WATER TRAIL FROM GEORGETOWN TO AREMU. 245 



length, while above these a succession of smaller islands 

 appeared. The river is about three miles in width, fringed 

 with mangroves, and we saw no life on shore save occasional 

 Cocoi Herons ^' feeding on the flats. 



The Essequibo is the largest river in the colony and rises 

 in the extreme south, somewhere in the Acarai jMountains 

 near the equator, some six hundred miles inland. Like all 

 the great rivers of this region it is navigable by steamers for 



Fig. ioi. Gray-breasted Martins nesting on the Steamer. 



only a short distance, rapids and cataracts barring the way 

 about fifty miles above the mouth. The first great tributary 

 is the Mazaruni, entering from the southwest and touch- 

 ing with its uttermost head-waters the very base of that 

 mysterious lofty plateau, Roraima, on the borders of 

 Brazil. 



We landed at the very apex of the point of land between 

 the Essequibo and Mazaruni rivers, — the village of Bartica 

 or Bartica Grove. It is a most dilapidated place, half in 



