SOUTH AMERICA. 
21 
into the river above ; and on their return, bring them first 
, . JOURNEY. 
clown the same way. ~- 
About two hours below this fall, is the habitation Habita- 
of an Acoway chief called Sinker man. At night you Acoway 
hear the roaring of the fall from it. It is pleasantly 
situated on the top of a sand-hill. At this place you 
have the finest view the river Demerara affords: 
three tiers of hills rise in slow gradation, one above 
the other, before you, and present a grand and mag¬ 
nificent scene, especially to him who has been 
accustomed to a level country. 
Here, a little after midnight, on the first of May, 
w T as heard a most strange and unaccountable noise ; 
it seemed as though several regiments were engaged, 
and musketry firing with great rapidity. The 
Indians, terrified beyond description, left their ham¬ 
mocks, and crowded all together, like sheep at the 
approach of the wolf. There were no soldiers 
within three or four hundred miles. Conjecture was 
of no avail, and all conversation next morning on the 
subject was as useless and unsatisfactory as the dead 
silence which succeeded to the noise. 
He who wishes to reach the Macoushi country, 
had better send his canoe over land from Sinker- 
man’s to the Essequibo. 
There is a pretty good path, and meeting a creek 
about three quarters of the way, it eases the labour, 
and twelve Indians will arrive with it in the 
Essequibo in four days. 
The traveller need not attend his canoe; there is 
a shorter and a better way. Half an hour below 
