Information respecting Scientific Travellers. 201 



Massey's log, and a new tarpauling. Thus disappointed in our 

 hopes of meeting comfort, we had to put up for some days longer 

 with our scanty fare. We paid off our guides who had accompanied 

 us from Haiowa, as, with the men who had come up from the Esse- 

 quibo, our crew was sufficiently strong to reach that river. 



The dangerous fall Wakupang, where our stores were lost on the 

 preceding day, was passed without accident. This is the commence- 

 ment of the second series of rapids or falls. The river is studded 

 with islands ; green-heart and purple-heart, both most valuable trees, 

 become abundant along its banks ; but the impediments which the 

 numerous rapids throw in the way will for some time render these 

 treasures unavailable. 



We passed in the afternoon the Cutuau hills, along which a river 

 of the same name has its course. The Cutuau offers a communica- 

 tion Avith the river Waini, and is much frequented by the Indians of 

 both rivers ; eight miles further eastward is the rivulet Wayarimpo, 

 whence another path leads to the Paruni. 



We reached on that evening Ematuba, generally called " the 

 Great Fall," where we had to unload and haul our corials over land, 

 and encamped at the foot of the small island whither the corials had 

 been drawn. Continued rains precluded the possibility of any ob- 

 servations, and we started on the morning of July •27th, under the 

 same unfavourable weather. An hour and a half after, we were at 

 the foot of the last fall, called Akayu, and saw before us the junc- 

 tion of the three rivers, Essequibo, Mazaruni, and Cuyuni. 



Our party left Bartika Grove on the 28th of July in two corials, 

 and we arrived safely in George- town on the second day ensuing, 

 after an absence of three months and a half, during which period 

 we had travelled upwards of 700 miles ; and although that period 

 presented but a continuation of the most unfavourable weather, we 

 nevertheless determined Uoenty-one points astronomically, and ac- 

 quired a correct knowledge of the course of the rivers Waini, Ba- 

 rima, Amacura, Barama, and Cuyuni, all of which had never been 

 visited before by any person competent to delineate them in a map ; 

 no wonder therefore that their actual course should be almost oppo- 

 site to what it is represented in extant maps. 



The fertility of the tract we have explored has been pointed out 

 in various places in this as well as my former account. The lands 

 adjacent to the rivers Amacura, Barima, and Barama, and beyond 

 the reach of the tides, are superior in quality to those of any other 

 district hitherto visited ; and this refers equally to the Cuyuni, 

 where I met sugar-canes of the finest description, and native cottons 

 of superior staple and quality. But the impediments to the naviga- 

 tion of the Cuyuni will, I fear, prove a great obstacle in the way of 

 rendering the fertility of its banks available. The Amacura, Barima, 

 and Waini are for a great distance free from such impediments, and 

 a denser population only is wanted to render this part of Guiana 

 one of the most productive throughout its whole extent ; and to this 

 end the numerous natural canals and connexions between its chief 

 rivers would materially contribute. 



Ann. ^ Mag. N. Hist. Volxii. P 



