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ebielidtien 
a 


De 


me TIMEHRI 


[ADVERTISEMENT] 


BEING THE 


dournal of the Royal Agricultural and Commer- 
cial Society of British Guiana, 


EDITED BY 


EVERARD F. 1M THURN, M.A., of Exeter College, Oxford. 


I rn ge 


Published Half-Yearly... 


er ‘For theyear ... ... 


For each Part aes 


Ae [June & December. | 


PRICE: 


$1 g2 (8/) 
96 (4/) 


Amongst the Papers in preparation for this Fournal are the 


following :— 


Tatoo-marks of the Indians of British 
Guiana. 

Notes on West Indian Stone-Implements 
(continued.) 

A List of Plants of the Kaieteur Savan- 
nah, 

A Bibliography of Guiana. — 

“The T-eatment of Murder among ie 

Aborigines, 

Treatment of Immigrants of Various 
Races. 

The Shell-motnds of Guiana. 

Notes on the Palms of Guiana, 
Historical Memoranda on the Boundary 
of Berbice, 
Balata-collecting. 


a, 


f 
ae a SE We ea Sears 


PRINTED AT THE 


Bondon eee. BE. Stanford, ce Cross, s. W. 


‘ ARGOSY”’ 


Essequibo, Betbice and Demerara undef 
the Dutch (continued.) 

River Flora. 

Comparative Vocabulaty of Indian Lan- 
guages. 

Water-Supply for Estates and Town. 

Rum-making. 

Coffee Cultivation, 

A Hand-list of Plants reported from Bri- 
tish Guiana. 

Yellow Fever. 

Bush-notes of a Huntsman, 

Rock Sculptures. 

The Representation of the Colony at Ex. 
hibitions. 


Indian Star-Gazers. 


A j ‘And es other Agricultural Papers. 


PRESS, DEMERARA. 


Brn comin ~~ PO 


TIMEHRI 


asHE SOURNAG 
{te Rove Aoviutor ik {onmergal 
Society 


OF 


BRITISH GUIANA. 


Edited) by (i oii .  E. F. 1M THuRN, M.A 
AAG 


Vel, ii. 1868. 


Demerara: J. THOMSON. 1883. 
London Agent: E. STANFORD, Charing Cross, S.W. 


io 


PRINTED AT THE ‘‘ARGOSY” OFFICE, DEMERARA. 


Contents of Volume 2. 


Our Muddy Shores, by ALEXANDER WINTER .., is 

India-Rubber and Gutta-Percha Trees of British Ghiank: 
by G. S. Jenman, F.L.S. i 

Essequibo, Berbice and Demerara adie the Dutch, By 
the Editor 

The Lime Industry in Domne by a A ee 
Nicuotts, M.D. 

Model Settlers, by G. 5S. lexan, F.L. S. 06 

By the Cuyooni to the Orinoco in 1857, from the diary 
of W. H. Campsetz, LL.D. 

Between the Pomeroon and the Orinoco, by the Editor 

Health in the Colony, by J. E. Tiwnz, M.A. 

A Visit to the Oil and Fibre Works at Pl. “F ottinnde;? z 
by the Hon. B. Howe xt Jones 

Notes on West Indian Stone Implements, ilneaared iy 
the Editor (No. 2) ie 

The River Berbice and its Rributares iy Aes 
WINTER... ap Hc 

Our Colonial Currency, Pee E Tee 

A Chapter in the Life-history of a Plant, by G. S. 
Jenman, F.L.S.. 

Lamaha Water ina a Process for Patifying it, oy E. E 
H. Francis, F.C.S. 

Essequibo, Berbice and Demerara dues thet Darch 
Part ‘2, by the Editor ... ae ie ane aes 


12 


399 


327 


Vi. 
Occastonat NotEs.— 
Etymology of the word ‘ grail stick’ ae 159, 356 


Couvade ... <0 bp 159, 355 
Ocean-currents on the eae of Ghia Seren i 81e: 
Jonah-myths 400 AGs s “0 sear ee 
Analysis of a year’s work on a Sugarovtate ase LOD) 
New Plants from British Guiana... ae 166, 361 
An Accawoi Peaiman ... sare ae Ber bs aye 
Local Medicinal Barks ... ee on SS) 
“ Fascination” by Snakes A oe Bcc. 
The Barbarian View of Guiana ... ust sass 20 
New Local Literature... Redite 250) 
Dutch Guiana at the rasierdee ‘Exhibition sock FOZ 
The Representation of the Colony at Exhibitions 362 
rratae pee se ae Bes aa eh Peon 


William Hunter Campbell, L.L.D. In Memoriam ... 366 


Report of Meetings of Society from July to December 


ese | Aa sae ae sis ae aS Pe he 277 
Papers on— 

A Wasted Water-Power, by Luke M. Hitt... =. 375 

Sugar-Cane Mills, by the Hon. W. RusszLtt ... 381 

fe », by THomas SHIELDS ... PP 2) 30) 


a 
ee 


INDEX 
TO VOLUME 2 


OF 


TIMEHRI, 


B. 
PAGE, 
Balata—see under ECONOMIC PropUCTSs. 
Barbarian View of Guiana, the BSc ne ae 358 
Baths, Public.. we 242 
Berbice River :—see also nae Shem AND eeeew iene 
a Alexander Winter on ade sie 265) 304 
“ Colony Estates” ... tas whe 271 
Fort St Andrew’s ... A aes 267 
»  Canje F ee tee 267-8 
enone oun caters sais tae 268 
», Nassau baa et .. 269, 283-4 
New Amsterdam ... ve Be 268-9 
Old town, the i di sida 283 
Plantations 
Albion ... sale bo 276 
Bellevue | Bac dos 270 
Bestendigheid ae ace 274, 
Blairmont a, ale 270 
Bourderoi sei gat 283 
Dageraad 380 noe Aig Bae 
Dankbarheid wis anc, fig. PUIG: 
Den Arend so aot 201 
De Velde cae oan | ESB Brey 
Dornboom ae aa 290 
Enfield ©... 068 poe 276 
Friends ... ae noo, BIS, BIO! 
is Friendship tite 50 288 
Highbury ce v++ 270, 272-3 
Hoorn ... 500 279 
Karel and Williams’ Hoop oa 292 
Lochaber i cor 273 
Mara baa Gis 500 276 
Ma Retraite oot aes 276 


Mesopotamia 909 noc 280 


lle INDEX. 


B.—Continued. 


Berbice River :—Alexander Winter on (Continued.) 7 
Plantations (Continued.) 

New Dageraad ue a6 279 
Peerboom b00 202 
Providence 270 
Sandvoort 271 
Smythfield 268, 276 
St. Jan ve 271, 273 

Blair, Dr., Journey to Venezuelan Gold-fields ... 103-58 

Boundary between British and Venezuelan Guiana 212, 213 

Bovianders ... 208 

Cc. 

Cacao—see undery ECONOMIC PRODUCTS. 

Campbell, W. H.—see under ConTRIBUTORS. 

5 In Memoriam 366 
Cassareep, Indian method of using ... AS 122 
Cattle-farming—see under ECONOMIC PRODUCTS. 

Chaperall—see under FLora. 
Chickora (a gold mining implement) ee 260 139-40 
Chinese Settlement on Camooni Creek 98-102 
Cholera 240 
Cocoa-nuts—see under Deon Onie PRO WETS. 
CONTRIBUTORS ;— 
Campbell, W. H. 
‘¢ By Cuyooni to Orinoco in 1857”... 103-58 
Francis, E. E. H. 
“ Lamaha Water and a Process for purifying it”... 315-26: 
Hill, Luke M. 
“ A Wasted Water-power” 375 
im Thurn, E. F. 
“Between the Pomeroon and Orinoco” 211-39 
‘“‘Essequibo, Berbice and Demerara under the 
Diwiweln —~ o00 00 33-80, 327-47 
“Notes on West Indian Stone Tinslomsite? (No.2.) 252-64 
“ Occasional Notes” Bee od 161-67, 348-70 
Jenman, G. S. 
“ India-Rubber and Gutta-Percha trees of British 
Guiana” bee 12-32 
“ Colonial India- Rubbers 00 197, 200, 381 
“Model Settlers” 98-102 
‘Chapter in the Life ices, of a Plant” 300-14. 
Jones, B. Howell 
‘Oil and Fibre Works at Mahaicony” ave 244~51 


VOL Il. 


C.—Continued, 


ConTRIBUTORS.—(Continued.) 


King, Mrs. Hampden 
‘‘ Etymology of ‘ Grail Stick’” ie 
Kingston, R. L. 
“Couvade” ... vee 
* Etymology of ‘ Grail Stick’ # no 
Mann, J. H. 
“‘ Sugar-cane Mills” 
McClintock, W. C. H. F. 
“ An Acawoi Peaiman” 
Nicholls, H. A. Alford 
‘“‘ Lime Industry in Dominica” 
Russell, William 
Analysis of a year’s work on a Sugar Estate 
“‘ Sugar-cane Mills” 
Shields, Thomas 
“ Sugar-cane Mills” 
Minne). E. 
“Health in the Colony”... 
“Our Colonial Currency” 
Winter, Alexander 
“ Our Muddy Shores” 
“The River Berbice and its ii sinnerses! 
“* Couvade” 
“ Ocean Currents” 
Couvade—see under FOLK-LORE. 
Crown Lands, robbery of oe 
49 Indian privileges in relation to 
‘ regulations, suggested 
Currency, Colonial 
Demonetization of Mexican finer 
Money, of account 
A of legal currency 
An of colloquial parlance 
Bitt 
Gil 
Joey 
Stampee 
99 of paper ... 56 
Currents, Ocean, from Amazon teed Guiana .. 


5 D-. 
Drift-mud on Coast of Guiana an ont 


, 184, 381-4, 


PAGE. 


159 


355 
356 


170-90 
348 


81-97 


164 


386-9 


241-43 


I-II 
265-304 


iv, INDEX. 


Ke 


PAGE, 
Economic Propucts. 

Barks, Medicinal used by Taine ae on nt 948-84 
Arara “ ’ 353 
Assara=arara. 

Barawacashie ... 352 
Biberine 352 
Bouiari ; 351 
Cedar, white ... 354. 
Ewong-eke 353 
Ek-ek 351 
Hiawa 50 a6 Bee 352 
Kiara-pepo ... BAe so 352 
Koberee 354 
Komara 354 
Koraballi 352 
Kuruballi 353 
Mora, black 352 
Powesema 351 
Sipiri 352 
Yari-yari 353 

Cacao. 

Beetles, injuring 384 
Estates, abandoned 203 
Land, suitable for 2390 

Cattle-farming, in Berbice 302 

in Venezuela . eon 149-50 

Ghesuenut fibre and oil, ‘iareell. “Manufacture of, 199, 208, 244-51 
AN ss machinery for aC 245-48 

5 », labour for 250 

Cocoa-nuts : 

Copra 246 
Disease of 240, 259 
Effects of good auilethen | on 244 
Fibre 248-9 
Oil 246-7 
Price of 249 
Refuse, for garden SayeeeTe 249 

Coffee, land suitable for 239 

Fish, salting oc 237 

Gold, in British Crtene 239 

» from Surinam o9C 207 
»  Tupuquen, diggings ats “10 ue 139-42 


VOL. II. Vv. 


E.—Continued. 
PAGE. 
Economic Propucts—(Continued.) 
India-rubbers 
Balata ... ie du as ws. 30-2, 238 
Coomaka-ballirubber _... cup 24-30, 197, 200 
‘Hatie-balli rubber 200 oie 86 24 
Hatie rubber, see Hevea. 
Hevea Spruceana 500 12~24, 197-200 
Queena sO Ss es 
Touckpong rubber =Coomakaballi. 
Iron-ore in Venezuela os ose one 153 
Lime-culture. a a0 50 ote 81 
Atwood, of Dominica, on te oo 82 
Concentration of juice ... ae oc go 
Crop, annual ... ae Be out 84 
Crushing for juice sac nee soe 88 
Expenses ae G00 as one 96 
Flowering season ale au late 84 
Fuel for a 656 00 92 
Geographical Fecaiaeean a plant ... ss 81 
Growth, rapid, of och ane noc 86 
Harvesting ... $0 pac 87 
Imray, Dr., cultivation of Hoe Sus 83 
iningdneteon of plant into West Indies aes 82 
Mills for Ae ane ca 890 
Montserrat, cultivation at a0 ay 83 
Nurseries for plants eee one 25 85 
Oil, essential . 006 300 94 
Deine! habitat of plant 505 ee 81 
Planting ue ee ave 23e 85 
Price of lime juice ond 500 “Ao 86 
Returns from ... 200 ono cee 95 
Shipping juice 530 ot bee 90 
Soil for aes ac S00 sai 85 
Sturge, Messrs 506 aa 83 
Potato culture in British Guiana ci eo 182 
Rice, at Cammooni Creek ... 009 100 
Sugar, analysis of a year’s work on a soyer -estate ... 163 
Sugar-cane mills 169, 170, 181, 183-4, 189, 190, 200, 381-4, 386-92 
Timber. 
Bullet-tree ... a 500 ane 267 
Cedar,red ... ote Boa. | Ly ihe 
Locust (Hymenea dan) ete Ih ana ee 123 


o 


V1. INDEX. 


E.—Continued. 


Economic Propucts—(Continued.) 


Timber-trade Sie 
Tobacco, cult. in Venezuela ... 
Emancipation, effects of ... 


Erata soe 200 509 

Fe 
“Fascination” by Snakes... a0 “00 508 
Fauna. 


Abouen-neh=Ava avarauna. 
Ara ararauna ans aa oad 


Kamoko=Palamedia Ey enea 


Macaws ie oa0 ie 600 
Manatee 
Maracot=(Pacu se 2) 
" Mosquitoes 
Pacu sp? 000 boc 300 


Palamedia cornuta 
Farmers, small 
‘‘ Floating Shops” 
FLORA. 
Acrostichum magnum. Ny. Sp. Baker 
Anthurium (Sp?) ove dae 
Eta palm=Mauritia flexuosa. 
Aspidium macrophyllum, Sw... 
distribution in West Indies 
in British Guiana 
habitat (on dry soil) 
aquatic form (viviparous)... aie 
Avicenia nitida 
Bactris leptocarpa, Trail 
FP sp. akin to leptocarpa ... ae 
Balata=Mimusops balata. See ECONOMIC PRopuUCTS 
Bambusa sp- (‘‘ Indian bamboo”) 
Booba=Jviartea exorrhiza. 
Brownea racemosa.. ; B00 as 
Carata palm= Wenge aD 
Chapperal—Curatella americana. 
Chocolate, Wild=Pachira aquatica. 
Cokerite=Maximiliana regia. 


““Coomaka balli” (—?) aoe 
Courida=Avicenia nitida, 
Curatella americana A600 AAD AOD 


235 


235 
110, 280 


235 
214, 235 
235 
298 
238 


361 
218 


309-14 
309 
309 
309 
310 

J) 214 
220 


114, 232 


111, 233 


114, 23229 


24, 30 


146 


VOL, II, 


oo 
Vil. 


F.— Continued. 


