The First Ascent of Roraima. 23 
unknown name, with which we afterward had close 
experience. 
One very characteristic feature of the scene has not 
yet been mentioned. It has been stated that, on the 
extreme right as seen from Teroota, the whole southern 
shoulder of Roraima is wooded. From the cliff of that 
mountain where, at its southernmost point, it rises from 
these woods a portion has at some time been vertically 
detached, and this still stands, a rude obelisk of naked 
rock rising from out of the forest to tower above the 
closely neighbouring cliff of Roraima. 
Lastly, this mountain panorama, the key-note of 
the scene, as one looks at it from Teroota down in the 
valley below, being of gigantic vastness and overpowering 
size, is almost always rendered more gigantic, much 
more mystic, by the clouds and vapours which almost 
always float around it, often gathering into one mass so 
yast as to obscure the whole, still oftener piling up smaller, 
but still dense, masses here and there on the mountain or 
in the gorge. Rarely did we see the scene quite clear ; a 
fa6l which, as the Indians were never tired of explain- 
ing to us, was owing to the habit of the mountain — they 
regard both mountains as one — of veiling itself when- 
ever approached by white men. 
This latter point reminds me to note the extreme 
veneration, and even affectionate regard, with which 
the Indians of that district, even those who live far from, 
but yet in sight of, Roraima, regard that mountain, 
vividly personifying it, it always seemed to me, in a 
more real fashion than even their wont. 
By a lucky chance, on the day of our arrival the 
mountain was fairly free from cloud ; so that we saw a 
