The Scourge of Small-I*ox. 
293 
693. In the ueigLibourliood of M(. L>urukutuau-yai-i, after liaviug, 
like tlieiU; sncoessfully sui-inouuted tlie Curuau-yari Fall, 1 had iiixn'm 
stopped the men sent on ahead with the boats, who had already pitched 
the tents on the eastern bank close to some huge granite rocks reaching 
down to the right bank: 1 sto[)ped them in order to visit Kuiaratou, a 
settlement situate close by. It consisted of three houses. Some of the 
villagers, among them the chieftain, Avere away, engaged in the distant 
provision fields. I quietly betook myself to one of the houses to have a 
look inside— and what a shock I got on seeing some small pox cases 
looking at me from out of jui^t as many hammocks I One of the unfortu- 
nates who had got over the terriblb disease, that had now spread so far 
inland, Avas already up and alxmt once more. The scars that had been 
left gave the poor devil a still more revolting appearance while the large 
l^its had taken on in general a dark black colour. They assured us that 
several had already succumbed to the plague. My brother had visited 
the village in the year 18:J8 on Iiis return froui the sources of the 
Esse'quibo, and had spent a fortnight in tbe nuuierously populated 
settlement: — but he hardly recognised it again. Small-pox is un- 
doubtedly the most devastating and pi-uliably also the last scourge to 
seal tlie doomed extinction of the (:ruiana aliorigines. Shocked and 
affected liy the gruesome sight I hurried back to our camp. From a 
trigonometrical survey wliich uiy brotlier carried out in the afternoon, 
Burukutuau-yari rose 2,070 feet above the savannah, and 2,483 feet above 
sea-level: our camp was therel'oi'e 407 feet altove the sea, and, according 
to the astronomical observations which the clear skies permitted of being 
t-aken to-day, its position 3° 1' lat. N. and 59° 21' long. W. 
694. The new head-man, for the former chief whom my brother knew 
had died, paid oui- camp a visit in the evening Avilh those of his people 
who had still remained exempt from the disease. Of unusual size for 
an Indian he had a fine ])owerful frauie Avhich the long piece of blue 
salemport', that he had throAvn over his shoulder, after the style of a 
Eoman toga, showed to good advantage. It Avas all the more ridiculous 
therefore to see how one of his couipanions had blackened the whole of 
his body with the juice of tlie Lana {C,('ntpa an} erica na) , painted his 
face red with roiicou, and then pasted Avhite feathor-doAvn over it: he 
looked both frightful and funny at one and the same time. The re-- 
maining men were also big muscular people with fine Greek and Eoman 
noses and a bold manly expression, characteristics which I have often' 
noticed among the Wapisianas. 
69.'). We prevailed uiiou one of these Deo]ile to hasten on ahead to 
the Wapisiana settlement Watu-Ticaba, three days distant overland, to 
ask the residents to prepare a large quantity of casi^ava bread for us and 
at the same time to bring a portion of it to their landing stage on the 
Rupununi which lay a good day's journey from the village. My brother 
had also visited Watu-Ticaba in 183R. A second Indian was ready to 
accompany us in the morning and make us arnuaiuted with the uiimes 
of the mountains and tributaries of the Rupununi. 
696. Among the l)eantifnl flowering trees that aroused niy especial 
interest today Avas the AUania iiisii/nis Benth., an earlier discovery of 
