became more numerous. At Quartama we had certainly found abundance, but everywhere else there seemed to be great scarcity. Whole settlements were deserted, and in others, where a few old or infirm people remained, nothing but the seeds of palms and other plants were eaten.

The change in the scenery continued and increased. The places where the savannah came down to the river became more numerous; and in no place were the two separated by more than a very narrow line of trees. In one spot a mountain, bare of trees up to its very top and with rocks cropping up here and there from the scanty herbage on its sides, afforded an entirely new feature in the scenery. A mountain, or even a hill, is most interesting in Guiana.

One evening, landing at a creek called Mopai, we camped near a pond full of the splendid flowers and gigantic leaves of the royal water-lily (Victoria regia). Such a scene, in the soft and yet intense evening light of the tropics, is exquisite beyond description. Round the pond was a wall of dark forest. Water-fowl abounded, dainty spur-wings (Parra jacana) ran about on the lily leaves, and one of these birds had a nest on a leaf; high over head a flight of large white cranes (Mycteria americana) passed in Indian file to their night's rest. Flocks of vicissi-ducks (A. autumnalis) rose, flew by, whistling out their name, 'vicissi vicissi-vicissi'; and, a more practical matter, several fine musk-ducks (4. moschatus) rose, and fell to the guns.

At last, on the 22nd of March, about midday, we reached our destination at Pirara landing, and so came to the limit of our canoe journey, having taken forty-nine days to traverse a distance that, under ordinarily favourable circumstances, ought to be passed in about twenty.

CHAPTER II.

A JOURNEY IN THE INTERIOR (continued).

The Savannah-Indian Settlement at Quatata-Indian Visitors-A Buckgun-The city of El Dorado-Rain after Drought-Start for the Brazils --Down the Takootoo-Fort St. Joaquim-Cattle Farms-HomewardFording Lake Amoocoo-The Rivers in the Rainy Season-A Notorious Murderer-Shooting the Falls.

THAT night the Indians kept up a great firing of guns to attract the people from Quatata and Karanakru, two settlements respectively nine and fifteen miles distant, across the savannah. They were wanted to carry our goods; for our own men, when they reached the landing-place, considered their duties at an end. At earliest dawn, the shrill sounds of Indian music were heard from a distance, and grew louder and louder. Then Macusis began to arrive in family parties, walking in single file, many of them playing on flutes made of the bones of jaguar or deer. In each party the men and boys came first, carrying only their bows and arrows; after these came the women, burdened with the hammocks and other chattels of the whole party. As they came up to our hut, which was some distance from the waterside, the men came in and talked to us, while the women stood outside in a shy, laughing group. Presently the whole party moved on down to the river, where our baggage was; and when it passed back again, the women were always more heavily loaded than the men. This went on at intervals throughout the day, and again early the next morning; so that eventually there were probably about sixty Macusis in all.

When the last of the goods had been carried off, we ourselves started to walk to Quatata, which was to be our

ACROSS THE SAVANNAH.

33

head-quarters for some months. The undulating savannah is chiefly arranged in parallel ridges, hills, and valleys, sometimes large and sometimes small, rapidly succeeding each other. The soil changes often and abruptly; sometimes it is peaty (pegass), sometimes hard and impregnated with iron, sometimes gravelly, sometimes sandy. But whatever its nature, the soil, on the hills, is somewhat scantily covered by harsh grass, from which rise a few wind-blown, sunburnt shrubs. But in the moist valleys, of which some are mere strips, lying between the ridges of higher ground, while others are vast, perfectly level plains, many miles in extent, the grass is high and luxuriant; and these level plains are made beautiful by groups and forests of æta palms (Mauritia flexuosa), each with its exquisite crown of green fan leaves standing erect above the hanging fringe of older, withered leaves. The rising ground is everywhere dotted over with the huge nests of ants or termites, from two to ten feet high, built of yellow clay, and looking like very pointed haycocks. Sometimes, again, but at long intervals, stand palm-thatched, domed Indian houses, looking like haystacks. As a background to all this, in the far distance, on the right, is the Parcaraima range, and on the left are the Canakoo mountains.

