Hummocks in the Swamps. 
45 
The height at which the village stood offered a charmling view, and 
from the overturned clay walls, upon which we ate our breakfast and 
which told us that their occui>ants had l>een Makusis, because AVapisianas 
only build bee-hive sliai>ed houses out of palni-leuves, we noticed that the 
wooded range of liills extended Ü uiiles from N.N.E. to S.S.W. A number 
of Capsicum ljushes, loaded with red and yellow fruits, luid escaped the 
ravages of the tire, and proved a Avelcome find for our companions. 
109. A number of isolated mountains of which Wurucokua and 
Wayawatiku were the highest faded away towards E.S.E. : these more 
important elevations were only s])ars<dy forested, but their sloi)os on 
the other hand were covered with large quantities of rocky fragments 
amongst which the tropical winter had rinsed a number of waterways 
where several small tributaries of the Watuwau had tlieir source. As in 
the case of Kuipaiti a rubble dam extended from Wurucokua S. 00° E. 
for about a mile down into the savannah, above which the mountain itself 
rose some 1,500 feet. After a further march of half an hour, we again 
came upon a rise formed of hardened clay in Avhich a number of angular 
fragments Avere imjbedded, its upper surface being covered with huge 
granite boulders undergoing decomposition. 
110. Mt. riritate constitutes the outpost of the Wurucokua, Waya- 
watiku and Wakuro^te mountain group. Along its eastern slope another 
group stretches to the southward towards the Tuarutu and Ossotschuni 
as well as a south-westerly one toAvards the Kai-irite. Eauges, absolutely 
corresponding in their formation, like the Pauisette, Rhati, Duruau and 
Pinighette, ran from North to vSouth at a distance of some 5 miles from 
the bed on the right bank of the Takutu. 
111. In the afternoon we reached a low savannah where we had 
to wade through a number of swam!i)s, the water and mud of which 
often reached to above our waists. In these marshes the Monritia forujs 
regular forests that are tenanted by immense swarms of Araras and 
smjall species of parrot. Though I had often come across such nuuibers 
of them and had got my ears split with their irritating noise, the endless 
chann unfolded by their brilliant plumage when flying along in pairs at 
an insignificant height, never lost its attraction for me. 
112. I do not know for what reason, luit it was quite the general 
thing to find numbers of humhiocks in such a morass in tlie course of 
which one had always to try and jump from one to tlie oflier. But woe 
to the poor fellow who springs too short — a mud batli uj) t(» the arms, or 
deeper still, is the inevitable result,wh(ile the laughter of the Avhole 
company enjoying another's misfortune is the reward for his false reckon- 
ing or frail powers of jumping. The next thing to attract our attention 
were whole heaps of deer and jabiru bones, Avithout our being able to 
account how they got here. EA^en if one admitted the possibility of some 
carnivore having chosen this SAAamp as lurking place, and overjiowei-ing 
the thirsty deer as they came to quench their thirst, it Avas still uot .so 
easy to explain how the jabiru could have been seized unawares. Not 
far from here, a party of carrion-crows had just settled doAvn to pick 
