Along the Esseouebo and Potaro. 135 



which runs westerly for an immense distance, passing 

 into a wide and open curve round the head of the valley. 

 The waterfall may thus be described as lying in the 

 extreme eastern angle of the amphitheatre, facing 

 almost due north, and thus opening out in a direction 

 different from the general trend of the main valley 

 below, the direction of which is easterly. It is 

 thus hidden from direct observation from any point 

 far down the valley, by the intervention of the 

 northern projection of the eastern side of the bluff; and 

 only a portion of the western part of the amphitheatre 

 is thence visible, situated close to the western edge of 

 the river bed — that part, namely, which is directly oppo- 

 site the eastern aspect of the valley. In the wet season, 

 when the river is very full, the water covers a portion of 

 this part of the bluff, and thus becomes visible down 

 the valley, wherever a clear view is obtained of the face 

 of the amphitheatre — as for instance just above Warratu. 



The front of the amphitheatre is sharply precipitous, 

 banked below, on both sides of the river, by a huge, 

 apparently smooth, green-covered bank, which follows 

 the curve of the bluff and eventually passes into it. 

 This apparently smooth bank, however, consists, in 

 reality, of huge boulders of sandstone and conglomerate, 

 with deep chasms between them, bare in the immediate 

 vicinity of the water, but evenly covered beyond by a 

 varied plant growth, among which the huge lily-like 

 Brocchinia cordylinoides is very conspicuous. 



From our halting-place at the foot of the cataract, two 

 ways were open by which to reach the pool into which the 

 water descends: the one by boring one's way, or cutting a 

 path, through the shrubs which grow among che boulders 



