The Living Edens "TEPUIS" Behind The Scenes ...The STORY ..Page 6 of 13

The Making of the Tepuis Film : "The Living Edens : The Lost World"
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THE STORY

Encouraged by Whitely's report, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London in 1884, Sir Joseph Hooker, an eminent botanist, used his influence to find the necessary funds to support another expedition to attempt to reach the summit, this time by way of the ledge. His friend, Everard Im Thurn, a Magistrate, agreed to undertake the trip, accompanied by Harry I. Perkins, an Assistant Crown Surveyor. Both, at the time, were living in British Guiana, so were well placed to undertake such an expedition.

Departing from a point near the coast, it took Im Thurn and Perkins nearly eight weeks to reach the Indian village of Teruta, on the southern slope of Roraima. Their first impression of the ledge was that it looked so easy to climb that they concluded that there must be some insuperable difficulty of which they were unaware. Having climbed along Whitely's trail to the base of the cliff in order to view the ledge more closely, they employed Indians to cut a trail through the forest to the base of the ledge itself.

EVERARD IM THURN

EVERARD IM THURN

The forest was very dense, the stunted trees matted together in a tangle of roots and bamboo. Every surface was covered in spongy moss, and saturated with moisture. Clambering over slippery masses of wet and slimy vegetation, tangled enough to bear their weight; over high piled rocks and tree roots, with the sound of trickling water far below, at last they reached the base of the cliff where the ground was dry due to the considerable overhang of the rock.

Ascent Ledge, Roraima

As they approached the base of the ledge, they were able to see that the lower part of it was broken, consisting of large masses of rock which towered over the forest. The lower part of the ledge was difficult, but not dangerous, their trail taking them over, under, and along branches, tree roots, boulders, and up steep slopes of slippery mud, every object wrapped in spongy wet moss and a glutinous alga that clings to surfaces as a jelly. Finally they reached the break in the ledge at the waterfall, which everyone had pronounced impassable, but which turned out to be a broad, sloping reach of broken rocks. Luckily the waterfall was not in full spate, and they reached the upper section of the ledge quite easily. The explorers made fast progress up the remaining section of the ledge, until they reached a point where just a few steps more would bring their eyes on a level with the top, to discover the secrets of Roraima.

Ascent Ledge, Roraima

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Eversole Research Collection (ERC): The Life of James Crawford Angel:
Discoverer of the World's Tallest Waterfall — Angel Falls

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