ee apaore 5 Se a a. ORE a TROPICAL WILD LIFE IN BRITISH GUIANA Phov vy w. B, NESTLING HOATZIN CLIMBING WITH FINGERS AND TOES Division of Birds TROPICAL WHED LIFE IN BRITISH GUIANA ZOOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTIONS From Tue Tropicat RESEARCH STATION Or Tue New York ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY By WILLIAM BEEBE, DIRECTING CURATOR G. INNESS HARTLEY ano PAUL G. HOWES RESEARCH ASSOCIATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY COLONEL THEODORE ROOSEVELT VotuME I. Photographs and Other Illustrations by the Authors PUBLISHED BY THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 111 BROADWAY, NEW YORK CITY JANUARY, 1917 — Veet COPYRIGHT 1917, BY THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY Clark & Fritts PRINTERS 229 WEST 28TH STREET - NEW YORK Cn Che six gentlemen whose generosity made possthle the first year’s existence of the Cropical Research Station C. LEDYARD BLAIR ANDREW CARNEGIE CLEVELAND H. DODGE GEORGE J. GOULD MORTIMER L. SCHIFF AND THE LATE JAMES J. HILL This unliume is dedicated by the Authors. “Tet men stew in their cities if they will. It is in the lonely places, in jungles and mountains, in snows and fires, in the still observatories and the silent labora- tories, in those secret and dangerous places where life probes into life, it is there that the masters of the world, the lords of the beast, the rebel sons of Fate come to their own.” H. G. WE tts. INTRODUCTION The establishment of the Tropical Research station in British Guiana by the New York Zoological Society marks the beginning of a wholly new type of biological work, capa- ble of literally illiimitable expansion. It provides for inten- sive study, in the open field, of the teeming animal life of the tropics. One pleasant feature of the station is the cordial hos- pitality it extends to all naturalists. Jealousy ‘is regarded as utterly unworthy, and the whole effort of the station is to secure, from whatever source, the most thorough research possible. Every original investigator fit to work in the field is sure of an eager welcome and of all possible aid in his studies. The time has passed when we can afford to accept as satisfactory a science of animal life whose professors are either mere roaming field collectors or mere closet cata- logue writers who examine and record minute differences in “specimens” precisely as philatelists examine and record minute differences in postage stamps—and with about the same breadth of view and power of insight into the essen- tial. Little is to be gained by that kind of “intensive” col- lecting and cataloguing which bears fruit only in innumer- able little pamphlets describing with meticulous care un- important new subspecies, or new “species” hardly to be distinguished from those already long known. Such pamph- lets have almost no real interest except for the infrequent rival specialists who read them with quarrelsome interest. Of course a good deal can still be done by the collector who covers a wide field, if in addition to being a collector he is a good field naturalist and a close and intelligent ob- server; and there must be careful laboratory study of series of specimens of all kinds. But the stage has now been reached when not only life histories, but even taxonomic x INTRODUCTION characters can normally be studied better in the field than in a museum—or at least, when, although both types of study are necessary, the field study is the more important; and when intensive study in the field, as carried on at this sta- tion, yields more important results than can normally be achieved by the roaming collector. In addition, it must always be remembered that the really first class naturalist whose observations are to bear most fruit, must possess the gift of vividly truthful por- trayal of what he has possessed, the vision clear ly to see in its real essentials. The best scientific books, from Darwin and Wallace to Bates and Waterton and Audubon, are those which possess such vision and are so interesting to intelligent laymen that they are often to be found in the libraries of cultivated people who are not professed scien- tists. Mr. Beebe has the wide horizon of interest, and the happy art of expression, which entitle him to go in this class. This gift of expression is of value because it is based on a really phenomenal gift of both wide and minutely in- tensive observation. ‘The fundamental differences between the quality of his study and the quality of the study of the average closet museum worker can be illustrated by his ob- servation of those queer South American game birds, the tinamous. Closet naturalists have long known that some of the tinamou had rough, and some smooth, tarsi. This fact awakened no curiosity in their minds, no desire to find out whether it was correlated with any difference in habits or life history. They simply treated it as justifying a termin- ological decision as to whether it marked a genus or a sub- genus; and examined the tarsus of each specimen with only sufficient care to enable them to decide the specimen-drawer into which it should be thrown Beebe was a different kind of observer, and he was working in the birds’ haunts, in Demerara. The small tina- INTRODUCTION XI mou has smooth tarsi; its nesting habits are extraordinary, for the male makes the nest, stays with it until he can per- suade a roving female to drop an egg in it, and then hatches the egg and rears the chick, while the female goes off; and as soon as the chick is fairly grown the male finds another temporary mate of advanced feministic views. The big tina- mou has more normal nesting habits, although the male hatches and rears the family. This tinamou has rough tarsi. Beebe found that there was always dust or dirt in these rough tarsi; one day he sterilized some earth, by heat, scraped the dirt from a rough tinamou tarsus into it, and reared the culture. Various plants came up, and all of them were arboreal. Inasmuch as during the daytime the big tinamou, like the little tinamou, was a ground bird, this seemed to indicate that it roosted in the trees at night. Cau- tious inquiry of the Indians (so made as not to indicate that a given answer was expected) drew forth the statement that at night the little tinamou roosted on the ground, the big one