April 30, 1885] 



NA TURE 



607 



from sharing in, though it in no way diminished the keen 

 interest he felt in their deliberations. 



The library in his beautiful and ancient home contained 

 many works on science, literature, and art, but the great 

 storehouse of knowledge was his own brain, and from this 

 he was ever delighted to contribute for the instruction 

 and amusement of his friends. All this, alas, has come 

 to an end ; the venerated form will no longer be seen 

 where it was known so well, in the Isle, or in its pictur- 

 esque surroundings overlooking the sea, but his memory 

 will long be everywhere preserved in grateful recollection 

 by his friends and countrymen. J. F. 



RORAIMA 



TOY the kindness of Sir Joseph Hooker we ar able to give 

 ■*-' some illustrations relating to Roraima taken by Mr. 

 Im Thuin during his recent successful expedition (aided 

 by funds supplied by the British Association and Royal 

 Geographical Society) to the top of the previous]) un- 

 sealed mountain. The following extracts from the paper 

 read on Monday at the Royal Geographical Society, by 

 Mr. H. J. Perkin, who accompanied Mr. Im Thurn, will 

 give some idea of the work and results of the expedi- 

 tion : — 



The ist of December, our first day in Brazilian terri- 

 tory, we camped to the south-west of, and quite close to 

 Waetipu, a splendid mountain towering above the general 

 level of the table-land some 3003 or 4000 feet, with bold, 

 sharp outlines ending in a well-defined peak, on its south 

 side free from forest, the savannah continuing quite up 

 to its summit, though densely wooded on its north-north- 

 east and north-west. 



From aloft\- range of hills some 3600 feet high we had a 

 splendid view of Waetipu, Roraima, Kukenam, Marima, 

 and two small mountains near Waetipu, named Hormi 

 and Mucureepa ; the curious square, flat tops of Roraima 

 and Kukenam, with their dark, precipitous cliffs, adding 

 a grand and peculiar effect to the whole landscape. ( In 

 December 2 we arrived at Toroikire or Ipelemonta, an 

 Arecuna vill ige of four houses situated on the left bank 

 of the Arapu river. 



The view from here is magnificent, as the village is 

 placed just in front of Roraima, giving a sight also of 

 Kukenam; it is situated on a high hill 3751 feet above 

 sea-level, but is dwarfed by the gigantic walls of rock 

 near it, Roraima being about four, and Kukenam about 

 three miles from it Each mountain seems like a huge 

 impregnable fortress, built on a mountain-top 7000 feet 

 high, with walls from 1200 to 1S00 feet in height. 



The portion of Roraima facing Teroota is four miles 

 long, and of Kukenam about the same. In wet weather 

 their summits are wrapped in dark clouds, and after the 

 rain is over and the clouds have dispersed the water can 

 be seen casting itself over the cliffs in splendid falls that 

 only by being seen can beat all imagined. At a distance 

 of four to five miles they look like delicate white threads 

 against the dark background of sandstone rock. 



The two mountains are separated by a wide gorge, and 

 in this clouds of dense white mist accumulate, and gradu- 

 ally creeping up as the day advances, enshroud their sum- 

 mits son; ihe manner of the "table-cloth" of 

 Table Mountain. 



The chief difficulty Mr. Im Thurn apprehended was 

 from the dampness of the spot, as he feared he would be 

 unable to dry the sheets of botanical p tper u >ed to pre- 

 serve the specimens of plants he obtained, \<\\\ b\ means 

 of a large fire kept burning night and day this was easily 

 ished. 



Whilst on this first visit of ours to the upper portion of 

 Roraima we saw on the face of the cliff itself a ledge of 

 rock running up from the tree-covered portion of the 

 highest sloping portion of the mountain to its summit ; it 



appeared to us extremely easy to climb, except in two 

 places : the first where the bush that covered the ledge 

 appeared to end suddenly, leaving the cliff bare and 

 naked, and giving the ledge the appearance of being in- 

 terrupted, and consequently impassable ; and in the 

 second place where a waterfall from the summit falls 

 on the ledge and has cut a gap in it, so that there seems 

 to be a deep, wide hole, which it would take great trouble 

 to bridge over. But on the whole it seemed so easy to 

 climb the mountain here that we concluded there must 

 be some insuperable difficulty of which we were not 

 aware, for other travellers who had visited the mountain 

 had stayed near this ledge, though, except Mr. Whitely, 

 none of them attempted it, most of them having had to 

 turn back soon after their arrival, owing to want of pro- 

 visions, which latter contingency Mr. Im Thurn had par- 

 ticularly guarded against, and enabled us to stay some 

 time and to make several excursions over the mountain- 

 sides. 



The north-east and west sides of Roraima are forest- 

 covered, but on the south and south-west it is for the 

 most part devoid of trees until a height of 5890 feet is 

 reached, and from here up to the cliff-face the slope 

 becomes far more steep and is covered by a thick, dense 

 undergrowth : there are very few large trees, and even 

 they are small when compared with the giant vegetation 

 of the forests we had passed through. 



Teroota village lies, so to speak, at the foot of the 

 mountain, though the cliff portion is about four miles 

 distant. Between Teroota Hill and Roraima flows the 

 Kukenam river, which rises in Kukenam Mountain and 

 descends from the summit in a splendid fall of about 1300 

 feet. 



From the Kukenam river Roraima on its south-western 

 side slopes up at an angle of about 20 Q to 4500 feet, and 

 then at 30" to the commencement of the forest-covered 

 portion to 5890 feet ; from here to the cliff-face the incline 

 is 1 5 steeper to about 7200 feet, and the remainder is 

 cliff. At about 5600 feet we found a large piece of swampy 

 ground filled with most exquisite varieties of orchids and 

 ferns, and also the Utricularia Hwnboldtii, which grows 

 to greater perfection here than on the Kaieteur savannah. 

 Here also we found the Heliamphora or pitcher-plant, 

 whose cup-shaped leaves were full of water ; it bears a 

 delicate white flower without smell. 



We returned the same day, December 5, to Teroota, 

 after our visit to Siedl. 



We reascended the mountain on Sunday, December 7, 

 and built our houses, one for ourselves and one for the 

 men. at an altitude of 5405 feet above sea-level, close to 

 Siedl's hut. 



On the loth, with Mr. Siedl, we went up a path cut by 

 a Mr. Whitely in 1883, to the face of the cliff, and on our 

 way, at 6410 feet, found a lovely flowering plant, the 

 Leiothamnus Elizabeihez, of Schomburgk ; it has deep 

 carmine star-shaped flowers, with a white star centre, the 

 points of which radiate down the petals. At 6841 feet 

 we rediscovered another exquisite flower, first found by 

 Richard Schomburgk, an Utricularia, with a large deep 

 crimson blossom. The plant grows on the branches of 

 trees, and is about 2 to 3 inches in height : the bloom, 

 when but, completely hides the stalk, and is about an inch 

 and a quarter long, by half an inch wide ; sometimes 

 there are two flowers on the same plant, but usually only 

 one. The appearance of one of these bright blossoms on 

 the sombre tree-branches has a most peculiar effect, and 

 one's admiration is divided between the brightness of the 

 flower and the wonderful energy of the tiny plant that 

 produces it. Pursuing our way we reached the cliff at 

 12 o'clock, nearly three hours from the start, the way 

 being extremely rough and steep, over root and trunks of 

 trees, and bare rocks : at times we could hear water 

 running among the stones under our feet. 



There are no trees of any very great size growing on 



