XXX ITINERARY. 



We had camped in the forest on the further side of the clearing, and 

 there the residents had visited us frequently, bringing large quantities 

 of cassava and fresh provisions, and of paiwarri and casiri, which we 

 bought for the men. It is not usual to pay for the drinks, but 

 McConnell oiiered sorihe small presents which gave much pleasure and 

 led to further supplies, which would hardly have been forthcoming 

 otherwise. There was no scarcity of carriers : still we wanted to get 

 those who might belong to the southern districts, for we would thus 

 secure the best guides, as well as those we could pay off at the next 

 large settlement on our track, without having to give them food for a 

 return journey. A set of carriers with fresh stock on a large scale 

 would in this way conserve our tinned supplies of rice, flour, etc., for 

 the special needs of Roraima. It was fortunate that a party came tip 

 the trail later, and some of the men and women readily joined us, 

 bringing as well their own stock of cassava, for which McConnell paid 

 them. At this settlement, as at the last, several baskets of cassava 

 were ordered to be prepared and kept till our return. 



The country around was especially interesting on account of its bird 

 and insect life. Both in the clearing and in the forest, butterflies, beetles, 

 ants, etc., were very numerous, and the rasping shrill sounds of the 

 razor-grinders and cicadas were frequent. So bright and large were 

 the lights at times of some of the click fire-flies that one became quite 

 excited at the thought that they were the large and rare lantern-fly 

 {Fidgorn^, but the descent of some of them to the glowing fire, which 

 seams to have a, fatal attraction, dispelled the ilkision. Columns of 

 hunting ants were sometimes encountered, maixhing across country 

 and rousing everything before them, while they themselves were being 

 pursued by numbers of small bush-shrikes and ant-thrushes with shrill 

 discordant cries. 



From various directions, mostly from the canopy of foliage above, 

 came a medley of bird-notes. The harsh quarrelling of macaws and 

 parrots, the puppy-like yapping of bill-birds, the tap, tap of wood- 

 peckers — at times seeming quite too loud for birds, — the ringing of the 

 bell-birds, and the shrill challenge of some hawks, were the most 

 dominant ; but there were dozens of others less persistent, such as the 

 " quank " of the cock-of-the-rock, the sweet " ya-wa-ra-shee-ee-re " of 

 some small tanager, the "pe-pe-peyo" of the greenheart bird, the 

 liquid melody of the music-wren or quadrille-bird, running up and 

 down the scales, and others which Cozier could recognise. Curiously 

 enough, the greenheart-birds were not common up here, though usually 

 they are the most frequently heard throughout the forests lower down, ' 

 at times with such loud, penetrating, and quickly repeated cries as to 

 be almost deafening, apparently when they have been disturbed by 

 some passing mammal or larger bird, if one may judge by the disturb- 

 ance that may be caused by the discharge of a gun. The music-wrens 

 {Oyphorhinus) are distributed over the hilly districts, and in my 

 experience are difficult to procure; for even on the Upper Berbice 

 river, where, oil the hills above the lake-like expanse below the Itabru 

 cataracts, they appeared to be the commonest of the birds, if one could 

 judge by their notes, it had been difficult to get them. 



It would appear that the notes of the bell-birds must vary a good 