in trees. Finally, watching from a shelter one eve- ning, Beebe actually saw a big tinamou ascend a tree and squat lengthwise on a branch, just before darkness came on. The invaluable studies on the various stages of the breeding habits, the nestling development, the molting changes of hoatzins, toucans, anis, jacanas, not to speak of the studies of the strange swarming insect life, and the mammalian life, could only have been made by trained field observers working with intensive observation out in the field at the tropical station. Mr. Beebe and his associates, Messrs. Hartley and Howes, have not only done a first class job, but they have pointed out the way into what is probably the most fruitful field for original and productive biological investigation. THEODORE RoosEVELT. Sagamore Hill, December 10, 1916. PREFACE In this volume my object is two-fold. First, to deline- ate as concisely and vividly as lies in my power, the general aspects of the tropical jungle and its animal life as far as these came under our observation, and to emphasize the mani- fold interest and the paucity of dangers which it offers to the scientist or nature-lover. To put it in another way, I have attempted a résumé of the grosser, more apparent characteristics of the region which we have been studying, to form a background, however sketchy and unfinished, for the more intensive, concrete investigations which follow, as well as those which may be undertaken in the future. Secondly, I present the studies which my two co-work- ers and myself have been enabled to carry on during six months of the current year, 1916, from March to August inclusive, at the Tropical Research Station established under the auspices of the New York Zoological Society. It thus represents that portion of the first year’s work, which is available for present publication. At the request of Prof. Henry Fairfield Osborn I took charge of the Tropical Research Station as Directing Cur- ator. With me went G. Inness Hartley as Research Asso- ciate, Paul G. Howes as Research Assistant and Donald Carter as Collector. Two artists, Miss Rachel Hartley and Miss Anna H. Taylor completed our party. Whatever success has attended this first year of work is due to the unsel- fish interest and thoughtful co-operation of all the members. Compared with the problems still to be solved and the researches of the future, our efforts seem like the scratch of a single dredge along ‘the bottom of an unknown ocean. This contribution is intended to arouse interest in dynamic and sustained field observation in the tropics, and to dispel some of the groundless fears which, in the minds of intend- XIV PREFACE ing visitors, invest these wonderful regions. It will, I hope, supplement and add to the value of museum zoological work, just as this tropical field research must, in turn, rest upon a firm foundation of laboratory investigation. I desire that this volume be considered as the joint contribution of Inness Hartley, Paul Howes and myself. In detail, Mr. Hartley’s researches have been concerned chiefly with the gathering of ornithological data and with problems of embryology, while Mr. Howes has confined his work to entomology. ‘The photographic illustrations are from negatives taken by Mr. Howes and myself. For the pastel of two trumpeter chicks I am indebted to Miss Persis Kirmsé. WitiiamM BEEBE. Kalacoon House, Hills Estate, Mazaruni River, British Guiana. August 10, 1916. CONTENTS PAGE DNS UT ODI oe ie hie eel) etre og 1 eed Se nae Wi eave re aR reed aa VII INTRODUCTION BY COLONEL THEODORE ROOSEVELT ooiceccccccccccccccccccccceee- Ix PEER ONC ane ta A PERE GER ee re A RT oe Sees a OUI PART I—By Wituiam BeEese. I—EsTABLISHMENT OF THE TROPICAL RESEARCH STATION... 23 PTs PORTO ATES AR TIGA Saks ie oe eles Pe ie aa a a ee 31 I1I—Tue Nartura.ists OF BARTICA DISTRICT ooccccccccncecccccccceteeccceccce 38 DVW— Tar Gennrat, Frei or WwW ORK 2.50 46 43 V—THE OPEN CLEARING AND SECONDGROWTH Q000..-..--cccccececcsseeeeeeos 51 WAS UNGER AND clensi DO hem Mss se 8 nee 69 Vil—Tur Biro Lire oF BARTIica DISTRICT occ cccccccceccccececeeeecceee 91 VIII—List or THE Birps OF BARTICA DISTRICT oii eee 127 IX—Axkawal INDIAN AND Cotoniat. NAMES OF BirDS AND INIEAWNIINEAIE SiO ES Ate TS1@ Ameen nee ee we eee 138 X—— Mi neODS2OR- ESE ARCH, 208 0 eer Be oop oe NE ee 147 XI—Furruer Notes on THE Lire History or Hoarzins 155 el —— Drie lowes) OF) “DOUG ANS foe en ee eee ee 183 NEE ORNL ETO O GTCAT DISC Osv ERTIES eee ee eee fe oe 211 XIV VounGs GREY= BAC Ken ee ly RIUM AER See eee nee eer ore 24:7 DRG aT Tera A: S ik OIE LOOP ATV mee een Peed eo 253 SOW Taito Jame) TONES TU ATEINC OO IS a ee ace cece eee PATE PROV ATE MACE ORS) Om) Gy UDA IN Ae eee he eh eee 283 PART II—By G. Inness Harttey. X VIII—Nores on THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE JACANA |... 293 XIX—Nores on THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SMOOTH-BILLED NSN [ie cee ls et ed ee ak Wad ne hd te ee econ as 307 ROK NOTES ONITA, TUR We TuMPBIR WO6) ee ree ee Ue tacos 321 XXJI—Nestine Hasirs oF THE GREY-BREASTED MartTIN ............ 328 XX II—Prewuiminary Nores oN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE d UV ETIN: Guten) ae Ce Ge I ROG Bese ee eet e dee oie Ph eae 342 SVL CONTENTS PART III—By Pavut G. Howes. XXIV—Tue Bees anp Wasps or BARTICA 2) 22 ee 371 MX V— Two. (Porprers Wasps es ee oe OE ele ee Gos hee ea 376 XXVI—Larvat SACRIFICE .......W.......... Ne eh, Ne ARAM Res A 386 XX Vil-—Tue Brack RrEep=W Ase. 0:58 oe oe ee eee 394 SOXCV PI —Tn, Winire-roorep WASP ==). 3 ee ee 401 XOOLX Tie (PORES! SmEimein VASP = 2 sc) ene ene ee ee ee 407 XXX — Tie ONE-BANDED OAUBER oe ee 415 XOX — Ta: Biwi (ELONDRESG) so) oe er 424 XOXO PARATY 7D: Pe RONISNDER were eee ee 436 eX ITI —ConrtRomlLeEp PUPATION (52.3) oon eee eee AE h hese 443 PART IV—SvurprLeMENTARY CHAPTERS. XXXIV—Nores From THE HinTeRLAND oF Guiana, Walter G. WV Vit EC eo Pee ots se a, es ee ee 453 XOX V— INDIAN “CHARMS. 