Note 60 — THE CATARACTS OF THE ORINOCO.

p. 213.—“Grass stalks having joints above eighteen feet long from knot to knot.”

Robert Schomburgk, when visiting the small mountainous country of the Majonkongs, on his way to Esmeralda, was so fortunate as to determine the species of Arundinaria which furnishes the material for the blowpipes or tubes through which the Indians discharge their arrows. He says of this plant: “It grows in large tufts like the Bambusa; the first joint rises without a knot to a height of from 16 to 17 feet before it begins to put forth leaves. The entire height of the Arundinaria, as it grows at the foot of the great mountain of Maravaca, is from 30 to 40 feet, with a thickness of scarcely half an inch diameter. The top is always inclined. This kind of grass is peculiar to the sandstone mountains between the Ventuari, the Paramu (Padamo), and the Mavaca. The Indian name is Curata, and hence, from the excellence of these far-famed blow tubes of great length, the Majonkongs and Guinaus of these districts have been given the names of the Curata nation.” (Reisen in Guiana und am Orinoco, S. 451.)