138 



THE ORCHID WORLD. 



climbing over tree-stumps and high rocks or 

 crawhng on all fours underneath others, the 

 ground sometimes treacherously covered with 

 leaves but hollow underneath, so that we sank 

 in with one leg or another, ihiis we toiled on 

 till we reached the summit of the slope at the 

 bottom of the perpendicular cliff. It was 

 then eleven o'clock and a short rest was 

 necessary, the thermometer registered 54 in 

 the shade, and after our perspiring exertions 

 we felt the cold intensely. 



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muddy clay, and over some more rocks and 

 shrubs, everything wrapped m a covering of 

 beautiful, many-coloured wet mosses, which 

 felt, however, icy cold to our touch. 



At last we came to the Fall, by the Indians 

 called " Kamaiwa," which descends in one leap 

 some 500 feet from the top of the cliff on to 

 the ledge. Luckily there was very little water 

 coming down just then, but coming from such 

 a height it fell upon us as a very heavy rain. 

 On the other side of this Fall we had to climb 



Mr. Kromer, and the 



From this point we descended first a deep, 

 dark ravine, overgrown with a familiar looking 

 blackberry, Rubus guianensis, the ripe fruit 

 of which was deliciously sweet, then we began 

 to follow the ledge, which in many places was 

 so narrow that we had to keep very close to 

 the cliff ; we had to pass through a dense net- 

 work of a short-growing, but most trouble- 

 some bamboo, which defied even the sharpest 

 wood-knife to sever it, then over very slippery, 



Interior of his House. 



up a number of natural stone steps, covered 

 with a short growing Bromelia, whose sharp- 

 pointed, serrate leaves caused our Indians, 

 who wore neither trousers nor boots, great 

 pain. The pitcher plant, Heliamphora 

 nutans, which I mentioned before, also was 

 here in abundance and of such great size and 

 beauty that it looked almost like a new 

 species. We were now nearing the top, one 

 more courageous effort and we should see 