22.82 eee James Rodway 488 GENERAL (UNDER, <- 02002005 oe ee ey 501 ILLUSTRATIONS Nestuinc Hoarzin CuimMBINe ...... Map oF Coasrat BririsH GuiaANA SEREET DNic Gh ORGEROW Ne © ee nets NE ee Vicroria Reeia, BoranicaL GARDEN, GEORGETOWN KGAA COON LOUSie tt: ete fe ener: A a ee are Corner or Laporarory iN Katacoon House Ruins oF THE Oxtp Durcu Fort, Kyk-over-a. Bartica witH Irs SINGLE STREET KENGOACOO ND MRONCEIUE HEVAGT oe 2d eS ee Map or GeneRAL Fretp or Work, Bartica Disrricr OvurcrRoOPPING OF AURIFEROUS QUARTZ NEAR KALACOON Mazaruni River FROM NEAR KaLacoon LANDING... Lookine Sourn FrRoM Katacoon Comrpounp INE WGY=-ChEARED! JUNG 2 6. Rent ahs ye Pure Cutture or New Grown Cecropias TuHickET OF REEDS ON CLEARED JUNGLE LAND FLOWERS OF THE GUIANA ALLAMANDA .....-. ees SeconpGrowtTH THickET Overrun By Razor Grass Grassy AREA OF SECONDGROWTH JUNGLE AT THE EDGE oF SECONDGROWTH Hei tirs JUNGLE FROM THE Mazaruni, SHowine Giant Mora Oren JUNGLE SHOWING INDIAN TRAID 0.2.00 -ccccceccn Base ano Roots or Grant Mora TREE JUNGLE Funeus Ho.tutow Tree, Usep ror OBSERVATION AND SHELTER In THE Heart OF THE JUNGLE, SEARCHING FOR A Tov- can’s Nest, Amip THE TANGLE OF A FELLED TREE Bersa Monkey, AN INHABITANT OF THE TREE Tors Grant WaArvaA on Rimnoceros BEEtin 2222.00 oe: Macusni InpiAN on His SHooTING PLATFORM. .................. Axawatr Inp1AN BRINGING IN Peccary FoR Our TABLE Great Jacosin HtuMMINGBIRD ON Roostine PERCH... Axkawal InpIAN BrinGine 1x AGouTIS AND CuRASSOWS Suippine Crates or Live Mammats, Birps anp Rep- TEES KROM KAT ACOON LANDING 22 ee ee ee JunGLE Pir No. Five, Wuicu Traprep MANY MICE AND AMPHIBIANS _.. PAGE £6 I’rontispiece 24 25 26 27 28 30 34 36 LO Ak 16 XVIFI 36. or bo ri =. — or oO = ~ ~~ atin Sc Sr Or Or Or io") ~ ~ — ~*~ ~ ILLUSTRATIONS Cansgeé CrerK, SHowING MvuckKa-MUCKA AND BuNDaARI Pimpier, Home or wun Hoatzin 222.2 Mucka-MucKA, CHARACTERISTIC GROWTH OF THE Hoarzins’ Haunts Bunpurt Pimpter TanGie, SHowinc Turee Nests AND (S4X, (ELORRZENSH oe eae Bete Lear oe ene eae ee Hoatzin on Nest Contarntnc Two NEst.Lines ........ Nestiting Hoarzins PreparRInc To CuimB or DrIve..... Hoatzins Cuimpine By Neck, Fincers anp Toss... Nest anD Two EGGs OF THE HOATGZIN 20-cccccccccccccecceceecees-- Youne Hoarazin ArremMptinG TO PRroGREss ON Soup Cap OUTINTIN a Reo FE ee eer Se rane Youne Hoarzin Swimmine Towarp rHe Riegur; Heap, Wines, Back anp Tait SHOWING ................ Youne Hoarzain Cuiimpine, Suowine Use or THUMB AND Fore FInGer witH THEIR CLavWs ......... raat a RED-BILEEDsWOUCGAING oe eee RV Ml Ue Pte eer ae ee Drap TREE SHowine Nesting Houe or Green Ara- CART OUCAN = === Our Necro Cuimser, Sixty Feet up. .................. Tau, Nestinc Tree or REpD-BILLED TOUCAN .................. Nest or Rep-BILLED Toucan, SHOWING ENTRANCE AND Base, THE LatTreR OpeNED Out witH AXxE Eaes anp Nesting MaTeriAut or ReEp-BILLED Toucan Eecs or Rep-BILLED Toucan, NaTuRAL SIZE ................. Tree witu Nestine Howe or BLAcK-NECKED ARACARI Front View oF TEN-DAY-OLD ARACARI «0000.0 Sipe View or TEN-DAY-oED ARACART ....000...000 00k Sipe View or SEVENTEEN-DAY-OLD ARACARL .....00000.-00000--- Heet-pap or TEN-pAy-OLp ARACARI TOUCAN ..........00...... HreEL-PAD OF SEVENTEEN-DAY-OLD ARACARI TOUCAN...... Lerr Heet-pap or TEN-pAy-oLD AraAcart Toucan, Suowine RevatTion To LEG anp TARSUSs .................. Min-sunewe, Hipinc Unpiscoverep Nest or SUPLHUR- AND“ WHITE-BREASTED TOUCAMN) {5cccecccstccccnh eee Nest ann Ecos or Tauracoti Grounp Dove .................. Nest anp EeGes or WHITE-NECKED CRAKE INimsi ANDe EGGS vols CANN bh) RAIKIn eee HGGrOow sD iskeye ONT GHCDEUAW iKG ee a Nine Ses srr Gr wri AUN Ard Lit) AUNGSIS Te cee Nest or tan Ory Eny-carcuEer Nest ane Eaes or CinerREeus BUSHBIRD .........000.00000---.----- ere Nestine Stus or RuFrous-FRONTED ANTCATCHER ............ Nest ano Eaeés or RuFouS-FRONTED ANTCATCHER............ Nest anp’ Eieas. or QUADRILLE. Birp).. se Nest anp Eaos oF ORANGE-HEADED MANAKIN .............. bo bo w& We Oo O&O wD WH W Ww NOWOQNW © bo bo bo oS fo) 78. 7. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. Mile 92. 93. 94, 95. 96. 101. 102. 108. 104. 105. 106. 107. 108. 109. 110. OUI nL 2F 113. 114. 115. ILLUSTRATIONS Nest anp Eaes or Brown-Breastep Pygmy GRosBEAK Nest anD Eaes or CHESTNUT-BELLIED SEED-EATER..... Nest oF THE BLur HONEY CREEPER ccccccccccccco cece. INESTSOBUMORICHIT ORIOLE ee eee.) Sete oS | Youne Grey-sackep Trumperers, Color Plate. facing Youne Trumperers Four Days Oto ................0-... Youne TrumMpeters Two Montus Op Rounpep WinG AND DEGENERATE TaIL or TINAMOU RowGcH eraAnsusiOr ph ENAMUSe oe Vee ee ok ate! ParcHes or Bere Rovce on Heap or Great TrnaMou RGEG One PiLearmep: LEN AMOU 2255. ne A ee EGGy OF ARIEGATED) WINAMOU =.2.00 008 Oe ae THE Open CLEARING OF KAaLacoon ComMPounb ................. RAWNE ORMONALT, GREY (DmmRs. <2) | eae ee CATERPILLAR OR SRHINX, MOTE: = 2.202068. eke eee Momma rickn TAN Di GUNG yoo steer Dewees eee TusBFruLt or NEWLY-HATCHED ALLIGATORS ... Youne ALuiicgators MounTED FOR SALE GUIANASAELIGATORS ON DAyv Orn tees eee Ciaws oF THREE-DAY-OLD JAacaNa CHICK, SHOWING CUR WAR ig eet a en ne, Serer wi nn MRR aceon cece Cuart oF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEG, Bopy aND WING OF THE GROWING JACANAl 2 ee DraGraM, OnTOGENETIC VARIATIONS, WING OF JACANA Ant EmsBryo, SHowinc PIGMENTATION OF FEMORAL PISA GA yes erate ete ea Se see ae ele Wi pte eee DEVELOPMENT OF THE TurRD Dicit oF THE ANI ............... DiaGraM, ONTOGENETIC VARIATIONS OF WING IN ANI OssIFICATION OF THE TIBIO-TARSUS OF THE ANL ............... DEVELOPMENT OF THE BILL OF THE AND @0.0..0---ccceseccceeeee EMBRYO OF THE Dusky NIGH THA WE. .x....1..-:--cccsscceecccccteccoeecet Preryuosis oF Heap or Emspryo Dusky NigHTHAwk DeEVELOPMENT OF BILL or THE Dusky NIGHTHAWK...... GREY-BREASTED Martin THREE Days OLD... ‘Nestinec Box or THE GREY-BREASTED MarTIN ...............-- DiaGRaM OF WiNG DEVELOPMENT OF THE HOATZIN...... Diacram oF WinG DEVELOPMENT OF TRUMPETER............ XIX 238 240 242 244 247 248 250 254 256 257 260 262 264 266 270 272 274 275 276 278 280 281 284 286 288 298 302 304 306 308 309 310 312 316 318 320 322 323 324 332 334 343 344 131. 132. 1338. 134. 135. 136. 137. 138. 139. 140. 141. 142. 