Francis, E, E. H. (See under Contarsurors.). 


b2 


; PAGE. 
FLora—(Continued.) ’ 
Euterpe edulis 000 B00 a0 214, 223, 231 
Hatie—Hevea Spruceana. 
Hatie-balli (—?) ... sae 24, 
Hevea Spruceana 12, 24 
Hymenocallis guianensis 222 
Gongora sp? 234. 
Gustavia sp? 900 eae son 233 
Triartea exorrhiza ... bo 232 
Manicaria saccifera . 214, 231-2 
Manicole=Euterpe edulis. 
Mangrove—khizophora. 
Mauritia aculeata. 00 145 
Mauritia flexuosa, uses of 112 
io on dry savannah 46 134. 
* on wet savannah 219 
Maximiliana regia dab es 231 
Mimusops balata ... aed, 236, 267 
Mitostemma Fenmanii Nov Sp. ET GEN. | Masters 167 
Mora excelsa 215 
Oncidium iridifolium 234 
a Lanceanum 300 Ws 233 
Orchids wus HAC eae 233-4 
Pachira aquatica ... boo 231 
Palms, see Bactris, Euterpe, ip Hens Vivian Mau- 
ritia, Maximiliana a 267 
Passiflora deficiens Nov. Sp., Masters 167 
Polygonum sp? 207 
Pontederia cordata no 207 
“‘ Queena” —Coomacka balli. 
Rhizophora mangal, effects of, on water ... 166, 214 
Sipanea (near acinifolia 7) 218 
Sobralia sp. sinc oad nee 232 
Spathelia sp. 200 a 500 231 
Stanhopea grandiflora eee 234 
“ Touckpong” = Coomacka ial 
Troolie-palm = Manicaria saccifera. 
Yarooa=Bactris (near leptocarpa, Trail). 
FoLk Lore. 
Couvade 00 co EIS, BES 
Jonah-myths 161 
Fortitude, Pl: Cocoa-nut works at ke 244, 


Vill. INDEX. 


Ge 
‘ PAGE, 
GEOGRAPHY. 

Abaribana Lake Pane nas So0 290 
Abary R. 200 wh 265, oe 270, 288 
Amakooroo R._.. 000 213, 210, 218, 227-8, 237 
Acarabisci R. Chou ane me He 124 
Annabeesi R. (Barima) ag 500 sts 227 
Aratoori R. (Orinoco) ea nog se 227 
Aroan R. (Barima) on soe = 227 
Arooka R. (Barima) er ae ‘tos, 217, 227 

Atopani Set: See Coomacka. 
Aunama R. (Barama) als ate RAO 124 
Bamboo R. (Berbice) ee a ah 281 
Bara-bara R. (Waini) ste a ie 223 
Baracarabana R. (Berbice) ... ive hs 281 
Barama R. (Waini) ae ong HG AIT), OW), BRO) 
Barima R. +» 105, 213, 216, 224-0, 232, 236-7 
Barimanni R. (Waini) 560 309 +0217, 223-5, 232 
Bassana R. (Orinoco) Aa ag se 8 2279 
Beesibesani R. (Waini) eee ane ae 225 
Berbice R. 000 Kies O00 ee» 265-304 
i bar at mouth... ee on 266 
Ns drainage of 206 otc Doc 265 
_ “‘ floating islands” of weeds ... she 267 
An rae Pattee. ase vee 266 
rise of .. a0 360 on 265 
Biara R. (Waini) . 560 ay e223 2a 
Brandwaght (Berbice) 400 200 aie 278 
Broadwater Lake (Berbice) ... eas 5 267 
Canje R. (Berbice) ate ee 265-7 
Canje-boven district (eerncoin ove ae 267 
Caratal Hills 900 00 560 ce 140 
Cariaqua R. (Berbice) wes a see 205 
Coomacka Downs (Berbice) ... soe 205 
Coomacka Set(=Atopani of Sfitreisvoncnltes Barima)... 104 
Cooshi R. (Barima) 600 ae 200 227 
Corentyn R. ae S00 Ao <oF 205 
Corie R. (Barama) 580 700 oh II4 
Coroomoo R. (Cuyooni) aby ges jms 1 20) 037, 
Coreia R. (Pomeroon) 300 n0¢ se 220, 229 
Crab Island (Berbice) anh ae coy Adley) iris 
Cuyooni R. 500 500 900 kieta 127-37 
Cuyueeni R. (Amakooroo) ... be wa 227 


Dowocaima Rapids (Barama) ue es 115 


VOL, iI, 1X, 


G.—Continued. 
: PAGE, 
GEOGRAPHY.—(Continued) 
Ebeni R. (Berbice) an ae ge 200 
Eborabo R, (Berbice) ie Sie ... 266, 294 
Entagga R. (Barima) obo aa eo 225 
Etooni R. (Berbice) Je us a. | 266, 203 
Groote-marri-paam (Berbice) 200 bon Fy Br! 
Hina R. See Waiwa. 

Hitia Sav: (Berbice) sa aa ws 288, 285 
Hobima R. (Waini) ane Mee ie 224 
Icoorowa R. (Berbice) Bae ass .. 265-6, 278 
Idure-wadde (Berbice) i Bb sat 2096 
ITaBoos (canals between rivers) iM ...219-30, 279 
formation of sie Dye aS 218-30 
Itabroo Falls (Berbice) he aac BAC 207 
Kaitooma R. (Barima) ve Ae, Sao CAG) C2] 
Kamwatta R, (Waini) ae ah are 222 
Kariakoo Sett : (Barama) ie Eyes a 114 
Kenaima Cat : (Cuyooni) sin sie Ra 127 
Kibbiribiry R. (Berbice) ° ... baa eae 293 
Kimbia R. (Berbice) is ee ah 290 
Klein-marri-paam (Berbice) ... a Be 275 
Kokerite Mission (Pomeroon)... ae “ise 220 
Lana District (Berbice) ae ee at 292 
Las Tablas, Town (Orinoco) ... a ae 155 
Mahokobunna B. (Barima) ... a Foe 227 
Manacabouri (Berbice) wa Sh ee 288 
Manawarin R. (Morooka) We seh «1. 220-1, 221 
MANGROVE TRACT, the jy ai sists 215 
Mapenna R. (Corentyn) bi anc se 265 
Mappa Lake (Berbice) ao aod Bog 205 
Marlissa Rapid (Berbice) fe Rea Baa 296 
Massawindoie R.(Barama) ... boo a90 118 
Mattara Mission (Berbice) ... ote aes 291 
Mora TRACT, the ... 215 

Morawhanna (Nat. CANAL eeween Waini and Bar 
ma) .. 548 a» 104, 224-7, 226, 237 
Morano R. (Waini) wee 224-6, 227, 220, 232 
Moorigs (parts of soregmeley aa se 201 
Morooka R. Koh 213, 215-7, 221-2, 230, 230 
Orinoco and Pomeroon, peaveen Aap ee 20230) 
Paripie R. (Berbice) ses a06 sae 203 
Parway R. (Berbice) Re bab 203 


PATHS FROM CUYOONI INTO VENEZUELA, 109, 114, 118, 120-6, 129 


Xe INDEX 


G.—Continued. 
PAGE, 
GEOGRAPHY.—(Continued.) 
Pomeroon R. 213-8, 235-6 
Pomeroon and Orinoco, peewee 211, 239 
Quara R. (Barima) 227 
Quobanna Mission (Waini) 237 
RIVER-SYSTEMS 216 
Santa Rosa Mission (Moraoka . 221-2, 236 
Saorina R. (Waini) 224, 
SAVANNAHS. 
dry 2 215, 286 
» Origin of.... 287 
wet wee 215, 219-21 
» origin of ... 215 
Seba-seba R. (Waini) 225 
Sowareeko R. (Waini) 224 
Tracts, MANGROVE AND MoRA 215 
Tirumba Cat : (Cuyooni) 132 
Tupuquen Village... 137 
Urawarara = Uruaraia of ini (Capaon) 129 
Virogne R. (Berbice) a6 ..» 206, 278, 288, 290-1 
Waanamoo R. (Barama) wale 114 
Waiakaksroo R. (Amakooroo) 227 
Waini R. 2 104-5, 225, one, 8, anes They wR, 235-7 
1st Eide of if se 218 
be odour of... 100 
Waiwa R=Hina of maps ? (Baramia 113 
Wakapoa R. (Pomeroon) 219-20 
““ WATER-PATHS”. See itaboos. 
Warramoori Mission (Morooka) 221, 236 
Warrapoka R. (Waini) 108 
Warraputt Sett : (Cuyooni) 126 
Wikky R. (Berbice) 265, 203 
Yacatta R. (Berbice) 279 
Yaracoory R. (Berbice) 268 
Yariki R. (Berbice) 205 
Yuruari R. (Cuyooni) 133 
Yuruan R. (Cuyooni) , 133 
Gold, see under ECONOMIC Propucrs! 
Grail stick, etymology of word 159, 350 
Guiana, the Barbarian View of 358 


H. 
Hamilton, Col., his Venezuelan Estates Sih 


137 


VOE- cI. 


H.— Continued. 


Hatie, See under ECONOMIC PRODUCTS. 


Hatie-balli 

Hevea 

History :— 
Abary R. 


Amazon R. 


”) 


” 


”) 


(Dutch Settlement on) 


Amazons, tribe of.. 


Berbice: Dutch eelements on as 
under Van Peere 1626 
state of in sue 1645 
population in 1645 
slavery in ... 1645 
under New Gen. West. ome Co. 1674 
under a second Van Peere 1678 
captured by French 1689 
objects of cultivation about 1700 
captured by French 1712 
under Berbice Association 1720 
state of in ... 1720 
constitution ordered fon 1732 
Court of Policy instituted 1733 
civil and criminal courts ,, 1733 
governor, first Bee GBS 
state of in ooo LAS 

‘slaves in con LARE 
ts ee OO 
slave revolt fs . 1765 
captured by English . 1796 


Berreo, Antonio de, Gov. of Trinidad 

Berrie, Leonard, Expedition to Guiana in 1576 
Borromeo (Pomeroon) ie Bee nd 
Breda, treaty of, (1667) 


Boundaries: 


of Guiana in the widest sense 


»” 


as claimed by English in 16i1 


” 1650 

” 1665 

fp 1660 

as claimed by Dutch in 1666 
1667 


as claimed te eee in ae 


of Essequibo... 


of Berbice 


poo po 900 


PAGE, 


59 

43, 46 

oe 41, 46 
63-4, 68, 73, 75 


66-8 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 
H.—Continued, 
History—(Continued.) 
Boundaries—Continued. 

of Surinam as granted to Lord Willoughby in 1663 _ 72 
Amazon, the, as boundary ea «> = 43}, 45-0 
Maranon (Amazon), as boundary 46 
Orinoco, the, as boundary a ~ 43, 44 
Byam, William, Governor of Surinam in 7667 p 75 
Caroleigh, (English settlm. 1604) 65 
Cayenne, settlements on ae 7, 59, 76-7 
. Columbus, Christopher, discovery of @iiene 33, 43 
Company, Dutch West Indian, 63, 68 
Court of Policy instituted 337 
Crab Island 356 as 333 
Crynsens, Admiral, capture af ‘Surinam = (1667) ar. 75°60 

Demerara : 
Dutch Settlements on (1745) oe 79 
recognized as colony (1765) pat 79 
captured by English (1781) 326, 346 
surrendered to French (1782) 326, 346 
restored to Dutch (1783) 326, 346 
union, partial, with Essequibo ( 1783) 345 
» final ” (1783) 345 
captured by English (1796) 346 
Desse-cuba (= Essequibo) 74 
Discovery of Guiana by Columbus, <apazied 33, 43 
El Dorado, city of (= Manoa) 35-40 
Enys, Renatus, account of Surinam in 1663 : 72 
English, immigration into colonies in 1796 coc 346 

Essequibo : 
origin of name 300 es 58 
Dutch Settlement nes: 60, oD, 68, 73-6, 79 
entrusted to Dutch W.1I. C. (1621) “hp 329 
relinquished to Commission of eight (1657) ... 329 
nf to State of Zealand (1665) 200 330 
5 to New Dutch W.I. Co. (1674) . 330 
captured by English (1781) 600 see) 827) 340 
surrendered to French (1782) aD eh aul 
i to Dutch (1783) 29s) AISA BAT, 
captured by English (1796) 347 
union, partial, with Demerara (1783) 345 
» final, ” (1789) oee 345 


VOL. IL. XIll 
H.—Continued, 
PAGE. 
History—(Continued.) 
Everard, Lieut., in command of Pomeroon and Esse- 
quibo (1667) 76 
Explorers of Guiana : 
Berrie, Leonard 49 
Dutch 42, 46 
English 42, 46 
French dive 42, 46 
Herera, Alonzo de, His ab “06 44 
Keymis, Lawrence » 49, 51,55 
Martinez, Juan, 37 
Ojeda, Alonzo de 43 
Ordaz, Diego de 37 
Orellana, Francisco de 44-46 
Pinzon, Vincente Janez ... 43 
Pizzaro, Gonzalo 45 
Bortusese ats a: ee 
Raleigh, Sir Walter onc A 36, 46-52, 56 
Spanish He 42, 46 
Galbano- Bitenbentis: account & Beceieel Cae 333 
Gondamar, Sp. Ambassador, complaints of raat 
expeditions 67 
Griffith, George, petition to King anent Anneven one 69 
Gromweagle, Dutch Commander in Essequibo 1616... 60-63 
Guiana, name, origin of 34. 
Harcourt, Robert, royal grant of Guigay o. 1613 . 66 
Harman, Sir John, sacked Cayenne 1667 76 
Herera, Alonzo de, Expedition to Oronoco, 1533 44 
Hyde, Laurence, royal grant of Guiana to, 1663, 72 
Indians see (still under ee NATIVES of. 
Keymis, Laurence ee + 49, 51, 55 
Kykoverall (Portugese settlt. date Dutch settlt. 
1616 fere) des ays 59-60 
Land, nature of 52, 57 
rivers of ... Be % we 
Leigh, Chs. Settlt. on Wiaranvcies eon se Oe 6e 
Lopez, Francisco de, account of wealth of Guiana... 36 
Manoa, city of 35-40 
Maranon (= Amazon R) “3 43, 46 
Martinez, Juan, asserted visit to Manoa ... 37 
Meriwinia (French Settlement 1625) ae 56 
Middleburg, (Dutch Settlement) ua ieee 58 


¢ 


XIV. INDEX. 


H.— Continued. 


PAGE 
History—(Continued.) 
Moddyford, Sir Th.; proposition for rooting the Dutch 
out of the West Indies... 605 . 74 
Name of Guiana, origin of 34 
Natives of, early notices of: 
Amazons 41, 46 
“croissants of gold” So 39 
habits - 48, 54, 63° 
headless men ... 41 
Manoa, inhabitants of, 35-40 
paiwari feasts... oac 00 39 
relation to early settlers, ... 300 53- a, 7273970: 
treatment of, by early settlers alo ' 44, 46, 48, 49 
Tribes—Arawack Ban doe 61-2, 78 
Caribs 62, 68 
(Macusis ?) 40 
Ovenoqueponi .. one 39 
Needham, Major, aitineks on Aramaek 1667 78 
New Zealand (Dutch settlement) Bee S00 58, 74 
North, Roger; adventure to Guiana 1620; Govnr. of 
Amazon Co. 1626 66 66-8 
Ojeda, Alonzo de, discovery ei Satine 20) 43 
Ordaz, Diego de, founder of Santo Thomé 1531 37, 55 
Orellana, Francisco de, discovery of Amazon 1540 .. 44, 40 
Orinoco R. 44. 
Paramaribo. See Surinam. 
Peere, Jan Van, founder of Berbice 1627 .. 63 
Pinzon, Vincente Janez, discovery of sarmnih of ia 
zon R. 1499? 43 
Pizzaro, Gonzalez, in search of Manoa 1 He 45 
Pinckard, Dr. George ; 200 347 
Pomeroon (Dutch Settlements OD) Bec 58, 64, 73, 76 
Raleigh, Sir W. ... 600 36, 46-52, 56 
Rowe, Sir Th., account of Sp see designs on Guiana 
in 1611 65 
Rumours, early, of Guiana: 
Amazons 41, 40 
Amoocoo, Lake ne a 40 
El Dorado, city of Sn 200 98.8, 43, 48 
empire of Guiana , Pao 36 
gold, attraction to Guiana 34, 40 


headless people ve 7a en 


VOL, I, XV. 
H.—Continued. 
fi PAGE, 
History—(Continued.) 
Rumours, early, of Guiana.—Continued. 
Manoa, city of 35-8, 43, 45 
» site, supposed of 39-41 
Peru, reported connection with Guana 37 
treasure of Guiana 33-3 
Santo Thomé (Sp. eeitlemeneyi 54-0 
Settlements in Guiana : 
Abary (Dutch) ase sia 59 
Berbice (Dutch 1626) ... a 63, Gal 68, 73, 75 
Caroleigh (Eng. 1604) us 65 
Cayenne (Sp. 1568) (French 1613, 1612) been lees 
» (Dutch) 20 59 
Demerara (Dutch 1745) ... aie 79 
Essequibo (Dutch) ite ee 60, Ba, 68, 73-6, 79 
Kykoverall (Portuguese date ?) (Dutch fere 1616) 59-60 
Meriwinia (Fr. 1625) a 56 
Middleburgh (Dutch) 58 
New Zealand (Dutch) 58, 74 
Paramaribo, see Surinam. 
Pomeroon R. on (Dutch 1580) 58, 64, 73, 76 
Santo Thomé (Sp.) 55 
Suramaco (Fr. 1626, 1639, 1642) 56 
Surinam Eng. 1643?, 1650) =, FG Sy FAO 
Wiapoca (Fr. 1607) (Eng. 1608) - 56, 65 
Willoughbyland (Eng.) 73 
Scott, Major John, expedn. against Dutch aaiones boo 74,76 
Slaves, negro, introduction into Guiana ... 63 
Sotelle, Gaspar de, founder of Cayenne ... 55 
Struggles between various colonies 74-5 
Suramacco (Fr. Settlts. at) 56 
Surinam (Paramaribo) (Eng. Settlts. 2). Eh 73.75, 70 
Timberan (Pomeroon ?) 74. 
* Willoughby, Francis, Lord Berien 70-5 
0 Henry, (Gensel 76, 77 
William, Lord Ty She 77,78 
Wiapoca (Fr. Settlt. & Eng. )... 56, 65 
Willoughbyland (Eng. Settlts.) 73 
Holmes, Sir Wiiliam, journey to Venezuelan agit fields 104 
He 
Immigration, early attempts at ap avy ae =: 273, 277 


C2 


XVI INDEX. 


