July 7, 1892] 



NATURE 



235 



opening into the Waini, while the upper end discharges part of 

 its surplus water into the sea. Anything more maze-like than the 

 itabbo between the Waini and Barima Rivers it is impossible to 

 imagine. 



On the Aruka, a large tributary of the Barima, the curious 

 Arawack game of the Macquari whip is played, the essential 

 feature of which is a testing of endurance by means of alternately 

 giving and receiving severe cuts with a somewhat severe whip. 

 This extraordinary performance, accompanied with much drink- 

 ing and with invariable good humour, is carried on for some days 

 in accordance with a fixed ritual, the blows, which are received 

 by the players on the calves of their legs, being so severe as to 

 draw much blood. The river, too, must at one time have been 

 the site of a Redskin civilization far superior to, and very different 

 from, any known previously of the early inhabitants of Guiana ; 

 for there are on it considerable deposits of pottery ornamented 

 with incised patterns, and even very abundantly with grotesque 

 figures of men and animals in very high relief. To estimate the 

 significance of this latter fact, it must be remembered that none 

 of the known early inhabitants of Guiana have advanced in the 

 important primitive art of pottery beyond the stage of making 

 vessels of two or three definite and very simple shapes, which 

 are almost invariably entirely without ornament, or are at best, 

 in a very few cases, ornamented with a simple pattern painted 

 on the flat surface. 



The Warrau Redmen inhabiting a neighbouring region have 

 recourse to a picturesque game in order to decide disputes amic- 

 ably. For this purpose, on an appointed day both parties come 

 together on some open space, such as this sand-bank, each man 

 or boy provided with a large shield made of the leaf-stalks of 

 the acta palm {Mauritia Jlexiiosa). After much shouting and 

 dancing in two opposed lines, the shields of the one party are 

 pushed against those of the other, and by this means the mem- 

 bers of each party endeavoured by sheer strength to overthro v, 

 or at least to force back from their position, the members of the 

 other party ; and the right in the matter in dispute is considered 

 to lie with whichever party proves itself the stronger in this 

 contest. The game is peculiar to the swamp Warraus, who 

 live in the swamps of the m>uths of the Orinoco, and live here 

 chiefly on the aeta palm, not cultivating any food-stuff, but 

 eating the fruit of this palm and the pith of its stem, not mak- 

 ing any fermented drink, as other Redmen do, but drinking 

 only water and the sap ofthi-; same palm, building their houses, 

 not as Humboldt thought, actually ?« these palms, but yet en- 

 tirely, floor, posts, and roof, of xh& various parts of this palm. 

 The physical features of the north-western district are like, yet 

 in some respects different from, those of the rest of the colony. 

 The watershed from which the main rivers, the Waini, Barama, 

 Barima, and the Amakuru, run down to the sea, is here nearer 

 to the coast-line than it is further south. Two more important 

 consequences arise from this. The bare dry savannah of the 

 interior of other parts of the colony is here unrepresented, the 

 whole district being practically within the forest belt. And 

 the rivers are both shorter and deeper, though their mouths are 

 very wide. Moreover, these rivers are curiously connected both 

 by a remarkably elaborate network, probably hardly paralleled 

 in any other part of the world, of natural and seaii-natural 

 water channels — such as those described — and by an almost 

 equally elaborate network of Redmen's paths through the 

 forest. 



The inhabitants of this district were, ten years ago, Redmen, 

 and Redmen only. Their distribution is interesting when taken 

 in connection with the distribution of their kind throughout the 

 colony. The Redmen of Guiana consist of many small tribes, 

 the best known of which are the Arawacks and the so-called 

 Caribs — true Caribs they are preferably called. These two 

 last-named tribes owe the fact that they are the best known to 

 the circumstance that they shared between them the West Indian 

 Islands south of Jamaica at the time of their discovery by 

 Columbus ; and they are the last remnants of those people who 

 were the victims of that brutal policy of exterminati)n by cruelty 

 followed by the Spanish conquerors of the New World. The 

 north-western district is some 9500 square miles in extent, and 

 rises gradually from the sea to the range of somewhat higher 

 land, which is represented, wih some exaggeration, on most 

 existing maps as the Sierra Imataca range of mountains, but 

 which, within the limits of British Guiana, never attains a 

 general level of more than 300 or 400 feet. The lower or 

 alluvial part of this country consists of some of the richest soil 

 in the world. Parts which have since been taken in and drained 



now yield crops of tropical produce of simply amazing 

 abundance. As an illustration, a garden which hardly two and 

 a half years ago was cleared and drained already has in it avenues 

 of trees {Casuariua) of over 40 feet high, which were then 

 planted. On the other hand, the higher part of the new district 

 is being fast overrun by very successful gold-diggers. 



