866 
the tip of the plateau, where the path 
is comparatively level again, through the 
woods, to the edge of the savanna, or 
treeless tract, immediately about the fall. 
After breakfast at the edge of the 
savanna, Mr. Shideler and myself, Wil- 
liam, and another Indian walked over to 
the edge of the precipice and to the fall, 
while the rest of the Indians went on 
to pitch camp and get the boats ready. 
The scenery about the fall is unique. 
Looking down the stream, one sees the 
U-shaped gorez cut by the Potaro ir 
the level plateau. The Potaro is visible 
from time to time as it crosses from one 
side of the valley to the other. Only 
different sections of the upper part of 
the fall can be seen from the edge of 
the gorge. 
The best view of the fall can be had 
by climbing down on a ledge of rock at 
the edge of the precipice. I not only 
climbed down, but, all excitement with 
the fever, the steep climb, and the superh 
view, set up my camera on the ledge 
and took numerous photographs. I con- 
fess to feeling distinctly dizzy when I 
placed my head under the focusing cloth, 
knowin; that if something should happen 
I and the camera would land on the rocks 
2 thousand feet below. Not that I could 
find a finer place to die, but I hesitated 
to start to kingdom come on such a heavy 
down grade! 
Kaieteur Fall is caused by an exces- 
sively hard conglomerate, which over- 
lies a softer sandstone. ‘The savanna 
above the fal! is ir large part this naked 
conglomerate. In places bushes grow 
from cracks, or bunches of grass, or 
flowers cling to little accumulations of 
soil that can be kicked from place to 
piace. 
Holmia, which formed our next fish- 
ing base, is the trading camp of the Es- 
sequibo Exploration Company. It is sit- 
uated on the Potaro, at the entrance of 
the Chenepowo River, and contains a 
store and depot surrounded by a few 
Indian huts. My crew of Indians went 
out at once to collect poison, the root of 
a plant called “hiari,” under the guidance 
of a local Indian, Jordan. The, Indians 
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
of the surrounding regions also brought 
me fishes, and | poisoned a small creek 
just behind the houses. Unfortunately, 
it rained heavily, so that the Chenepowo 
and the Potaro rose many feet and made 
fishing in these rivers not profitable for 
some time. We went up the Potaro a 
distance further and poisoned two creeks 
just below the Aruataima Cataract. In 
the cataract iself we could do nothing on 
account of the high water. William later 
collected in the cataract and sent me two 
new genera and three new species, from 
which it would seem that further collect- 
ino at this point would prove profitable. 
It seemed that each creek on the pla- 
ieauu We examined contained some one 
dominant form and a few stragglers, the 
dominant forms varying in the different 
creeks. 
On our return to Kaieteur we first 
tried poisoning a little branch above the 
fall at Waratuk and got some specimens. 
Then we tried a more ambitious scheme 
of poisoning a big branch below the fall, 
as I had found that the poison will drive 
some fishes out before it kills them. We 
had three men pound hiari and wash it 
into tne branch of the northern part of 
the fall. William and another Indian 
stood a long distance below, after the 
water had flowed in among and under 
the rocks. I at first stayed by a pool near 
where they were poisoning. Soon a de- 
pressed little fish came fluttering to the 
surface. It clings to the rock and looks 
like one. They were new and I dipped 
with enthusiasm till I fell in. This broke 
the ice for me, for I then waded from 
rock to rock, securing over 70 specimens 
of the new genus Lithorus. William 
came with a dip-net full of long, curve- 
mouthed Gymnotiduls I had not seen. 
We poisoned and waded, gathering in 
all half a bucketful of small fishes, all 
valuable as specimens. It was rare sport. 
and I did not realize that it was 10 o’clock 
and I was played out. We had soup, rice, 
tea, and jam for breakfast, and started at 
11:30 on the home stretch. 
Most of the Indians had done nothing 
but swing in the hammock all the morn- 
ing, so they paddled with a swish and 