I.—Continued. 


im Thurn, E. F. see under CONTRIBUTORS. 


Industries, the small 
India-rubber, see under Econ. Beoneors: 


Iron 9 % 
Jenman,'G./S, 5; CONTRIBUTORS. 
Jonah-myths ... 

Jones, B. Howell, see under CONTRIBUTORS. 


Le 
Labour supply: 


Chinese Settlement on Cammooni Creek... 


on Berbice 
Lamaha water: 

composition of 

purification of 
Leprosy, precautions against 
Lime-culture, see under Econ. PRODUCTS. 
Literature, local, new 
Locust-tree, see under ECON. PReDuene. 


Mie 


Mangrove, see under FLORA. 
Mann, J.H. ,, CONTRIBUTORS. 
Mauritia 5 FLORA. 


MEETINGS OF THE SOCIETY: 


Accounts Bi, 
Donations received 


Elections : 

Associates—Bayne, J. 
Brown, J. ... 
Coronel, G. ... 
Crail, W. W. 
Cross, E. i 
Cunha, C. A. 
D’Andrade, A. A. 
Davis, J. W.... 
Delafons, H. Y. 
Duff, R. 
Gallienne, J. W. 
Gaskin, C. P. 
Gill, F. 
Greene, R, B, 


Ear 161 


168, 179, 188, 371-2, 380 
170, 190, 200, 210, 373-4 


re 372 


374 
206 


188 
374 
380 
188 
188 
188 
168 
380 
168 
371 
206 


VOL, U, RVI, 


M,—Continued, 


PAGE, 
MEETINGS OF THE SoclETY—(Continued.) 
Elections—Continued. 
Associates—Continued. 
Holtzman, J. ee oes 372 
Gnesi. Bb 000 206 
Tkoneay Ae) arr: a ae 386 
MacIntyre, W. H. O00 oe0 168 
Maclean, R.... as ae 188 
Mclnroy, J. W. er 300 168 
McLeod, M. Jun. dai $0 372 
Menzies, N.... Be a 181 
Morris) i: vas er 179 
_Samborne, W. P. as Ags 196 
Sealy, F.S.... Jes aes 374 
Smithy CSeue be he 206 
Wickham, J. R. is ans 374. 
Wright, R. T. aes we 206 
Members—Alexander, ]. O. ee ren 179 
Andrews, J.... sce S00 386 
Butts, R. B. O. te ss 206 
Callum, D. ... ae agp 372 
Clegg, R. M. wise a 380 
Conrad lye: ete oa 190 
Davis, W. ... bis a 188 
Davson, C.S. ate sae 168 
Dawson, J. M. oe0 206 168 
Goldney, J. T. oc obo 372 
Grant, W. A. ye as 206 
Graal ae iss. 8s og 168 
Griffith, W. C. E. ai ies 206 
Grogin, T. ... tak aoe 386 
Herriot, S. ... ea Ace 188 
Jones, W. B... We Ss 188 
MacGowan, D. H. ae AnD 168 
Matthey, C.A. . ais oe 386 
McKenzie, J. R. bor Ach 168 
Pearson, J. G. ne Bad 372 
FettSSell ue | eaeees ee ad 386 
Shannon, M.... Ob aig 188 
Sloman, E. ... one ou 371 
Sehtiliy Wea sea le a 181 


Stewart, A.C, ie nee 206 


RVI. INDEX. 


M.—Continued, 


PAGE, 
MEETINGS OF THE SociETY—(Continued.) 
Elections—Continued, 
Members—Continued, 
Villiers, F. ... ae es 181 
Williams, T. F. A. 206 500 181 
Williams, R. H. Se ie 371 
Williamson, M. ae uae opis 
Election of office-bearers for 1884 900 
Journal (Timehri)... A oe “188, 372) 377 
Meetings held—January ith 336 so 168 
February 8th 00 300 179 
March 8th es sae 181 
April 12th 300 ne 188 
May 1oth one 200 196 
June 14th 04 dco 206 
July 12th 301 a0 371 
August oth Hee La 372 
Sept. 13th i A060 374 
October 11th ify Has 380 
Novr. 8th ae ue 386 
Decr. 13th cin 000 302 
Museum : 
Curator, Appointment of, a 169, 180, 188 
microscope, rules for ae ae «. 170, 179 
report on, by Curator... te 199, 202, 207 
Transactions : 
Amsterdam Exhibition 60 500 168 
Calcutta Exhibition ies 196, ai 371-2, 377-80, 302 
cacao pests ... nee 384-5 
canes, sugar, destroyed be crab- lees. w5 371, 373-4 
Campbell, W H., death of ac 006 393 
cocoa-nut fibre and oil, local 500 «» 199, 208 
communications to Society, arrangements 
as to, ae she one BoC 198 
gold from Surinam ar te one 207 
hour of Meeting ad 500 no 208 
india-rubber, local 00 «+» 197, 200, 376-7, 380 
Nepaul pepper Seed 200 Ab 4c 180 
potato culture in B. Guiana , 182 
sugar-cane mills, 169, 170, 181, 183, aM, “oma, 200, 381-4, 
386-92 
sugar-maize seeds a ae oe 180, 100 


water-power, wasted “ch ase di 375 


VOL. II. 


M.—Continued. 


Mimusops, see under FLORA. 

Mission buildings, Jesuit, remains of in Venezuela 
Mitostemma, see under FLoRA. 

““ Model Settlers” (at Cammooni Creek) 
Mosquitoes... 00 aan 
Mud, drift, on coast of Guane te a 
“ Muddy Ghee, our”... 300 


Ne 


New plants from Guiana ae 
Nicholls, H. A. Alford, see under Conmemuncns! 


0, 
Orinoco and Pomeroon, district between a6 


P. 
Palms, see under FLora. 
Passiflora, see under FLORA. 
Plants, new, from Guiana : 
Acrostichum magnum, N. SP., Baker 
Mitostemma Fenmanii Nov. GEN. ET Sp. Masters 
Passiflora deficiens, Sp. Nov. Masters 
Pomeroon and Orinoco, district between 
Potatoes, see under ECON. PRODUCTS. 


Q. 
Quarantine... S00 S10 206 
“Queena”. see under Econ. PRODUCTS. 
Re 
RED-MEN :* 
Accawoi Bap us nd0 
Arawacks Sale ae 
ie Spanish)... oie 
burning savannah, habit of ... “A0 
Caribs (True) aw 
» (Island) ... 
constitutions of ... ua te 


couvade among 


XIX. 


PAGE. 

147, 151 
ope 98-102 
ee 235 


ey Rib ie) 


bie 241 


115, 298, 348 
230, 290, 298 
108, 221, 236 
ea 134 

236, 208 

254; 255 
es. 118, 120 


Ste 159 


* For early notices of Indians [A.D. 1500-1796] see under History, 


INDEX 


R.—Continued. 


RED-MEN.—(Continued.) 


dances 
differences, abel, in names ae places 
in paths used 
Hisences of : buck-sickness 
disposition of, 40 508 
fish-poisons: dawahy & moraballi 
food: cassava juice, mode of using 
games: ball-play ... 
honesty of 6 
hunting, dangers of oot 
i» method of catching manatees... 
4 waiting for sunken game 
ii fish-poisoning 
Jonah-myths, among ; 
manufactures, cassava-graters 


medicines of, see under ECON. Brommens (tS) 


names of birds : 


Abouen-neh—Ava ararauna 008 
Beyseroo Ortyx cristatus. L. 
Kamoko Palamedia cornuta 
Warracaba Psophia crepitans 
Yacambi A 


names of plants : 
Coomacka—Eriodendron anfractuosum 
Coomackaballi see wnder FLORA. 
Kamwatta—Bambusa sp ? 
Queena (Macusi) see under FLORA. 


Touckpong (Carib) ie 
Yaroowa=Sactris sp. ... oan 
ornaments, personal p00 ane 
paths, character of 200 
deviousness of sie ase 
peaiman, power over animals... “re 


plants used by : 
ZEta palm (Mauritia flexuosa) 000 
Bamboo (sp ?) 80 
Ducalli (gen?) as resin ... 
Moraballi, as fish poison.. 
Troolie (Manicaria snccihene as ane 
provision grounds of oe oe 


PAGE. 


113, 116, 122, 123, 127, 


112 
113 
118 
108 
130 
123 
121 
126 - 
113 
348 
110 
110 
123 
161 
125 


235 
287 


235 


» 305 


365 


104, 


118 


114 
115 
122 
120 


348 


112 
Til 
125 
123 
232 
108 


VOL. I. 


XX. 


R.— Continued. 


RED-MEN—(Continued,) 


quippo writing... ote eee 
sleeping naked ... wee ees 
superstition of ... one see 
Warraus ae eee 


Rhizophora, see under Rrora: 
Rice, see under Hcon: PPODUCTS. 


Rock-pictures 265 one eee 
Se 
Shell-banks, uses of ae Mae 
Shell implements see under STONE IMPLEMENTS. 
Snakes, fascination by ... ie S05 


STONE IMPLEMENTS : 


Balliceux, Island, Carib burial place on... 


banner stones os onc wee 
burial-place, Carib ca 
collars of stone ... 500 
elaborateness of W. I. “capllernenti= q06 
hafting ... eee eee 
gouge ... 505 soc 
mills, see tables of ator 

mortars 9) ; 

ornamental and practical forms ove 
practical forms, see ornamental. 

shell implements ... ane 200 


stone collars 

“stone tables” 

tables of stone, so-called 

types of axes: 
perforated  ... 200 aoc 
winged ; 

wedges or hatchets ? 


Sugar, see under Econ: Propucts. 

Te 
Tasso . : 
Temperance in the Calady on oe 


Timber see under Econ: Products. 


Tinne, 


J. E. see under CONTRIBUTORS. 


PAGE. 


124 
121 


117, 129 
214, 222 


135 


9 


356 


254-5 


o++ 255-9, 365 


254-5 
201-2 
250, 262 
262 


255 


257 


254-5 
261-2 
252-4 
252-4 


262 
262 
262 


136 
242 


XXil. INDEX. 


T.—Continued. 


Tobacco see under Econ: PRODUCTS. 
Traders among Indians ... 


ab 4 W. 
Winter, A.--see under CONTRIBUTORS. 


WN 


ut BOE 


Te f al rieultuval io oul 
ocitty of Hi lish (via ae 
ee es, ine 
VoL. 1.] FUNE, 1883. [PART hy 
Edited by . : .E. F. im THURN, MiAs 
CONTENTS. | Ce 


* 
PAPERS.—Our Muddy Shores, by Alexander Winter ; oe 
India-Rubber and Gutta-Percha Trees of British Gutanie ite ; 
G.S. Jenman, F.L.S., Government Botanist; Lsseguzbo, Berbice ay 
and Demerara under the Dutch, by the Editor ; The Lime Indus 
try in Dominica, by H. Alford Nichols, M.D.; Model Settlers, a Le 
Lesson in the Smaller Industries, by G. Ss. Jenman ; By the -< 
% _Cuyoont to the Orinoco in 1857) compiled from the diary of Ww 3 
: a8 Campbell, L.L.D. ar 
) OCCASIONAL NoTes.—Etymology of the word ‘ Grail-stee s 
qe Couvade ; ‘Fonah-myths’; Ocean currents on the shores of Gut- 
ana; New Plants from British Guiana. 
_ Report OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS, from January to June, 1883; 
including notes by James H. Mann, and the Honourable W. Rus- 
lon Cane Mills, and by G.S, Jenman on Native India-Rubbers ; 
also'a Report on the Museum, by the Curator. 


eactaueetsesnacecnencesecuceeceessunannnenarseetrsnepansssscnwsnwnnnssusohedusercey snesnesapaatunsensanncnseneuenssnseenesnansnsartoncnansnsanarasssesianhasrasnanASSOAOSBERNGIARDSDIESSEAGSBE ODN 08 


Demerara: J. THOMSON, Publisher. 
ndon Agent : E, STANFORD, Charing Cross, S,W, 


Our Muddy Shores. 


By Alexander Winter. 


“ The Civil Law gives the owner of land a right to that increase 
which arises from -alluvion, which is defined, an insensible increment, 
brought by the water.”—CowELL. (fohnson’s Dictionary.) 


MIRITISH Guiana is composed of two districts, 
geologically very different. One portion, by 


far the larger in size though of lesser im- 
portance, is the upper district, commonly called the 
“interior of the country’’. It is of considerable elevation— 
being well raised above the sea-level, and of a geological 
formation quite distinct from the coast region. This 
upper district commences at the sandhills, and stretches 
away back to the mountains of the interior. The other 
portion, from the line of sandhills to the sea, is the 
Tichest part of the colony, and is the only part that is 
cultivated, and inhabited by Europeans. 

The sandhills, according to SCHOMBURGK, are ‘‘proba- 
bly the boundary line of the gradual receding sea of a 
former era.’ They extend, as stated by BARRINGTON 
BROWN, from the Hitia savannah on the Berbice river, 
eastward to the Orealla on the Corentyn, and westward 

A 


2 TIMEHRI. 


to the Madewine on the Demerara River, and in Esse- 
quibo along the coast from Aurora to the Pomeroon. 

The tract on the sea-side of the line of sandhills is 
nearly a dead flat, most of it below the level of the 
sea at spring tides: it is of great depth, some two hun- 
dred feet ; and rests on abase of granite. It is composed 
of particles of sand and clay, with decayed vegetable 
matter, and is of extreme and almost inexhaustible ferti- _ 
lity; the only valuable ingredient in which it is defi- 
cient is lime, of which not a trace is to be found in the 
whole country, either in the upper or lower districts. 

This coast district is entirely alluvial, and its limits are 
accurately defined in BARRINGTON BROWN’S Geological 
Map of British Guiana. It is entirely composed of a 
sediment deposited by the sea, and is of recent formation: 
recent, that is in the geological acceptation of the term, 
though doubtless, the process of deposition has been 
going on for many centuries. 