143. ILLUSTRATIONS DiacraM, Wina DerEvELOPMENT OF BLACK-NECKED SPU Ay Shee ees Je il eo eh boca a Re DiacraM, Wine DreveLoPpMENT or AMERICAN CATBIRD Diacram oF Hann DevELOPMENT OF THE Hoarzin...... Diagram, Hanp DEVELOPMENT OF GUIANA KISKADEE DiacraM, Hanp DeEVELOPMENT OF BLACK-NECKED TOUCAN (23.2 ee de OE Ro eee DiacraM, Hanp DeEveLoPpMENT oF GREY-BREASTED Martin Cuartr OF RaINFALL As CORRELATED WITH THE NEsT- ING OF Wasps anp Bees IN Bartica Disrricv..... Lire Hisrorirs or Bartica Wasps. Color Plate, facing Burr Eumenes Restine on HER NEST ..W00 eee DerariLep Views or EartTHen Jucs Mabe By THE Rep TEINS oP ee in ee Nn i gly ga Nest or Burr EuMenes, SHowING FINIsHED CELLS AND ONE OPEN. FOR’ STORING). = Jues oF Rep EuMENES OPrENED To SHOW CoNTENTS RoacuH-KILLER SHOWING GRADUAL TRANSFORMATION OF CARWA ATOMP EPA 2) osha cre eee eee meee Pura oF THE ROACH-KILLER JUST AFTER THE TRANS- FORMATION FROM THE LARVA BEACK (REBD. WiaSpl tc ee ties a ot a une eee ene eae Lire Hisrortes or Bartica Wases. Color Plate, facing Cocoon or Wuttre-Footep Wasp, SHowine Its Evas- GORATH CONSTRUCTION 2. rk eee Abie | honesakin Shanon one, WONG ee eo ees SpmerR REMOVED FROM CELL OF THE BLUE HuNTREsS SHowine Eae 1n Position on Victim’s ABDOMEN CeLL oF THE BLuE Huntress, OPENED TO SHOW COCO ON face ee i Na ice Pura or THE Biur Huntress SHowine Fouipep LeEes AND ABDOMINAL BurtrREsses, WuicH PREVENT IN- JURY AGAINST THE SIDES OF THE COCOON ................--- VeRMILLION Nut Openep to SHow IMPRISONED LarR- LPP COnnw Woowshwmnvacntone; Ifo Dit: cee esse eae eee Tue HiInTeERLAND oF British Guiana LYING ON THE Uprrr Rapo-nonni River; ((Map)icee 2. CaLapiumM Berenas or INprAN CuHarms. Color Plate, PECING IT te Serer SN cA ONE IO CR ie eee Lerten seemed PARAL (General) NARRATIVE AND ECOLOGICAL By WILLIAM BEEBE DIRECTING CURATOR - 7 = L] Pegely 0 aot . - e efi Wee _ a: CHAPTER I THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE TROPICAL RESEARCH STATION Within one month after our party left New York City the ‘Tropical Research Station of the New York Zoological Society became an established fact, and the succeeding sea- son’s results proved the wisdom and success of the under- taking. As in all types of exploration the dominant factor in this work was uncertainty; the impossibility of knowing what each day would reveal of error or achievement. But our own single-mindedness of purpose combined with the unanimous good-will and sympathy of the people of Guiana left no doubt of ultimate success. The most difficult thing throughout was to resist the lure of many openings and invitations which seemed to offer opportunities almost equal to the conception with which I had set out. Grenada embodied one’s ideal of a tropical island, and when a short walk revealed rhinoceros beetles and hummingbirds’ nests and an abundance of strange birds, it seemed well worth while to spend a month there. ‘Trinidad was still more of a temptation. Here were zoologists—most hospitable and as full of the joy of scientific work as our- selves, and here was a great island which I knew from for- mer experience to be teeming from sea-beach to mountain top, with interesting forms of life. But after all, it was an island, and the headlands of Venezuela were in sight. My ambition for the Zoological Society’s Station was to have a continent to draw upon. So with real regret we continued our voyage and reached Georgetown. The big kiskadees shouted welcome from the unlovely corrugated roofs of the stellings, just as they had seven years before. And during all this time the Botanical Gardens had lost no 24 TROPICAL WILD LIFE IN BRITISH GUIANA NEWAMSTEROAM Coo, 45 2G IVER Mayaicd RIVER MAHAICONy ABARY RIVER i & Sf $ 9 =< Ct) ES SPS) 5 Ss nS ° wy / wv a CY ZA WwW AN 4 2 \ 9 FIG. 1. MAP OF COASTAL BRITISH GUIANA whit of beauty, nor the people aught of their whole-souled sympathy and generous hospitality. We found a house and servants awaiting us, and here we made our headquarters. We began work in the Gardens, but soon found that this and the surrounding country, how- ever well adapted to certain forms of life and to sugar plan- tations, offered too limited a field for our investigation. I undertook a series of short trips in various directions, radiat- ine from Georgetown as fingers radiate from the palm of a hand. And again came the temptation to select one place or another as being almost all we could desire. We found interesting Indian ibe up the Demerara with good sec- ondgrowth jungle close at hand; far beyond the Essequibo ESTABLISHMENT OF STATION 25 Photo by W. B. FIG. 2, STREET IN GEORGETOWN River we motored to the end of the Pomeroon Trail, where great moras and kakarallis towered overhead, and we were almost persuaded. Then one day, in a down-pour of rain I followed an old river trip of mine, made years ago, up the Essequibo to Bartica. Here I knew at last that the Station would find a worthy home at least for this season. I re- turned at once, purchased a houseful of furnishings, and without a moment’s delay we packed up again and trekked inland. So swiftly did we work, that even in this slow mov- ing tropic land we were able in three day’s time to entertain our first guests, Colonel and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt and Mr. and Mrs. Withers. To make our manners properly to all those who have aided us would be equivalent almost to a roster of the inhabi- 26 TROPICAL WILD LIFE IN BRITISH GUIANA Photo by W. B. FIG. 3. VICTORIA REGIA IN BOTANICAL GARDEN TRENCH, GEORGETOWN tants of Georgetown. I cannot refrain from mentioning the names of the Governor, Sir Walter and Lady Egerton, Hon. and Mrs. Cecil Clementi, Hon. J. J. Nunan, Prof. Harrison, Mr. Rodway, Mr. and Mrs. Hayes and Mr. Cun- ningham in Georgetown, Mr. Beckett in Berbice and Mr. Frére and Mr. Withers in the vicinity of Kalacoon. To Mr. Withers, through Robert Simpson, President of the Bartica Agricultural Estates, we are indebted for Kalacoon itself, on the Hills rubber estate, rent-free. For this and a score of other kindnesses, words fail to express adequate apprecia- tion. We prefer to feel that the gift is one to science, which we, the benefiters, can repay only by the hardest, most sin- cere work of investigation, of which we are capable. Kalacoon is a very large, two-storied house, built on a rather abrupt hill, some two hundred feet above the Maza- runi River. The laboratory room alone, on pillars fifteen feet above the ground, was thirty by sixty feet with sixteen windows. Two miles below the house the Mazaruni entered ESTABLISHMENT OF STATION 27 the equally large Kssequibo, while the mouth of the Cuyuni River was the same distance above. All three rivers were visible, together with nine islands. To the Kast lay the rub- ber plantation of Mr. Withers, and across