Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1880-05-05
A Mile I'm Mid-Air.

Darlington Brown. during his memorabl,
survey of Guiana, reached the foot of Rora
ina and ascended its sloping portion to {
height of 8, 100 feet above the level of the
sea. Between the highest point he reached
and the foot of the highest perpendicular
portion which lowered above is band oi
thick forest. Looking up at the great wal
of rock 1000 feet in height, he could see
that forest covered its top, and that in
places on Its sides where small trees Oh
shrubs could gain hold. there they clung.
The gigantic cliff itself is composed oi
beds of white, pink and red sandstone,
interbedded with layers of red shale, the
whole resting on great bed of red diorite.
The length of Roraima is about eight or ten
miles; kukenam is perhaps larger; and the
area Of Illebeapeus is certainly more exten-
sive. 1t is impossible to view this wonder
ful group of mountains without realizing
that far back in the youth OF the world they
formed part of an archipelago in tropical
seas. That they are well wooded and
watered is made certain by visible trees and
the enormous waterfall which pours at least
from Roraima- A grand view of this cata-
ract was obtained by Darlington Brown
from the mouth of a cave, inhabited by
guacharo birds, and situated 1882 feet
above the level of the sea- Through the
clear atmosphere was distinctly visible at a
distance of thirty miles the white thread Of
the waterfall. The Indians said twas the
head of branch of the Cotinga river, but
it is more probably the head of the Caroni,
a branch of of the Orinoko. This tropical
S;aubbach is probably the highest fail in
the world, and is at the same time of con-
siderable bulk The cliff of Roraima is q
900 feet in height, ''oyer the upper half OF
which it fell like pluinb-line and then de-
scended with slight slope outward. The
remaining 5000 feet to TIE valley below
slopes at an angle of forty-five degrees, and,
being tree-covered, the rest of the fall is
hidden by foliage. The invisible attraction
OF the curious range of Savanna island
mountains to naturalists arises from the in
accessibility. This should not be under
stsod as the mere desire to excel others in
feat Of climbing, but as the hope that
some relics of the mammalian life of the So
called ''mIocene' period may have survived
on these isolated attitudes, cut off from all
world. If any Of the ''miocene' mammals
lived upon them when the sea washed over
their bases. the descendants of those ami
mails may exist there still, as the lemurs ex-
ist in Madagascar, and whole family of
marsupials, such as the kangaroo, in Austria
liza. Perhaps balloon may one day solve
the mystery which lends charm to these
island mountains, and the happy naturalist
who lands-as one will. of course, and in
time-on the summit of Roraima, may fird
himself among the descendants of the races
long since blotted from the lower world in
which the evidence of their existence is re-
corded in the great stone books alone.
Amid the forest depths, on which rests a
huge cloud, he may find not the gigantic
saurians of the youthful world, grim mon
sters of the fish-liZard and blrd-liZard
form, but the great progenitors of existing
mammslia. Leaving the tapir, one Of the
most ancient of extant creatures, at the bot
tom of the Roraima cascade, he may find at
its summit Its gigantic cogeners-huge her
bivorous animals fifteen and eighteen feet
in length; the dinotherium, tapir-Eke
creature, larger than the elephant; antique
VI tINIctbls VI
the horse, the hog and the greater cats,
which in the known parts OF the continent
are represented by the jaguar, the puma,
and the ocelor. A prospect of the dino
therium alone would be sufficient TO CON-
pensate an enthusiastic naturalis, for the
labor of years. 1t is the largest Of the ter
restrial mammals which have inhabited our
globe. and deservedly stands at the head of
the thick-skinned animals, as the megathe-
rum or gigantic sloth at that of the tardi
grades. Probably the dinotherium would
be found, if found at all, pursuing a life
like tina; of the hippopotamus. Its great
head and tusks are fitted for grubbing up
aquatic plants, and like those Of the walrus,
for helping the animal out of the water.
But the dinotherium is but one of the start
ling forms which might be looked for on
Roraima if its cliffs be really as Difficult as
painted. Lizards in the semi-ophadian
stage might be encountered, and other ami
mails which, as the little boy sald who had
been taken into lecture of Prof. Owens,
''had not quite made up their minds what
they were going to be"