ITINBRAET. Vll 



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

 or less fragmentary collections proved to be endemic, a rich harvest 

 certainly awaits extended explora.tion. 



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

 these there is ground for believing, considering the 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 History, 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 pro- 

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

 selection and preservation of the miscellaneous material to be obtained 

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

 As will be mentioned later, the facilities today for such an undertaking 

 are numerous as compared with but even a few years ago, when short 

 expeditions of three or four months presented very considerable diffi- 

 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 transporting food and baggage and conserving the 

 strength of the men for the stiff Roraima work. A good deal of the 

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

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

 routes generally acrc-ss the plateau are laborious in the extreme. In 

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

 miner working in the Upper Mazaruni, not far from 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 permanent camps, to provide woodskins 

 on the uppei* 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 unquestionably the Roraima route — the quickest, safest, and 

 most convenient. 



Tg make sure of a sufficient number of Indian boatmen, McConnell 

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

 well known to the people all over the district, to bring down Makushis 

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

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

 familiarity with the people and their language, Ritchie was always of 

 the greatest service, not only on the trip generally 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. On 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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