At the end of our walk to Quatata, it was not pleasant to find that not only food, but water also, was fearfully scarce. In ordinary times there is a sufficient supply of the latter in a small river which runs past the foot of the hill on which Quatata stands. But in this extraordinary season, in one pool only was there a little water, thick and milk-white with clay, and unpleasantly tainted with iron.

Quatata stands on high ground, within half a mile of the now extinct settlement of Pirara, which forty years ago was the scene of a dispute between the English and Brazilian Governments. A year or two before that event, a Mr. Youd, a clergyman of the Episcopalian Church, had established himself as missionary at Pirara. But the Brazilians, who had at times made vague claims to that district, were stirred up by

D

a Brazilian priest, Frater José dos Santos Innocentes, to enforce their claim and at the same time to destroy the Protestant mission. A Brazilian force was sent from the frontier fort of St. Joaquim, and the priest accompanied the soldiers. The English missionary retired for a time to another station, but a company of English troops being sent from Georgetown to reinstate him, he returned to Pirara. The English on their arrival threw up an earthwork which yet remains to mark the site of Pirara, and, entrenching themselves in this, waited for some days. The Brazilians, in the meantime, looked on. At last, without coming to blows, both parties agreed to retire, leaving the question of the ownership of the savannah to be settled by diplomacy. The quarrel yet remains at that point.

Meanwhile, Mr. Youd returned to Pirara, but was once more forced to retire, by ill health, caused, say the Indians, by poison; and before long he died. The Indiansof Pirara, disliking the disturbance to which they had been subjected by both Brazilians and English, moved away, and no trace now remains of the place, except the parts of the mission church and the earthwork already mentioned. In its place, after a time, Quatata rose.

This, which is one of the largest settlements on the savannah, consists of ten houses, all oval or round. These, as always on the savannah, are not mere open sheds, as in the forest, but have very thick walls of wattle and mud, surmounted by high conical roofs of palm thatch. The very cold winds which at night blow across the savannah, have probably induced the building of these walls. Another distinctive feature of the Indian houses on the savannah, is that there are no signs of cultivation round them.

At first, constant attacks of fever, and the difficulty of moving about in a famine-stricken country, prevented our undertaking any distant expeditions; but there was very much to interest even in the immediate neighbourhood.

The houses of the Indians were always interesting, and the Indians themselves, after a time, and when their reserve

had somewhat decreased, were sufficiently communicative, and sometimes even too hospitable. When we entered a house, one of the women generally filled a calabash with paiwari, a liquor, the horrid preparation of which will presently be described, from a jar standing somewhere in the dark background, and offered it to us. Etiquette demands the offer, and etiquette demands that the visitor should finish the horrid draught to the last dregs. Intent on establishing friendly relations with the people, I often found myself obliged to undergo this disagreeable ordeal; for, after it, I was allowed to walk about the house, handle all things, and ask any number of questions.

At other times the Indians used to return our visits, coming for the purpose not only from Quatata, but also from very distant places. Some came merely from curiosity, others came to barter. These levées were often very curious. Our goods were spread out on the floor; the Indians, on their part, brought provisions, hammocks, tame birds and animals, or specimens of their manufactures, dress, and ornaments. Often, however, they merely sat for hours, speechless, but observing our slightest movements. One of the most remarkable visitors came from a part of the Canakoo mountains about fifteen miles distant. Our house was built on piles, and a rough ladder gave access to it. One morning this man, springing suddenly up the ladder, stood bolt upright, with his gun in his hand, much in the position of a soldier standing at ease. He was short, sturdy, and well-built; his hair, which, unlike that of his fellowtribesmen, was shaggy, was bound round with a cotton fillet. He was also the only Macusi I ever saw with a defined moustache. For nearly an hour he stood without altering his position, without moving a muscle, or speaking a word. He merely stood and gazed. Then he turned, bolted down the steps, and immediately went home.

Once

Such of our visitors as came often grew accustomed to us, and not unfrequently ventured upon jokes. especially, a party of them being much struck by the hairiness