During the march thither they had many more glimpses of Roraima; finally they emerged upon the last ridge that faced it, from which a full view of its towering sides and of the forest at their base could be obtained.
Between them was a deep ravine, along which flowed a narrow river dotted with great boulders. Having crossed this with some difficulty and ascended the other side, they reached an extensive undulating plateau, an open savanna with here and there small clumps of trees. They were now almost under the shadow of the great cliffs, and before them, three or four miles away, was the beginning of the encircling wood.
Rounding the end of a thicket distant a mile or so from this wood, they came suddenly upon a large and substantially built log hut, and this, Monella told them, was his temporary residence. Near it were several smaller huts roughly but ingeniously formed of boughs and wood poles, which the Indians who worked with him had constructed for themselves.
As they entered the larger dwelling Monella thus addressed them:
“This, my friends, is where we shall have to live until our work in ‘Roraima Forest’ shall be completed. Make yourselves as much at home as the circumstances will permit; we are likely to occupy it for some time.”
And a fairly comfortable home it was; far more so indeed than the young men had ventured to expect. There was rough furniture, there were lamps for light at night, a number of books, and many other things that took them altogether by surprise.
“It must have taken you a long time,” said Jack Templemore, “to get all these things transported here, and this place built and its furniture made.”
“It has taken me years!” was the reply.
The Indians who accompanied them, numbering about twenty, were all of Matava’s own tribe; altogether a different race from those who had accompanied them nearly to Daranato and had been paid off and gone home. When Monella had left his abode, temporarily, at Carenna’s request, to come to meet the two, all the Indians had gone with him, objecting to be left so near to the ‘demons’ wood’ without him. Now, however, they quickly distributed themselves among the huts, one acting as cook and servant in the house, and Matava attending to all other matters as general overlooker.