XXXU ITINEBAKY. 



tlie first trip when near Roraima. From this cause our journeys were 

 reduced to half-days, which practically doubled the time over this part 

 of the trip. The old proverb of the ill wind held good for our men, 

 who were very glad of th^ shorter journeys over such paths. 



We came out later on a part of a large savannah, where there w^ere 

 the remains of two houses, with some cashew trees in fruit, though it 

 was not their full season. The fruit was very refreshing, as it was 

 quite ripe ; and we only wished there had been lots more, as there were 

 at Kwaimatta on the Rupununi, where they extend over several acres. 

 Luckily the old abandoned fields were not in our way. There were 

 splendid views of some mountains in the distance and of low-lying 

 country below us. With the open sky and sunlight, it was like a 

 breathing space before we branched off into the dull light of the 

 forest again. 



After long stretches of high woods with the same tiresome trail, up 

 and dowii steep hills, we came on a branch of the Kukuie creek which 

 runs into the Mazaruni above the Kako. This was the Ootaro, and 

 we crossed it near a very high and beautiful fall, where the stream 

 leaps down to the valley for some 300 feet or more. It was a perfect 

 site for an early camp. The valley was deep, wide, and open, and it 

 afforded a chance of seeing the nature of the surrounding country 

 which lay before us in a beautiful picture of living green, the hills 

 bounding the curving valley in the distance. On one side of the falls 

 the rocks were much broken away, and by clambering down for some 

 twelve feet, below the bushes at the top, one could get an uninterrupted 

 view of the country, but it was impossible to see the bottom of the 

 falls. The vegetation was rich with small and filmy ferns, tree-ferns, 

 selaginellas, bromeliads, orchids, and flowering plants of various kinds, 

 chiefly Melastomes ; and some fine palms were visible at points below. 



The stream widened out somewhat farther up, and we were able to 

 procure some more of the new prawn with the ridiculously large and 

 long claws. We made but few attempts for any detailed hunts, as it 

 was desirable to give the men all the rest possible, .considering the 

 nature of the track and the heavy loads being carried. 



We were now clearly on the track followed by McTurk and Boddam- 

 Whetham, who had crossed the Ootaro above just such a waterfall ; 

 and we now knew for certain that.instead of a short and direct route 

 to Roraima, we were making the wide detour round Marima Mountain, 

 which was taking us many days' journey eastward away from our 

 destination. Apparently there was no other way — the guides did not 

 know of any, — and very likely there were no settlements in the rough 

 country between Marima and Roraima, when almost certainly there 

 would have been a trail right through, though a very difficult one for 

 carriers with loads such as ours. Our only hope now was that they 

 might take the shorter road travelled by the earlier explorers on their 

 return, rather than the one followed from this point when going. It 

 would make a difference to us of at least two days ; but we found it 

 useless asking questions about it, and it wag a possibility that the 

 shorter track was now not open. 



Leaving camp we began a long and rough descent to the bottom of 

 a deep valley, clearly that of the Ootaro, and after skirting the ridge 



