The Greatest Ornamental Tropical Tree. 
167 
400. At close of day we fonncl onrselves in the neiglibonrhood of 
the western spur of the Hiimirida Range the wall of which, gilded by the 
snn, had increased considerably in height, and heartily welcomed the 
longed-for honse. Onr looks must have expressed onr wishes pretty 
clearly for hardly were tlie words out of our months than we were assnred 
that nothing bnt maize and a few plantains were obtainable. They had 
already roasted the former for ns: Imt a large qnantity was being 
preserved for kasiri. 
401. To-day's and yesterday's march on empty stomachs had tired 
us so much as to need some rest which we proposed takin^} on the 
morrow, Sunday. A pleasant spot immediately at the foot of the 
Humirida and) on the edge of a pictnres'que torrent, which was rushing 
down the sloped surface of the Range, offered us a comfortable camp. 
According to the astronomical observations which it was possible to 
take at night, we were in 4° 30' lat. N. which made us now 106 miles 
distant from Pirara. 
402. Since leaving Torong-Yauwise, the clouds would almost 
regularly break into a wild thunderstormi at sundown which was 
generally followed by a clear starry night. The same phenomenon 
happened to-day and changed our neighbourly torrent within a short 
period into a madly raging flood which resumed its owu peculiar 
character just as quickly as it had lost it. 
40.3. At break of day everybody with gun, bow, and arrow, hurried 
off into the oasis, on to the savannah and up the mountain, in, order to 
grace the Sunday's table with something better than roasted maize-corn. 
In company with some boys from the Torong-Yauwise settlement who as 
the result of a few little presents were quite willing to come, I climbed 
the mountain side: I did not want to prevent any of the adults from 
going hunting. My hopes for a rich botanical harvest were not dis- 
appointed, the sweat caused by the climb over the innumerable sandstone 
masses rising above the level' o£ the ground, being amply rewarded. I 
found a nice Epidendrmn with rose, and white spotted flowers, hitherto 
unknown to me, giant TU'-nndsme, and Cnofuft, but nj much greater joy 
was soon to be my lot. I must have climbed about .500 feet above 
the savannah on to the edge of the forest that extended to halfway up 
the mountain side when I recognised rising out of it the g'gautic slender 
trunk of the Elisa'betliaregia Schomb., its crown overladen with blossoms, 
which my brother discovered on his first journey. There can be no 
dispute that this tree is one of the greatest ornaments of the tropics, and 
forms the loveliest representative of the AmJierstieae, the connecting 
link between Broiruea, the Rose of Guiana, and Desfoutaincs hefrroft- 
temon: my brother found' the second species Elisabctha coccinea on thei 
same trip. 
404. Along with my companions I soon pressed a way through the 
bushes towards the tree, but saw that it could not be climbed by me, nor 
even by one of my copper-coloured boys, little Matziki ^Tiger-cat), so 
called on account of his climbing powers, who^ after looking wistfully 
at the knife offered him for some flower-stalks, and then critically 
svirveying the height, shookj his head and gave it up. It was the first 
