THE WORLD’S GREATEST WATERFALL 
Now and then we would come sud- 
deniy upon an arch in the trees, through 
which | could catch a glimpse of a clear- 
ing and a tiny house thatched with palm 
leaves. In such a home the contented 
coolie, who has served his five-year 
term of indenture on the sugar estate, 
lives in plenty—I cannot imagine how— 
the rest of a peaceful life. It was very 
amusing to notice that even in these iso- 
lated oriental settlements in South Amer- 
ica Monday was celebrated according to 
convention. The week’s wash, scant to 
be sure, was displayed conspicuously 
everywhere. Occasionally one of -these 
lagoons in the forest would present a 
busier scene, and several dugouts would 
come out to the steamer to take off 
freight or mail. Then the captain would 
tell me that behind there they made char- 
coal or grew cocoa, as the case might be. 
So the day passed from 8 in th: morn- 
ing till 5 in the afternoon, when we ar- 
rived at the steamer anding at Wismar. 
The town was a tiny place, consisting 
of the landing stage, a railroad station, a 
store, a gin shop, and half a dozen huts. 
But the fact that it is the terminus of the 
Demerara-Essequibo Railroad gives it 
some activity. 
This railroad connects the two most 
important rivers of the province. It is, 
of course, narrow-gauged and poorly 
built, but any sort of railroad is a 
blessing in Guiana. The line runs over 
ground as sandy as a beach—and indeed 
that is what it used to be. All the coun- 
try below that point has been built out 
into the ocean, just as the island was 
built from the schooner’s wreck. The 
stations were marked by signs and by 
one house apiece. There was apparently 
no trail leading anywhere, and no one 
ever started away until after the train 
left. I was told, however, that these sta- 
tions are the centers of a hard-wood lum- 
ber trade which the railroad company 
itself carries on. 
-Rockstone, the Essequibo terminus of 
the road, was hardly more imposing than 
Wismar. The bank of the river here is a 
rather indefinable line between a swamp 
and the shallow water. The track is 
851 
built on an artificial embankment, and a 
surprisingly good hotel was at the time 
approachable only by a bridge. It had 
been built in the more palmy days of 
gold-digging and on its register were 
names from all over the world. On the 
two nights I stayed there I was the only 
guest. 
At 6:30 on Tuesday morning the 
launch started for Tumatumari, and all 
day it fought against the current between 
the monotonous shores. As a matter of 
fact, I hardly once saw the shore itself, 
for the bush is so thick that it grows out 
into the river, leaving only lagoons by 
which the interior can be reached. 
It surprised me to find the Essequiba 
such a formidable stream. I had always 
considered the Hudson something of a 
river, but the unknown FE;ssequibo drains 
five times the crea and is twice as long. 
Early in the afternoon we left the great 
river and entered the mouth of the Po- 
taro, itself a stream of no mean propor- 
tions. A few hours later Tumatumari, a 
tiny habitation built on a hill by the side 
of a cataract, hove in sight. We landed 
before sunset. I understood it was ex- 
actly 6 o'clock, but I later found out that 
it is alvays 6 when the boat arrives. The 
only reliable watch of the village belongs 
to the agent of Sproston’s, who takes 
great pride in the promptness of the 
launch. 
Upon landing I presented letters to the 
Chinese storekeeper and to the govern- 
ment agent, a young man named Chris- 
tiani. The latter put me up in his at- 
tractive bungalow. His hospitality was 
of a sort that one rarely finds off the 
frontier and I was sorry to leave him 
early the next day. 
There was a hut in the village which 
interested me. A good deal of American 
oil is used in the colony, imported in tins, 
which in turn are boxed to keep them 
from denting. The hut which drew my 
interest was walled by these boxes and 
roofed with the tins. This was merely 
an example of the use to which “tide- 
water” tins were put, for they are an 
article of standard value throughout the 
colony. 
