i 



88 



THE ORCHID WORLD. 



AN ORCHID COLLECTOR'S 



GUIANA 



By ED. 

 (Conlinued 



NOW we continue our journey. On the 

 third day of our trip we reached the 

 foot of the second of the 33 Falls or 

 rapids which we had to pass to reach our 

 destination by water. It was the famous, 

 or rather infamous, Capuri Fall, not only 

 the widest and highest, but also the 

 most puzzling and dangerous of all the 

 Falls on the Massarund river, as some months 

 afterwards we actually experienced to our 

 cost on our homeward journey. This obstacle, 

 whenever met with, makes it necessary to 

 unload the whole boat, to drag both craft and 

 cargo a considerable distance overland, or by 

 low water, over the many rocks, and then enter 

 the water again on the other side of the Fall. 

 Very often the traveller is running great risk, 

 either going up or coming down, of losing his 

 boat in these rapids, more so in high water, 

 and not unfrequently the loss of life besides 

 has to be recorded. On some days during our 

 progress we hauled over as many as four or 

 five of these rapids in succession, not counting 

 the smaller currents. 



On the eighth day of our journey, while we 

 were just engaged in preparmg our mid-day 

 meal at a clearing on the shore, a small boat 

 was suddenly observed at a distance coming 

 down the river, and on its approach I had 

 the satisfaction of .shaking hands with a Mr. 

 Seyler, of whom I had heard before at 

 Bartika Grove. He was returning from an 

 unsuccessful prospecting trip to some creek 

 higher up, where he had a claim, and, when 

 hearing of my intention of going' to Roraima, 

 he at once became so enthusiastic over it 

 that he proposed to accompany me as sorn 

 as he had quickly settled his business in 

 town. His offer I gladly accepted, and, 

 indeed, three weeks later he overtook me on 

 the banks of a river further inland. He gave 

 me much valuable information, which he 

 gained when accompanying, some three years 

 previously, an explorer by this same route to 

 Roraima. 



TRAVELS THROUGH BRITISH 

 TO BRAZIL. 



. KROMER. 



from page 57.) 



After another Vveek's monotonous paddling 

 we came to the picturesque landing-place of 

 a once important Indian village, called 

 Camacussa. The village itself, like most 

 Indian settlements, v.-as lying some distance 

 inland, hidden in the bush, and it owed its 

 existence, before the time of the gold-diggers, 

 m no small measure to the enterprise of the 

 late Mr. Whiteley, v/ell-known all over the 

 Colony as a naturalist for the British Museum. 

 Here I hoped to be able to engage some 

 Indians to come with us as carriers, but in this 

 attempt, unfortunately, I failed. I noticed 

 only a small number of people, and they, as 

 they explained, were only here on a visit, and 

 strangers to the place ; they gave me, how- 

 ever, this consolation, that I would probably 

 meet with better luck at a place called 

 Potaring, some distance higher up the river. 

 Potaring, which, indeed, we reached three 

 days later, consists of an immense clearing in 

 the thick forests just above the mouth of the 

 Curubung, in the Massaruni ; it was only 

 recently created by an American gentleman, 

 Mr. Barnard, one of the few successful gold- 

 diggers, as a plantation of cassava, yam, 

 pumpkins, plantains, bananas, and other 

 tropical produce for his placer a few miles 

 higher up than this spot. Here at last I 

 succeeded at once in engaging a few Indians, 

 and acting upon a hint given by my inter- 

 preter, Peter, to wait another day or two 

 longer, I decided to stop so long ; indeed, 

 some more Indians turned up, whom I had no 

 difficulty in engaging as well — no doubt the 

 sight of so many useful goods in the trunks 

 had a tempting effect on their minds. 



From Potaring we branched off up the 

 Curubung river on the right side of the Mas- 

 saruni, and two days later arrived, with the 

 Indians in their canoes, at the landing-stage 

 below the Mecrebeh Fall, which here made 

 further navigation impossible. Here we 

 unloaded the boat as the next stage of our 

 journey was to be overland, and, after writing 



