THE ORCHID WORLD. 



AN ORCHID COLLECTOR'S TRAVELS THROUGH BRITISH 



GUIANA TO BRAZIL. 



By ED. KROMER. 



{Continued from page 139.) 



BETWEEN these grotesque masses of 

 rocks were ever so many shallow and 

 deep pools, many of them connected 

 by channels of smaller or greater width ; one 

 of the larger pools which I measured was 250 

 feet in width with hardly four inches depth of 

 water. Of animal life the top of Roraima 

 seems almost as good as bare, and the few 

 specimens we observed during our short stay 

 were all of an exceptionally diminutive size 

 and of a uniform black or dark grey colour ; 

 we noticed a black butterfly, some small frogs 

 in the shallow water, a small lively lizard, a 

 few spiders, and, most curious of all, a small 

 dark-coloured sort of a weasel, which on our 

 approach gave a whistling sound and swiftly 

 crept into a hiding-place amongst the rocks. 



The next day at the early hour of ten 

 o'clock a fresh gang of Indians arrived to take 

 our collections and belongings down, staring 

 at us in comical bewilderment to find us alive. 

 Our companions of the previous day had 

 quite enough of the one ascent. We hastened 

 to complete our collection and after mid-day 

 began the descent, not without, however, 

 leaving in two securely sealed bottles the 

 record of our experience behind for future 

 travellers. 



As in coming up we had to go over much 

 of the ground by crawling on all fours, so in 

 going down we passed much of the way by 

 sliding in a sitting posture. The astonishment 

 of the villagers at seeing us return sane and 

 sound may better be imagined than described. 

 As for ourselves, we felt as if having gained 

 a great victory, being the first living men who 

 had spent a night on the top of this 

 mysterious mountain. 



Having thus achieved the ends of our 

 journey and leaving a record in the history 

 of Roraima, our plans were now directed 

 towards home, much as we should have liked 

 to stay a longer time. But the growing 

 scarcity of provisions, the even much more 

 serious exhaustion of our barter goods, the 



growing unrest of many of our party who 

 were here amongst strangers, and the increas- 

 ing symptoms of ill-health which Seyler, our 

 interpreter Peter, and several more of the 

 party had felt for some time, decided me in 

 favour of a return homeward. 



We hurried on with the process of packing 

 the plants, which a favourable fine weather 

 had dried sufficiently well ; the Indians made 

 us with marvellous facility a sort of wicker 

 baskets, attaching a piece of broad fibre to 

 the ends of each basket, and in carrying them 

 put the fibre across their foreheads and bore 

 the burden on their back. Seyler with the 

 main bulk started off in the direction of 

 Waibena, while I, awaiting the arrival of some 

 more carriers, followed two days afterwards 

 on the 25th November. 



My farewell to Roraima was made with 

 curiously mixed feelings, for not often in a 

 life-time does one come across such a place 

 under such circumstances ; for my part, to 

 give, if only to some extent, an accurate 

 description in adequate terms of such majestic 

 splendour of nature would be almost a 

 sacrilege ; others, towers in the world of 

 science, have tried it and i/tey have failed ; 

 there are simply no words for it. 



Having so far taken so much time up in 

 illustrating our outward journey and our 

 goings and doings at our destination, I will 

 give a detailed description of our m.emorable 

 homeward journey, which I am safe to say 

 will never be forgotten by either of us, or any 

 of the party for all our life. 



(l) The continual difficulty in getting suffi- 

 cient hands at the various stations ; (2) The 

 torrential rains for 25 days and nights, such 

 as can only be witnessed in the tropics, with 

 only an occasional hour's interruption ; (3) 

 The many and various accidents on the way ; 



(4) The loss of our provisions and the privations 

 we suffered therefrom with our large party dur- 

 ing the last stage of our journey overland ; and 



(5) the frequent unpleasant moments with our 



