XIV ITtNERARV. 



For the last eight or nine weeks we had been crarhperl in a boat, shut 

 in with tliick bush, never able to see farther than the river-banks on 

 either side, and, with tlie exception of tlie occasion on which we went 

 to the Kaieteur and also when we took a short stroll through the open 

 bush near the mouth of the Rupununi, had not been able to stretch 

 our legs since our start ; but here the prospect was most exhilarating — 

 for miles round we could see open country covered Avith grass still 

 bright green after the recent rainy season, and the feeling of relief 

 made us forget our past troubles, and we realized that our long boat- 

 journey with all its discomforts had not been made without some 

 compensation at the end. Looking west as far as the eye could see lay 

 level savannas, with here and there a clump of Ecta palms, stretching 

 away into the distance far beyond the Takutu into Brazil ; to the 

 north another stretch of savanna, with Ecta palms and groves of 

 wild Cashew and knarled and twisted Curatellas dotted about, was 

 bounded at a distance of ten miles by the mountains of Irewang. 

 Kwaonga, Warushee, Mova, and Annai pnrt the large group of Paca- 

 raima, which extends as far north as the Potaro and from the Cotinga 

 to the Essequibo ; to the south the Kanuku Mountains lise from the 

 savanna some thirty miles away, and form the boundary in that 

 direction of the Macwsi country. 



The village consisted of a large building called the church surrounded 

 by thirty-eight houses and sheds in a circle at a radius of about GO to 

 80 yards ; only eighteen of these were regularly inhabited, and the 

 population actually belonging to the place was al)out 200, 



The chief placed at our disposal two houses which had been l)uilt 

 for the parson when he visited the savanna from Waraputa about a 

 year before — both houses were raised from the ground and were 

 thatched with cocorite leaves. One, which was divided into rooms, 

 had walls and a floor of split manicole palm-stems placed an inch 

 apart ; the other was simply a floor with a roof raised on uprights. 

 We selected the latter as a residence, and decided to use the former 

 as a store-house for provisions and barter. 



All the other houses in the village were built after the same model : 

 the sides were pai'allel with semicircular ends ; the walls, 5 feet in 

 height, were made of wattle covered with clay ; and the high sloping 

 roofs, thickly thatched with cocorite leaves, projected well over on all 

 sides. There were no windows, and the only light entered through a 

 low doorway seldom more than two feet across. The doorways, of 

 which there were sometimes two — one at each end, — were bai-ricaded 

 at night to keep out evil spirits. 



On our way up from the river we had met over 100 people, who, 

 having heard our guns the previous evening, had come dovvn to meet 

 us ; these now began to retui'n laden with our boxes and other 

 packnges from the boat, and before noon ever3'thing was arranged to 

 oiu' satisfaction in the two houses. 



During our stay at Kwaimatta, which extended altogether over eight 

 weeks, we had a very favourable opportunity of observing the habits 

 of the Macusis. The men whom we had had with us in the boat 

 probably gave a favourable report of us to the others, as from the very 

 beginning everyone was friendly and anxious to get on well with us. 