the river the tiny group of compact, attractive buildings of the Government Rest House and the Penal Settlement. Beyond these and toward all other points of the compass solid jungle covered the rolling hills. No more central spot could be found, nor one more delicately balanced between the absolute primitive wilder- ness and those comforts of civilization which mean continual health and the ability to use body and brain to the utmost. Three times a week a little steamer brought ice, fresh vege- tables and mail. Georgetown could be cemehed | in five min- utes by telegraph and New York half an hour later by Photo by W. B. FIG. 4. KALACOON HOUSE ASNOH NOOOWIVY NI AYOLVUORVT JO YANHOO °¢ ‘OI “HD d fQ 010d ESTABLISHMENT OF STATION 29 cable, while the steamer trip to Georgetown occupied only seven hours. Yet no one passed us, save an occasional government official, or a dug-out of negro gold-diggers or diamond seekers, or the wood-skin of an Indian. Throughout all the months our Indian hunter found an abundance of meat for the table within a mile or two of the house, and I was one day charged by a jaguar only a few hundred yards away. I shall reserve for other articles an account of the more common creatures which surrounded us; but these few facts emphasize the extremes of life at Kaia- coon. ‘The shortest walk often furnished material for days of research. For longer expeditions we had launches at our disposal, for ascending the rivers to ‘the rapids and falls, while Mr. Wither’s Ford car climbed the most impossible hills and found its way along trails which otherwise were traversed only by naked Akawai and Carib Indian hunters. For those who think of the tropics as a place of con- stant danger and disease, I may say that mosquitoes and flies, malaria and other fevers were absent. A cool breeze blew most of the day, the temperature varying from 68 to 93 degrees. At night a heavy blanket was a necessity. A few poisonous snakes were found, but only after prolonged searching. A lantern, turned low, kept away the vampires. and while béte rouge were annoying, they were easily guard- ed against. Under such conditions it was possible to work hard day after day, month after month, and remain un- poisoned, unbitten and in good health. The one terrible disadvantage, the one thing which no planning, or finance or forethought could alter was the piti- fully inadequate ability of each of our human brains to cope properly with a tithe of the specimens which accumulated, or to understand and translate mto logical explanation more than the merest fraction of the mass of strange facts and phenomena which filled our minds and note-books. Pe gaa oe ve! WIE Cie tale Photo by RUINS OF THE OLD DUTCH FORT, KYK-OVER-AL 1 oo rays FIG CHAPTER II HISTORICAL BARTICA Today we find Georgetown with sixty-odd thousand people, with trams and railroads and motor cars; with doz- ens of sugar plantations scattered along the coastland, em- ploying thousands of coolie and negro laborers. ‘Two score miles of river travel up the Essequibo bring us, as I have said, to Kalacoon House near Bartica, from which we see only jungle, save for the small Penal Settlement, a bunga- low or two at Katabo Point, the Hills rubber plantation and an old Dutch arch-way on a little island. But this ruined arch of bricks is reminiscent of very different times. When Georgetown was unknown, when the coast of British Guiana was only one great swamp and marsh in- habited by cannibal Caribs, then this arch-way echoed to the clank of old-fashioned muskets and the boom of flare- mouthed cannon. Commanding the junction of three great rivers, the Dutch chose this tiny island, built a fort on it and named it Kyk-over-al, and like Kalacoon House today, it literally “looked over all.” It is said that the Dutch when they first came, found traces of still earlier Spanish occupa- tion of this islet. If true, this was clear evidence of the visit of Raleigh or some of his lieutenants in their search for the mysterious Kl] Dorado. ‘The succeeding history of this re- gion is not strictly germain to the purpose of this volume, but a few notes on the vicissitudes of man’s occupation are well worthy of record. The fort on the island was built by the Dutch over three hundred years ago, in 1613, but during the succeed- ing few years we know little of what inane except that fifty-five years later all this region was desolate, whether due to the attacks of Indians we “shall never know. In 1679 32 TROPICAL WILD EEE IN BRITISE GULANA Hendrik Rol took charge at Kyk-over-al, as Governor, Cap- tain, Storekeeper and Indian ‘Trader, and soon there were three plantations on the surrounding points of land. A visitor to one of these reports that their “reception was very cordial, the dinner being perfect, consisting of five different kinds of roast meat, including deer, fowl, duck, turkey and pigeons besides made dishes of labba and waterhog. ‘The drinks were mum, wine and brandy, with which they kept themselves merry until the evening when they returned to the fort full and jolly (vol en zoct)! So much for social life two hundred and fifty years ago in this region. . In the year 1678 the West Indian Company of Zeeland had four plantations, Vryheid on the present site of Bartica, Duinenburg and Fortuin near Kalacoon and Poelwyck on Caria Island. Succeeding history tells of a constant succes- sion of petty quarrels and bickerings among the Dutch them- selves, varied by periods of prosperity, at the height of which they were usually captured and plundered by French and English corsairs or pirates. One account remains, recorded by Mr. Rodway. On October 18, 1708, a French privateer under Captain Anthony Ferry, with three vessels and three hundred men, came to Essequibo for the purpose of plun- dering the colony. ‘They took the Brandwagt (guardhouse ) at the mouth of the river, which was garrisoned by only three soldiers, before the Commandeur could send assistance. Immediately on the report of the arrival of the enemy, van der Heyden tried his best, by sending a few soldiers down the river, to stop their progress, but the Brandwagt having been already captured, the soldiers returned to Kyvk-over-al. The enemy proceeded up the river, burning a few Indian villages ‘that lay on the banks, and came to Bartica Point without the shghtest