several watercourses, the shallow river before-mentioned, and the rocky gully, beneath the boulders of which feeding streams were rushing down towards the rapids of the Potaro on our left. We now commenced the stiff ascent of the mountain range, which on the top forms the table-land causing the great Fall. The path was tolerably good, but the ascent was very steep for more than a quarter of a mile. Most of the way we rose three feet for every horizontal one. The weather had cleared, and it was hot and exhausting work. Presently we met J. coming down after his short visit to the Falls, which he described as most magnificent. This inspired our energies, and we marched on for over three hours through the forest, surrounded by trees and shrubs of beautiful foliage, rare orchids, moss and fern clad rocks. A sudden termination of the wood, and we issued on a small savannah, from the edge of which the grand waterfall came full in view. Subsequently a photograph was taken from this neighbourhood. We now entered a narrow fringe of trees, to emerge again on a large open space or savannah covered with low, broad-leaved plants, and selected a spot for our camp by some wild guavas within fifty yards of the head of the Fall. On seeing the Kaieteur in its full glory, lit up by a brilliant sun whose rays, piercing the mist rising from the bottom more than 700 feet far down, produced a rainbow every hue of which was reflected in the torrent, my first impression, and I believe exclamation, was, "This is far grander than Niagara!" I have paid several

lengthy visits to that wonder of the world, and fully appreciate the sublimity of the outpour of an inland sea, and the wild scene of the rapids leading to it, but though this immense volume of water is not to be here admired, still, I unhesitatingly declare that to my mind the scene is equal to it, though after another fashion. What the Kaieteur loses, from a comparison with Niagara in width and in magnitude of the descending flood, it gains in height, while the surrounding scenery is far lovelier.

It must not, however, be imagined that the Kaieteur is a cascade or even a cataract tumbling from a dizzy height, for when we paid our visit there it was a true, corporate, and compact volume of water from the top until it reached the bottom level, more than 700 feet below, when it rushed off in cataract after cataract for several miles into the valley we had come up. Place the heights of Montmorenci on Niagara, and over these let the Sault Sainte Marie shoot the waters of the St. Charles, and the North American traveller can form some idea of the Kaieteur as we saw it; but let him also clothe the sides of the valley, through which the river has seemingly eaten its course, with the loftiest timber of Virginia or Kentucky, which adds grace and beauty to this grand scene. Great beauties of nature must be witnessed to be appreciated, and most waterfalls bear so close a family resemblance that their description is difficult except by comparison with others-hence my efforts to write of what I saw. The Kaieteur possesses a peculiar characteristic in the

colour of its water, which from pure burnt sienna. varies and changes when falling in the sun to every lighter shade of brown, that with the prismatic reflection from the rainbow, and the changing shadows of the tree-covered slopes, as the afternoon sun kept sinking behind the western mountain, which subdued the tints one moment to leave them the next more brilliant by withdrawal, produced the appearance of a kaleidoscope. Every shade of brown and orange near the sides, fringed with "thinnest veils of lawn" ascending when too vapoury, or are falling where the water globules were too dense, blown hither and thither by the fitful eddying gusts, presented the most beautiful sight I had ever witnessed in many wanderings in either hemi'sphere. In front, looking northwards, could be seen a valley, "lovelier than all the valleys of Ionian hills," with the Potaro, like a silver lace, meandering away for six or seven miles between its woody sides, while far, far in the distant south-west could be distinguished the first spurs of the Andes, and the great mountains of Brazil. Another peculiarity of the Potaro, which it possesses in common with the Essequibo, is the strange power of reflection in its coffee-coloured water, wherein every overhanging shrub and twig, and even insect, on them are distinctly mirrored; vines with flowers of bright hue, orchideous plants pendant from many a mora, "green," or "purple" heart, leaves bright as the sugar maple's here become "Bismarckcoloured," and are reproduced in sepia or sienna. The forest timber is of enormous growth, unthinned by

the hand of man; grand in life, and grand too in decay. It is all these accessory objects for wonder and admiration which so much enhance the beauty of the Kaieteur, and which render a visit to it so well worthy the time, expense, and discomfort of a voyage across the sub-tropical Atlantic. With ordinary precautions it is a safe journey as far as health is concerned, for the interior of British Guiana is very healthy, and not at all trying to the European constitution—at least such was our experience; but let not any traveller, satiated with hackneyed scenes in other lands, seek a new excitement by a visit to the Falls of Kaieteur, and imagine he can accomplish the journey there from the sea-coast with the ease and comfort of modern travel. He must make studious arrangements, estimating the time he can afford, and the amount of provisions and various stores necessary for this, and make up his mind to bear the fatigue and sometimes monotony of a journey by water, over 200 miles up the Essequibo and Potaro rivers, exposed in a small batteau when on the latter, to a fiercely blazing sun for hours together without other protection than that of an umbrella, and camping in the open each night perhaps in torrents of rainfrom which, however, his hammock covers should give protection—and when arrived at the place where he has to leave his boats, a very stiff mountain walk for three or four hours awaits him. The object, however, when gained well repays for this and more.

I allude now to the journey to the top of the Fall, not that to the bottom of it, from attempting which

latter I would earnestly endeavour to dissuade a friend, unless the dryness of the season allowed passage to be made up the bed of the river near the margin; but then it would be a bad time of year to make a visit to the Fall, as the reduced amount of water crossing over the top would no doubt prevent the Kaieteur being seen to such advantage as during the rainy season, or towards its close. A considerable amount of time is necessary to make the visit to satisfactory advantage; five weeks, but better six weeks, should be allowed, and this would give about a fortnight's enjoyment at the Falls. This would entail the transport of a large amount of food, all of which, to last there and back, has to be taken with one, and necessitates the utmost possible reduction in other impedimenta. For the same reason it is a mistake to take beer, as it requires too much space, and the less spirits, except for medicinal purposes, the better.

If a visitor's time is limited, or his stock of food runs short, he will be forced to return before having had leisure to appreciate the object of his expense and toil, and he will be bitterly disappointed at having to turn his face homeward, without having been able to see all that there is to be seen, and this is a great deal. It is necessary to take plenty of preserved meat and soup in tins, carefully rejecting those which contain fish, as a fresh supply of the latter can generally be procured en route. Also whole roasted coffee (not forgetting a grinding mill), cocoa, tea, sugar, and preserved milk, in ample quantities, as these are the staple articles of food in the bush, and are indispensable towards keeping