30 WANDERINGS IN 



FIRST things, as he told thee at the beginning, with but 



JOURNEY. 



an indifferent interpreter to talk to, no friend to 



converse with, and totally unfit for that which he 

 wishes thee to do, can merely mark the outlines 

 of the path he has trodden, or tell thee the sounds 

 he has heard, or faintly describe what he has seen 

 in the environs of his resting-places ; but if this be 

 enough to induce thee -to undertake the journey, 

 and give the world a description of it, he will be 

 amply satisfied. 



It will be two days and a half from the time of 

 entering the path on the western bank of the 

 Demerara till all be ready, and the canoe fairly 

 afloat on the Essequibo. The new rigging it, and 

 putting every little thing to rights and in its proper 

 place, cannot well be done in less than a day. 



After being night and day in the forest imper- 

 vious to the sun and moon's rays, the sudden 

 transition to light has a fine heart-cheering effect. 

 Welcome as a lost friend, the solar beam makes 

 the frame rejoice, and with it a thousand enliven- 

 ing thoughts rush at once on the soul, and dis- 

 perse, as a vapour, every sad and sorrowful idea, 

 which the deep gloom had helped to collect there. 

 In coming out of the woods, you see the western 

 bank of the Essequibo before you, low and flat. 

 Here the river is two-thirds as broad as the Deme- 

 rara at Stabroek. 

 Face of the To the northward there is a hill higher than 



country. 



any in the Demerara ; and in the south-south-west 



