BOTANICAL BEMINISCENCES, 
PART I,~Up the River Barima, 
The Boundary Expedition to British Guiana, under the 
command of my late brother, Sir Robert, to which, by the 
permission of Her Majesty’s Government, I had been attached 
as naturalist in behalf of the Prussian Government, had 
rec hed the mouth of the River Barima, which discharges its 
wa jrs into the mighty Orinoco, and which we intended to 
ascend as far as possible. 
In the Warrau settlement, Cumaka, situated on one of the 
numerous tributaries of the Barima, we stayed a few days to 
make the necessary preparations for our ascent of the Barima. 
Our little flotille consisted of four large boats, and the 
necessary rowers had been engaged amongst the inhabitants 
of Cumaka. 
Everything had been arranged, each one had taken his 
place in the boats, under the acclamation of the inhabitants of 
Cumaka, who were assembled on the landing-place, we set 
our boats in motion, and very soon those assembled on the 
bank had vanished from our view. 
In consequence of the previous heavy rains the Barima 
had overflowed its banks, and our rowers had to exert their 
utmost strength to resist the force of the stream. The 
vegetation of the banks were JRhizo2ohora, Avicennia, Lagun- 
culariay and Conocarpus. The coast rivers, are under the 
influence of the ebb and flood tide ; and as the latter set in, it 
assisted us materially in our progress. 
Already evening was approaching, and we looked in vain 
for a dry place where we might sling our hammocks, and 
light the fires. Nothing could be seen but an immense mass 
of water from the overflow of the river, the rain having con- 
tinued for the last four days. At last the Indians discovered 
the long sought for place. To our right we saw a dark 
space above the water, to which we rowed. Several trunks of 
trees lying close together showed that this served the travel- 
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