Along the Essequebo and Potaro. 159 



line as to render it useless to attempt stalking them 

 from the bush. When we landed at the camping- 

 ground, they were quietly standing on the opposite 

 sandbank as though to study what our future movements 

 might be ; and there they stood, motionless, till the sun 

 went down. 



Early next morning, the curious whistle-like cry of a 

 quata monkey (A teles paniscus) was heard some dis- 

 tance away from the camp, and a Macusi huntsman 

 volunteered to get it, imitating its cry so exactly as to 

 afford a very good instance of the comparative ease 

 with which a good bushman is often able to procure the 

 animals needed by him, by practically calling it to him 

 to be shot. When the man had disappeared some little 

 time in the bush, so that the loudness of his voice was 

 deadened, it was perfectly impossible for me to distin- 

 guish which was his imitation and which the real cry of 

 the brute. Not long after, he returned with the specimen, 

 which added a very fine skin to the collection. 



We landed at Cumparu on Monday morning, and 

 walked a short distance along the Indian track which 

 leads to the Demerara river, on our way disturbing a 

 flock of monkeys which scampered away, shrieking, in 

 the tree-tops high up out of range, swinging themselves 

 from branch to branch. A few immense old mora trees 

 were met with that served well to give one an idea of the 

 sizes of these giants of the forest. The central parts below 

 were quite hollowed out, and the huge trunk above was 

 supported by a series of massive and broad buttresses. 



Opposite Yaya mountain, the river was reduced to a 

 small and narrow channel on the right bank, the width of 

 the river being occupied by immense sandbanks, here and 



