242 CATARACTS OF THE ORINOCO. 



the "Plantes equinoxiales," T. i. 1808, p. 122, tab. 36. 

 This gigantic and magnificent tree offers, in the perfect for- 

 mation of its cocoa-like, round, thick, woody fruit enclosing 

 the three-cornered and also woody seed-vessels, the most 

 remarkable example of high organic development. The 

 Bertholietia grows in the forests of the Upper Orinoco 

 between the Padamo and the Ocamu, near the mountain of 

 Mapaya, and also between the rivers Amaguaca and Gehette. 

 (Relation historique, T. ii. p. 474, 496, 558-562.) 



( 8 ) p. 213. "Grass stalks having joints above eighteen 

 feet long from knot to knot." 



Robert Schomburgk, when visiting the small mountainous 

 country of the Majonkongs, on his way to Esmeralda, was 

 so fortunate as to determine the species of Arundinaria 

 which furnishes the material for the blowpipes or tubes 

 through which the Indians discharge their arrows. He 

 says of this plant : " It grows in large tufts like the Bam- 

 busa ; the first joint rises without a knot to a height of 

 from 16 to 17 feet before it begins to put forth leaves. 

 The entire height of the Arundinaria, as it grows at the foot 

 of the great mountain of Maravaca, is from 30 to 40 feet, 

 with a thickness of scarcely half an inch diameter. The top 

 is always inclined. This kind of grass is peculiar to the 

 sandstone mountains between the Ventuari, the Paramu 

 (Padamo), and the Mavaca. The Indian name is Curata, 

 and hence, from the excellence of these far-famed blow tubes 

 of great length, the Majonkongs and Guinaus of these 



