RORAIMA. 323 
breakfast went to a neighbouring hill, where I worked 
at a water-colour view of Roraima. For this work I 
had chosen only the early morning from six to eight 
o’clock, for after that time the summit of the mountain 
grew over-cast with clouds which had lain in wait since 
sunrise on the lower slopes and then hid him for the 
whole day until near sunset, at which time he was again 
completely freed from the thick veil. 
After my painting was finished, I went exploring the 
neighbouring forest or savannah, along the banks of the 
Arabo-pu, accompanied by CORNELISSEN and one of the 
Indians. The forest offered me rich botanical treasures, 
especially ferns, of which I found two interesting species— 
Schizcea dichotoma and S. incurvata. 
My estimate for the Roraima chain of mountains gives 
at least two hundred species of ferns, half of which are 
probably peculiar to the region, and the remainder com- 
mon to other mountainous parts of Guiana, as the Humi- 
rida and Canuku Mountains and the primeval forests 
near the coast. The only palms I found in the forests at 
the foot of the mountains were Iriartea robusta, @nocar- 
pus Bataua, (2. Bacaba, and Baétris concinna, and 
near the top at the base af the cliff, 6,000 feet high, 
some species of Geonoma. The Iriarteas, standing 
together in large groups, contributed very much to the 
beauty of the forest, which otherwise in the dry season, 
from the many leafless trees, made a rather unfavourable 
impression. An immense number of trees, fallen and 
half rotten, which had been thrown down by violent 
storms reigning here in the dry season, were lying about 
in the forests, and my Indians had the task of cutting 
several of them in pieces daily to search in the rotten 