It has hitherto been generally supposed that the parti- 
cles composing this sediment were derived from the dis- 
integration of the rocks of the interior, and of soil and 
_ vegetable débris brought down by our rivers. But this 
theory is now given up as incorrect. 

In the first place our rivers are remarkably free 
from sediment in their upper reaches. Their waters, 
especially those of the tributaries, are discolored 
by an infusion of vegetable matter; but if taken 
up in a glass, they appear perfectly clear. It is 
only in the sea-reaches that the rivers are muddy. 
If it were from sediment brought down by our rivers 
that the alluvial deposit was formed, we should find 
signs of it at the upper ends of the islands which are so 


Our MupDDvy SHORES. 3 


numerous in the estuaries of our large rivers ; but such 
is not the case. At the upper ends of all the islands 
both in Corentyn and Essequibo, the water is deep, and 
there is no projecting spit or sand bank, such as is in- 
variably present at the lower or sea end of the island. 
This is very noticeable in going from Georgetown to 
Suddie. The steamers in rounding the upper ends of 
Leguan, Wakenaam, and Tiger Islands, pass very close 
inshore, while they have to give a wide berth to the 
lowerend of Hog Island, to avoid the banks and mud- 
flats there, which are carefully buoyed off. Of this we 
can judge from our own observation ; and it is confirmed 
by men of science. BROWN writes :— 

“The water in the estuaries of the large rivers for some distance up 
from their mouths, and the sea water along the coasts oceanwards, for 
over twelve miles, is of a yellowish-gray muddy colour, from the 
enormous amount of fine earthy sediment in suspension. The water 
of the Rivers themselves, even when in flood, is never so highly charged 
with solid matter, so that this sediment must be stirred up by the 
currents and waves passing over the muddy shallows of the coast, and 
carried by the tide into the Rivers’ mouths, as well as seaward.” 

It is now generally admitted that we are indebted, not 
to our own rivers, but to the Amazon for the alluvial de- 
posit forming the country in which we live and have our 
sugar estates! And this seems probable when we con- 
sider the enormous quantity of soil in suspension that 
must be carried to the Atlantic by a river 100 miles wide 
at its mouth, and of unknown depth, fed by such tribu- 
taries as the Madeira, Topayos, Xingu and Rio Negro, 
all themselves immense rivers, and flowing through the 
richest tropical valley in the world. 

The current of the Atlantic, from the point where this 
great store of wealth is poured into the ocean, sets di- 

A 2 


4 TIMEHRI. 


rectly toward our own shores. Of this we have, curiously 
enough, direct proof. There was picked.up on the sand 
beach in Corentyn, a sealed bottle containing the fol- 
lowing written memorandum :— 

N. G. Barque Johann Heinderick of Altona. To-ascertain the set of 
the current, this was thrown overboard on the seventh of December 
1973, Lat. O° 217 S,, Long. 302 547 W. 

The person into whose hands this falls is kindly requested to publish 


the date and place where and whenever it was picked up. 


E. HACKE, Master. 
H. JANSON, Passenger. 


This was picked up at the Uxzon waterside, Corentyn, 
on Tuesday 17th February 1874, Lat. 6° 5 N., Long. 
57° 15 W. It had thus travelled fifteen hundred and 
eighty one miles to the westward, and three hundred and 
eighty six to the north, in seventy two days! With re- 
gard to the set of the great equatorial current of the At- 
lantic to the North-west, Sir CHARLES LYELL, the Geol- 
ogist writes :— 


“Among the greatest deposits now in progress, and of which the 
distribution is chiefly determined by currents, we may class those 
between the mouth of the Amazon and the Southern coast of North 
America. Captain Sabine found that the Equatorial current was run- 
ning with therapidity of four miles an hour where it crosses the stream 
of the Amazon, which river preserves part of its original impulse, and 
has its waters not wholly mingled with those of the ocean at the 
distance of 300 miles from its mouth. 

The sediment of the Amazon is thus constantly carried to the North- 
west as far as the mouths of the Orinoco, and immense tracts of swamp 
are formed along the coast of Guiana, with a long range of muddy 
shoals bordering the marshes and becoming land.” 


Assuming therefore that the great store of materials 
for forming new alluvial deposits is brought from the 
Amazon by sea, we may trace its course from the mouth. 


Our MupbDy SHORES. is 


of that river, to the shores of Guiana. It would sweep 
the northern coast of South America, passing by Cayenne, 
where the land is high and mountainous, and its first 
great deposit would be in Dutch Guiana, where the land 
is low and swampy, and here we find a vast tract of allu- 
vial land of recent formation. Next to Surinam is 
Berbice, which has been extensively enriched, judg- 
ing from the distance of the sea coast from the line 
of sandhills, some thirty to forty miles. Demerara then 
gets its share, to the extent of about twenty-five miles. 
On reaching the large estuary of the Essequibo it would 
appear that the deposit had raised an archipelago of 
islands, as well as numerous banks and shoals. Beyond 
the mouth of the Essequibo, the supply of sediment 
would seem to have been nearly exhausted ; for the 
Arabian Coast has only a narrow strip of alluvial land of 
two or three miles wide, between the sea and the line of 
sand hills. Beyond this coast, from the Pomeroon to the 
mouth of the Orinoco, again, is a very extensive tract of 
newly formed alluvial land. As this tract trends ocean- 
wards directly north, it has probably been supplied with 
its sediment by the great Atlantic current, in its norther- 
ly course. 

It is apparently in this way that the rich coast lands of 
Guiana have been formed. And the process is still in 
operation, as is evident from the many new islands and 
banks that have been formed within our own recollection, 
and the extensive additions to the land of many of the 
coast estates, in some cases to the extent of doubling the 
depth of the original grant. 

The coast line of Guiana must therefore be extending 
sea-ward, and must continue to do so, as long as the 


6 TIMEHRI. 


equatorial current of the Atlantic continues to set in its 
present direction. 

But this extension is by no means at a uniform rate ; 
on the contrary, the land at times, instead of “making”’, 
is being washed away, to the serious danger of the 
land already empoldered, rendering new dams and, in 
some places, very costly sea defences, necessary to repel 
the encroachment of the ocean. But on the whole the 
great alluvial deposit must be increasing. 

A very correct idea of the way this increase is effected 
may be obtained by watching the progress of the banks 
of drift-mud which, from time to time, are thrown up at 
our watersides. The scene is a very peculiar one. The 
spring tides bring in a vast amount of semi-fluid drift- 
mud, which extends for many miles along the coast, 
and for perhaps two or three miles seawards. This 
mud is neither so liquid that a boat can sail in 
it, nor so solid that a man can walk on it; any one 
attempting to do the latter, would gradually sink down 
to his neck. The only way to travel over it, is by 


means of a “catamaran,” 


which is a plank a foot wide, 
and about ten or twelve feet long. It is used by the fish- 
ermen, who by kneeling on it with one knee, and striking 
out with the right arm and left leg (or vzce versa) propel 
themselves along the slimy surface with considerable 
speed, till they reach the edge of the water, where they 
can commence their fishing. The prospect is dreary and 
desolate in the extreme. There is not the slightest ele- 
vation to break the monotony, and nothing more dismal 
can be imagined, unless it be the frozen seas of the Arc- 
tic regions, to which it bears some resemblance. The 
only object that relieves the eye is the multitude of wad- 


Our MuppDy SHORES. 7 


ing birds which move lightly along the surface, picking 
up the small fish left stranded in the mud by the reced- 
ing tide. These birds are mostly the beautiful scarlet 
ibis, and the white egret, and when they rise together 
in flocks of forty or fifty the sight is very fine. 

Where the drift-mud remains it becomes gradually 
more and more solid, the seeds of the courida, (Avicenza 
nitida), which are brought by the sea in great numbers, 
begin to germinate and take root, and in a wonderfully 
short time, a forest of young trees springs up. The mud 
becomes consolidated and hard, and a permanent addition 
is made to the land. 

But this is by no means always the case; the banks 
of drift-mud frequently disappear as suddenly as they 
appeared. A single high spring tide will sweep them 
entirely away, and perhaps a ‘‘ wash” may set in, instead. 
This action of the tides, in sometimes bringing in these 
deposits of mud, at other times sweeping them away and 
encroaching upon the solid land, is a problem that has 
yet to be solved. No fixed rules can be laid down re- 
specting the formation of these deposits of alluvial soil. 
There seems something capricious in the action of the 
sea, both as to the permanence of the deposit and the 
nature of the sediment deposited. 

Sometimes instead of mud, it is sand that is brought 
in ; and a fine hard sand beach is formed for many miles 
along the coast, liable however to be washed away again 
or coated with a layer of muddy clay. At other times 
banks are thrown up composed entirely of small sea 
shells*. These banks are often of considerable extent 


* These shells, Mr. Brown tells us, are all of existing species. 


8 TIMEHRI. 


and are very valuable, but they are less permanent than 
those either of mud or sand, for they frequently disappear 
entirely after a short interval. Reefs of these shells are 
to be found occasionally many miles inland, as on Plan- 
tation /Zope on the East Coast of Demerara, and near 
Goldstone Hall in Canje. These shells supply the only 
calcareous substance in the colony and should be secured 
at once on arrival and carried inland to a place of . 
safety beyond the reach of the tides, and there stored for 
future use ; instead of which they are generally left to be 
brought in at leisure, so that probably before one-tenth 
of the mass is secured a high spring tide comes and 
sweeps the rest away! They form the very best covering 
for our roads, and if more diligence were used in collect- 
ing them, the supply would probably be found sufficient 
to cover the public roads from one end of the colony to 
the other; a boon only to be appreciated by those who 
have had to burn earth for the purpose. 

There is another curious substance occasionally 
brought in by the spring tides, which is called by the 
creoles, “coffee grounds” or “ sawdust,” and is supposed 
to be decayed courida wood. But there is no smell of 
decay about it, and when examined under the micros- 
cope, it has the appearance of a regular formation, and 
is probably some marine zoophyte. 

The newly deposited drift-mud, though not of sufficient 
consistence to admit of being dug, is yet of sufficient 
consistence to be a hindrance to the passage of a stream of 
water through it; and the drainage water from the kokers 
and sluices of the coast estates, not being able to force 
a channel through the mud to the sea, has either to spread 
itself over the surface or, if that is too high for it, to 


Our MuppDy SHORES. 9 


creep along in shore before finding a passage to the sea. 
This stream is increased in bulk as it passes down the coast 
by the contributions from each of the several draining 
trenches it passes, until it is powerful enough to force a 
channel for itself, through the mud, to the sea. 

It is in this way, doubtless, that many of our rivers 
were originally formed, as we may see by the map. In 
Surinam there are several large rivers whose course runs 
parallel to the sea. Our larger rivers, such as the Co- 
rentyn, the Berbice, the Demerara and the Essequibo, 
the sources of which are in the high lands of the interior, 
have sufficient volume and force to deliver their waters 
directly into the sea through channels already established ; 
but many of the smaller rivers, flowing through the 
recently formed land near the coast, have evidently 
had their course controlled, during the early stage 
of their formation, by a deposit of alluvium between 
them and the ocean. This is the case with. the Canje, 
Abary, and Pomeroon, and in a very marked degree 
with the Waini and Barima; and this is a further proof 
that the alluvial deposit is brought in from the sea. A 
glance at the two last named riverson the map will 
convince any one. 

But this alluvial deposit confers a still more important 
benefit on the colony than increasing its surface. It is 
to it, that we are indebted for our rivers being navigable, 
and for the vast system of water-carriage we enjoy, such 
as no other sugar colony, except Surinam, possesses. We 
are apt to look with envy at the beautiful blue water and 
sandy beaches of the West India Islands, and to wish 
that the bars were removed from the mouths of our 
rivers, so that our ports might be accessible to vessels of 

B 


10 TIMEHRI. 


a larger size; but we are really better off as we are. 

Our rivers, in their upper reaches, are mostly very 
deep. The Canje, at eighty miles from its mouth, is 
forty or forty-five feet deep. The Berbice has a uniform 
depth of forty feet for a hundred miles, and at the junc- 
tion of the Virognie, over fifty feet. Now, if it were not 
for the bars at the mouth, the shallows in the sea-reaches, 
and the moderate rise and fall of the tides, rarely exceed- 
ing ten feet, our rivers would run dry at low water, and — 
instead of a river navigable at all times of the tide, we 
should only have deep muddy ravines, and the numerous 
tributary creeks would at low water become mere dirty 
ditches! This is the case with some rivers in other 
countries ; the Avon for instance, runs nearly dry at low 
tide, though at high water there is a depth of forty feet 
up to the City of Bristol. 

The effect of the banks of mud and sand brought 
in by the tide, and which extend up the “sea- 
reaches” of all the rivers of Guiana, is, that a large 
portion of the fresh water is kept back and not allowed 
to run to waste, and consequently the rivers are at all 
times navigable. Hence our invaluable “ water-carriage.” 

And this water-carriage is not only available for the 
shipment of our produce when manufactured, but by 
means of an extensive system of navigable canals, the 
canes instead of being carried in carts, or on the backs of 
animals, as in other countries, are brought to the mill in 
punts, of which a single pair of mules can tow as many 
as will contain canes enough for a hhd. of sugar ! 

It is this system of water-carriage that has rendered 
possible the great extension of the sugar estates in this 
colony ; for by simply connecting the navigable canals 


Our Muppby SHORES. 1! 


of several estates together, the planters have succeeded 
in extending their cultivation on the gigantic scale that 
is now common, so that crops are reckoned by thousands 
instead of hundreds of tons! Thus is practically tested 
the principle that “magnitude of operation is an element 
of cheapness,” and the investment of large capital is 
rendered profitable ! 

So that probably, of all the advantages possessed by 
this colony, for which we are not half sufficiently 
thankful, perhaps the most important of all is due to our 
much abused “ Muddy Shores.” 


The India-Rubber and Gutta-Perecha Trees of 
British Guiana.* 


By G. S. Fenman, F.L.S., Government Botanist of British Guiana. 


3! of British Guiana, of my report to the Govern- 
ment on Hevea Spruceana, inquiries were addressed to 
me by persons interested in the matter for more specific 
information than that report contained as to the yield 
of this newly-found species of Hevea, the age at which 
it might profitably be tapped for its juice, and the 
nature of the land best suited for its growth under 
cultivation. These were subjects which the time at my 
disposal only permitted me to investigate partially on 
my former journey, and on the receipt of the applica- 
tions alluded to above, I deemed it important that, 
the information should be obtained. As soon, therefore, 
as I had the time to spare I obtained permission to 
visit the interior to acquire it, as far as might be 
possible. 

The journey which was the subject-matter of my 
former report on this species of Hevea was made on the 
Essequibo and Mazaruni rivers, where in certain creeks, 
and in scattered and often distant localities on the 
banks of the main rivers, I found, by my own investiga- 
tion, and by inquiry from the Indians and other residents, 


* This paper is, in substance, reprinted from an official report by 
Mr. JENMAN to His Excellency the Governor, 


INDIA-RUBBER AND GUTTA-PERCHA TREES. 13 


that the tree prevails in more orless abundance. This 
being so, it appeared to me that, on this occasion, while 
carrying out the primary objects of my mission, I might 
make further acquaintance with its distribution ; and to 
accomplish this in the best way, I deemed it would 
be advisable not to return to the rivers with which I 
was already acquainted, but to visit another part of the 
country. It was necessary, however, to determine in 
advance that the region I might decide to take was not 
destitute of this tree; and finding, on inquiry, I could 
accomplish my object on the Pomeroon River, which 
flows through a region that was hitherto unknown to 
me, and divided by a wide tract of country from the 
rivers I have mentioned, I took this river for my opera- 
tions. Mr. IM THURN, the Special Magistrate of the 
district, was good enough to ascertain for my assistance 
the situation of some of the best localities, to save me 
any delay in seeking this information on my arrival; 
and I may here acknowledge the material assistance | 
derived from him in this and other ways. Indeed with- 
out his aid I should have found my movements very 
difficult at times, with the sparse population of the 
region, and under the bad weather which I, unfortunately, 
experienced. 

