About and Above the Great Falls. ioi 



Above Mallali the land becomes, on the whole, some- 

 what more elevated, and the high banks afford most 

 pleasing sites for the various settlements, of which a 

 typical one may be found at Welbisirie-canally, some 

 16 miles above the rapids. In many places where the 

 land is low and swampy, the river bends and winds 

 in an extraordinary manner and adds considerably 

 to the distance to be travelled, though, if one's 

 boat be small enough, the etaboos, or small forest-arched 

 water-paths which cut off these bends, afford frequent 

 opportunities of avoiding the extra pulling, and at the 

 same time give a very pleasurable change from the 

 open river. 



At Mecropie, some 28 miles from Mallali, and at Derrire 

 about five miles further on, hilly ranges of from 250-300 ft. 

 abut on the river, and break the monotony of an even 

 forest line. Below Mecropie, and again at some little dis- 

 tance below the rapids at Cumparu, gravel banks are met 

 with, made up very largely of pebbles of celluloid iron 

 ore and ferruginous clay, mixed with trap and quartz 

 fragments. Between these points, the course of the 

 river, which is of a general northerly dire6lion, alters 

 suddenly, and for about twelve miles the flow is due 

 East, between two ranges of hilly tra6ls. Above 

 Cumparu, swampy land with numerous etaboos is 

 again encountered, till at about a little more than 

 70 miles from Akyma, elevated sandy plateaux begin 

 to line the river, forming the outer extension of the 

 rocky range of hills which stretch from the Mabooroo 

 mountain, and give rise to the long catara6ts commonly 

 known as the Great Falls of the Demerara. 



Up to this point, the colle6lion of natural history 



