CtfRiorsLY Shaped Bock Fokmations. 
161 
the surface, it must have been a Boa of unusual size. With the exception 
of a few small birds that now and ajjaini listlessly hopped through the 
miserable CurateJhi bushes, a lonely bird of prey now and again soaring 
high in the skies above, was the tirst larger animal Ave had come across 
since Torong-Yauwise. lOven my seai'cli for new plants proved to be in 
vain: the poor vegetation. Maiwlfin ])alms exce])t<'d, A\as limited to varie- 
ties which I had found growing on the mountains apparently in far 
greater luxuriance. 
387. Alth<»ugh when setting out on our expedition the steep declivi- 
ties seemed to mock all attempts at being cdimbed, we were nevertheless 
assured by our guide that the sharply preeipitous mountain ridge could be 
crossed. After long fruitless search we at last found a spot for making 
the ascent, and upon reaching the crest fo11oA\'ed it in a north-westerly 
direction. We had already had sufHcient experience of tracts and areas 
conspicuous for their wildly irregular fragmentary masses for some 
days past, but such an extravagant chaos as Ave met Avith here had never 
hitherto presented itself. The Indians had some special name for, or 
some special legend about, every peculiarly shaped rock, of which many 
measured several hundred cubic feet. One of these formations Avas parti- 
cularly curious. Upon the gradually rounded-otf extremity of a IG-H. 
recently formed block of granite rising perpendicularly from off tlie 
ground, lay a more oval piece, this again lieing to])])ed with a smaller 
and rounder piece of rock. If these stones could have been jdaced one ou 
top of the other by human agency, Ave should have had to believe it. The 
Avhole structure rose more than 20 f(M't aboA^e the I'cal mountain summit. 
AVhercA^er the eye turned from this height, it struck the most ex:traordin- 
ary and grotesque rocky ridges, heights and reefs. Besides those already 
recognised and mentioned, ])articularly in the N.N.W. Avere both the tops 
of Pirocaima and Camana Avhich again confronted us in quite singular 
shapes. In almost eveiy defile of the ridge there rushed over the preci- 
pice a merrily dancing torrent to bury itself in the main current below. 
Ou the sides of one of these streams that Ave Avadcd dui'ing the afternoon, 
we again met Avith groups of shrubs on the stony banks, a sight that had 
become so rare in the district otherwise so poor in vegetation through 
which we had been making oui^ way since yesterday. Our joy was in- 
creased by the kinds of flowers covering the bushes that I had never be- 
fore seen. They belonged to the family of Prote'aceae and Ternströmi- 
aceae and were the first representatives of the very interesting genera 
RhnpaJa and Ternströmia. The vanilla-like scent of the Rhopdia com- 
plicata Humb. Bonp. which, as I had opportunity of remarking Inter on. 
is peculiar to almost all the species of this remarkable group, was aim- st 
overwhelming. The height aboA^e sea-level at Avhich I found these plants, 
was 12 to 1,600 feet and although I also discovered the RhopaJa nitida 
Rudge subsequently in the neighbourhood of Pirara, it was nevertheless 
always met with only on stony conglomerate hills and on the slopes of 
rolling downs on the savannahs in betAveen Cwatella trees. Both species, 
R. nitida and R. compUcata are only found here and there in the savan- 
nahs, not in the* oases or banks of the streams. The Ternströmia also 
yielded a new species, the T. ruhicunda Klotzsch. Snuill trees of a 
K 1. 