To make the information in this report intelligible to 
readers who may not have the former one to refer to, it 
will be necessary as I proceed to touch occasionally on 
matter which that contained ; and in this connection | 
may mention that the Indian names of Hevea Spruceana 
—taking the tribes who inhabit the belt of country in 
which its distribution is principally embraced—are, 
Arawack, Hatie:—Carzbis7, Poomui :—A ckawot, Sibisibi, 


14 TIMEHRI. 


of which the Avawack name is the most generally known 
by the river residents; and that it is a tree very similar 
in general appearance to Hevea brasiliensis which yields 
the valuable Para rubber, and which is at present 
the most important of the caoutchouc trees worked for 
market. Both trees attain about the same dimensions, 
and appear to grow under precisely the same conditions. 
Indeed the description of the ground on the Amazon - 
given by the collector CROSS, would apply literally to 
the ground on the rivers of this colony occupied by Z. 
Spruceana. 

At this time of year (December), which is the height 
of the winter rainy season, the land is partially flooded, 
but the cessation of rain for a few days together makes a 
great difference in the quantity of water diffused over it. 
The water lies in shallow pools between the trees, or is 
spread in sheets, when deeper, over wide spaces of 
ground, and the surface-soil generally, especially where 
this tree most abounds, is hardly more firm or dense than 
mud. It will give an idea of its character when I say 
that I wore a pair of high laced-up shooting boots, but 
with the best care in moving about, and stepping mostly 
on the more solid soil which is usually found in hillocks 
around the butts of trees, or on the fallen bits of wood 
which stretch between them, in spite of my care, I was 
constantly sinking to their tops and over, so that 
my socks were coated with mud. I am speaking, as 
I have said, of the wet season of the year, but even 
in the dry, the ground continues in a very moist con- 
dition. The land is usually very densely shaded, and 
in many places, probably in consequence, produces very 
little undergrowth. It appears probable that ground 


INDIA-RUBBER AND GUTTA-PERCHA TREES. 15 


such as I have described is essential to the best de- 
velopment of Hevea, as where these conditions most 
uniformly prevail in the localities where it is found, 
there most of the trees occur; and to this circumstance 
I am disposed to ascribe its greater prevalence on the 
creeks than on the main rivers. On the latter the 
banks are rather higher than they are on the former, 
and in many instances higher than the land within them. 
The surface drainage of the country is in the first 
instance into the creeks, and their banks are marked 
with numerous and contiguous shallow channels, —a fea- 
ture which the banks of the main rivers do not so 
characteristically exhibit. This is more particularly 
observable where the land is a little elevated above the 
water level. All this region of the Pomeroon is very 
low, and so prevalent is water on the land abut- 
ting the creeks, that on one occasion on this journey 
I travelled the greater part of the day before I found 
a place to land, where the ground was sufficiently 
dry to allow of my moving about. In using the word 
creek, which is applied in this colony to all the tribu- 
taries of a main river, some of which are very large, 
and even navigable to large craft for many miles, I 
speak of the smaller ones over which the trees on each 
hand more or less meet, for on these I have found the 
Hatie to be most abundant. 

I have taken the occasion to describe rather fully 
the character of the land, as it is important that persons 
contemplating the cultivation of this species of Hevea 
should be well informed as to the conditions which 
prevail in its native haunts. Doubtless the tree might 
be grown on dry land, or land dry comparatively to 


16 TIMEHRI: 


what I have described, but the conditions which accom- 
pany its distribution in a state of nature are the most 
reliable guide as to what it requires for its best develop- 
ment in the shortest time; and these favour the presump- 
tion that the growth would be slower on such land than 
on land approximating in character to that on which 
it is found naturally. In this, as in other similar 
cases, the nearer the natural conditions are copied in 
cultivation the greater the probability of attain- 
ing the highest success. I have had unquestionable 
evidence from observation of plants in the Botanic 
Gardens of the sensitive nature of this tree under con- 
ditions which diverge materially from those which I have 
described, though I must acknowledge that the Hevea, 
among trees inhabiting the same low alluvium, is not 
singular in this particular. 

As to the rate at which the Hatie grows, I can only 
adduce the evidence gathered from residents of the 
rivers and forests of the colony. A very intelligent 
half-breed, who has been acquainted with this tree from 
his youth, and for many years resided on the Essequibo 
where it is particularly common, described it to be of 
very quick growth, though it is always slender in pro- 
portion to its height, and appears, comparatively, more 
so by the absence which it uniformly exhibits of branches 
while young, of which it makes very few at any period 
of its life. He estimated, speaking of it, of course, in 
its native habitats, that it attains a diameter of eight 
or nine inches in five or six years. If this be correct, I 
think it must be its extreme rate of development under 
the most favourable conditions, for from what has been 
experienced of the growth of Hevea brasiliensis, which, 


INDIA-RUBBER AND GUTTA-PERCHA TREES. 17 


as I have said, is a very similar plant, under cultivation 
in the several countries where it has been tried, under, 
however, I believe, generally, conditions which conform 
but little to those which prevail in its native haunts, one 
would infer it not to be so great. Yet I feel convinced 
that had the Brazilian plants been tried on alluvial 
ground, well sheltered from wind, with a very moist 
atmosphere, and shaded by large trees, their growth 
would have been much greater; and perhaps, so much 
improved as, considering the relative very moderate 
dimensions of the members of the genus, to be regarded 
as rapid. 

My experience on the Pomeroon of the ultimate de- 
velopment of Hevea Spruceana agrees with the con- 
clusions I arrived at regarding it on the Essequibo and 
Mazaruni rivers. At its best it is not a large tree, and 
rarely, I believe, exceeds twenty inches in diameter, 
squaring for timber to about fourteen inches. The wood 
is hard, but how durable I do not know, and it appears 
to be of a character to be easily worked. The sap wood 
is white, but large trees have a few inches of dark centre, 
and its specific gravity is less than that of water. The 
bark is rather thin and smooth, and it adheres tenaciously 
to the wood. On trees a foot or more in diameter, it is 
not a quarter of an inch thick. When found in high 
forest, surrounded by others, the trees are quite straight 
and erect, and attain a height of sixty feet or more, with 
a few branches at the head. The upright trees are more 
conveniently tapped than those which, standing on the 
banks, lean out over the water; the position of which 
is both awkward for cutting the bark and catching the 
flowing juice. 

Cc 


18 TIMEHRI. 


Imay here again call attention to the facilities which 
this colony affords on all its rivers—and on that portion 
of them too which is accessible without difficulty or much 
expense, 2z.e., that below the falls—for the cultivation 
of Hevea. To have the trees close together, as they 
would be under a state of cultivation, for the convenience 
of the collector, would be an important desideratum and 
reduce the cost of collecting toa minimum. The waste 
of time which the most systematic collectors experience 
when the trees are growing in a natural state, scattered 
as they are through the forest, must very considerably 
enhance the cost of the labour. The cultivation might 
be successfully pursued, not only where the trees are 
found spontaneously but, as well, on land of a simi- 
lar, or identical, character, where, through other cir- 
cumstances, they are not naturally established. The 
labour required would be very inconsiderable, and a few 
hundred acres, treated with care and intelligence, would 
prove in the course of years a source of considerable 
profit to the proprietor. If planters in Ceylonand India 
speak hopefully, as they do, of the eventual success of 
Hevea cultivation in those countries, here, possessing all 
the natural conditions, and the advantages derived from 
an intimate acquaintance with these under the actual oc- 
cupation of the trees, the success should be assured. 
Wherever the tree is found, in the fruiting season—April 
to June—seed may be procured in fair abundance. If 
sown at once under the trees in nursery beds prepared 
from the lighter soil and leaf-mould which the forest 
affords in places, the plants would spring up rapidly, when 
they might be carefully lifted, with their rootlets un- 
broken, and planted at intervals under the other trees. 


INDIA-RUBBER AND GUTTA-PERCHA TREES. 19 


Where the latter are too close to admit the amount of 
light required, they should be thinned out first ; and it 
might be necessary to carry this on with care from time to 
time with the increasing requirements, both for room and 
light, of the planted trees. In some seasons and places it 
would be unnecessary to collect and sow seeds, as na- 
tural seedlings may be gathered under the trees. I think, 
though my opportunities of observation have not been ex- 
tensive on the matter, that the spontaneous production 
of seedlings depends very much on the character of the 
season when the seeds fall. If the rains have been very 
heavy and the land is flooded, they lie in the water where 
they drop and decay ; but if the rain has been light, or 
if the water has subsided, they drop into the muddy sur- 
face and germinate. This, too, is the only way I can ac- 
count for their abundance in one place and almost en- 
tire absence in another where the parent trees equally 
prevail. A good many seeds are consumed by animals ; 
for fish and birds, and probably such quadrupeds as 
acourie and labba, are fond of them. The Hevea culti- 
vator should be prepared to wait for his crop, but mean- 
while any trees already on the ground might be utilised 
and the produce sold. Seeing the increasing demand for 
india-rubber, with the daily extension of its application, 
and, particularly, the value of Hevea rubber, as compared 
with other kinds, the result of the enterprise might be 
looked forward to with the utmost confidence. Manu- 
facturers will take all they can obtain, and were it only 
more abundant in the market, and cheaper, many new uses 
might be found for it. To give an idea of the importance 
of the Brasilian trade in rubber, I may mention that 
the exports from Para for the half-year ended June 
C2 


20 TIMEHRI. 


last reached the value of $12,350,000. It illustrates 
as well, the value of the industry which is within our 
reach. The present market value of Para rubber is 
4/6 per lb. The cultivation might be carried on in 
conjunction with wood-cutting, plantain growing, or 
any other immediately remunerative industry, which 
would enable the cultivator to tide over the time till 
the trees reached the age of production. 

With regard to the question of the yield of Flevea 
Spruceana, it seems to me from my late experience and 
what I have been able to gather of the yield of A. dra- 
siliensis, to be not less productive than that species. It 
must be remembered that though the Para tree has gained 
so great a commercial reputation and importance, its yield 
of milk each day is exceedingly small. CROSS, the collec- 
tor for the India Office, to whom I have already alluded, 
says that fifteen of the cups used on the Amazon by the 
collectors make an English Imperial pint. Rarely, how- 
ever, a cut produces a cupfull, for he adds, ‘‘the quantity 
of milk that flows from each cut varies, but if the tree 
is large, and has not been much tapped, the majority of 
cups will be more than half full, and occasionally a few 
may be filled to the brim.”. And of trees which have 
been wrought in previous years he says: “though 
tapped in only two or three places, the quantity of milk 
obtained is surprisingly little.’ Now I came to the 
conclusion while experimenting on the Hatie that the 
yield of good trees was hardly, if any, less than this. 
The chief difficulty experienced is in the method and 
means of collecting the juice; every drop is of value, 
and it is important that there should be no waste either 
by imperfection of contrivance for catching it as it issues 


INDIA-RUBBER AND GUTTA-PERCHA TREES. 21 


from the bark, or by the employment of unsuitable 
vessels. The instant an incision is made, the milk begins 
to run, and it naturally runs faster at first than it does 
later, so that the collector must be prepared immediately 
to apply, in a dexterous and effectual manner, his 
apparatus for catching it. Again, if unsuitable vessels 
are used as to character or size, waste will be experienced 
by the diffusion of the milk over unnecessary surface, to 
which it adheres in a very surprising manner. The little 
loss, or reduction, which occurs in drying in the change 
from milk to rubber, and the considerable bulk of the 
latter resulting from the process, also strike one, though 
it is probable that the quality of the milk, as well as its 
quantity, depends upon the age of the tree. I was 
under the impression that the nature of the vessels 
employed in collecting the juice was a matter of little 
consequence, and therefore I prepared none of a definite 
character. I shall have occasion to speak further on of 
another mode of collecting, but for this which I am 
describing I am disposed to approve of the kind of cups 
used on the Amazon, and also of the methods there 
practised in the operation. These cups are round or flat 
or slightly concave; the latter forms being most in use, 
as they fit more closely when pressed against the tree. 
They are made of burnt clay. Our Caribisi Indians, 
who are potters for themselves and the various other 
tribes, whould no doubt produce similar vessels at a very 
cheap rate. They are stuck to the tree immediately 
under the incision made in the bark by the collector’s 
axe, with a small lump of well wrought clay. On the 
Pomeroon where the trees grow, on the banks of the 
creeks I found a very suitable clay, which I employed in 


22 TIMEHRI. 


my operations. It is necessary to smooth a little of it 
over the edge of the cup, so as to direct the juice in. 
For gashing the bark, I think a small axe with a short 
handle, for use with one hand, would be the best adapted 
instrument. This could be used with ease, and, it is of 
very material importance in carrying out the work that 
everything employed should be of a character to enable the 
operator to manipulate it with dexterity. The Para 
plan of making a single circle of incisions each day is 
too, I consider, the best to pursue. Nothing is gained 
by making numerous cuts close together; the flow of 
juice should be allowed to take place by a few rather 
than several exudations. If it occurs from too many 
for a certain area, so little is obtained from each as to be 
a mere drop or two ina vessel, which, diffused over the 
large surface of the several receptacles, involves a 
proportionally large loss by surface adhesion, in addition 
to the time and labour taken up by the extra work. A 
circle of incisions is made each day, extending from as 
high as one can reach and working downwards, day by 
day, to the base of tree. They should be made about six 
or eight inches apart ; the incisions in the circles being 
in quincunx order. 

I recommend this system as the most economical for 
collecting the fresh juice; but were the waste of the trees 
not a vital consideration, a less conservative plan might 
be practised. Much more is obtained in one operation 
by cutting the tree down and tapping its bark the full 
length of the trunk, than by the above method. The 
yield I found in this way several times greater as the 
immediate result. But to the permanent loss of the tree 
as a rubber producing agent, though the timber might 


INDIA-RUBBER AND GUTTA-PERCHA TREES. 23 


perhaps be turned to account, must be added the 
considerable waste which occurs in collecting the milk 
by the number of vessels, or wide leaf surface, required to 
catch it. I employed pieces of banana or trooly 
(Manicaria saccifera) leaves, from which in part, the 
men, as well, made the cups which were used when the 
trees were tapped standing, laid under the prostrate 
trunk, which I ringed at intervals of ten or twelve inches. 
But, as I have said, it is a wasteful method, destroying 
for a single crop a tree which might be cropped for 
years; and much of the milk adheres to the leaf 
surface. Yet I fear that when collectors turn their 
attention to Hatie and other india-rubber trees, this 
will be the system they will adopt, as it is already 
established by practice in the colony wherever ba- 
lata is gathered. From large trees thus destroyed a 
pound of rubber might be obtained on an average 
each, but I donot think more. The market value 
of this, supposing it to be of the same quality as 
Para rubber, and cleanly gathered, would be from three 
shillings to four shillings and six pence; which, though 
collectors may accept as a price that pays them for their 
labour, seems an insignificant sum to destroy a tree for. 
I doubt, however, considering the low relative price 
which balata fetches, though the tree which produces it 
is so much more prolific in milk, and so much larger 
than the Hatie, whether the trees destroyed by balata 
collectors return, for balata alone, so much as three and 
six pence each on an average. 

In my former report, guided by certain leading evidence, 
] expressed a belief that other species of Hevenw might 
be found in Guiana; but up to ‘now none has directly 


24 TIMEHRI. 


come under my personal notice. I have been informed, 
however, that there grows on the Mazaruni, in that part 
where the rise in the country first begins, above the first 
falls, atree, which the Arawack Indians calls Hatie-balli, 
from its resemblance to the Hatie, producing a similar 
but smaller fruit. From what I can gather, and the 
inference which may justly be drawn from the usual 
acuteness of Indians as to the affinity of plants, I am 
under the impression that this will prove to be a second 
species of Hevea. 

