[arch 12, 1904. 
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Views and Reviews. 
A Naturalist in the Guianas. 
Books dealing with natural history always 
hud their admirers and readers from the 
eager schoolboy to those of more mature 
years. It would seem that the trackless 
forests of the tropical part of the American 
Continent will furnish interesting matter 
for books for many years to come. Much of 
the country is still in the state of primeval 
forest and very sparsely populated, for a 
land that supports hunters and fishermen 
chiefly is not likely to have a dense popular 
tion until the forests are cleared and the land 
yields the more important necessaries of 
human life. 
Onei of the stories that led many people 
and expeditions into the country in ancient 
times was that of a populous, city with a, 
teeming population and gleaming with gold 
and precious stones. This was El Dorado. 
Needless to say, such a place has never yet. 
been discovered, as the country remains! an 
immense stretch of impenetrable forest 
studded 1 here and there with open savannas 
arid isolated mountain,s of surpassing 
grandeur. This refers to that part of South 
America, known as Venezuela and the 
Guianas, watered by that immense river thei 
Orinoco. This, then, is a, tropical forest, 
which always ensures abundant rain, and 
consequently the rivers are, numerous. The 
Guianas, indeed, form a sort of highland 
region difficult of access, on the one hand on 
account of the forest, and on the other hand 
owing to the difficulty of navigating the 
rivers which have cut their bed through 
rocky regions', and consequently have many 
dangerous rapids, up. which it is 1 difficult, or 
impossible to take watercraft of any kind. 
The impossibility of carrying a sufficiency of 
provisions and the absence of villages or 
human settlements add to the difficulty of 
the situation. 
Mr. Andre hasi evidently travelled through 
a, great portion of this country, spending a 
deal of time and learning much of the fauna 
and flora of those regions as becomes a, good 
naturalist. He tells us something of the 
nature of the Tonquin Bean of commerce, 
which first reached Europe from the Chinese 
province of Tonquin. The tree which pro¬ 
duces these Bean® (Dipterix odorata) is found 
* A Naturalist in the Guianas. By Eugene Andre, F.R.G.S.* 
F.Z.S., M.S.A. ; with a preface by Dr. J. Scott Keltie. 
With 34 illustrations and a map. London : Smith, Elder & 
Co.. 15, Wat:r]oo Place, 1904. Price 14s. net, 
in various parts of tropical America. The 
product, of best quality is said to come from 
the region surrounding the Caura and the 
Cuohivero rivers. The watershed between 
these two streams consists of mountain 
ranges of a granitic mature, and here the tree 
thrives apparently better than anywhere 
else. 
It seems that the Beans are harvested by 
the natives, who 1 go into the forest two or 
three days journey when the Beans are 
about to ripen. This they do by means of 
boats of various size, according to the number 
of passengers that form the party. It would 
seem to be a time of feasting, drinking and 
rejoicing by these people, with much less 
economy with their earnings than in the case 
of the hop-pickers in this country. Hie so- 
called Bean is the dried seed which has to 
be taken from the fruit by the breaking of a 
very bard shell. In commerce it is chiefly 
used for scenting tobacco,, and most of it 
seems to go to the United States. 
Tlie book does not seem to be taken up 
so much with striking adventures and story¬ 
telling a,s with a correct description of every¬ 
thing coming under notice. It, is the work 
of a naturalist actuated by recording the cor¬ 
rect, state of things, whatever they may be. 
We have evidence, however, that There is 
story-telling amongst his native seivants 
and assistants. He gives many accounts of 
the difficulty of travelling experienced by 
Europeans and the assistance rendered by 
the native Indians accustomed to those re¬ 
gions!. The climbing of steep hill-sides, seems 
to have been quite as full of danger as the 
forests and more level ground. It seems 
that in a, country so much washed by tropical 
rains the bills get so worn and washed away 
that the rocks or hard portions are left very 
often loosely piled upon one another, so that 
a slight touch is sometime! sufficient to dis¬ 
place masses of rock that would be dangerous 
to those on the same path coining up behind. 
He speaks of a grass with razcr-like edges 
that would persist in clinging to their faces 
and hands, and which, if not carefully lifted 
off before moving would scratch them, very 
seriously indeed. This grass even had a 
damaging effect upon their clothes. He 
admits,, however, that his native servants, 
although in many cases very scantily clothed, 
were notable for the clean and undamaged 
surface of the skin, which he could hardly 
account for beyond the fact of their being so 
thoroughly accustomed to the country and to 
taking care of themselves, while passing 
through forest and brush laud. 
