300 
Troublesome Pilgrims of the Night. 
put iu au appearance : (we pitched our camp at their base. From their 
summit we got a view of a sunset so rarely seeu in the rainy season. 
Encircled by golden ^clouds the teun sank in a glow behind the Cursato 
Eauges, the slopes of which were already enveloped in a grey veil of 
mist, -while its parting rays still kissed their summit for long. It Avas a 
beautiful picture, more beautiful than it had been for a long while. The 
eastern crest of tl>e Saeraeri Range rose far away beyond the ashen sea 
of haze, and sombre Dochlapan gazed down in pride upon the plain of 
mist. In th« north, the horizon was still bordered by dark masses of cloud 
AvhicJi, on account of the moon's disc just then rising in the east, 
appeared still blacker and gloomier: the rain-storm that had passed 
over us was yet raging over there. Peace reigned over here. In the 
south-east the immense savannah flat was bounded by the Carawaimen- 
tow Range, which stretched from N.E. to S.W. According to the 
account given by the Indians, the Ixupuuuni must take, its rise here, but 
Mr. Youd assured us that this was to be found in an extensive savannah 
some 2.3 miles south-ivest of Watu-Ticaba. The Carawaimi ( Carawai 
mentow) Range, is unquestionably the Sierra Tamucunaque of ouf 
maps. From its source the Rupuuuni strikes at first a north-westerly 
course until Mt. Patighetiku, on its western bank, forces it to give this 
up. A few miles further on it paves a way for itself through granite 
masses rouglily disposed in superincumbent layers by means of which it 
branches into a number of canals, that join up again to form a stream 
and, as a mighty waterfall, ])ours over the granite belt just mentioned, 
the Cuta-tarua lying al)ut IßO geogra])liical miles distant from its mouth. 
The whole length of the river amounts to somewhere about 220 geo- 
graphical miles. It must take its rise in 1° 50' lat. N., and on account 
of its describing almost a half-circle, the source and the month lie in 
almost one and the same meridian. From where we were we could 
follow the snake-like course of the r-iver far through the immense flat. 
71."). W\th liungry stomachs and tlic keen ex])ectation that we should 
find in camp the huntsmen whom we liad despatched in the morning laden 
with spoil, we withdrew from tliis delightful gratification of our senses 
and returned to. our quarters. Our hopes were fulfilled. The hunters 
had brought home two fine head of deer, which were just as welcome to 
us as it was to our Indians l^ecause the last remnant's of the provisions 
had been already distributed that very morning. Their Hunger was so 
great, that they did not cook the flesh at all, but spitted it on wooden 
skewers and roasted it over the fires during which innumerable insects 
and amphiliinns started a concert of a thousand voices, the very like of 
which we had not heard for a long while past. But however pleasant 
the evening may have been, the night turned out to be all the more 
troublesome on account of the painful bites of a small, I might almost 
say invisible, ^imnlia. All coverings in our hammocks proved useless 
in preventing the burning and painfnl stings of these pests, because they 
still found the v/ay they sought to our flesh. The hair was just as 
ineffectual in keeping these tormenting devils away from the skin of the 
head, upon which their bites caused unbearable pain. This snmll insect, 
of which we had had no previous experience, worried us until sunrise, 
