378 
WOOBSKINS FRÖM THE MaKAEEN TrEE. 
9ol. The total nuTiil)ei' of still living Maoidtyans amounted to Jil>, who 
together Avith some 20 Tai-umas from whom they had choseu their chief, 
occupied the two houses. They call themselves Mawakwas, but tlie 
Wapisianas call them Maopityans from Mao, the frog and Pityan, the 
people or tribe. 
932. Upon his enquiring about the Corentyn, my brother only 
learnt that, in order to reaöh the river Curuni (sect. 952) they must 
livivel doAA ii the Caphiwuiii to the mouth of tlic NN'ananin, which « anie 
there from the North, but tlieu, lioAvever, up llic latter until they got to 
the settJenients of the I'iauoghottos ;nid Drios, who lived in its neighbour- 
hood. As the craft of the Maoi^ityans only consisted of Avoodskins. 
Avhich, hoAvever, Avere in a miserable condition for such a trip, the party 
had to build ncAV ones for themselves beforehand. Out of the bark of a 
single IMararen tree ( Copaifera) they were able to manufacture two 
woodskins. of Avhich each had a length of 35 feet, and a width of 4 ft. 5 
in. Äs the tree was cut doAA^i the balsam, which was quite wiiite and 
transparent, ran out in such quantities that one could easily have tilled 
«eveivil gallons with it : the Mayopityans anointed their liodies Avitli it, but 
its medicinal properties were 'quite unknown to them. One of the trees 
close to the camp measured 125 feet from base to tip: the MaAvakwa 
name for it is Yaru-yaru. 
933. On the day after the arrival of the expedition tAvo Mawakwas 
were sent off to infoi-m the Pianoghottos^ of the ai'riA'al of strangers. The 
position of the village was, 1° 25' 18" lat. ^T. and 58° 0' 14" long. W. 
934. On the 18th July the Avoodskins Avere ready at the same time 
that the women had prepared as much cassava meal as the unfavourable 
cro]is of their fields permitted, and in coniDany Avith six Mawakwas my 
brother left for the country of the Piauoghottos. The bed of the Ca- 
phiAvuin being hardly 45 feet wide here, and full of granite boulders and 
upturned trees, they had in many places to struggle first of all Avith an 
axe to cut a way through. On the 20th July they passed by the foot of 
Mt. YucaAvarin, about 1,500 ft. high. T)ie mountain ridges ran mostly in a 
iNorth and Southerly, or in a Xorth and Westerly direction. The rankest 
A^egetation hemmed in the banks of the CaphiAvuin. I.^ertia, Petren, 
Posoqueria, Cam pa (/uiancnsi-<^, Tarhif/alia panicuJata, Cliisia insignis, 
Eperua, Bertholletia e.rcelsa, Theotroma and innumerable palms com- 
bined to form the most beautiful landscape, the background of which was 
enclosed by those equally thickly -AA'Ooded mountain ridges, that were 
soon to be associated with a long row of mighty waterfalls. On the 
evening of 20th Julv thev had reached the summit of the Fwiva, the 
first important one of these falls. 
935. On the 21st day they passed :Mt. Kai-amuzin. Avhicli rises 2.8.")() ft. 
above the bank and in the evening pitched their camp close to the top 
of a new cataract formed of a perpendicular greenstone dam. Several 
8 in. diameter and 2 in. deep excavations contained in these rocks Avere 
of especial interest. The position of the fall was 1° 23' 23" lat. N. Next 
day the squadron Avas already two vessels short, these having run ui' 
against a rock. 
