8 
PIRARA. 
of these illusions, over Avhich the description of Sir Walter Raleigh has spread so romantic a hue, that although M^e are now aware of 
their exaggerated tone, we yet read them with avidity and interest. How much that interest increases on approaching the classical soil, 
which Keymis described as the site of El Dorado, that traveller alone can conceive, who treads a terra incognita connected with 
such associations. 
In the course of our first expedition into the interior of Guiana, we landed on the 5th of December 1835, at Wai-ipucari, or 
Marocco, a small inlet which the river Rupununi forms in 3° 42' N. latitude. The village of Pirara, inhabited by Macnsi Indians, is about 
eleven miles distant from this inlet, and is situated near a lake, through which the river Pirara directs its course. The occurrence of 
this name, its situation on a lake, and the extensive savannahs, or plains, which, according to the information of the Indians, surround 
the village, brought the accounts of Keymis, Hortsmann, and Santos, of the locality of the lake Parima to our recollection, and persuaded 
that Ave stood on the borders of that enchanted land, we prepared for our excursion to Pirara with increased interest. 
On leaving the river Rupununi, w^e passed over undulating ground, thinly covered with Malpighias, shrubs of stunted appearance, 
and bright yellow or pink flowers. We turned round a small hillock, and before us Avas one of those groves of Mauritia palms, which 
give to the savannahs of South America so characteristic an appearance. This graceful tree, with its fanshaped leaves, alone afforded the 
scanty shade to be found in those arid places, while it contributed to the picturesque scene before us. The different tints of the savannah, 
Avhich extended to the Pacaraima mountains, might have been compared to a sea of verdure, which illusion was powerfully increased by 
the waving motion of the deceptive mirage. Isolated gi'oups of trees rose like islands from the bosom of this sea, and a few scattered 
palms, with their tall trunks appearing like masts in the horizon, assisted in conveying to our imagination the seducing picture of the 
Laguna de Parima, with its hundreds of canoes floating on its bosom. Towards the west, where the savannah was bounded by the horizon, 
Ave obseived some Indian dwellings, and having crossed a small stream, we soon after entered a village consisting of fourteen huts, and 
inhabited by eighty Indians of the Macusi tribe. It was situated upon rising ground, affording an extensive view over the savannahs to 
the chain of mountains known to geogTaphers under the name of Pacaraima. At the foot of this small elevation is a lake, which extends 
east and west for about thiee miles, and which, at the period when rain seldom falls, is almost covered with rushes ; only here and there 
presenting patches of water. It is however an inland sea, when, during the tropical winter, the rivers overflow their banks. Three islets rise 
from the middle of the lake, and a small stream flows through it, which has its source somewhat south of the village. The lake is 
called Amucu ; the group of islands, the Islas Ipomucena, described by Santos ; and the stream, the Pirara *, names so closely associated 
with the fable of the Dorado and the Laguna de Parima, that we looked with redoubled interest on the landscape before us. 
The vast savannahs, on Avhich Pirara is situated, are encompassed by the Pacaraima mountains to the north, the Canuku and 
CaraAvaimi mountains to the south, the thick forests of the Essequibo and isolated mountains to the east, and the mountains of the 
Mocajahi, and branches of the Sierra Parima to the west ; and, according to a superficial computation, cover a space of fourteen thousand 
four hundred square miles. The geological structure of this region leaves bnt little doubt that it was once the bed of an inland lake, 
which by one of those catastrophes, of which even later times give us examples, broke its barriers, and forced a path for its waters to 
the Atlantic. May we not connect with the former existence of this inland sea the fable of El Dorado and lake Parima? Ages may 
have elapsed ; generations may have been buried and returned to dust ; the nations who once wandered on its banks may be extinct, 
and exist even no more in name ; still the tradition of the lake Parima has survived these changes, and transmitted from father to son, 
imagination has connected it with El Dorado ; while these accounts, carried across the Atlantic, have caused those adventurous expeditions, 
and that sacrifice of human lives, to which allusion has already been made. 
Three years had elapsed since my first visit, when in the pursuit of discovery I again approached Pirara, and remarked Avith 
surprise and pleasure the change which had taken place in the appearance and mxmber of dwellings which composed the village. 
I counted upwards of thirty Indian huts, the highest place being occupied by a building somewhat European in construction, the walls 
of which, plastered by the red ochreous clay of the savannahs, and the roof with gable ends neatly thatched with palm leaves, formed 
a strong contrast to the surrounding dome-shaped huts of the Indians. Another building, a little to the east of the former, and of 
larger dimensions, but of similar construction, was in the course of erection, and men, women, and children, appeared equally eager 
to lend an assisting hand for its completion. This house was intended to be dedicated to the service of the only true God, the former 
for the dwelling of their missionary, to whose arrival and residence among them they appeared to look forward with great delight. It 
was pleasing to observe their zeal in such a good cause, and the more so when I considered that the light of Christianity had not yet 
been diffused among them. Their wish to become Christians had been awakened by the temporary visit of a missionary from the mission 
at Bartika Point, at the confluence of the Mazaruni with the Essequibo, who, as they expressed themselves, only opened the sacred 
The Macusi Indians call the fenugineous conglomerate, which forms extensive strata in an east and west direction on the savannahs, Pirara, from which the river 
and village have received their names. 