I have now to speak of another india-rubber tree which 
I became acquainted with on this journey, the discovery 
of which I regard as of great interest and probable 
importance. While carrying out my investigations with 
the Hatie, Mr. 1m THURN informed me that he had often 
seen in the possession of Caribisi Indians balls of india- 
rubber, which were exceedingly elastic. The Macusis 
on the Rupununi savannah certainly collect it regularly 
(they call it ‘““Queena’”’) and use it as balls (play). 
This appeared to me to accord with the stories 
brought home by the early travellers in the West 
Indies, when the islands were occupied by Caribs, 
and which also some existing travellers in this colony 
have told me they had witnessed, of india-rubber balls 
used in the festive games of the Indians when assembled 
at paiwarie feasts, an instance of which I had never met 
with in my own travels. I therefore determined at once 
to visit the country where these Indians described their 
residence to be, and gather what information they might 
be able to give as to this rubber and the tree which pro- 
duced it. I was not certain, however, that it was not the 
production of the Hatie ; but I thought this improbable, 


INDIA-RUBBER AND GUTTA-PERCHA TREES. 25 


as I had met no Indians anywhere who possessed any 
knowledge of the rubber produced by the Hatie. The 
weather at this time was exceedingly wet and the 
downfall of rain nearly continuous. On reaching the 
waterside on Myrack Creek just before midnight, after a 
tedious pull for several hours through the darkness, | 
found the land flooded within the banks, and the sheets 
of water bridged over by long logs. Most of these 
sylvan bridges were covered six or eight inches deep 
with water, and the footing was, to me, in the profound 
darkness of the forest, treacherous and uncertain toa 
degree. A walk of about four miles through deep forest 
op an Indian trail brought us to the settlement, only to 
discover that my guide had mistaken the creek and, 
consequently, come to the wrong people. This was, 
however, I found the neighbourhood of the tree I was in 
search of, and the next day the collector of the gum, as 
the river inhabitants term every substance which exudes 
from a tree, was found at Comageguru, the next creek. 
He had in his possession seven or eight balls of various 
sizes, the larger ones weighing nearly a pound anda 
half. 1 could not discover that he had had any definite 
object in view in gathering them*. The larger balls 
were, I should think, too big for employment in any 
Indian games. His object may have been merely the 
speculation that he might barter them on the river, or 
down at the coast, as they do balata, considering it an 
analogous substance. In the afternoon, when the rain 
stopped, he took me to the same trees from which he had 


* Small quantites of this rubber have for a long time, for the last 
half dozen years to my knowledge, found a sale to the traders in the 


D 


26 2 DIvEHRI- 


collected the rubber in the balls. They were situated 
near a newly-made clearing intended for a provision 
ground, about an hour and a half’s walk through the 
forest from the landing place on the creek to which I had 
come the night before. Passing over the cleared ground, 
on which the bush had not yet been burned, we had to 
dive again into the forest to reach the trees. I have 
noticed a good deal of destruction in places of valuable 
timber in the clearings made for provision grounds, and 
this more particularly with the half-breeds who live on 
the lower parts of the river and grow plantains, which 
require a stiff soil upon which some of the better woods 
grow. Only recently I came on a bit of forest which 
had been underbushed for a provision field, the standing 
timber of which consisted of greenheart and other valuable 
trees. Whether any of this new rubber tree had 
perished in this clearing, it did not occur to me at 
the time to ascertain, but it is not improbable, as 
those I examined stood on the skirt of the ground. 
The trees were large individuals, four or five feet 
in diameter of trunk, and one hundred and twenty or 
more feet high. Their trunks were long, straight and 
unbranched for sixty or seventy feet from the ground. 
The lowest six feet of one had been scarred, and from 
the scars the milk had run and was dried in tears or 
strings several inches long on the bark. Most of the 
congealed rubber was, however, contained in the fissures 
made by the cutlass cuts, from which places it was rather 
hard to extract it because of the tenacity with which it 
held to the inner bark from which it had oozed. I gather- 


district and on the Arabian coast. What becomes of it afterward [ 
don’t know.—Eb. 


INDIA-RUBBER AND GUTTA-PERCHA TREES. 27 


ed and made a ball, following the Indian plan of winding 
it up like twine, of what was on this tree. They scar 
the trunk and then leave it, the milk oozes from the 
wounds, trickles down the bark, and coagulates and be- 
comes dry in a few days. My guide said it took three 
days to dry, but I should have supposed a shorter 
time might accomplish the change, the little rivulets 
are so very thin. That which was in the old cuts— 
cuts probably a year or more old—had turned black, 
but that in those recently made was nearly milk-white. 
The Indian boys, who are perhaps accustomed to play 
with the balls, as I noticed from several which they 
brought me they never make them large, stripped the 
dry strings very dexterously from the bark, taking good 
care to extract the larger portion to which I have alluded 
partly concealed in the incisions, and stretching it witha 
good deal of tension, wound it up. These balls have 
wonderful elasticity and bound with very little impulsion 
several feet off the ground. The rubber too seems ex- 
ceedingly tenacious and strong. This method of collect- 
ing is that pursued in Ceara, the province of Brasil which 
produces Manzhot Glazioviz. It is very economical of 
time, for it saves the tedious operation of catching the 
milk in a vessel as it issues from the wound, which is the 
most troublesome of all the operations. The principal 
objection to it is, that the rubber becomes soiled by the 
dirt adhering to the bark, a little of which it retains, and 
no doubt this would deteriorate its market value ; but 
this cause of depreciation might be reduced to a mini- 
mum by carefully brushing the surface down prior to 
commencing collecting operations. Rubber which has 
foreign matter incorporated with it, is classed under the 
D2 


28 TIMEHRI. 


term negrohead in the market, and its value depends 
on the measure of its freedom from dirt or other sub- 
stance, having regard of course to the quality of the 
rubber itself when clean. 

The branches of the trees I saw were so high that the 
character of the foliage could not be distinguished from 
the ground, and, as there was no means of ascending 
trunks so stout, I had to resort to the aid of a gun, and 
with this shot some branchlets off. It was, I was sorry 
to find, not the flowering season, but judging from the 
foliage alone, the tree appears to be a species of Ficus 
or Urostigma, but in the absence of flowers and fruit it 
could only be identified conjecturally. The colony 
abounds in different plants of the above genera, of which, 
presumably, other species to this are also valuable. 
Some of them are known to attain large dimensions. 
The seeds are dispersed by birds and other animals, and 
they germinate on other kinds of trees, principally palms, 
among the leaves, from whence they throw a root to the 
ground which again emits branches, and these with the 
main root in course of time amalgamate and form the 
base of the tree. Itis curious to notice how these root- 
branches fuse together and form eventually a concrete 
trunk. I regard the discovery of this tree as of great 
interest and probable importance, attaining as it does 
such a vast size, and producing a material of apparently 
excellent quality. The Indians know it under two 
names, the Carzbzsz calling it Touckpong and the 
Arawacks Cumakaballi. Noble in all its proportions, 
lifting and spreading its massive head above its neigh- 
bours, it is one of the largest trees of the forest, and has 
a wide and general distribution over the deep belt of low 


INDIA-RUBBER AND GUTTA-PERCHA TREES. 29 


country in the colony.* Samples of the rubber of both 
this and the Hatie I have sent to England to be tested 
as to their probable commercial value. 

Attempts have been made to extract caoutchouc by 
chemical means from the bark containing it. If this 
could be carried out successfully, and with paying results, 
every part of the bark might be utilised, just as the 
bark of Czmchona is in the production of quinine. The 
milk vessels abound all over a tree, as may be seen alike 
by cutting the bark of the stem, or that of a twig, and in 
breaking off a leaf; though they are proportionally 
more plentiful in any given species the thicker the bark is. 
Seeing this, it has always appeared to me a loss that 
so small a portion of the surface is operated upon. 
Where the tree is not cut down, only about eight feet of 
the trunk is utilized ; and even when a tree is felled it is 
not thought worth while by collectors to spend time 
tapping the less productive parts which can be devoted 
to the best parts of fresh ones. I speak of existing 
circumstances; they might act differently if the trees were 
less plentiful. I gathered samples of the bark of the 
Hatie and Touckpong, and also of the Balata or Bullet- 
tree, for the Government Analyst, Mr. FRANCIS, to make 
trial of ; but, as the following extract from a letter he 
has sent me shows, he does not regard, from the single 
experiment which he describes, the object as feasible 
from a commercial point of view. He writes :— 


“T found no difficulty in extracting the india-rubber from the sample 
of bark you sent me called Touckpong. I placed eight ounces (3,500 


* This tree (or one, the rubber of which appears to be identical) cer- 
tainly occurs on the high lands (though perhaps in swampy places) of 
the Roopoonooni.—Ep, 


30 TIMEHRI. 


grains) of the finely broken bark in a glass vessel, and just covered it 
with a liquid called bisulphide of carbon. After standing for twelve 
hours, the bisulphide of carbon was squeezed out from the bark through 
acloth. The partially exhausted bark was again treated with bisul- 
phide of carbon in the same way, and then the whole of the latter was 
evaporated down to dryness in a porcelain basin, and left a residue 
consisting of about 100 grains of india-rubber. The result barely 
represents three per cent. of rubber in the bark, and it is doubtful 
whether such a small quantity would pay for extraction. 

‘“T recommend petroleum ether as being a better solvent to use in 
this process than bisulphide of carbon. The latter would contaminate 
the india-rubber with free sulphur that is nearly always present in it as 
an impurity. 

‘“‘ Petroleum ether is a cheap—almost a waste—product, but unfor- 
tunately owing to the great inflammability it cannot be imported into 
this colony except under a duty of three dollars a gallon. 

“* Of course in the practical working of a process like this, the solvent 
employed—whether bisulphide of carbon or petroleum ether—would be 
recovered by distillation from the india-rubber and so could be used 
over and over again.” 

In face of this unfavourable result, it would be worth 
while to experiment with all the india-rubber and gutta- 
percha barks produced in the colony. If no other good 
came of it, it would determine the relative yield of the 
different trees. 

In a few places I met with the bullet or balata tree and 
the Indians told me it was scattered sparsely over a wide 
extent of the banks of the river and its creeks. I was 
surprised to hear that the trees were being felled by the 
Indians for the balata they yield, at the instance of traders 
who travel on the river purchasing the products pro- 
curable from the native inhabitants. The privilege 
Indians are allowed in regard to cutting timber of a spe- 
cified limit as to size, ‘‘to be used by them or to be dis- 
posed of by them in the shape of squared timber,” appears 
to confer no right to cut for this purpose, and therefore 


INDIA-RUBBER AND GUTTA-PERCHA TREES. 31 
in felling, or in tapping trees for the juice of their barks, 
they are committing a depredation for which they should 
be held responsible on detection. Much more should the 
men who instigate them to it for their own profit, 
knowing that they could not do it with impunity them- 
selves, be severely punished for their villainy. As to this, 
however, there seems to exist some difficulty. In res- 
ponse to a communication which I addressed to him on 
the subject, Mr. IM THURN writes :— 

“ The bullet-tree (Mimusops balata) appears to be widely but some- 
what thinly scattered throughout the Pomeroon District as a whole ; but 
in places it occurs in great plenty. One of the places is said to be at 
the head of the Akaiwini creek, which runs into the Pomeroon just 
opposite Hackney. And that this information is correct is apparent 
from the large amount of balata which is collected and brought down 
from the Crown lands up that creek. I have myself seen a bateau 
coming from there with over 300 lbs. of this substance. It is collected, 
by the most injurious method of felling the trees, chiefly by one man, a 
coloured man from the coast, who makes his living, and it is apparently 
no bad one, by collecting this balata and a small quantity of locust gum. 
This is of course wholesale robbery and wilful destruction of Crown 
property ; and I am the Superintendent of Crown lands inthis district ! 
But though I can lay my hands on this robber, and perhaps on others, 
almost any day, I have no power to deal with such cases.” 

Having had my special attention called to this matter 
by his Excellency the Governor, I availed myself of every 
opportunity either for inquiry or of observation. On the 
very limited ground I was able to cover on the main 
river, as I have said, I met with very few balata trees, 
and no tree that had been destroyed. The creek men- 
tioned by Mr. 1m THURN [ascended as far as the time at 
my disposal would permit, but, unfortunately, as the 
land was everywhere flooded, I could land in very few 
places. The Akaiwini is, in fact, however, a very consi- 


derable river, and the whole period of my leave, could I 


32 TIMEHRI. 


have spared it, might have been occupied in its explora- 
tion. Only its higher reaches appear to be occupied by 
Indians, and here the balata tree is said to be more plen- 
tiful. So far as I can ascertain, none of this gum is 
gathered on the Essequiko or any of its tributary rivers. 
A wonderful impetus must have been given to the trade 
in Berbice within the last two years. In 1881, 93,573 
lbs. was exported, or more than double the quantity of 
any previous year.* From the products of our forest 
which are utilised, important as they undoubtedly are, 
the colony derives hardly any profit, while the forests 
are impoverished by wanton waste and the depreda- 
tions of the dishonest, and the trade is in the hands 
of a few merchants. As to the balata trade, unless some 
efficient method of utilising the whole of the bark be 
discovered, felling should be prohibited ; and, if, with this 
rule, an export tax were imposed, and every package 
containing the gum required to bear a special brand 
belonging to the grant on which it was gathered, which 
would show the production of each grant, a very salutary 
change would be effected in the trade. 

As the privileges accorded to the aboriginal In- 
dians are now under review by the Government, 
it may be hoped that the damage done by the nefarious 
acts of traders and others, which they are enabled to 
perpetrate by means of these people, will not much 
longer continue ; though only a new and comprehensive 
forest law will meet the whole forest question of the 


country. F 


* The export of balata for 1882 was 105,112 lbs., valued at 
£5,849. 3+ 104. 


OOOO OOOO 


Essequibo, Berbice and Demerara under the Dutch. 


PART I. 
By the Editor. 


re STE Discovery of Guiana. Rumours of the 
: 6, existence in the New World, just discovered 

BSA NS beyond the Atlantic, of an empire and city 
inexpressibly rich in gold and other treasure floated 
through the chief places of the civilized world in the very 
beginning of the 16th century. Just before these arose 
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS had discovered America, and 
soon after, in -1506, he died, yet in the belief that 
the land which, having crossed the Atlantic, he first 
had touched was but an eastern point of Asia of the 
Old World. Very soon those who followed COLUMBUS 
announced that the newly discovered land was no part of 
Asia but a New World. It is difficulty for us to realize the 
full effect of such news. If we try to imagine that in the 
present day men, having sailed into perfectly unknown 
seas, returned with news that they had discovered 
a new continent, huge and rich, we can only very faintly 
realize the successive incredulity, wonder, acceptance 
of proof, and admiration following on conviction which 
would be caused. Yet it was news of this sort that each 


ship returning from across the Atlantic made more cer- 

tain. And it was not only news of a New World ; it 

was of a world in which existed nations of a very high 

degree of civilization, and of wealth such as had as yet 

only been imagined in dreams ; moreover these nations 
E 


34 TIMEHRI. 


proved utterly powerless to retain their wealth from the 
free-booting European soldiers of those days. Nor had 
much of the century elapsed before Mexico and Peru 
were forced to pour their wealth into European treasure- 
houses. It is, therefore, not surprising that the eyes of 
all men of enterprize were turned to the West. For the 
travellers did not bring back only tales and precious 
metals; their ships came freighted with innumerable 
strange and rich products from the new country, products 
which, however familiar to us now, must then have ap- 
peared wonderful beyond all conception. 

Especially, these ships brought much gold. Some 
valuable and available commodity must be found in 
all new countries before these can attract a new 
population. It was gold which first drew white men 
to America: and it was gold, or rather the rumour 
of gold, which drew them to Guiana. For, strangely 
enough, though then, and till quite recently, Guiana had 
produced no gold, yet it was to that land that the early 
explorers pointed as the richest in that metal. To such 
elusive tales Guiana owed its fame and owes its earliest 
civilization and colonization. 

