FIRST JOURNEY. 



35 



forest ; and in little more than half an hour from these, 

 yon come to ten or twelve others, where yon pass the 

 night. They are prettily situated at the entrance into 

 a savanna. The eastern and western hills are still 

 covered with wood y but on looking to the south-west 

 quarter, you perceive it begins to die away. In these 

 forests you may find plenty of the trees which yield the 

 sweet-smelling resin called Acaiari, and which, when 

 pounded and burnt on charcoal, gives a delightful 

 fragrance. 



From hence you proceed, in a south-west direction, 

 through a long swampy savanna. Some of the hills, 

 which border on it, have nothing but a thin coarse 

 grass and huge stones on them ; others quite wooded ; 

 others with their summits crowned, and their base 

 quite bare ; and others again with their summits bare, 

 and their base in thickest wood. 



Half of this day's march is in water, nearly up to 

 the knees. There are four creeks to pass : one of them 

 has a fallen tree across it. You must make your own 

 bridge across the other three. Probably, were the 

 truth known, these apparently four creeks are only the 

 meanders of one. 



The Jabiru, the largest bird in Guiana, feeds in the 

 marshy savanna through which you have 

 just passed. He is wary and shy, and will 

 not allow you to get within gunshot of him. 



You sleep this night in the forest, and reach an 

 Indian settlement about three o'clock the next evening, 

 after walking one-third of the way through wet and 

 miry ground. 



But bad as the walking is through it, it is easier 

 than where you cross over the bare hills, where you 



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