40 
A Brazilian Slave-Raid. 
RavcnaJas tliat with their mighty canopied covering shnt off every 
fruitful solar ray fi-oni Mother Earth, .shaded innuniei-able Musacear, 
CannoccAic, IHpcract'ae, Orv/iidco and nionldering fungi: with all of theiu 
the succulent leaves and stalks, as well as the abnor-mal colouring gave 
more or less indication of an avoidance of light in tlie course of their 
develo]>ment. 15<)th on tlie edge and within the oasis itself I found 
sevei-al examples of tlie lovely glntton-snail {Btiliiinis hdcriinstomtis Lam.) 
A\hich I never came across again in Guiana. Judging from the pui-ple 
red iiorder and lip of its shell, it belongs indisputably to one of the most 
l)eautiful siuiils in the Colony. In the oasis I had already ferreted out 
from the tree-trunks several specimtMis of Orlhallciin i/dlliiia Hiilhtna 
Beck., and O. vndatiis Beck. I have ui<4 with both species i-ight through 
British (Juiana: the animal of t!ie foruier was often so big, that it could 
no longer A\ithdraw into its shell. 
100. After coutinuing on our way for some time Ihi-ough the forest 
and its wet musty atmosiihere, we came upon a fairly extensive cassava 
field, the welcome manifestation of a settlement that C(tuld not be too 
far off. and which we in fact soon discovei-ed on a sm.'all hummock as a 
di-eary sjiot where tire had taken ])1ace. The formeily happy village of 
five hou;;es had been, visited by a ]>razilian Desclmento (|Blave 
Exi)editiou ) , sur]n-ised at night, and set on fire, m IUi the object of 
carrying its inhabitants — men and women, old peojde and youngsters — 
into slavery, (^nly one of tli<^ .") buildings was still in a tobM'ably habitable 
condition, ^^'l^le \\\ih inwai-d indignation in the midst of this obvious 
testimony of human wickedness, we wei'e I'egarding nil the misery that 
Enro]iean Tnlture had brought to the peaceful heai-ths of fellow brothers 
entitled to the same rights as ourselves, and each of us was picturing to 
liimself, from the confusion in which shattered cooking utensils, broken 
weapons and half-charred firebrands lay scattered around, the scene 
that only the tranquilly murmuring trees had Ijeen witness of, several 
IMacusis came out of the house that still managed to provide shelter 
fi'om the storm. It was a family from the Rio Bianco who wanted to 
spend the night here, and amongst whom my brother recog-nised to his 
great joy two of his former companions on his tri]i to the sources of the 
Orinoco. The pleasure over this unexpected meeting was, however, all 
the greater because on that occasion he had l>een forced to leave one of 
them sick unto death at a settlement on the banks of the Kundanama : 
on recovering, the patient had covered a distance of more tlian rtOO miles 
by himself to reach his own village again. 
101. After we had r-ested a few hours at this scene of devastation and 
barbarism, and my brother had presented his old friend with several 
tritles, we resumed our journey, notwithstanding the lateness of the 
hour, in order if possible to reach the village that lay, according to what 
the guide said, at the foot of Anuru-paru : we succeeded in doing so 
just bi^fore sunset. The settlement consisted of a large house with 10 
occu])ants, the majority of them old people: on entering, I came across 
the oldest Indian woman I have ever seen. Lying undressed in her 
hammock, her snow-white ])ut still aluindant hair covered her crumpled 
shoulders, though her whole figure was more like a skeleton covered with 