In treating of the first period in the history of Guiana, 
the period of its discovery, it is necessary to treat the 
country as a whole, and not as distributed, as it after- 
ward became, into several colonies and to several na- 
tions. Accordingly we must for the present regard 
Guiana as extending from the Orinoco on the north to 
the Amazon on the south, and from the Atlantic Ocean 
to an indefinite point, not even yet determined, on the 
west. The origin of the name Guiana is not certain, 
but it is probably derived from the name of the large 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 35 


but little known Waini River, which runs into the 
Atlantic somewhat south of the Orinoco. Such was the 
district which, unknown till the very last years of the 15th 
century, was regarded during the 16th century as a mys- 
terious land full of many marvellous things, and, during 
the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries was developed into 
the more or less flourishing colonies of the Venezuelan, 
British, Dutch and French Guianas. 

Rumour said that Guiana was the seat of an empire 
not inferior to those of Mexico and Peru ; so that, though 
even according to the rumours then current, gold occurred 
there in a natural condition, yet it was not this chiefly 
which attracted the whole host of explorers. Most 
of these looked, not so much for gold which was yet to 
be extracted with much labour from the earth, as for a 
treasure of gold ready wrought by art into a variety of 
forms, of a richness and value such as were only con- 
ceivable to the high-pitched, romantic imaginations of 
the men of that picturesque age. These treasures, 
they thought existed in a great city, called Manoa, 
or sometimes El Dorado, the capital of the empire 
of Guiana. Rumour had long proclaimed the existence 
of El Dorado, but had not always placed it in 
Guiana. At first it was supposed to be in New Granada ; 
but after even early in the 16th century, it was by com- 
mon consent said to be in Guiana. In Sir WALTER 
RALEIGH’S time, despite the fact that the rumour of 
Manoa had existed long before the conquest of Peru, 
it was believed that the empire of Guiana was founded 
after the capture of Peru by a member of the royal 
family of that empire, who fled with many of his coun- 
trymen, and, carrying with him much treasure, founded 

E 2 


36 TIMEHRI. 


the empire of Guiana. RALEIGH, who quotes from 
FRANCISCO LOPEZ an account of the possessions of 
GUAYNACAPA, Inca of Peru and “ancestor to the Em- 
peror of Guiana’’, was evidently inclined to believe that 
a court equalling, if not surpassing, that of Peru existed 
at Manoa. ‘All the vessels of his home”—he quotes 
from LopEz—“ table and kitchen were of gold and silver, 
and the meanest of silver and copper for the strength 
and hardness of the metal. He had in his wardrobe hol- 
low statues of gold which seemed giants, and the figures 
in proportion and bigness of all the beasts, birds, trees 
and herbs, that the earth bringeth forth; and of all the 
fishes that the sea or waters of his kingdom breedeth. 
He also had ropes, budgets, chests and troughs of gold 
and silver, heaps of billets of gold that seemed wood 
marked out to burn. Finally there was nothing in his 
country whereof he had not the counterfeit in gold. 
Yea, and they say, the Incas had a garden of pleasure 
in an island near Puna, where they went to recreate 
themselves, when they would take the air of the sea, 
which had all kinds of garden herbs, flowers, and trees of 
gold and silver, an invention and magnificence till then 
never seen. Besides this he had an infinite variety of 
silver and gold unwrought in Cuzco, which was lost by 
the death of HUASCAR, for the Indians hid it, seeing that 
the Spaniards took it and sent it into Spain”. Compar- 
ing with this the supposititious empire of Guiana, RALEIGH 
further says— The empire of Guiana is directly east from 
Peru towards the sea, and lieth under the equinoctial line, 
and it hath more abundance of gold than any part of 
Peru, and as many and more great cities than ever Peru 
had when it flourished most ; it is governed by the same 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 37 


laws, and the Emperor and people observe the same 
religion, and the same form and policies in government 
as was used in Peru, not differing in any part: and 
as I have been assured by such of the Spaniards as 
have seen Manoa, the imperial city of Guiana, which the 
Spaniards call El Dorado, that for greatness, for the 
riches, and for the excellent seat, it far exceedeth any of 
the world, at least of so much of the world as is known 
to the Spanish nation: it is founded upon a lake of salt 
water of 200 leagues long like unto the Caspian Sea.” 
These passages exhibit the magnificent conception of 
Guiana which attracted to those shores so many knightly 
adventurers from so many countries. 

While so many sought Manoa, one man, according to 
his own account, saw it. This was a certain Spaniard 
named JUAN MARTINEZ, who when dying at Porto 
Rico, presumably about the year 1532, gave an account 
of his adventure to certain friars of that place. These 
friars having deposited the written account in the 
chancery of that place, a copy came by some means 
into the hands of DON ANTONIO BERREO, Governor 
of Trinidad at the time of Sir WALTER RALEIGH’S 
first expedition in search of Guiana. 

MARTINEZ’ story was as follows:—DON DIEGO DE 
ORDAZ led an expedition, which ended in his own death, 
up the Orinoco in 1531. Before the expedition came 
to its fatal end, MARTINEZ, who was one of the party, 
fell into trouble and was parted from his companions. 
The whole store of gunpowder carried by the expedition 
exploded, and the blame being attributed to MARTINEZ, he 
was accordingly condemned to death. At the entreaty 
of the soldiers, with whom he was a great favourite, life 


38 TIMEHRI. 


was granted to him by ORDAZ; but he was turned 
adrift in a canoe, with his arms, but without provisions, 
to drift down the river. Certain people of Guiana rescued 
him and, never before having seen a man of his colour 
or kind, carried him to the city of Manoa as a curiosity. 
The journey occupied fourteen or fifteen days, during 
which time he was led blindfolded by the Indians. At 
last they reached the end of their journey ; and MARTINEZ, 
his eyes being at last unbound, entering the vast city at 
noon one day, travelled through it all that day and from the 
rising to the setting of the sun on the next day, before he 
reached the palace of the Inca. The Inca _ receiving 
him kindly, entertained him in his palace for seven 
months. MARTINEZ gave a wonderful account of the 
wealth and beauty of the city. It was he who gave 
the city its name of E] Dorado; for he said “at the times 
of their solemn feasts when the Emperor carouseth with 
his captains, tributories, and governors, the manner is 
thus: All those that pledge him are first stripped 
naked, and their bodies anointed all over with a kind of 
white balsamum of which there is a great plenty and yet 
very dear among them, and it is of all others the most 
precious, of which we have had good experience : when 
they are anointed all over, certain servants of the 
Emperor, having prepared gold made into fine powder, 
blow it through hollow canes upon their naked bodies 
until they be all shining from the foot to the head, and in 
this sort they sit drinking by twenties and hundreds 
and continue in drunkenness sometimes six or seven 
days together. . . . . . . Upon this sightand for 
the abundance of gold which he saw in the city, the 
images of gold in their temples, the armours, and shields 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 39 


of gold which they use in their wars, he called it El 
Dorado.” At last, at the end of seven months, the Inca, 
having loaded MARTINEZ with presents, allowed him to 
depart, and sent an escort of Guianians with him. All went 
well until the party came near the Orinoco, where lived 
the Orenoqueponi. These people fell upon him, drove 
back his escort, and robbed him of all but some gourds 
which were really full of curiously wrought gold beads, 
but which they supposed contained only provision for 
the journey. They however allowed him to pass ; and 
he went down the Orinoco by canoe to Trinidad; whence 
he passed to Marguerita and finally to Porto Rico, 
where he died. 

Such was the story told by MARTINEZ. It appeared 
credible to many at the time, and encouraged many in their 
search for Manoa. Of course we now know that it was a 
fiction ; but it is worth noting that it was apparently 
concocted by a man who had really been in the country 
of which he told. Various matters, each slight in itself, 
point to this conclusion. A few of these will suffice 
as examples. In the first place, MARTINEZ said that he 
was 15 or 16 days in reaching Manoa from the banks 
of the Orinoco; now this would really be about the 
time occupied in reaching the place which trustworthy 
authorities have now fixed as the supposed site of 
Manoa. In the second place, the account of the festivals 
of the Guianians reads exceedingly like a_ very 
greatly exaggerated account of the paiwari-feasts now, 
and probably then, held by the Indians. When, he said, 
the people of Manoa were about to commence their 
drinking bouts, they used to anoint their naked bodies 
with a kind of balsamum, and gold dust was then blown 


40 TIMEHRI. 


on to their bodies until they shone from head to foot, and 
that in this state they sat drinking by twenties and hun- 
dreds sometimes for six or seven days together. Now, 
before their paiwari-feasts the Indians gather together 
in great numbers, anoint their naked bodies with various 
kinds of oil, and then having covered themselves with 
paints, red, blue, white and yellow, and having put on 
gorgeous feather ornaments and much other finery, they 
drink and enjoy themselves incessantly for many days 
and nights. 

Again another circumstance, noted, not specially by 
MARTINEZ, but by nearly all the explorers of the 16th 
century, confirms this supposition that “the Guianians’’ 
were really only the Indians of the country, the ancestors 
of those who inhabit the country to this day. The gold 
and precious metals obtained from the Guianians were 
most frequently in the shape of crescents; “ croissants 
of gold, for of that form the Guianians most commonly 
make them’’ wrote RALEIGH. These can hardly be any- 
thing else than the crescent-shaped nose-pieces and ear- 
rings, made now-a-days of such baser metals as silver 
and copper, which are worn, suspended from the carti- 
lage of the nose or from the ears, by the Macusis, Wapi- 
anas, and, probably, by other Indians. The Macusis now 
inhabit the very district, between the Roopoonooni and 
the Rio Branco, where was the supposed site of El Do- 
rado; and, as Sir ROBERT SCHOMBURGK has pointed 
out, there is good reason for supposing that this tribe 
in the 16th century lived also on, or near, the Orinoco. 

HuMBOLDT and others have shown that the physical 
features which were attributed to the sight of Manoa 
occur ata plain, called Lake Amoocoo, which lies between 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 41 


the Roopoonooni, the Takootoo, and the Rio Branco. 
There seems every reason for supposing that this is really 
the spot, known then only slightly from accounts received 
by Indians, upon which the imagination of Europeans 
placed Manoa. This was the point which all strove 
vainly to reach. Had any reached it, they would have 
found no gorgeous city, but only mountains rising from 
a grass plain inhabited by a few scattered, naked Indians 
and flooded in wet seasons by the rivulets which at other 
times run across it. All these circumstances tend to 
show that there was some very slight foundation of fact 
underlying the gorgeous fables of Guiana. But these 
fables themselves at present claim our notice. 

The wealth of Guiana was not the only marvel told 
of the place. The land was, indeed, full of marvels. A 
very curious map of Guiana published in the 16th century, 
not only has some of the wonders of the country 
depicted on its face, but is accompanied by descrip- 
tions and plates of the Amazons, of men of the head- 
less tribe, and of other remarkable Guianians. The 
Amazons were a tribe of women who lived and 
fought by themselves except for a day or two during 
each year, when they received male visitors from 
other tribes. All children born of them, if boys were 
killed, if girls were trained up as Amazons. They 
would seem to have been most bitter man-haters. The 
plate devoted to them shows two men, their naked 
bodies transfixed with arrows, tied to the branch of a 
tree, each by one leg. A party of nine women are 
shooting more arrows into these poor wretches, while 
another woman carefully tends a slow, or at least a very 
smoky, fire directly under the victims. In the back 

r 


42 TIMEHRI. 


ground a band of Amazons is repelling a party of men 
who, undeterred by the fate of the two other members of 
their sex, are attempting toland from a canoe. Another 
plate represents the headless people of Guiana, whose 
hair grew from their shoulders, whose faces were on their 
breasts. 

Throughout the 16th century, adventurers stirred by 
these reports of wealth and marvels, and excited by 
thoughts of the vast and splendid treasure plundered 
from Mexico and Peru, sought for Guiana. Spaniards, 
_ Portuguese, Englishmen, Frenchmen, each jealous of the 
other, strove to be the first to explore and take hold of 
E] Dorado. Nor were the Dutch behind hand; though 
these, ever mindful of commerce, devoted themselves 
not so much to a search for gold as to developing a 
trade with Guiana. Probably this difference in aim was 
also due to some extent to the fact that the hereditary 
leaders of the Dutch—and it was the nobles of the other 
nations who chiefly instigated, and even led, the expedi- 
tions in search of gold—were fully occupied at home in 
freeing their country from the dominion of Spain and in 
erecting the Dutch Republic. So it happened that of 
the Dutch voyagers to the New World, most were 
traders. We shall presently see how, not to the gold- 
seeking nations, but to these Dutch traders, was chiefly 
due the creation, in the land which during the 16th 
century was only just discernible behind a cloud of 
fanciful myths, of such business-like colonies as the 
Guianas of the 18th and 1gth century. 

Having sketched the object of the search, it is ne- 
cessary now to give some account of the adventures 
of the seekers. 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 43 


Whether COLUMBUS himself ever saw Guiana is a 
disputed question, to which no certain answer will now 
probably ever be given. It is, however, at least certain 
that, if he did not reach the coast of Guiana, he was very 
near its most northerly point. 

Two of the little: band of daring voyagers of whom 
COLUMBUS had been the leader very soon afterward 
passed close along the shores of Guiana or the ‘‘ Wild 
Coast”? asit was soon afterward called. One of them 
ALONZO DE OJEDA, in 1499 reached the point where 
Surinam now is, and coasted northward past the mouths 
of the Essequibo and the Orinoco. The other, VINCENTE 
JANEZ PINZON, brother of the more famous man of the 
same name, in the same or the following year discovered 
the mouth of the Maranon, or as it was afterward called, 
the Amazon. The discovery of the mouth, and nothing 
but the mouth, of the great river Amazon will presently 
gain further interest from the story of another voyager. 
From the Maranon, PINZON also codsted northward along 
the shores of Guiana. During these and similar expeditions 
the Spaniards seem to have ascended more than one of 
the rivers of Guiana for some distance, and were sur- 
prised, says HERERA, at their size and appearance. It 
appears to have been about this time also (1500) that, 
not only vague rumours of the existence of treasure, but 
more certain news that Manoa existed in that country, 
a long way behind the Wild Coast, réached the Spaniards 
and, through them, the rest of the world. Then the 
search began in earnest. 

At first the Orinoco, which bounds Guiana on the north, 
was regarded as the most feasible route to Manoa: The 
Spaniards were already established in Trinidad just 

F 2 


44 TIMEHRI. 


opposite one of the mouths of that river; that island, 
therefore, served as the starting point for many adven- 
turous expeditions, all directed to one end. There is no 
need or space to chronicle all of these; but a few may 
be mentioned. In 1531 DON DIEGO DE ORDAZ, who had 
been in Mexico with CORTEZ, taking MARTINEZ as his 
“master of the munition” ascended the Orinoco as far 
as the cataract of Atures, where, principally owing to 
the hostility of the Indians, he was obliged to turn back. 
It is worth noting that from first to last the search 
expeditions of the Spaniards seem to have failed especi- 
ally from one cause—their treatment of the Indians 
through whose lands they passed. The expedition of 
ORDAZ is principally interesting from two causes ; firstly, 
it was that in which MARTINEZ got into the trouble 
which, as has already been told, led to his visit to Manoa ; 
and secondly, because ORDAZ either found or more pro- 
bably formed a small Spanish settlement at the mouth 
of Caroni. This settlement afterward became the town 
of Santo Thomé de Guiana which, after having been 
destroyed by the Dutch in 1579, was again rebuilt and 
became memorable in connection with Sir WALTER 
RALEIGH’S second voyage to Guiana. Again in 1533 
another Spaniard, ALONZO DE HERERA, tried to force his 
way up the same river: but he, also, getting into trouble 
with the Indians, was killed by a poisoned arrow. 

