162 STEPPES AND DESERTS. 



figures/' or, as he says in Portuguese, " de varias letras." We 

 were shown at the rock of Culimacari, on the banks of the Cassi- 

 quiare, signs which were called characters, arranged in lines, but 

 they were only ill-shaped figures of heavenly bodies, boa-serpents, 

 and the utensils employed in preparing manioc-meal. I have never 

 found among these painted rocks (piedras pintadas) any symmetri- 

 cal arrangement or any regular even-spaced characters. I am, there- 

 fore, disposed to think that the word " letras," in Hortsmann's jour- 

 nal, must not be taken in the strictest sense. 



Schomburgk was not so fortunate as to rediscover the rock seen 

 by Hortsmann, but he has seen and described others on the banks 

 of the Essequibo, near the cascade of Warraputa. " This cascade," 

 he says, " is celebrated not only for its height but also for the 

 quantity of figures cut on the rock, which have great resemblance 

 to. those which I have seen in the Island of St. John, one of the 

 Virgin Islands, and which I consider to be, without doubt, the 

 work of the Caribs, by whom that part of the Antilles was formerly 

 inhabited. I made the utmost efforts to detach portions of the 

 rock which contained the inscription, and which I desired to take 

 with me ; but the stone was too hard, and fever had taken away my 

 strength. Neither promises nor threats could prevail on the In- 

 dians to give a single blow with a hammer to these rocks, the 

 venerable monuments of the superior mental cultivation of their 

 predecessors. They regard them as the~ work of the Great Spirit ; 

 and the different tribes whom we met with, though living at a great 

 distance, were nevertheless acquainted with them. Terror was 

 painted on the faces of my Indian companions, who appeared to 

 expect every moment that the fire of heaven would fall on my 

 head. I saw clearly that my endeavours would be fruitless, and I 

 contented myself with bringing away a complete drawing of these 

 memorials." The last determination was certainly the best, and 

 the editor of the English Journal, to my great satisfaction, adds a 

 note to the effect that it is to be wished that no one else may be 

 more successful than Mr. Schomburgk, and that no future traveller 

 from civilized countries may do anything towards the destruction 

 of these monuments of the unprotected Indians. 



The symbolical signs seen by Robert Schomburgk in the Valley 



