208 
Accident to the Relief Boat. 
the Barama was likewise displayed on those of the Cuyuni, judging from 
the sugar-cane that grew 15 feet long with a girth of 71 inches. Haiowa 
was situate in G 55 lat.N. and GO 27. long. W., and 2G0 feet above sea- 
level. Although it was here that they had hoped to meet the corial sent 
up by me, it had not yet reached up to the 22nd July, which forced 
them to embark on the Cuyuni in one that they chartered there. Huge 
ranges rose to the westward of the Acarabisi and the summits of 
Ekruyeku already attained a height of 2,000 feet above the 4 to 500ft. 
broad level of the Cuyuni, the bed of which was tilled to overflowing. 
The Macapa Mountains loomed up about a mile inland to the westward 
of the Cuyuni. Carried away down at tip top speed by the augmented 
current they passed Kanaima Cataract by afternoon. The numerous 
islands were generally covered with Quassia aniara bush, or Bitter-Ash, 
the properties of which the Negro Gramman (i.e. Grand man) Quacy, 
after whom it receives its name, discovered in 1730. A striking meteor- 
ological phenomenon presented itself to the notice of the company in 
that every morning at sunrise a strong wind developed in a direction 
opposite that of the stream: it gradually veered round to ESE. or E. by 
8. Where the river was free from islands and cataracts it usually had 
a width of G00 yards. On the farther side of the Otomong mountains 
they met with i,n almost continuous series of rapids and cataracts 
until they got to Boinkamarca, or Womuipong of the Caribs, where, with 
a perpendicular fall of 31) feet they had to discharge the corial and drag 
it along the bank. A lonely house that was shared by a Waika, his wife 
and his dog, afforded them at night a little protection from the rain. 
Not far from this hut, which was situate in 6° 4G’ lat. N., the Araeuna 
joined with the Cuyuni: a path leads from it to the Puruni which flows 
into the Mazaruni. The graniter and gneiss-beds extending almost 
without a break from the Macapa Mountains* to the mountains of 
Araeuna, a distance of from 50 to 60 miles, that had followed the course 
of the Cuyuni and had formed its first series of cataracts, diminished 
more and more. About eight miles below the Araeuna mouth and 
immediately opposite to some insignificant hills, Tokoro or Tokoru-patti 
Island becomes visible and on its farther side the Cuyuni receives its 
most considerable tributaries in the Iroma, Pupa, and Appa. which 
discharge into it from the North. A much frequented path led to the 
Puruni from a small affluent, the Toroparu. The anxiously expected 
boat, filled with provisions, that we had promised to forward, had so far 
not been seen and mv brother was beginning to fear that owing to some 
accident or other having prevented us reaching Bartika Grove we had 
been unable to despatch the stipulated load. The information they 
received at an Indian house dispelled these fears, it is true, but at the 
same time destroyed their hopes of being released from the fast to which 
they now had been subjected for several days. What they learnt here was- 
that the corial despatched by us got upset when being hauled over the 
* The Macapa Hills are composed of gneiss and gneissose granite. Below Macapa. the 
rocks exposed are felsites and porphyries, and those are the rocks which occur “ almost 
without a break” to Araeuna. The breaks are at Amamuri. Dukwarri. and Devils Hole 
where gneiss or granite occur. (E.E.W.) 
