On the Upper Berbice River. 341 



basins hollowed out of the hard f el stone; while, below, it 

 winds away again to its normal course, flecked with 

 masses of foam. 



The attraftiveness of the scene was heightened by the 

 abundant growth of the wild guava (Psidium), in full 

 flower, on the rocks; and their delicate fragrance imparted 

 a delightful balminess to the air, thoroughly appreciated 

 by crowds of tiny yellow bees which hovered over the 

 flowers. Along the sides of the steep banks, masses of 

 coarse and rank-growing aroids were conspicuous, 

 mingled with ferns of different kinds, from the delicate 

 thread-like and filmy-leaved species to those with large 

 spreading divided and undivided fronds, while selagi- 

 nellas were scattered in all dire6lions. On the trees 

 along the sides, and on the islands, masses of orchids 

 grew, several in flower, chiefly species of Epidendrottj 

 Brassauola, Batemannia, Brassia, Diacrum, Schom- 

 burgkia, Stanhopea and Huntleya, though the most 

 tempting clumps were always high out of reach on some 

 huge tree by the waterside. 



Palms were represented by an occasional manicole, 

 cokerite, cokeritiballi and tooroo, but the most abundant 

 was a strong-growing pimpler-palm, called carya by the 

 Indians, much like a young tooroo in growth, but with 

 the stem and the back of the leaves covered with long 

 prickles, and the fruit like minute bunches of cocoanuts, 

 covered with small, close, short spines, and filled with 

 water. Mora, greenheart, crab-wood, wallaba, kabu- 

 kalli, marciballi, bullet-tree, etc., formed the great bulk of 

 the trees, as had been the case along the lower valley. 



Several days were devoted to working up the distri6l, 

 but it proved poor for our purposes. Povvis, maam, 



UU2 



