136 Timehri. 



better use of his opportunities. Even as it is however we could not 

 afford to lose it. The first extract I give refers to the Great Falls of the 

 Demerara : — 



" If one can imagine a wall of irresistible water heavily falling 

 into huge caldrons of from thirty to sixty feet in circumference, boiling, 

 bubbling up and furiously running around, descending and ascending, all 

 helter-skelter, — the perfection of powerful, confused motion, — a chaos of 

 raging water, — the very granite yielding to the attritive force, and 

 forming wells ; — such an one will have an approximate idea of the waters 

 immediately above the lowest part of the falls." 



Many interesting bits of folk-lore may be found, all of which are 

 decidedly interesting, but I have not room for one of the longer stories. 

 Here is something about the Piaiman : — 



" I knew a woodcutter that once had a company of five Indians 

 working with him for a time on his ' grant,' they had brought with 

 them an old man who was past working, but was useful in telling them 

 where game was to be found. They consulted him only in times of doubt 

 or scarcity of the game. ' Go,' said he one day to the hunters, ' to such 

 a spot,' indicating the spot, ' and you will find a herd of abuias ' (wild 

 hogs, Dicotylas lahiatus). They went and brought home fifteen. On 

 another occasion be was asked to say where the wiri-biciri deer, so 

 esteemed for the delicacy of its venison could be procured. Early in the 

 morning he gave the men the directions, and they returned with two of 

 the required deer. Sometimes he would say that the game was too 

 far away ; and at other times he told them not to go out hunting at all on 

 that day, even if they were on short commons, for that ' bad would 

 come ' — meaning that some accident would occur." 



One of the most readable books of travel is Anthony Trollope's "West 

 Indies and Spanish Main." He was here on Post Office business for a few 

 weeks and gave only his impressions. He has been often quoted but the 

 following is not so hackneyed as some others : — 



"I went over the hospital with the doctor there; for even in Demerara 

 they required a hospital far the negroes. ' And what is the prevailing 

 disease of the colony ? ' I asked him. ' Dropsy with the black men,' he 

 answered, ' and brandy with the white.' 



" ' You don't think much of yellow fever ? ' I asked him. 



" ' No ; very little. It comes once in six or seven years ; and like 

 influenza or cholera at home, it requires its victims. What is that to 

 consumption, whose visits with you are constant, who daily demands its 

 hecatombs ? We don't like yellow fever certainly ; but yellow fever is 

 not halt so bad a fellow as the brandy bottle.' " 



Chester's "Transatlantic Sketches," 1869, is a chatty book of the 

 same type as Trollope's but not of much value ; here is an extract :— 



" The Anglo-Demerarian population enjoy a well-merited reputation 

 or hospitality, and in point of civilization are far ahead of the stagnant 



