286 At the Abandoned Curua Mission. 
neighbourhood of Curua settlement. Isolated specimens from these 
only follow the right bank of the Eupununi through the Canuku Ranges. 
iWe found the camp already pitched, and prevailed upon several of the 
Indians to go back with the empty corial and fetch the carcass of our 
slaughtered kaiman which I then in the morning placed far from the 
bank and regularly fenced in, so that the carrion-crows should not carry 
off the bones. 
668. I have already reported that Mr. Youd, upon being driven from 
Pirara by the Brazilians, had come to settle here, but had not been able 
to enjoy his labours long, because they soon forced him from here also, 
and destroyed the fresh young crops. With the disappearance, with- 
out a trace, of the spiritual seed, innumerable Mimo^ac, {^olaneuc, and 
young Trumpet trees (Cccropia paJinnta Willd.) again covered the pre- 
viously cultivated flats. The house of prayer, like the oilier 1»uiblings, 
lay in ruins amidst the rank vegetation. Ohristians had done this to 
iChristians wath all the hatred of the confessional. 
669. The Mum paraclisiarn and M. mpientnm which on account of 
its rapid growth had escaped the general destrnction. bad reached a 
height of from 40 to .^0 feet in the red greasy clay, and alternated with 
the groups of maiestic Aftdlm fipcr-lom. Tbo appearance of (be palm 
is considered by the Indians to be the surest sign of the most fertile soil. 
In one of the honses that was still occupied, although a large pool of 
water still remained in it. my brother found a man and two women who 
yet could not leave tlieir beloved home. 
670. With the completion of mv fonce already before daybreak, we 
left the razed mission station, little above it huge irrey gneiss 
boulders crossed the stream, and foimod the rnruatoka Cataract which 
we got over witliout accident. The stone belonged to that coarse- 
grained dark-grey jrneiss peculiar to the rauuku Txanges. 'About a mile 
above the cataract there branched off one of thoso natural canals — 
which we had found in such larce numbers on the coast, but never, as 
yet. in the interior — through which the TJupununi is aoi-ain connected 
■with the Awaricnru some 11 miles from its own mouth; throe miles 
further up, on the westorn bank, another and smaller canal led to a 
lake-like sheet of water whicb the Indians caller! Watawarai. 
671. The farther we pushed along, and hence the nearer we 
approached the Canuku Eanges, the more did the numlier of bends in the 
river increase, and the better did thp vegetation alone both banks 
flourish. I greeted afresh the Morn f.Trrl.^a, the uncrainly Bomhax 
'gloSomm, and the Brosimvm 'Aiihlr^ii, the Peira of the Macusis so 
sought after on account of its dainty wood : in British Guiana the Peira 
is peculiar to the Canuku Panges onlv. Lovely groups of palms broke 
the uniformity of the dark 2:reeu of the foliage trees. With a full dis^- 
play of lovely colours the often foot-long flower-bunches of the beautiful 
Petrea vohibilis and P. maerostacJii/a and the show of blossoms of the 
brilliant lAfndia Scliomburq'kn, Klotzsch and Allamanda AidlefU Pohl,, 
Iblended with the dark foliage, over which there likewise crept the 
dazzling red blooms of the Carouria eoccinea and a lovely Passiflora 
that very much resembled P. alata. About three o'clock a commencing 
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