206 
Across from the Barima to the Barama„ 
very easily get damaged on the land journey, be sent back to Georgetown 
along the same route that we had come. To keep us company while 
waiting for the Expedition Mr. Glascott had just come from town, but 
unfortunately brought very unpleasant news. Yellow fever and small- 
pox were still raging to a frightful extent, the former amongst the 52nd 
Kegiment that had only arrived a short while before, the latter especially 
among the coloured people and Negroes. 
663. 1 w ? as beginning to get seriously anxious over the long absence 
of those whom we were waiting, when on the 2Gth July our small mortal- 
announced their coming, soon after which we welcomed them at the 
Stelling. 
God. After leaving Manari on the 8th July, they had travelled up the 
Barima in company with our Warraus and Waikas and had then left it to 
look out lor a path that led to the Cuyuni. My brother and his com- 
panions had pushed their way on over Mils 50 and GO feet high and 
through intervening swampy valleys where the water often reached, up 
to their waists w hen they finally crossed the Caruawa which seemed to 
be only a small stream here, and soon after struck upon a settlement of 
Waikas. On the second morning out, my brother was unfortunately 
forced to admit that his height-barometer had suffered considerably 
already on this short overland journey and was unsuitable for making 
any further observations. 
GG5. The cleanliness found in Paripu, the Waika settlement, and 
the neat and natty picture exhibited in all the villagers’ fields supplied 
unmistakeable evidence that it was ruled by a man who must have spent 
a long time in Georgetown and there got imbued with a taste for 
European manners and customs : unfortunately, he and the largest 
portion of the residents were away. After passing a second settlement 
in the course of the afternoon they reached the valley of the Parapimoi, 
the overflowing flood w aters of which had transformed the whole plain 
into a lake that had to be waded across. With the Carib settlement of 
Cariacu they got by evening to the Barama which w as some GO yards wide 
and falls into the Waini about 40 miles away. Its banks are occupied 
by Waikas, Caribs and Warraus who together might form a population 
of 500 individuals. As several of the men hitherto accompanying him 
expressed their unwillingness to proceed farther, my brother picked 
some Caribs and Waikas from the neighbourhood to All the gap. Owing 
to the want of another boat they had to content themselves with wood- 
skins for the voyage that was to start from here. The Indians manufac- 
ture these light and frail vessels just from the bark of thick trees : I only 
learnt subsequently the special procedure adopted in their making. 
Owing to their light material they can be carried on the head to any 
spot along the bank where the river-bed opposes a passage until such 
time as the stream is once more clear and allows them to resume their 
journey. The upper portions of the river can almost alw-avs only be 
navigated by these craft. 
666. Taking his departure from Cariacu on the 11th July, my 
brother, at a spot above the mouth of the Abocotte, met with the first 
rocks to appear in the Barama and soon arrived at the mouths of the 
Erawanta and Mazuwini. On the afternoon of the 13th July they 
