82 TIMEHRI. 
Be eee 
situated just above the Camaria fall—is then navigable for 
boats, communication would be impossible. This road 
or path, for it is merely a bush path, though in some parts 
quite twelve or fourteen feet wide, is on the left bank of 
the river and is about four or five miles in length from 
its commencement at the foot of the Accaio or lowest 
fall to the end at the top of the Camaria fall. 
At its lower end, and for about the first two miles, it 
traverses low lying ground liable to become swampy 
during the wet season ; but the upper portion is always 
well drained, being situated on a sandy plateau, well 
above the level of the river. The total rise cannot be 
much more than, if even so much as, forty feet; and it 
would be a matter of neither great difficulty nor expense 
to lay a light rail or tramway along it. Were this done 
a great saving of time—some 3 days in going up and a 
few hours in coming down the river—would be effeéted, 
and a series of eight tiresome falls avoided. Although 
these notable Cuyuni rapids would be cut off, there are 
more met with as the river is ascended ; two of the worst 
of these can be surmounted without danger by portaging 
the loads and boats. The remainder have to be faced by 
hauling up. 
There is a popular idea amongst the Boviander popula- 
tion of the Essequibo and its tributaries that the water 
of this river has a peculiarly copperlike taste. I have 
never deteéted it myself, but have noticed that the — 
usual colour of the water is much lighter than in most 
Essequebo streams, and it is well known that the Bovian- 
ders prefer the water from a dark to that from a light 
coloured, but not limpid stream. The river derives its 
name says SCHOMBURGH from two Indian words. Cuyu, 
