176 
A CoMPiiETi; Sebies or Bock-Geavings. 
coming oat into the open, nothing dreaming that death was so close at 
hand. Armed with cutlasses, two of our suiartest liunters rushed on the 
now startled creature, with a view to cutting off retreat from the oasis 
whence it had just emerged, and also from tlie one ahead : in spite of the 
quarry ]>real<ing into a jog-trot the liglit-foo^ted Indians fortunately 
succeeded in doing this. On realising the impossibility of flight, the 
frightened animal s'quatted quietly on its haunches, and assumed a res- 
pectable posture of defence. It tried tri ward off the oncoming enemy 
witli the powerful blow of one of its fore]iaws wliile firmly pinning itself 
to the ground' witli the other, but this manoeuvre was soon outwitted 
because, while busied Vith one of tlie hunters in front, the other slunk 
round behind and split its head with a. cutlass, a blow that found recog- 
tiition in the cry of triumph raised by us spectators. Tt Avas a female of 
unusual size. With a girth of 2 ft. S in. its lengtli was ft. 0 in. inclusive 
of the tail, which measured 2 ft. 7 in. : the round pointed tongue w'as 1 ft. 
4 in. long. The negroes boiled the skin of the tail to a jelly, a dish which 
they considered to be an especial delicacy. 
417. Break of day found us already on the road only to be met once 
more with a continuous series of hardships and troubles. After climhiuj^ 
the western terraced slope of Mukuripa for about liUO feet, we went in 
about an hour's time down into the valley again. The deeper the depres- 
sions and valleys, the more plentiful were the swamps fed as they were 
by numbers of small mountain jets dropping from the precipitous slopes. 
Lisyanthus, Schultemi, Rhema, ^penncra, Coimnclym, Eriocmdon, 
all thrived splendidly on the swampy ground. We crossed the Cuino in 
the neighbourhood of its source which must be on the northern slope of 
Putiparu and rested for some time on its bank, to acquire new strength 
for the ascent of this mighty, steep and bleak mountiiin which robbed us 
of a view to the north. The crystalline water of the welcome stream 
bordered with its Maiiritia palms, babbled noisily over the gravel and 
quartz rubble as it hurried on its way to the main river : it was^ in and 
amongst this rubble that a number of rounded-off pieces of reddish-white 
banded clay were to be seen. However difficult Jt might be to leave this 
desirable haven of repose, the tiresome ascent had nevertheless to be 
made. The climb began, but the steep slope soon consumed the strength 
gathered in the valley, and i't was only after short stoppages for rest 
that the journey could be again resumed. Up to a height of 2,000 feet the 
slope was still covered here and there with a grey stiff grass as well as 
with isolated bushes^ of a 2 ft. high thick and stiff-leaved strange Co^n- 
posita which on closer investigation turned out to be a new species, and 
named Pachydcrmatophyllum Schomhiirykii C. H. Schultz Bip. : beyond 
that height the masses of sandstone again became visible in horizontal 
layers to form immediately afterwards the perpendicular stone walls on 
which, to the great astonishment of us all I discovered a complete series 
of picture-writings. Unfortunately, owing to a'tmospheric action, a large 
portion were already weather-beaten : they were mostly rough represen- 
tatives of human figures, kaimans and snakes, and hence differed essen- 
tially from the hieroglyphics at Waraputa Falls. According to the des- 
cription which Alexander von Humboldt gives of the picture-wri^tings 