opposition. Here the manager of Plantation Vryheid tried to oppose their landing with the aid of his slaves and what friends he could get together from the immediate neighborhood. He sent to the Commandeur asking for help, but it appears that van der Heyden was HISTORICAL BARTICA 33 possessed of more discretion than valor, for he kept within the fort. The manager of Vryheid, with his few slaves was quite powerless against such a number of disciplined, well- armed men, and it therefore soon followed that the French were masters of the Point, driving away its defenders with a loss on their part of two killed and several wounded. Being now landed, Captain Ferry commenced a series of raids on all the neighboring plantations, plundering them of every- thing portable, the managers and planters taking refuge in thie fore; aEbere ae was in confusion, Me Cotmmer- deur being blamed by the planters for allowing their estates to be valk dlsved when he ought to have gone to their assist- ance. He excused himself by insisting that his fifty soldiers were useless against such an enemy while it was his duty to defend the fort and so prevent the loss of the whole colony. No attempt was made to storm Kyk-over-al, but Ferry sent an officer under a flag of truce to demand ransom, with threats that if it were not paid all the estates would be burned and destroyed. ‘To preserve the Colony the Commandeur capitulated and entered into negotiations with the enemy. Finally Ferry undertook to leave the Colony unmolested on a payment of fifty thousand florins. ‘This amount was paid in slaves at three hundred florins per head, meat and other provisions, besides one thousand pieces of eight in cash for the Captain and his officers. One third of this ranson had to be paid by the almost-ruined owners of the private estates, while the remaining two-thirds was settled by one hundred and twelve of the Company’s s slaves. With the realization that the soil of the interior was not nearly as well suited to the raising of sugar-cane as that of the coastal lowlands, there began, about 1721, a migra- tion toward the coast, which eventually resulted in the dyk- ing and settlement of that region and the relinquishment of all the interior part of the Colony. The last authentic note of this period of man’s occupation is that in 1764 Fort Kyk-over-al.was partly torn down to furnish hewn stone 34 TROPICAL: WILD LIFE IN BRITISH, GUIANA a sh Beas Photo Dy W. B. FIG. 7. BARTICA WITH ITS SINGLE STREET for the sugar mill of the Plantation Duinenburg—this being of interest because the plantation was exactly on the site of the present Kalacoon House. After the desertion of Kyk-over-al and Vryheid, the jungle closed in once more, and for more than one hundred years we hear nothing further of this part of the country, Then began a brief neniers era, and in 1829 a mission sta- tion was established at “the place known to the Indians as Bartika or Red Earth. I offer without comment a seriously written paragraph from a volume by the Rev. W. T. Veness on “Ten Years of Mission Life in British Guiana.” It is written of the region immediately around Bartica. “The sky is clear, the air exhilarating and balmy, the climate delightfully equable and the face of Nature most charming; but what a catalogue HISTORICAL BARTICA 35 of horrors when you step forth to make an intimate acquaint- ance within the beauties so lavishly displayed on every side. The béte rouge almost drives you to distraction, the wood- tick torments you horribly, the snakes frighten you out of your life, the bat will hardly allow you to sleep for dread of being drained of your life-blood, and the chigoe threatens you with a prospect of amputation. Such are some of the delights of a life in the wilds of Guiana. Let no timid man attempt it.” With missionaries who could believe and write such ab- surdities it is hardly remarkable that im Thurn, visiting Bartica in 1878, writes that Bartica Grove, once a flourish- ing mission station, is now reduced to a few wooden huts, used as stores, a church recently half restored from a most rumous condition, a few small living houses and some timber sheds. ‘These latter, he adds, are picturesque buildings, con- sisting of a few upright posts supporting roofs of ‘withered palm leaves. Under their eaves colonies of gigantic green spiders, as large as thrushes’ eggs, watch their webs, undis- turbed from year’s end to year’s end. ‘The whole sleepy, beautiful village lies under the shade of an avenue of large mango trees. IT‘rom this avenue the view riverward is of an enormous stretch of water; the view landward is of a tangled shrubbery of flowermg bushes, from which rise groups of graceful palms, and is bounded in the distance by the edge of the forest. ‘The ditches and paths in the village are choked by great masses of maidenhair ferns and _ silver-backed gymnograms. A few years after the decadence of the mission station came a second EK] Dorado, when the discovery of gold and diamonds up the Mazaruni and Cuyuni rivers brought hosts of blacks and bovianders. The only changes which the suc- ceeding two score years have wrought in im Thurn’s de- scription. of Bartica, are an increase in small houses to ac- commodate the several hundred inhabitants, and unlovely telegraph, police and post offices, besides a stelling for the 36 TROPICAL WILD DIBESIN (BRITISH *GUIANA Photo by W. LD. FIG. 8. GOLD-BOAT LEAVING BARTICA FOR THE UPPER MAZARUNI tiny steamers which come up river thrice a week. It is still a very sleepy, useless village and a very attractive one to the casual observer. And so we find the little part which this Bartica dis- trict has played in history framed in gold, beginning with HISTORICAL BARTICA 37 the El Dorado of Raleigh and ending today with the hum- ble washing pan of the bovi ander. Instead of boats loaded with gallant courtiers sweeping upriver to sands of pure gold and rocks fretted with precious stones, I hear from Kealaeoe House the chanty of the black paddlers, and soon around Bartica Point comes the bargeful of gold-diggers, off on their half year’s journey, happy if Ses can jee back a little bagful of the glittering grains, or a few dozen dull diamonds in the rough. Standing today on Kyk-over-al, in the shadow of the old brick arch hung with vines and draped with orchids. we