18 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 177 
of the District. The rivers are placid, the water flowing gently back 
and forth with fluctuations in the tide except during the rainy season 
when tidal effects are minimized. Black-water creeks have surfaces 
like a polished black mirror, reflecting the overhanging vegetation. 
Between the rivers extend the mangrove swamps—mucky, slimy, and 
insect-ridden. ‘There are scattered forest-covered elevations, most 
of them rising less than 10 to 15 meters (32.8 to 49.2 feet) above high 
tide level. However, in the west along the Aruka and Koriabo Rivers 
a series of high hills (fig. 4) rises from 39 to 96 meters (130 to 320 
feet) in elevation (Osgood, 1946, fig. 7). The summit of such a hill 
affords a fine view over the surrounding lowland (pl. 9). The hills 
are steep-sided and have rather small, flat or rounded summits. A1- 
though most have no water supply on the summit, many were used 
aboriginally for village sites. Soil composition on the hills is mainly 
coarse decomposed granite and red clay with abundant lateritic 
concretions. Except for citrus trees and coflee, the hilltops or hill- 
sides are little used for agriculture today. 
The swamps presented little attraction for habitation in aboriginal 
times. The only sites are small shell midden accumulations. The soil 
is relatively fertile when drained, however, and efforts are now being 
made to drain and exploit it. This is done by the construction of a 
large, high dirt bank along the river’s edge and the excavation of 
deep drainage ditches, which lower the water table sufficiently for crops 
to grow. There is no way to determine whether small scale operations 
of this sort were undertaken by the aboriginal groups, although it 
seems doubtful. The high land, although scattered, was probably 
sufficiently extensive to serve their needs. The rivers supplied fish 
and the forests the usual variety of game. 
THE ABARY RIVER 
The Abary is a small river that weaves back and forth across the 
- boundary separating Demerara and Berbice Provinces. Its lower 
course passes through the low coastal plain, which in this area is 
grassy rather than covered with mangrove swamp. During the rainy 
season the entire area is flooded and the banks of the river are in- 
distinguishable. Between the mouth of the Abary River and the 
margin of the high land, about 90 km. (56 miles) inland, elevations 
above flood level are few (pl. 88). Houses today are frequently raised 
on stilts, and during the rainy season stand in water 3 to 4 feet in 
depth. 
The Abary savanna is comparable to savanna in the Rupununi 
District in general appearance. Both have scattered trees, and the 
erass gives way to forest when the land increases slightly in elevation. 
Both are flooded during the rainy season. Both appear to have 
offered little attraction to aboriginal habitation. Both have been uti- 
