A Journey to Mount Russell. 225 
rose, true giants, as straight as columns from their rocky 
pedestals. Half way up we came to the foot of one of 
the cliffs which we had seen on the previous day ; but 
passing for a short distance along its base we soon found 
a very obvious and sufficiently easy natural upward path ; 
and this soon led us to the summit. 
The top is quite flat and covered by primeval forest, 
which, but for the rare feature of a few scattered granite 
boulders, is almost exactly like that which everywhere 
covers the vast lowlands of Guiana. As we made our way 
through this forest, the trees and undergrowth were suffi- 
ciently dense to shut out all view but of the nearest few 
yards on either hand ; so that but for the memory of 
the steep ascent which we had just made, en- 
enforced by a certain shortness of breath excusable in 
Guianese mountain-climbers, we might have been on the 
ordinary plain of Guiana. There were the same trees, 
though these were perhaps somewhat unusually stunted, 
the same creepers, though these were perhaps even 
more abundant than usual, nearly the same ferns and 
herbaceous plants, and these about as sparse as usual. 
To me, having been drawn into undertaking this 
journey chiefly in the hope of finding on this com- 
paratively high plateau a vegetation, if not entirely 
distinct, yet somewhat different from that prevalent 
on the normal forest lowlands of Guiana, there was 
considerable disappointment. 
Yet there were a few new and interesting plants ; 
one or two ferns which I found either on the way 
up or on the top, and one or ,two new orchids. One 
epiphytal orchid, not then in flower, but probably 
