88 



MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN [Vol. 8, No. 2 



History of Botanical Exploration, Active exploration of the Guayana Highland 

 began with the extraordinary travels (mostly confined to British Guiana) of the 

 famous brothers, Robert Herman and Richard Schomburgk. 



Robert Schomburgk's remarkable journey of exploration in the Guayana High- 

 land started on September 20, 1838, on his departure from the Brazilian garrison, 

 Fort Sao Joaquim, at the junction of the Takutu and Parima where together they 

 form the Rio Branco. Under a commission of the Geographical Society of London 

 Schomburgk was to proceed westward overland, finally to reach the Orinoco River, 

 and thus supplement with his own the observations of von Humboldt made along 

 the Orinoco more than thirty-five years earlier. 



It was to be seven months and two days before Schomburgk again reached Fort 

 Sao Joaquim. He had become the first botanist to visit the fabulous Mount R.o- 

 raima. In his further westward progress he had crossed and recrossed the low 

 Pacaraima Divide separating the drainages of the Orinoco to the north and the 

 Amazon to the south; he visited the remote Cerro Marahuaca and its more westerly 

 neighbor Cerro Duida on the Orinoco. And, after having passed through the Casi- 

 quiare, linking the waterways of the Orinoco with the Amazon, finally by way of 

 the Rio Negro and Rio Branco he completed his "circular tour of 2200 miles"! 1 

 This certainly is one of the great explorations of all time. 



Again in 1842 Robert Schomburgk returned to Mt. Roraima, this time with a 

 party including his younger brother Richard. This expedition set out on the morn- 

 ing of September 10, 1842, 2 from the granitic Kanuku Mountains in west-central 

 British Guiana. At the Ireng River, only some 20 miles from Pirara, the party 

 reached the Brazilian frontier, and from the junction of the Ireng with the Takutu, 

 a few miles below, were wholly out of British Guiana until the return to that point 

 before arriving again at Pirara on the following December 28th. 



The plant (and animal) specimens collected on this important exploration 

 were, as a consequence, taken from either Brazilian or Venezuelan soil, except 

 those that may have been obtained by Robert after he, independently, had crossed 

 the present Venamo-Roraima boundary line from Venezuela into the British Guiana 

 drainage of the Kamarang River. 



The title of Schomburgk's journal, "Travels in British Guiana," does not indi- 

 cate extra-British Guiana excursion. Locality on collection labels is indicated by 

 the vague designations "British Guiana" or "Roraima"; however, in the narrative 

 (op. cit. pp. 118-277) itinerary and locality were plainly given. The Schomburgks 

 had known fairly accurately where they had been since they were observers of 

 much of the border disturbances of the time, and Robert himself had been a mem- 

 ber of the Boundary Commission. 



Since the excursions of the Schomburgk brothers, Roraima has attracted numer- 

 ous explorations. Burkill recounts the history of botanical exploration of the 

 mountain up to 1900 in the important "Report on two Botanical Collections Made 

 by Messrs. F. V. McConnell and J. J. Quelch at Mount Roraima in British Gui- 

 ana." 3 The following is taken largely from Burkill's account. 



Karl Appun visited the mountain in 1864 (BurkilPs account p. 2) where he 

 reached the base of the cliff on the east and south side. Im Thurn and Perkins 

 (p. 3) were the first to ascend the mountain to the summit, but were forced to re- 

 turn to their base camp at 5400 feet after a distressingly short stay of three hours. 



1 Schomburgk, R. H. Travels in Guiana and on the Orinoco, 1841. English translation 

 by Walter E. Roth, Georgetown, 1931. 



a Schomburgk, Richard. Travels in British Guiana 2: 118. 1848. English translation by 

 Walter E. Roth, Georgetown, 1923. 



*Brown, N. E. et al. Trans. Linn. Soc. II. 6: 1-107. pi 1-14. 1901. 



