200 Information respecting Scientific Travellers. 



which the Indians raised for their own use were remarkable for their 

 large leaves, and, as I was assured, for their fine flavour. 



We expected to meet here a party which was to have been sent 

 with a supply of provisions up the Cuyuni, for our stores had long 

 since been given out, and we were reduced to cassava bread and 

 what game chance brought to our hands. We were, however, dis- 

 appointed in our expectations ; and, in the absence of any craft, I 

 had to send my coxswain a journey of two days higher up the Cuyuni, 

 where I was told there was a corial large enough for our use. He 

 arrived, and having bargained for the corial, returned, with some 

 additional guides, on the morning of the 22nd of July. We em- 

 barked our baggage, and a few hours later began the descent of the 

 Cuyuni. 



The Cuyuni presented, where we embarked, a magnificent sheet 

 of water. I estimated its width at from 400 to 500 yards. Its cur- 

 rent was rapid, perhaps 3^ miles in an hour, and its bed full to 

 overflowing. A small chain of hills, called Macapa, bore nearly W. 

 They are distant about a mile. 



Our progress was rapid, and in the afternoon we had safely passed 

 the dangerous fall of Kanaima, and rested at an abandoned settle- 

 ment on the river's right bank. There were some other settlements 

 in the neighbourhood, the inhabitants of which came to visit us. We 

 did not observe any mora-trees along the banks ; they were replaced 

 by another equally majestic tree which the Indians called Ta-au. 

 The islands with which the river was studded were almost covered 

 with bushes of the Quassia amara or bitter-ash. The stream itself 

 continued as if cut up by a multitude of large channels, which are 

 not seen from each other, thickly- wooded islands intervening ; and 

 no accurate idea can be formed of their total breadth : sometimes a 

 little range of densely- wooded hillocks approached the water's edge. 



We passed the Otomong hills, and avoided by narrow passages 

 between islands numerous large cataracts, which in our small canoes 

 it would have been dangerous to attempt to descend. At the cata- 

 ract of Poinka-marka, or Womuipong of the Caribisi, we had to un- 

 load and draw the canoes over a portage of about 300 yards' extent. 

 The perpendicular fall of this cataract is not less than thirty feet, 

 and it is generally called the Canoe- Wrecker, in consequence of many 

 fatal accidents which have occurred here. 



The rapids and falls now became less frequent, and still-water 

 commenced. The tract of granite and gneiss which causes these 

 impediments extends therefore from the Arakuna hills, uninter- 

 rupted, to the small range of hillocks called Macapa. It is about 

 fifty to sixty miles in length, and constitutes the second large series 

 of falls. 



We had anxiously looked forward to meet the party which we 

 expected with supplies of provisions. We heard of them today at 

 a settlement opposite the Toro hills, but only to have the disappoint- 

 ment of learning, that on ascending the previous day the dangerous 

 fall Wakupang, they had lost everything, and saved only their lives 

 and the corial. Among the luggage lost was one of the instruments. 



