300 



TiMEHRl. 



cascades and catara6ls, swollen by the preceding rains, 

 rushed down from the glistening summit to afford 

 an exquisite contrast. I mentioned already that the 

 annual rainfall on the coast and in the savannahs amounts 

 to about 100 inches; here it is surpassed by far, and 

 well may the Indians call the Roraima the fruitful 

 mother of rivers. 



However anxious we were to ascend the Roraima, we 

 had to delay this until our ambassador to the Seekongs 

 should come back, as according to the Indians we should 

 find neither fruit nor game to appease our hunger 

 on the way. Meanwhile I took some rambles through 

 the surrounding country in order to explore its fauna 

 and flora. The former proved scanty enough, as 

 the whole of the neighbourhood was just as devoid 

 of mammalia and birds as the mountain tra6ts which we 

 had just past. I was however richly repaid by the 

 abundant vegetation which prevails here. The mountain 

 slopes — the banks of the river and streams — the woody 

 oases — displayed such a wealth of forms, species and 

 families, as never before had met my eyes. This fer- 

 tility of the soil rendered the scarcity of animals the 

 more striking. Now and then we met a stray Aguti, 

 rarer still a Laba or a flock of the before mentioned 

 Mycetes and of a species of Cebus. Then there was 

 a certain ratlike animal which later on was brought us 

 alive and which we took to be Cavia leucopygia. Occa- 

 sionally we met an Ant-eater (Myrmecophaga trid- 

 a6lyla) or a Nasua. Of birds we met Penelope, rarely 

 Rhamphastos and more frequently Euphone, Tanagra, 

 Pipra, and Nectarinia, among which .the pretty Tanagra 

 punctata, spotted green and black, the seven-coloured 



