ITINERARY. VII 



plants, 50"6, 18-2, 23"8, and 27*3 per cent, respectively of these more 

 or less fragmeutaiy colleffcions proved to be endemic, a lich harvest 

 certainly awaits extended exploration. 



Of the Fauna but little is known, except of the Birds, and, even of 

 these there is ground for believing, considei'ing tlie nature of the 

 country, that much yet remains to be discovered, in spite of the fine 

 collections made by Whitely during his long stay at the mountain, 

 when he was able to carry out the only serious work so far attempted 

 in any branch of its Natural Histoiy, and with such excellent results. 



For a satisfactory knowledge of the district, detailed examination is 

 essential ; and this from the circumstances of the case requires pi-o- 

 longed residence, during which careful attention can be given to the 

 selection and preservation of the miscellaneous material to be obtained 

 from the difierent parts of the range and during the different seasons. 

 As will 1)6 mentioned later, the facilities to day for such an undertaking 

 are numerous as compared with but even a few years ago, when shoi-t 

 expeditions of three or four months presented very considerable diiii- 

 culties. Hardships of various kinds are necessarily inseparable from 

 all such travel, though a sufficiency of funds may reduce them to a 

 minimum of discomfort. 



In planning the second journey, we decided to follow the route by 

 the Mazaruni river, rather than by the Potaro, for two main reasons. 

 In the first place, the land journey promised to be decidedly shorter, 

 judging both by the map and the published accounts ; and this was of 

 importance in trans})orting food and baggage and conserving the 

 strength of the men for the stifi' lioraima woi-k. A good deal of the 

 higher journey is done by boat on the Upper Mazaruni and its 

 branches to a point not far distant from the mountain, while the land 

 routes generally across tlie plateau are laborious in the extreme. In 

 the second place, McConnell was able to arrange with a friendly gold- 

 miner working in the Upper Mazaruni, not far trom the first stage of 

 the land journey, to get in touch with the Indians of the inner district, 

 who were to put up houses for pernoanent camps, to provide woodskins 

 on the upper waterway, and to act as carriers and guides. In both 

 respects, we were counting our chickens before they were hatched, 

 and very likely the difficulties on the Potaro route would have been 

 fewer. To-day with the facilities by steamer, rail, and launch, the 

 Potaro is untjuestionably the Roraima route — the quickest, safest, and 

 most convenient. 



To make sui'e of a sufficient number of Indian boatmen, McConnell 

 had made arrangements with llitohie, a settler in the great savannahs, 

 well knowti to tlie people all over the district, to bring down INIakushis 

 enough for two large boats, and himself to act as captain of one and to 

 be in general cliarge of all the arrangements for them. From his 

 familiarity with tlie people and thoii- language, Ritchie was always of 

 the greatest service, not only on the tiip geneially and in the bartering 

 and payment for food and labour in the districts passed through, but 

 especially at Roraima, where the Makushis remained contentedly with 

 him among the Arrekunas while we were away on the top. f)n the 

 former trip, in our absence, they had become so frightened and con- 

 vinced that the Arrekunas were trying to kill them, that they had 



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