:320 
We Put ox Ouk Dress- Clotites. 
waters of the Siparuni, passes into a red : below tlie moutJi of tli& 
Potaro or Black river, this is changed to a dirty brown, 1o be restored 
again to its original colour by the Mazaruui. 
772. Past the mouth of the Ortuahar and the Curibiru and 
Cuyari-waka Cataracts, we made like lightning for the Twasinki Ivange, 
with its two remarkable granite columns, that soon lay behind. In 
front of us, however, there blustered and foamed the dangerous falls of 
Itababo, Akaiwanna, Itamine, and the most perilous of the whole 
series, the great Yucurit or Cumaka-toto, which we were fortunately able 
to avoid by means of a small side-channel down which however we had 
to streak the boat with a rope. Owing to its having sprung a consider- 
able leak in sliooting down, our big Portuguese craft which contained 
my collection of living j)]ants T\ as exposed to grave risk at the very 
foot of the awful Twasinki Tails: it was only saved from sinking by the 
huge current that drove it onto a small, yet visible island, where the 
unloading of the plant-l)Oxes and the repairs to the vessel forced us to 
spend (he night. The Mi/letcs Pacii had collected in large quantities in 
between the granite boulders at the bottom of the Fall, and supplied us 
with a ta^^ty supper. 
773. Next morning we liad to pass the most dangerous fall of tJie 
whole series, that of Haiowa, the perpendicular height of which, in 
spite of the unu.sually raised surface of the water, still! amounted to 
over 10 feet. I must admit that it was with a certain anxious and 
oppressive feeling that all of us approached this damnable spot wliich 
ali'eady from a considerable distance off 'was thundering out its dull 
and augiy roar, that every second became louder and louder. In front 
of us we saw the waters rushing headlong over the summit, and on 
yonder side of it, splashing up into clouds of foam : one's breath stopped : 
the corial was now drawn with irresistible force and buried deeply in 
iho unfettered billows of the caldron, whence its bows emerged like a 
bolt] diver out of the stormy waves — the danger was passed. The 
remaining craft were as fortunate as ourselves in ploughing their way 
over the whirlpool. It was with lighter hearts when, over on the other 
side, we bailed the hoats f>f the water that they had been loth to take 
in. Tlic small rnpids romaining were also passed without further 
accident. 
774. In the midst of this almost continual mental excitement we had 
now got close to Waraputa Mission. We had already learned from the 
coloured men that the lonely little community had obtained a new 
shepherd in a Mr.. Pollitt,* who with his wife and sister-in-law had come 
to Waraputa some six w-eeks before. Our almost 19-mouth long tour 
with the untutored Indians had not allowed us, how^ever, to run so wild 
as not to feel that in such a costume as now covered our mortal limbs we 
could not a])pear before ladies who had only just left the refinements of 
the capital and could certainly not be accustomed to the informal condi- 
tion of clothes that were fast going to rack and ruin. In order to com- 
plete the latter wdth the sorry remnants from out of the once well- 
* Wi-ontrly spelt Poliert in the text (Ed,) 
1 
