NATURALISTS OF BARTICA 39 



exact indication of their distribution. His list of birds num- 

 bers 418 species. 



In 1837 William Hilhouse made a trip up the Cuyuni 

 in search of orchids, and writes: "I reached Calicoon Creek 

 in the Massaroony River on the first of March, and had to 

 return to town for craft and supplies, as I found literally the 

 whole population without bread." 



A naturalist and botanist who was intimately associ- 

 ated with this particular region was Carl Ferdinand fVppun, 

 who spent twenty-three years in Venezuela and Guiana, 

 being sent out by King Frederick Wilhelm IV of Prussia 

 on the recommendation of the great Humboldt. The sum- 

 mary of his many years of travel in British Guiana is given 

 in the second volume of his "Unter den Tropen." This is 

 a conscientiously but stolidly written work, with a few quaint 

 but charming illustrations from pencil by the author. Two 

 of the originals are in the Georgetown Museum. The sec- 

 ond chapter of this volume is devoted to his excursions in 

 the vicinity of the Penal Settlement and Bartica. He spent 

 two years there, 1857 and 1859, but his fifty pages of obser- 

 vations could quite easily have been made in a month's time. 

 Fourteen years later we find the following pathetic entries 

 in his journal, written when at Kaiateur Falls and repro- 

 duced in the Royal Gazette at Georgetown. 



June 15 Returned to Hymyyeug. We were not re- 

 ceived very pleasantly, the old Pankoo seemed to be quite 

 disappointed that we were not killed during our expedition 

 to the top of the fall. The Indians have a suspicion that 

 we are looking for gold; an old tradition of the Indians of 

 British Guiana is, that when the white man digs for gold 

 in their territory, the Indian race will be destroyed forever. 

 Commenced to paint the view of the upper fall. 



June 16 Painted on the picture;, a general consulta- 

 tion among the Indians about our looking for gold. 



Monday, 17 Painted the whole day, no sleep during 

 the night. 



