vi ITIXEKAllY. 



back into Brazil and Venezuela, with miles and miles of open country 

 crossed here and there by mountain ranges. 



Oiu' plan was to follow the Essequibo for some 250 miles, and then 

 the Bupununi, a large tributary which would take us first due west 

 and then south — following the general run of all the other rivers — to 

 Kwaimatta, a large Macusi settlement where we proposed to make our 

 headquarters. 



Our i)arty consisted of A. Lennox, C. Lloyd, two taxidermists, a 

 black cook, Quelch, and myself. Our ci'ew, with two exceptions, were 

 all Indians. 



Our boats were four in number. Our own, the ' Victoria.' specially 

 l)uilt for the occasion, 36 feet in length Ijy 6 ft. 6 in., a small 20-foot boat 

 to be used for carrying letters to Georgetown, and two boats boirowed 

 from Waraputa Mission, near the Potaro mouth, which we required 

 to take pait of our provisions, &c., as far as the mission station, from 

 which point they would be brought on from time to time by the 

 despatch boat. 



On July 7th we started from Georgetown for Baitica Grove, a small 

 town used as a base of operations for the gold-diggings, and from here 

 Quelch started on the 9th, while I went back to Georgetown with 

 Lennox, leaving again the next day for the Demerara River and ja-o- 

 cee<ling for three days by steamer to Kanaimapu, walked across by 

 the Kumaparu path to the Essequibo, meeting Qvielch above the first 

 set of rapids. 



The steamer-journey was very tedious, the liver winding through 

 thick bush, an<l the land being so low that it was impossible to see 

 't)eyond the first line of trees. The first day the steamer took us to 

 Akyma, another steamer took us the next day to Malali, where there 

 is a small rapid avoided by a walk of about half a mile, and from there 

 a third steamer took us on to Kanaimapu, where the first quaitz- 

 crushing plant in the Colony was erected ; we here Ijorrowed a boat, 

 and after p iddling for a couple of miles came to the Kumaparu path 

 and started for tlie Essecpiibo. 



The track, thirteen miles in length, was well cleared, and Avalking was 

 easy. Tiiere were one or two steej) little gullies to be crossed, and it 

 surprised us to see that lunners had lieen placed along the path for 

 the transport of boats ; the expense of laying these njust have been 

 very great, and a boiit could be worth little at the end of such a 

 journey. 



We weie late in starting, and did not reach the other end till next 

 morning. There we found that the Essequibo had overflowed its banks 

 for about two miles, and that we could not by any means reach the main 

 stream — this put us out considerably. We expected to find Quelch 

 waiting for us, and not finding him were afraid that the flood might 

 have so altered the appearance of the river that the captain had not 

 been able to make out the track ; besides this, to make matters worse, 

 we had sent back the boat to Kanaimapu, and had biought no pro- 

 visions and cooking-utensils with ns. Fortunately, one of our Indians 

 shot a hog which kept us going, although hog cooked whole on top of 

 a fire and eaten by itself is not appetizing. 



This was a very bad start indeed, the uncei-tainty as to what had 



