(162 THE BERBICE RIVER. 



are sometimes drowned ; an<l in 1805 Captain Beresford, son- 

 in-law of the governor, and four other gentlemen, with two 

 of their crew, lost their lives in shooting the lower falls of the 

 Masaruni." 



THE BERBICE RIVER. 



On the Berbice, which falls into the Atlantic about sixty 

 miles eastward of George Town, the falls and rapids— which 

 do not, however, reach to within one hundred and sixty miles 

 of its mouth — are very numerous. While the scenery round 

 them is highly picturesque, they are extremely dangerous. 

 Here is found the cascade of Idurewadde ; and higher up, the 

 cataract of Itabru. Above these again are more than forty 

 falls and rapids, called by Schombergh the Christmas Cataracts, 

 and which cost him and his companions immense labour to 

 surmount. On their return, one of the party, rashly standing 

 on the thwarts of the canoe while shooting the falls, upset it 

 and was drowned. 



Huge caymans abound in the river, and lie like logs of 

 wood at the foot of the cataracts or rapids, watching stealthily 

 to catch and swallow whatever the fierce current may bring 

 down to them. 



Above these falls is a lagoon, on which he discoveied the 

 now far-famed Victoria Regia, before that time unknown to 

 the world. At the head of the Masaruni rises Mount Roraima, 

 7540 feet in height. It is the principal watershed, from which 

 various streams flow in different directions into the three great 

 rivers — Amazon, Orinoco, and Essequibo. Hillhouse and Schom- 

 bergh describe the side of the mountain as composed of cliffs, 

 fifteen hundred feet in height, of compact sandstone, as perpen- 

 dicular as if erected with the plumb-line, and overhung in part 

 with low shrubs. Though distant, they appear as if in danger- 