For geographical reasons the most convenient centre from 

 which to administer the district was at the point at which the 

 Morawhanna leaves the Barima. This is near the centre of the 

 waterway which traverses the northern part of the colony from 

 the sugar fields about the mouth of the Essequibo to its northern 

 limits on the Orinoco, by which, in the absence of roads, all 

 traffic from the Orinoco to the older established parts of the 

 colony must necessarily pass Here, therefore, the central station, 

 with the Government Agency, the police barracks, the hospital, 

 and the other buildings, public and private, which go to make 

 up the chief township, have been placed, and are fast being 

 added to. A large station, with the other necessary accom- 

 modation, was aUo placed at the northern end of the waterway, 

 on the mouth of the Amakuru ; and other stations have been 

 placed at intervals along the whole Hue. 



NO. I 1 84, VOL. 46] 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



The American Meteorological Journal for May contains a 

 paper read i)y Prof. W. M. Davis, before the New England 

 Meteorological Society, entitled " Meteorology in the 

 Schools." It points out the best plan to be adopted by a 

 teacher to give his pupils a sound knowledge of the subject, 

 and it will be found full of interest for many who may have 

 made considerable progress in the study of meteorology. The 

 complete solution ol weather changes is far beyond the meteoro- 

 logy of the day, but the paper will teach the student to 

 recognize the great difficulties attendant upon successful 

 weather-predictions, and to discriminate between these and 

 the predictions of those who pretend to outline the course of 

 meteorological events for months ahead. — Thunderstorms in 

 New England during the year 1886, by K. De C. Ward. The 

 observation of thunderstorms was taken as a special subject of 

 investigation by the New England Meteorological Society in 

 the years 1885-87, and this paper is a preliminary report on 

 the investigation, to be eventually published by the Harvard 

 College. The storms were most frequent between May and 

 August, and between 5h. and ^h. p.m. The average rate of 

 movement throughout the year was 35 miles an hour. The in- 

 fluence of the tides on the direction of the storms is said to be 

 brought out in several reports. — The storm of March 1-4, 1892, 

 by J. Warren Smith. '1 his storm was so severe in the New 

 England States, and the snowfall and drift so heavy, as to 

 cause in many places the cessation of all outside business ; 

 trains were blocked, and much damage done to shipping from 

 the violence of the wind. 



The American Meteorological Journal for June contains the 

 following original articles : — Flood-stage river predictions, 

 by Prof. T. Russell. The paper gives some account of the 

 methods by which the rules for river-stage predictions are de- 

 rived. A river-stage is the vertical height of the water surface 

 above the plane ot low water, observed with a gauge. There 

 are about 150 gauge stations maintained at vari us points in the 

 United States. The predictions are mainly based upon observa- 

 tion of the stages and rises, at certain points of a stream, and 

 upon a consideration of what has occurred in previous cases, 

 from which data factors are calculated. As a rule, rainfall obser- 

 vations aieof little use in such predictioi s. — The first scientific 

 balloon voyage, translated by R. De C. Ward, from an article 

 by Dr. Hellmann. (See Nature, vol. xlv. p. 471.)— Snow- 

 storms at Chicago, by A. B. Crane. The writer has tabulated 

 the records relating to the subject from 1879-90, and has dis- 

 cussed them with reference to the meteorological conditions 

 prior to the storm. The heaviest storms occurred in January, 

 the average temperature being 2i°"4. He found that before the 

 storms the temperature nearly always rises, and that it rarely falls 

 for twenty four hours previously. — The eye of the storm, by S.M. 

 Ballou. This name is given to the calm area in the centre of 

 a cyclone, where clear sky is generally visible. The author 

 quotes accounts by various observers, and a review of the differ- 

 ent explanations of the phenomenon. — Shall we erect light- 

 ning rods?, by A. McAdie. The question being whether it is 



