Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1896-03-27
A REGION OF WONDER
THE MYSTERIOUS COUNTRY NEAR
THE scHoM5uReK LINE.


which Modern Man Has Been Unable to
scale-May Contain Prehistoric Animals
and Trees-Proposed ~ = Park.
Perhaps the result of the Venezuela
boundary commissions work will be
the solving Of one Of the most remark
able geological enigmas in the world
and the exploration of what is regarded
as unique natural wonderland. This
remarkable region is a number Of ele-
vated and isolated areas Of land, situ-
ated on what the British call British
Guiana's southwestern boundary, which
is in the disputed territory. 1t is ON the
British side Of the Schomburgk line
A British Guiana newspaper describes
this region, as far as it is known. and
expresses the hope that the final settle
ment of the boundary controversy will
leave it we'll within British bounds
Should there be another result. how
ever, the newspaper says, the region
should be made an international park,
something on the plan Of the Yellow
stone park reservation.
The region is called by the Indians
"Roraima, but the several isolated
areas are known by distinctive names.
Each consists Of what might be called
an isolated mountain, but is really a
tableland. comprising an area of 100 or
more square miles, elevated several
thousand feet above the surrounding
country. The rocky sides Of the noun
tains are as perpendicular as the Hud-
son river Palisades and entirely bare Of
vegetation and have defied all attempts
to scale them. The level summits are
covered with trees and other vegetation,
and down the rocky sides fall large
number Of cascades Of considerable size,
indicating the certain existence Of riv-
ers and streams ON the mysterious sum-
mits, and probably Of lakes that feed
the rivers. The SUBMITS have been OBJ
served with telescopes, and are known
to be as full Of plant life as the tropic-
al plains below, but beyond this nothing
| is known.
Because so little is known Of the con-
ditiou Of these tablelands occasion is
given for all manner of speculation as
to what exists there. That the vegeta-
tion is quite different from that ON the
plains below the telescope shows, and
that it should be so is quite natural, as
the tablelands are 1000 or more feet
higher than the plains. While the eli
mate Of the plains is tropical, that Of
the tablelands must be temperate, not
only because of their elevation, but also
because Of the free play the winds have
about them.
OF the geology of the region this ex-
PLANTATION is given: This part Of South
America rose slowly from the sea,
through successive and remote ages. The
Roraima mountains were formed pre-
cisely as was the rest Of the land, and
are not the result Of volcanic action.
Hence they must have been above the
ocean long before the surrounding
plains appeared. They stood 1900 feet
above the sea level when the neighbor-
ing mountain tops were but islands in
the ocean. In the course Of a period,
difficult to appreciate, the adjacent val
leys and plains appeared above the wa
ter and became covered with vegetation
and animal life. But the isolated pla-
teaus of Roraima had a tremendous start
of the plains below. Here comes the al
legged ground for the speculation that
perhaps on these mysterious SUBMITS
there exist fora and fauna unlike any
found elsewhere, forms Of life that long
since disappeared from other parts of
the world, but remained the same on
these SUBMITS because unaffected by the
influences Of communication with the
outer world. All sorts Of wild guesses
have been hazarded regarding the exist
ence of strange reptiles and animals
among the streams and forests Of Ro-
raima.
The cascades falling from the sum-
mits are among the highest in the
broad enough to be visible 30, miles
away. 1t falls sheer, without break.
The mountains from which these cas-
cades fall form the dividing watersheds
Of the Amazon, the Orinoco and the
Essequibo, the three great rivers of
South America, and the waters of the
cascades flow some to one and some to
another of these rivers It is argued
that to supply these waterfalls there
must be a considerable body Of water
on the mountain plateaus, and it is nat
ural to conclude that where there are
large bodies Of water there are fish and
reptiles The resulting conclusion that,
because these fish and reptiles must
have been isolated on the mountain
tops for ages they are likely to be diff
ferent from any known species, is re-
garded as quite natural The mountain
plateaus form practically little countries
by themselves like islands, bnt more
isolated because the ocean Of air that
surrounds them does not afford the ia
cilities for communication with other
islands that the waters of the ocean do.
One Of these plateRus, known as Ku-
kenham, which is better situated for OBJ
servation than any Of the others. is esti-
mated to have an area Of 200 square
miles or more. The smallest, which
bears the name common to the group,
Roraima, Is estimated to contain 80 to
140 square miles.
The story of this mysterious region is
not new, at least Ia British Guiana. It
is many years since any scientific men
were in the region, but chance travellers
and gold prospectors happen there at
odd times, and when they return to
Demerara they add their little store Of
information and mystification 10 the
rest. Schomburgk pointed cut the great
importance Of the region TO Great Brit
ain. as it is the dividing watershed, but
the writer in the British Guiana news
paper does not say whether the explor-
H. - L..1 a. II