80 
Peculiarity of all Eivers. 
from it. lu the afternoon they reached in a N. 56° E. direction the 
Wapisiaua village Caii-iirua situate 2° 28' 25" lat. N. 
201. As the bed of the Eupununi lay but li miles from here iu an 
E.N.Easterly direction, my brother went and found the river to be 
already a considerable stream Avith blackish coloured water, the sources 
of which, according to the Indians' statements, are distant a day's 
journey from there on a savannah in between a group of Mauritia palms. 
After the experiences we had had both on the Takutu, the Eupununi, 
the Demerura, and Bariml^i, in connection with the colouration of the 
water at tlieii- sources, almost all the rivers of Guiana seem to possess 
this striking peculiarity, and it is therefore only to be expected that this 
will also be established in the case of those of the Orinoco. Alexander 
von Hund)oldt limits this strange phenomenon to the stretch of land 
between the fifth north and the second south parallels of latitude, l)ut 
the water at the sources of tlie Barima although they lie much more 
northerly are nevertheless just as l>lack as those of the Takutu and 
Eupununi. 
202. On tlu- 14tli, after traversing the little stream Cau-urua and a 
trackless savannah, they crossed the Oanaru Eiver, the Avaters of which 
led to the Eupninmi and r(-aclied a settlement situate on the slope of the 
Pinighette Eange. The highest point of tlie Eange running out into a 
pyramid, rose to some 000 feet. On the following morning they folloAved 
the valley watered by the Paiwu-yau, that courses between the Pinighette 
and Mamette Eange, leaving Duruau, — some 2,500 ft. high, from which 
a complete cluster of hills. di^Mded only by small passes, led in a westl- 
by-north direction towards the Cursato Eange — about a mile towards N. 
15° E. Equally exhausted, as we had lieen, they finally arrived at 
Tenette on the IGth. 
203. For tlie past 14 days the sky had periodically shown itself 
clouded, but the clear blue was now suddenly changed to a iwiiform 
grey, a sure sign of the approaching rainy season, which this year had 
been remarkably long in coming. The daily temperature from 16th to 
ISth May Avas at 6 a.m. T3°.25: at 9 a.m. 78°. 17: at noon 85°, at 
3 p.m. 88^83 and at 6 p.m. 80^.33. On the 17th the first thunder- 
storm with heavy rain broke over Tenette. 
204. Daring our absence, the Takutu had continued to dry up with 
the result that on the 18th May we had to make our Avay on foot to Pirara 
whither the Indians from Tuarutu accompanied us to have a look at the 
black soldiei's. After a fatiguing march under the most violent rain- 
shoAvers Ave finally reached the bank of the Eiver Scabunk or Catu-auuru 
where Ave spent the night in a Avooded oasis, and only after several fruit- 
less attempts, succeeded in making fire to dry our clothes that had got 
wetted through. But previously to reaching the oasis our attention had 
been attracted to a number of 50-60 ft. high trees which ap]iea)-ed to be 
completely enveloped in a dark rose-blossomed coA^ring: — tliev Avere not 
blossoms, howcA'cr, but In-acts Avhich lent the tree tliis beautiful apjjear- 
ance. On the Eupununi we subsequently found the tree in blossom: it 
was a ncAV CalycophyUiini that was named C. ^tanlcyanum. Its lovelv 
coloured bracts, in the massif of Avhich the green leaves disappear almost 
