PIRARA, 
9 
book, which the white man possessed, without telling’ them of its contents. In anticipation that their request for a missionary to come 
and settle among them would be ultimately granted, they had begun to erect these houses according to their idea of the mode of 
building among white people, and twenty-nine men of their tribe had been selected to proceed to the coast-region, in order to assist 
in conveying the missionary to his new station. 
At my first visit I had formed a predilection for Pirara, not only from the historical interest connected with it, but likewise from 
its picturesque situation between the two mountain chains of Pacaraima and Canuku, and not least from the kind hospitality of its 
untutored inhabitants. It was not surprising, therefore, that I should select it partly for my winter quarters, when I resolved to remain, 
during the rainy season of 1838, in the interior of Guiana. I have not regretted my stay in Pirara, although my comfort was alloyed 
by sickness, for it has given me ample opportunity to increase my researches in natural history, and to study the character and manners 
of that interesting race, among whom I was a guest, the Macusi Indians. How frequently have I been sitting near those three Palm 
trees *, which we see in the picture occupied by a Macusi family, and allowed my eye to range across the village of motley architecture, 
and the enchanted lake with its verdant isles, until it has been arrested by the chain of mountains clothed in blueish tints, and 
the play of extraordinary refractions over a soil strongly exposed to the full influence of a tropical sun. The course of the Mahu, 
which river emerges from the mountain chain at the distance of twenty miles from Pirara, between the peaked mountains of Cucuye, a 
little to the right of our group of Macusis, and the truncated hill Tupanaghe, was then designated by a whitish mist, apparently hovering 
over the trees which fringed its banks ; or indeed the mirage adopted frequently such an aqueous appearance, that the river itself might 
have been fancied to be suspended in the air, and to flow over the tops of the trees. At other times the mountains appeared so close, 
that every tree in the tufts of wood, which partly covered them, might have been counted, and their distance might have been supposed 
to be half a mile in lieu of twenty. I shall never forget the splendid spectacle I witnessed one evening after darkness had set in, 
when, towards the north, the whole horizon was illuminated ; for the grass on the savannahs, which had been burning for the last four 
days, had communicated the fire to the mountain chain, which now blazed for a distance of many miles. A thunder-storm approaching 
from the north-west, much enhanced the sublimity of the scene, and mingled its forked lightning with the fiery columns, which, as 
if arranged in battle-array, seemed to storm the heights of the Sierra; and the vivid lightning and the rolling of the thunder were the 
batteries employed for the onset. 
While residing in this place I was present at the arrival of the first protestant missionary among the Indians in the interior of 
British Guiana, and the joy which it caused to those who were to be confided to his spiritual care, although they were as yet walking 
in perfect darkness, was a proof of their earnest wish to become Christians. The efibrts of the missionary were crowned with success, 
and I have seen from four to five hundred Indians assembled in the chapel ; and although in the commencement they attended in their 
naked and savage state, young and old appeared equally zealous for conversion, and to receive instruction. 
Our party left for San Joaquim, the Brazilian boundary fort, at the end of June 1838, where we intended to stay during the 
remainder of the rainy season. The new mission at Pirara already promised the best results, and at that period great changes might 
be observed in the conduct and manners of the Indians, when, under the plea of pressing natives for the Brazilian Imperial navy, 
one of those slaving expeditions arrived at San Joaquim, which have been practised by the Brazilians for ages, and have been the bane 
of the Indian races. The expedition was to be directed against Pirara, where, from the then populous state of that village, they thought 
they might seize a large number of unsuspecting natives. Many favourable circumstances combined, enabled me to have some influence 
in saving the new mission at Pirara from the evil effects and subsequent miseries of a descimento, as these slaving expeditions are called ; 
it fell, however, upon some settlements at the Ursato mountains, on the eastern bank of the river Takutu, which they surprised at midnight, 
and having set fire to the houses, captured the greater part of their inhabitants, and ransacked the huts of every valuable article which 
they contained. I saw with the deepest sorrow, that the number of those who were led away into slavery consisted of forty individuals ; 
namely, eighteen children under twelve years of age, thirteen women, and nine men, of whom only four were less than thirty years old, 
and consequently fit for the avowed purpose of serving in the Imperial navy. The sensation which these cruel proceedings caused among 
the Indians at the new mission cannot be described. Seven hundred of them assembled at Pirara, where they thought that the 
presence of the missionary would protect them against the barbarous atrocities of unprincipled men. 
Our expedition left San Joaquim in October, and after having explored more than two thousand miles, and visited many spots which 
never had been trod before by European feet, we returned to Pirara in May 1839, and found it occupied by a detachment of Brazilian national 
guards, under Senhor Pedro Ayres. The church, in which formerly hymns to the praise of our Lord had been sung, and where the first seeds 
of Christianity had been sown among the benighted Indians, was now converted into barracks, and the theatre of obscene language and nightly 
revels. Urgent business had called the missionary to the colony, and during his absence it had been taken possession of by the Brazilians. 
* The Macusis call this species of palm, Yawaile, it is an Astrocaryum. 
U 