have left British Guiana as the world knows it, far behind us, along the distant sea-coast. Facing toward the great hinter femal we know that nothing but ee hes before, with two narrow Indian trails as ihe only means of entrance to this unexplored, unmapped region, besides the alternative of toilsome paddling against swift currents and laborious portages around innumerable falls and rapids. Some day, motor tracks and a railroad will be pushed inland, fretting this region, so tiny on the map of South America, so tr smiendlne when one stands deep hidden in its jungles. Then the great wealth of the interior of British Guiana will become apparent, whether it be to forester, min- er, lapidarist or planter, or like ourselves, to mere seekers after truth by way of the lives of beasts and birds and insects. CEEAP Th, Litt THE NATURALISTS OF BARTICA DISTRICT The part which Bartica district has played in science. is of considerable interest. Humboldt, Wallace and Bates left Guiana unexplored. Waterton’s researches were con- fined to the lower Demerara River. As early as 1776 seri- ous books on the natural history of British Guiana began to appear, but like Bancroft’s “Essay” these are of only: casual interest, although their accounts of ““torporific eels” and “woods masters” make delightful reading. On September 25, 1835, Robert Schomburgk arrived at Essequibo Point, later to be called His Majesty’s Penal Settlement, and spent about ten days collecting botanical specimens, and preparing for his long expedition up country. During the next decade both he and his brother touched occasionally at Bartica. Richard Schomburgk in the first volume of his “Reisen in Britisch-Guiana” tells of a short sojourn at Bartika-Grove in 1841, and of the capture ‘of a sloth with its young on the neighboring island of Naiku- ripa or Keow Island as it is now called. Nineteen months later he returned to Bartika, where he captured a beautiful green whip snake Dryophis catesbyi, and noted that the Penal Settlement had been established. In volume III of this same work, Schomburgk gives a list of Mikroskopisches Leben as found at Bartica in sue- cessive layers of soil uncovered in a seven-foot hole.’ The remaining groups which he treats in these volumes. mol- lusea, insects, birds, mammals and plants, are identified only with general regions or physical zones, and with no more *These are Polygastrica—Gallionella distans Phytolitharia—A mphidiscus rotella Lithasteriscus tuberculatus Spongolithis fistulosa Lithostylidium clavatum Spongolithis . foraminosa Lithostylidium crenulatwm Spongolithis fustis Spongolithis acicularis Spongolithis obtusa NATURALISTS OF BARTICA 39 exact indication of their distribution. His list of birds num- bers 418 species. In 1837 William Hilhouse made a trip up the Cuyun: in search of orchids, and writes: “TI reached Calicoon Creek in the Massaroony River on the first of March, and had to return to town for craft and supplies, as I found literally the whole population without bread.” A naturalist and botanist who was intimately associ- ated with this particular region was Carl Ferdinand Appun, who spent twenty-three years in Venezuela and Guiana, being sent out by King Frederick Wilhelm IV of Prussia on the recommendation of the great Humboldt. The sum- mary of his many years of travel in British Guiana is given in the second volume of his “Unter den Tropen.” This is a conscientiously but stolidly written work, with a few quaint but charming illustrations from pencil by the author. Two of the originals are in the Georgetown Museum. The sec- ond chapter of this volume is devoted to his excursions in the vicinity of the Penal Settlement and Bartica. He spent two vears there, 1857 and 1859, but his fifty pages of obser- vations could quite easily have been made in a month’s time. Fourteen years later we find the following pathetic entries in his journal, written when at Kaiateur Falls and repro- duced in the Royal Gazette at Georgetown. June 15—Returned to Hymyyeug. We were not re- ceived very pleasantly, the old Pankoo seemed to be quite disappointed that we were not killed during our expedition to the top of the fall. The Indians have a suspicion that we are looking for gold; an old tradition of the Indians of British Guiana is, that when the white man digs for gold in their territory, the Indian race will be destroyed forever. Commenced to paint the view of the upper fall. June 16—Painted on the picture; a general consulta- tion among the Indians about our looking for gold. Monday, 17—Painted the whole day, no sleep during the night. 40 TROPICAL WILD" LIFE IN BRERTSH (GUIANA Photo by W. B. FIG. 9. PENAL SETTLEMENT FROM KALACOON Tuesday, 18—Painted the lower part of the picture, chiefly the forest. Received a large Trigonocephalus atrow. The Accawai Edward building a hut near us. How lone we shall live, God knows, our end is near. Wednesday, 19—Painted all day and spent a miser- able day. We have no way of escape, as we have no coria} or boat of any kind. Thursday, 20—Painted and nearly finished the view of the upper part of the Kaiateur falls, seeing no way of escape, I am determined to meet my fate. June 21—The last day of my life! This night all will be over. They come! I take poison.” Although frightfully burned with carbolic acid, his companion brought Dr. Appun down river to the Penal Settlement, where he died after two days. His fears of the NATURALIS®S OF BARTICA 41 Indians were only partly real, most of the danger being purely imaginary. Lloyd, an amateur naturalist, who has written pleas- antly in Timehri, lived for some time at Kalacoon, and im Thurn in his “Among the Indians of Guiana” gives the excellent pen picture of Bartica Grove, written on the oc- casion of his visit in 1878, which I have already reproduced. Henry Whitely, an English collector of bird skins, spent some time between the years 1879 and 1884 at Bartica Grove and there collected two hundred and fifty-four spe- cies. His complete British Guiana collections combined with these of Schomburgk number 616 forms. These are enumerated in the various volumes of the British Museum Catalogue of Birds, and in several articles by Osbert Salvin published in the Ibis for 1884. Whitely is the only bird collector who has done any extensive work in this vicinity. In 1909 I paid a visit