

 These had overgrown the trail completely and had to be 

 cut away at each step so that we could follow. The rich 

 black soil was soft and deep, often excessively slippery and 

 the trail was a difficult one to travel. At last, at three 

 o'clock. We came out upon a ledge commanding a fine view 

 of the upper part of the falls and a few minutes later reached 

 a large rock near its foot, from which we could see the whole 

 of the cataract. The aneroid recorded 4950 feet at this 

 point. 



The waterfall was magnificent and it was singularly im- 

 pressive to come upon it in the midst of the solemn grandeur 

 of the tropical forest. The drop was almost perpendicular 

 over sheer rock faces and about one hundred and fifty feet 

 high. In the rainy season it must carry an immense volume 

 of water, for the "winter" channels were visible beside 

 the present cataract, and even now in the dry season it was 

 a large stream. It fell into a deep pool, which showed that 

 it was much larger in "winter" and, turning at a sharp 

 angle, rushed away down a steep, rocky bed in a series of 

 rapids. A constant cloud of spray rose from the falls and the 

 force of the water was too great and too direct to allow of 

 vegetation clinging to the rock walls. These were polished 

 and smooth in many places and bare wherever the water 

 ran. The spray and the rain, which had been intermittent 

 ever since we left the horses, added considerably to the pho- 

 tographer's difficulties. The water felt intensely cold and 

 we saw no dragonflies near the fall nor indeed in this forest. 

 In sheltered places among the rocks near the falls were 

 patches of Gunyiera insignis, the spiny plant with huge cir- 



