71 
R. Schomburok, Dr. Phil. 
down in torrents, accompanied by a beayy tbunder storm ; it 
was a terrible reyolution, wbicb forced the rain tbrougb onr 
tents, baying only canyas roofs, and in a short time we and 
onr packages were perfectly saturated, tbe sides of our tents 
being open, and ourselyes sitting down witb chattering teeth, 
as the fire would not burn. The thermometer showed 67® ; 
this uproar lasted about an hour, when the storm calmed 
down, the heayy clouds parted, and the firmament was again 
elear and bright. The moon and stars shone upon a scene 
of undescribable grandeur ; by the silyer light the swollen 
masses of water were seen rushing down from 1,500 feet 
high gigantic walls, with a bewildering noise, as if of 
hundreds of steam-engines at work. From the Kukenam it 
thundered as if the sea had broken its shores, and was 
rolling on to bury eyerything beneath it ; but our amaze- 
ment was yet to be increased, when suddenly a most beautiful 
lunar rainbow appeared — a phenomenon I neyer before had 
witnessed. 
Trembling with cold, we awoke in the morning between 
the hours of 4 and 5 ; the thermometer showed 52®. Sleep 
under such a temperature was an impossibility, and we were 
thankful when the much coyeted daylight appeared, enabling 
us to warm our benumbed limbs by a brisk walk, as the wet 
wood would not burn. The noise of the torrents, which had 
excited us so much the preyious night, had ceased, the water 
had diminished, and the falls had regained their former size ; 
all that had happened — all we had experienced, seemed a 
dream. 
According to the traditions of the Indians, the summits of 
the flat-topped gigantic sandstone walls, which neyer can be 
reached by human beings, contain large lakes, full of re- 
markable fish-like dolphins, and continually encircled by 
gigantic white eagles — their eternal warders. The young day 
unfolded new charms ; the Eoraima and Kukenam, as also 
the other higher points, were perfectly bright and cloudless ; 
but deep below the country was oyercast by white mist, like 
a great carpet of snow, or a northern snow landscape illumi- 
nated by the rising sun, with the most extraordinary changes 
of light and refraction. The contrast between the luxuriant 
yegetation round andaboye us — the gigantic colossus, with its 
shining waterfalls, its dark red walls, was most surprising, 
and recalled to our minds the tales of the One Thousand and 
