I*iKARA Partly Destroyed by Fire. 
27Ö 
657. A few days prior to my departure from, Pirara it was my lot to 
see a portion of it disappear iu flames. We had just left our houses to go 
and fish iu the lake when our attention wag attracted by a broad belt of 
flame shooting out of the house occupied by the old woman who had 
proved so faithful to us. Everybody rushed to help, and the palm- 
thatch, parch'ed to veryl tinder ^through the diy time of the year, caught 
alight with every falling spark. The house of our dead friend that Mr. 
Goodall had moved into, was the next to catch alight, and it was only 
with difficulty that we succeeded in saving the sketches and other things. 
The Catholic Church followed suit. To think of quenching it, was out 
of the question owing to the lack of water which would have had to be 
brought by Indians from the distant Pirara in calabashes, and we had 
only to thank the favourable wind that our own houses as well as the 
collections did not also fall a prey to the conflagration. A little boy 
who iiad been playing with a fire-stick in the building, where the con- 
flagration started, had got too close to the inflammable thatch. It was 
only with the greatest effort and danger that my brother could rescue 
the old woman from the burning iquarters out of which she wanted to 
fetch the property of her gi-andson who happened to be away hunting: 
this included several pounds of gunpowder, his earnings for the Roraima 
trip. fWe anxiously awaited the moment of explosion which fortunately 
wreaked no further damage on tlie neighbouring structures, as the 
building was already burnt down. During the night the first rains fell 
and extinguished the glowing embers. 
