RORAIMi\. 
IG 
Roraima and Irutibuli is about twenty-five miles in a north-west and south-east direction. North-west of it is Rvukenam and 
Ayang’-catsibang’, and to the north Mariina, Avhich form almost a quadrilateral figure. This quadrangle from south-east to north-west 
occupies ten geographical miles; the eastern end of Roraima, which has entirely the appearance of a gigantic portal, is, according 
to my calculations from astronomical observations in Arawayam-botte, in 5° 9 ' 40 " N. latitude, and five thousand one hundred feet 
above that village, and the north-western point of Ayang-catsibang in 5° 18' N. latitude. At the distance mf two miles north-west 
from Ayang-catsibang rises another rocky wall, Irwarkarima, to a height of three thousand six hundred feet, remarkable for an urn- 
shaped rock at its eastern end, which, standing as it were on a pedestal of three thousand one hundred and thirty-five feet above the 
Arecuna village, is four hundred and sixty-six feet high, and at its widest part three hundred and eighty-one feet*. Next follows 
Wayaca-piapa, or the felled tree, another of those monuments of stone, which, formed by nature, has been compared, like Pure-piapa, 
to the trunk of a tree deprived of its crown, and the Indians have attached a similar tradition to it. Wayaca is less in height 
than the rest of the group, and resembles an obelisk with a truncated head. The three mountains, Yuruaruime, Carauringtebuh, and 
Irutibuli conclude the group, which, if seen from the Arecuna village, appear like one. 
I can but imperfectly describe the magnificent appearance of these mountains, with their thundering and foaming cataracts, and 
the peculiar aspect which these giguntic walls offer if seen from Arawayam-botte. They convey the idea of vast buildings, and might be 
called nature’s forum, or associating them with those splendid remains of man’s gigantic conception and execution, we may imagine what the 
forum would have been, if its columns and walls could have been raised to a height of one thousand five hundred feet, and if it had covered an 
extent of ten miles. Although this village is between fifteen and twenty miles from the mountains, which form the quadrangle, I recollect 
one afternoon, when a severe thunder-storm had just abated, that with the naked eye we counted fifteen cataracts, which precipitated themselves 
from their walls. From the eastern end of Roraima and a short distance from that gigantic portal, flows the Coting or Cotinga, 
mingling its waters with the Takutu, Branco, and Negro, and ultimately falling into the largest river in the world, the Amazon. A little 
to the north of it descends the Cuya, a tributary to the Cako, which, joining the Mazuruni or Mazuring, flows into the Essequibo. Several 
streams from the south-western side of Roraima flow into the Kukenam ; among them is Kamaiba, which forms the cascade before described. 
The Kukenam has its source in the neighbouring mountain, Ikukenam, and forms, at its confluence with the Yuruani, the River Caroni, 
a tributary of the Orinoco. The Yuruani itself, which the Indians consider as the head of the Caroni, flows in numerous streams from the 
north-eastern side of Ikukenam, and is joined by others from its western side, and from the mountains of Ayang-catsibang, Zarangtibuh, 
and Irwarkarima. The river Ariparu also flows in numerous streams from the rocky wall of Marima. The Cako, one of the chief 
branches of the upper Mazuruni, rises on the eastern side of Irutibuh, while the Cama, which flows from the western side, joins the 
Apauwanga, a tributary of the Caroni. The abundance of water which proceeds from these mountains may be judged of from the 
circumstance, that the Kukenam, within three miles of its source, already forms a stream from forty to fifty yards in breadth. 
This group of mountains is the culminating point of the Sierra Pacaraima, and here unite the natural boundaries of British 
Guiana, Venezuela, and Brazil. This mountain range is therefore not only remarkable for its picturesque scenery, and its importance in 
geography, but it likewise possesses peculiar interest from political considerations. 
* These measuiements aie all the results of trigonometrical operations in Arawayam-botte: it must he however recollected that they were performed only by 
means of a sextant, and are consequently merely approximations. 
AYANG-CATSIBANG, IKUKENAM, MARIMA, AND RORAIMA. 