to this region and ascended the Cuyuni and the Aremu Rivers, and subsequently published my observations on the fauna in book form, “Our Search for a Wilderness.” Carl Eigenmann in his recent technical volume on the “Fresh-water Fishes of British Guiana’ re- marks on page 30, that “a series of collections in fresh water was made at sea-level... . Wismer, Malali and Bartica.” He himself did not visit the latter place, and the only other note is a list of thirty-three species recorded from Bartica. ' Moenkhausia lepidurus Creatochanes affinis Creatochanes caudomaculatus *Callophysus macropterus Pimelodus clarias Hemidoras carinatus Trachycorystes obscurus Loricariisthus griseus Bivibranchia protractila Anisitsia notata Anostomus plicatus Leporinus nigrotoeniatus Leporinus friderici Leporinus maculatus Leporinus alternus Leporinus fasciatus Tetragonopterus chalceus Moenkhausia grandisquamis Moenkhausia shideleri Astyanax essequibensis Holobrycon pesu Chalcinus rotundatus Metynnis hypsauchen Myloplus pacu Myloplus rubripinnis Myloplus rhomboidalis Serrasalmo rhombeus Stolephorus guianensis Stolephorus suranamensis Pachypops furcroeus Geophagus surinamensis Crenicichla lugubris Colomesus psittacus 42 TROPICAL WILD LIFE IN BRITISH GUIANA The fish fauna of the Mazaruni and the Cuyuni Rivers has never been investigated. A. boviander who worked for me, Robert Cozier, col- lected skins in this vicmity for Mr. James McConnell. An annotated list of the skins in this gentleman’s collections is being at present published, under the editorship of Charles Chubb. The first volume of the “Birds of British Guiana” has already appeared. From the Tinamous to the Wood- peckers inclusive, three hundred and forty-nine forms are recognized. CHAPTER IV THE GENERAL FIELD OF WORK In central British Guiana, about forty miles from the coast, the Eissequibo river receives its mightiest tributary the Mazaruni, coming in obliquely from the west. At the apex of the peninsula formed by this junction is the village of Bartica. Its chief reason for existence is as a rendezvous for black gold and diamond miners, who here fit out and here return from the hinterland of the Mazaruni and the Cuyuni rivers. Aside from this the village is negligible and interests us only i name. Within three miles of Bartica is a lime plantation and another of rubber, the latter, the Hulls Estate, operated by G. B. Withers. On the opposite bank of the Mazaruni is the Penal Settlement and a government Colony House. A mile upstream is Katabo Point at the junction of the Mazaruni and Cuyuni rivers. Here is located the supply bungalow of the Peters Mine Company. Except for occa- sional Indian and Boviander clearings this constitutes the human occupancy of the region. All else is untouched jun- gle or “high bush.” The needs of this tiny community are catered to by a little steamer which makes three trips each week between Georgetown and Bartica. Our Research Station was situated at Kalacoon House, a recent addition to the Hills Estate. This is two and a half miles south-west of Bartica, on a two hundred-foot hill overlooking the Maza- runi River. : With the exception of occasional trips to the first falls of the Mazaruni and Cuyuni rivers, across to the Penal Settlement and down to Keow Island, all our work during 1916 was done within two miles of Kalacoon House. In fact, one-half square mile of the Jungle south of the Station INDANO AHL HALIM NOILLONNDL SLI OL INQUVZVW AHL dA DNIMOOT ‘LSVA AHL WOoud NOOOVIV. ‘OT ‘DI ‘dM fq 0f0Ud GENERAL. FIELD OF WORK 45 would cover the area of four-fifths of our researches. And now at the end of our stay, as we look back over the results of this new experiment in tropical scientific work, we realize that with all our efforts we have made only the merest be- ginning, and that many men could spend their lives in prof-- itable research at this spot. Kalacoon House faces the junction of three mighty rivers, hundreds of miles from their sources in the highlands of Venezuela and Brazil; at our back door begins a jungle through which one might wander as far as San Francisco from New York without meeting a human being. Our province in general is a colony less in size than Colorado, and our chosen plot for research is of equal area with Cen- tral Park in New York City. The geology of Bartica district is not of great interest. Indeed, looking at the panorama encircling Kalacoon House, one 1s unconscious of any evidence of earthly imorganic structure; vegetation fills the landscape. We have passed the low, marshy alluvial coastal zone, and have not yet reached the mountainous hinterland. Here we have rolling hills covered with dense high jungle, trisected by the navi- gable waters of the three great rivers, and veined with many small creeks. When we come to examine the rocks which here and there protrude through the foliage or become visible at low water, we find that the general aspect of the skeleton of the country is not unlike that around New York City. At low tide, bare rocks are visible almost in mid-stream, stretching directly across the bottom and several miles up the river, where this great belt of grey granite here and there breaks through the evergreen mass of vegetation. This is one of the most recent of the basal igneous rocks of the colony. No fossils are found anywhere, even in the sandstone farther down river. The rocky islets off Bartica are a dark hornblende-schist. This completes the tale of the stone, except for an interesting vein of quartz extending across a tiny stream near Kalacoon, which has been found 46 TROPICAL WILD LIFE IN. BRITISH GUIANA ¢ RUBBER H \PLANTATION \ \ FIG. 11. MAP OF THE GENERAL FIELD OF WORK IN BARTICA DISTRICT auriferous, carrying about thirty-six grains of gold to the ton. Meagre as is this percentage, it is exciting to a passing naturalist and tempts one always to pick up a bit of the GENERAL FIELD OF WORK 47 Photo by W. B. FIG. 12. OUTCROPPING OF AURIFEROUS QUARTZ NEAR KALACOON glistening stone in hopes of a nugget. ‘The pay dirts are farther up river, where good gold deposits and diamonds are occasionally found in close proximity. The surface soil in the jungle is of course the usual black vegetable mould, but the sub-soils are clayey and sandy in character. It is surprising to see how close together the two may be found.