l8i Unusual Welcome from the GEKTLfsR Sex. 
wliieli was laid a broad silvery baud with its terminal disappearing iu 
the forest that reached up to its base : it was a small stream pouring down 
the declivity in innumerable falls and cascades. We now proceeded on 
towards the N. and soon reached anew the valley of the Kukenam which 
M as liere joined by the Wararite in addition to several other tributaries 
the waters of which ^^'ere streaming from the some 7UÜ ft. high Warama- 
tipu Eange rising over the savannah in the NAV., and from the 
Eramaturu Eange lying more to the Korth. In the neighbourhood of 
Wararite we came across one of those liee-hive houses with thick mud- 
walls which are especially ])eculiar to the Macusi. The 
closed entrance with its door made of palm-fronds also 
indicated the absence of its owners. iVfter following its 
riglit or Avestern bank for souie miles and found a con- 
venient situation we crossed the Wararite and once more traversed 
a dense forest oasis in whiclr the (lUttifcrac, particularly the genus 
Cliisia continued the most i:)revailing form of vegetation. I collected 
Clusia insifjnis Mart., C. rosea St. Ilil., C. hicolor Mart., C. Icprantha 
Mart., C. macrocarpa vSpr., (\ microcai-pa Spr., and C. nemorosa Mey. 
Some of these species appeared even as parasites on other trees: this was 
what ''Specially often happened in the ease of the beautiful C. iiisignis. 
Still more was I astonished at the unusually dazzling abundance of blos- 
som of the Dimorph an (Ira riKici'ostachija Benth., which rose like a 
nmjestic giant tree above the woodland. We sped briskly along the crest 
of an undulating range of hills towards the N,E. until, once more near- 
ing the valley of the Kukenam, we saw below us and on its western bank 
two bee-hive houses in the process of construction with a number of red- 
painted Indians in holiday costume gathered around. We made our way 
down to them. The chief, a worthy old fellow in a shirt stiffened by filth, 
and his head covered w ith an old squashed hat off which the fur had all 
been rubbed and so gave it a reddish yelloAV colour, Avas seated upon a 
stool, surrounded liy the eldest in the settlement, likewise clothed in the 
remnants of ^\•hat had once been a white shirt but now hung in rags on 
Iiis I'ed-coloured liml)s. He gazed upon us for a long time in silence and 
then commenced a speech Avhich seeme<l to l)e without end. 'As the flow 
of language finally ran dry, he got up and olfered his hand to each one of 
us Europeans, an action followed liy all his subordinates from the oldest 
men and women to the tiniest lioys and girls, with the expression 
"Bakong-Baimong" (Good day). Such an insinuating and hearty wel- 
come from the gentler sex had never happened to us before, 
and this was all the more surprising considering that this was 
the first occasion they had seen a European. Men and women rendered 
themselves conspicuous not only l»y their beautiful figures, but also by 
their regular facial expression, and uiany of the women l)y their won- 
derful long black wavy hair. As with other Arekunas, the men here also 
wore bambu sticks in the septum of the nose, in the lips and ears: the 
faces of the women were unusually strongly tatued which was very detri- 
mental to their otherwise very pleasant features. 
430. After the salutation ceremony was ended, the girls and women 
hastened to provide us with some freshly-baked cassava bread, pepper 
