238. 
Waste and Wilderness at Pi r ar a. 
541. Oü tlie 2Sth the moutli of the Pirara with the boat sent ahead 
of us was again in sight: on account of the low level of the water she 
had not been able to get farther up than to our old landing ]ilace. Mr. 
Goodall had already left for Pirara two days before, while Stöckle was 
anxiously awaiting the arrival of the carriers, and to greet his coimtry- 
man Tiedge at last. After placing our boat under Iiis charge, I left with 
Mr. Fryer for the village. P>ut what changes had again taken place in 
the broad open savannah dumng our absence! The huge sheet of water, 
the hills covered with a green carpet, everything had disappeared. 
Wherever one's eye turned, it was met by nothing else than a vegetation 
yellowed and parched in the hot sun : it was only in the depressions that 
it still noticed here and there some small green swanipv areas. On the 
way, Tiedge met us with some Indians: he was hastening, overjoyed, 1o 
his countryman, to keep him company and unburden his heart: the 
brave fellov,- was as happy as a child as he once again shook hands \^ith 
us, the likelihood of which he had already doubted. The hasty accounts 
of the solitary life he had been living was somethinc' so awful that we 
begced him to postpone their recital until his return to the village^ and 
in the menntime relieve Str>ckle, to whom his visit would prove endless 
joy, as quickly as possible from his lonesomeness. 
.542. It was yet before suusf^t that we reached Pirarn. whieh we 
bardlv refO£>-nised in its wnste nnd wilderness. X r>ovtinn of tho ebnvoh 
built bv the r>razilians had nlrendv fnllen in. X sim'ilnr fate had befnllen 
a number of the honses. ThonMi our house still stood, the vermin haif^ 
frained so much the upper hand that we <rave un all idea of moving into 
it to-day, nnd billeted ourselves on Mr. Goodall, who had gone into Mr. 
Toud's house and had already undertaken its thorough cleaning an<t 
repair. 'Althoufrb on our first arrival at Pirara, as well as on the ascent 
of Mt. Maikang-Tepatori bri the Cotinga, T found growinsr along the 
srrouud a flowerless succulont plant, in its whole conformation uncom- 
monly like a Ma^rwlir'nnnfli eminn which" covered with" a matted felt the 
sandy spots in the village otherwise devoid of all vegetation, I neverthe- 
less did not venture to take it for a species of the genus, the presence of 
which in South America was not yet known. All the greater then was 
my surprise, as I now re-entered the village, when my eyes fell upon 
thousands of the pretty dark red flowers covering the plants, and I reallv 
recognised the first rer)resentatives of this large genus present on this 
continent. On closer inspection they proved to be a new species, and 
received the descriptive name of Mesembryanthemii'm guianensis, 
Klotzsch.* 
54.3. Our first and only care was to bring the luggase as quickly as 
possible under shelter, for which purpose we summoned all the Indians in 
the neighbourhood. In the course of 12 days the heavy transport over 
the shadeless savannah from a spot 17 miles distant was completed, and 
it was with many thanks that we paid our friends from Toron^Yauwise 
who had readily offered their services for the tiring work, their hard- 
* — The foot uote giving a technical description of the plant, in Latin, is omitted— (Ed), ~\ 