The most daring of all the expeditions the aim of 
which was the discovery of Manoa must now be told. 
All history contains no more amazingly bold story of 
travel than that which tells how FRANCISCO ORELLANA 
crossed the perfectly unknown continent of America 
from west to east, by way of the Amazon, and thus first 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 45 


of all white men passed along the southern limit 
of Guiana. In 1540, GONZALO PIZARRO accompanied 
by ORELLANA, they having heard a rumour that 
the river Coca, which flows westward from Quito and 
which in its lower course takes the name of Napo, ran 
into a great river on which stood the long sought 
Golden City,* started to prove the truth of this rumour. 
Soon after reaching the Napo, PIZARRO and ORELLANA 
parted, the expedition being in great difficulties owing 
to illness and want of provisions. ORELLANA was sent 
forward in search of food. But before long, perhaps 
alarmed at the strength of the current which had car- 
ried him so far and dreading the difficulty of returning, 
or, more probably, eager himself to lead an expedition 
of adventure, he determined to leave PIZARRO to his 
fate and to continue his own course. Past him ran 
the swift river which had borne him so far and which 
flowed, he knew not how, into a great, utterly unknown 
and, to an extent now hard to realize, marvellous- 
seeming country. To return even from the point where 
he then was would have been difficult, but with each 
day’s further journey return would become more and 
more hopelessly impossible. Yet, with apparently little 
or no hesitation, he determined to go on with the 
river; and thus, as it were, he hurled himself and his 
companions into the unknown. And in the end, having 
peen carried by the river right across the southern con- 
tinent of America, he was delivered by it to the Atlantic. 


* It is curious that this rumour was so far correct that the supposed 
site of Manoa is on the small river Pirara, the waters of which find their 
way through the Ireng, Takootoo, Rio Branco and Rio Negro into the 
“ Great river” 7.e. the Amazon. 


A6 TIMEHRI. 

The Napo had carried him into a vast river, and that 
had carried him into the ocean on the eastern side of 
America. The river mouth through which he passed to 
the sea was recognised as that same ‘ mouth of the Mar- 
anon’ which PINZON had discovered in 1499. PINZON 
had indeed discovered the mouth of the greatest river of 
South America, but ORELLANA had traversed its whole 
course. 

There was some attempt to change the name from 
Maranon to that of its first explorer; but though OREL- 
LANA did indeed give the river its modern name, that 
name was, not his own, but one which was derived from 
a story told by him. He, the boaster, told many tales 
of the difficulties and marvels through which he had 
forced his way. He had not seen Manoa but he had 
passed through nations incredibly rich in gold. He had 
had many battles to fight with these Indians. He had 
fought not only with fierce men, but with women more 
warlike than the men; and these warrior-women were, 
he thought, the Amazons whose existence in America, 
had before been rumoured. It was from this last story 
that the river took its name, and was called the Amazon. 

As the Orinoco bounds Guiana on the north, so the 
Amazon bounds it on the south. ° ORELLANA was, there- 
fore, the first to define these southern limits of Guiana. 

After the discovery of the course of the Amazon, it 
was regarded as rivalling the Orinoco as a probable route 
by which Manoa might be reached. More especially, 
the French, who even before this had been in the habit 
of trading with the Indians of Brazil for native produce, 
made more than one fruitless expedition up that river in 
search for El Dorado. 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 47 


Meanwhile the Dutch, who throughout the latter half 
of that century seem to have occupied themselves in 
establishing a trade in the native products of Guiana, 
began in 1580 to establish their earliest settlements on 
the Wild Coast. A settlement was established in 1580 
by a party of Dutch traders on or near the Pomeroon 
River ; and other, similar settlements were founded just 
within the mouth of the Essequibo. As early as 1581 
the Dutch States General took official and approving 
notice of these settlements ; but the further progress of 
this movement, which finally resulted in the establish- 
ment of various colonies, does not come within our 
present notice. 

When the century closed, the search for El Dorado was 
still in progress. DON ANTONIO DE BERREO, Governor 
of Trinidad in 1595, before that time had vainly at- 
tempted to make his way into Guiana. Even while he 
was preparing a third expedition for the same purpose, — 
on the 23rd of March, 1595, Sir WALTER RALEIGH 
arrived in Trinidad, on his way to Guiana, and took 
BERREO prisoner. At first. BERREO grudgingly tried to 
dissuade RALEIGH from his enterprize ; but finding this 
useless, having shown his copy of the dying declaration 
of JUAN MARTINEZ, he more than ever confirmed 
RALEIGH in his determination to continue, 

RALEIGH’S expeditions, two in number, were after all 
not very successful. On the first occasion he ascended 
the winding course of the Orinoco for 250 miles to the 
mouth of the River Caroni, and actually saw the Pacaraima 
mountains the other side of which is the plain of Manoa, 
but from that point he was obliged to turn homeward. 
He had however established most friendly relations with 


48 TIMEHRI. 


the natives, one of whom voluntarily returned with him 
to England. Undeterred he made up his mind to return, 
and adds that if he fails ‘and if any else shall be 
enabled thereunto, and conquers the same, I assure him 
thus much he shall perform more than ever was done in 
Mexico, by CORTEZ, or in Peru by PIZARRO, whereof the 
‘one conquered the Empire of Montezuma, the other 
of Huascar and Atahualpa.” From these words it is 
evident that he still retained his belief in the riches of 
Guiana, while from other passages it is evident that he, 
in common with the rest of the world, now expected to 
obtain not only imperial treasures from Guiana, but vast 
quantities of gold and precious metals from mines which 
he supposed to exist. 

RALEIGH tells his adventures during this expedition 
so vividly that the traveller who has had experience 
of that part of the world, as he reads, sees the whole 
scene before him. Much of the country remains 
to-day as it was in the beginning of the r7th century. 
The long monotonous river-reaches reflecting a burn- 
ing sun, the densely tree-covered banks, the forms 
of animal life, the occasional appearance of canoes 
filled with Indians, the terrified flight of these Indians 
at the first sight of the white man, their hospitality 
and kindness when persuaded of the peaceful inten- 
tions of their strange visitor, their habits, their feasts, 
their large promises of help, their performance of some of 
these promises, their lazy, careless, good-tempered delay 
in the performance of others, all these details and many 
others are incidents in the life of the traveller of to-day 
exactly as in that of RALEIGH and his party. The modern 
traveller sees the adventures of that band of 17th century 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 49 


explorers far more clearly than it is generally possible 
to see from a distance of two centuries anda half. 

Another feature in RALEIGH’S voyage is of special in- 
terest. Throughout the whole account of the expedition the 
reader can not but feel much satisfaction at the evidence 
of the leader’s kindly treatment of the natives, a kindness 
to which he owed any small success which he had. In 
the course of a few years, RALEIGH by gentle measures 
more nearly penetrated into Guiana than former explorers 
because of their savage and thoughtless cruelty had done 
in more than a century. RALEIGH endeared himself to 
the natives in a way which ought for ever to add lustre to 
his name. Long after his departure we hear that the 
Indians of the Orinoco looked and longed for his prom- 
ised return. But they were never again to see him. 

RALEIGH, after the failure of his first expedition, did 
not abandon his design on Guiana. Two expeditions 
were despatched by him to Guiana; one under Captain 
LAURENCE KEyMIS in 1596, and the second under Cap- 
tain LEONARD BERRIE, in the end of the same year. 
KEYMIS’S voyage has considerable interest in that he ex- 
plored for some distance from their mouths, several rivers 
between the Orinoco and the Amazon ; and, counting 
these rivers, he found that they were sixty-seven in 
number. 

But after the death of Queen ELIZABETH, RALEIGH, 
being in great disgrace with her successor, was 
thrown into the Tower, and was tried for high 
treason in 1603. The trial resulted in the well known 
iniquitous sentence of death. The execution of the sen- 
tence was, however, long deferred and RALEIGH lan- 
guished for a long time in the Tower. During this time 

G 


50 TIMEHRI. 


of captivity he seems frequently to have turned his 
thoughts to Guiana. At last, in 1617 he bribed the 
avaricious JAMES, by continually setting forth the 
wealth to be acquired from Guiana and the impor- 
tance of its conquest, to allow him freedom and 
opportunity to sail westward once more. There is 
surely something pathetic in the story of this brilliant 
and accomplished gentleman languishing in prison, plan- 
ning and longing for another hazardous journey into the 
wild, free and. unknown forests of Guiana, at last gain- 
ing freedom and, as it appeared, pardon, and setting 
sail. Nor is the end of the story, the failure of the 
expedition, the return of the adventurer, and the cold- 
blooded execution of the long delayed sentence of death 
any less pathetic. If the myth of the Golden City on 
the shores of the white lake gives a romantic tinge to the 
first period of the history of Guiana, the story of Sir 
WALTER certainly imparts a yet more vivid and a 
deeper dye. 

On the 2oth of March 1617 RALEIGH, with his son, 
sailed in the “ Destiny’? from London on the second 
voyage to Guiana. Five other ships accompanied him. 
The little fleet was driven by foul weather into Cork; 
from which place they did not again set sail till the 19th 
of August. Much sickness, many deaths, and long con- 
tinuance of foul weather befell the expedition before 
they anchored on the other side of the Atlantic at Cape 
Orange, on the 11th of November. Some time was spent 
at the mouth of the Cayenne river in cleaning the ships 
and refreshing the crews. On the 1oth of December 
from a group of islands which RALEIGH calls ‘ the 
Triangles,” he sent a party, with which went his own 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 51 


son, under command of Captain KEyMIS to make for 
the Orinoco. Meanwhile he himself, sick and despond- 
ent, with the rest of the fleet sailed for Trinidad, where he 
lay waiting till the 13th of February, in long and anxious 
suspense as to the fate of the Orinoco expedition. At 
last the suspense ended. A letter giving an account of his 
failure was received from KEYMIS. 

The expedition had reached the town of Santo Thomé, 
near the mouth of the Caroni, on the 12th of January, 
(1618) ; and in an assault on the town made that night 
young WALTER RALEIGH had been killed. The 
Spaniards had been expelled from the town; but 
the English had been disappointed in their hope 
of finding treasure. KEYMIS, having established 
himself in Santo Thomé, had sent an exploring party 
up the river as far as the mouth of the Guarico, a dis- 
ance of 110 leagues ; but the party had returned at the end 
of 20 days without having found a way into Guiana, At 
last, in want of provisions, and continually harassed by 
the ejected Spaniards, KEYMIS, about the end of Janu- 
ary, had made up his mind to return. 

Such was the news contained in the letter received 
by RALEIGH ; and it was after a time followed by the arri- 
val of KEyMISs and his party. When the two old friends 
and fellow-travellers met, KEYMIS seems hastily to have 
made somewhat ungracious excuses for the misfortunes 
which had overtaken him. RALEIGH, who with a true 
instinct foresaw his own ruin in the failure of the expe- 
dition, answered bitterly in the tone of a fallen man 
deceived by a former friend and faithful servant. Full 
of self-reproach and stung to the quick by the re- 
buke, KEYMIS first shot and then stabbed himself. ‘His 

G2 5 


52 TIMEHRI. 


boy going into the cabin found him lying upon his bed 
with much blood by him, and looking into his face saw 
that he was dead.” 

A few words suffice to finish the story. RALEIGH’S return 
to England, his surrender of himself, and the execution 
on him of the suspended sentence of death, nominally 
for the old offence, but really in order to satisfy the 
Spanish Ambassador, who was loudly complaining of the 
attack on Santo Thomé and of other of RALEIGH’S deeds 
against the Spaniards, not only form the closing scene 
in the life of the great English seeker for the Golden 
City, but also coincide virtually with the time at which 
Guiana became no longer the scene of that famous search 
for imaginary gold but of a trade in the real wealth 
of its natural products. 


2. The founding of the Colonies, A. D. 1580—1745. 
In passing from the romance of the discovery of Guiana 
to the history of its colonization, it is as well to try to 
realize the nature of the land of Guiana as it appeared 
to its earlier colonists. They still only knew its sea- 
board and the lower reaches of some of the big rivers. 
The courses of the Orinoco and the Amazon, were 
sufficiently known to serve as the boundaries of Guiana 
on the North West and South East. Of the rivers be- 
tween these, the Pomeroon, the Essequibo, the Berbice, 
the Surinam, and the Cayenne, the lower reaches were 
early settled, but it was long before these were penetrated 
to any great distance from the sea. 

The interior of the country was, in fact, entirely un- 
known except from the accounts of the Indians and of the 
one or two travellers, not of the most trustworthy kind, 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 53 


who claimed to have been there. There was, therefore, no 
certainty as to how far Guiana extended to the west. 
Two views seem to have been held. One was that the 
Amazon and the Orinoco started from the same point and 
that these two rivers thus bounded two sides, not of a 
quadrilateral, but of a triangular land of which the 
Atlantic formed the remaining side. A slight variation 
of this view was that not these two great rivers, but 
a branch from each somewhere met*; and curiously 
enough it is actually a fact that it is possible to 
pass from the Orinoco to the Amazon by water. The 
second view as to the western limit of Guiana was that 
it was formed only by the sea on the other side of the 
continent ; for ina grant of the date 1663, to which | 
shall presently have occasion to refer, Guiana, is 


6 


described as ‘extending from the sea southwards to the 
heads of certain rivers and thence by direct lines to the 
South Sea.”+ But the question as to how far from the 
Atlantic, Guiana might extend was rather of speculative 
than of practical interest to the early colonists ; for they 
found that the task of founding colonies even on the 
sea-board was almost more than they could accomplish. 

The natives in a new country are often the greatest 
hindrance to settlers, but in Guiana the Indians, who 
were the only inhabitants, were, when well treated, 
the very opposite. We shall presently see how those 
settlers who used the Indians kindly almost always 
survived and flourished, while those who did the opposite 
perished. At the present day the Indians, wherever they 
retain their own peculiar habits, will do anything for a 


* Description of Guiana (by Major John Scott ?) among Sloane MSS, 
+ Calendar of State Papers, Col. Series, Vol, v. p. 131. 


54 TIMEHRI. 


white man who is kind to them; and from very many 
contemporary statements, it is very evident that their 
bearing was the same to the early settlers. For example, 
in an English State-paper concerning Guiana, dated 
1663, itis said that ‘the Christians in these parts take 
no pains or labour for anything; the Indians house them, 
and bring them victuals, receiving iron-work, or glass 
beads or such like contemptible things in return.’* Had 
their simplicity and kindliness been everywhere rightly 
used, not only would the early settlers have met with 
much less misfortune, but the Indians would by this 
time have been turned into useful labourers. At any 
rate, it may be safely affirmed that the Indians were 
naturally of a friendly disposition towards the first 
white visitors. 

The various European nations which had engaged in 
the search for Guiana all after its discovery struggled to 
make settlements in the land and to possess it. The 
degree of success which attended the efforts of each was 
various and not always proportionate to the success 
which had attended the endeavour of each to discover. 
No nation had sought more eagerly for Guiana than had 
Spain; and alone of the competing nations Spain had 
no success in colonizing the discovered land on the 
southern side of the Orinoco. France, too, made some 
efforts both to discover and to settle, but without very 
important result. The two chief colonizing nations were 
the Dutch and the English ; and of these the former had 
from the first laboured to settle rather than to explore. 

From the date of the formation of the first successful 


* Calendar of State Papers, Col. Series. Vol. i. p. 36. 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 55 


settlement, in 1580, for more than eighty years, till 
1663, France, Holland and England were competing 
with more or less success against each other for the 
possession of Guiana. Each of these three nations at 
first tried to form settlements at various points along the 
whole coast ; but each after a time succeeded in gaining 
a footing along a distinct part of the coast, the Dutch 
nearest the Orinoco, the English eastward of the Dutch 
and the French eastward of the English. A brief sketch 
of the success of these three nations, and of the abor- 
tive efforts of Spain, during this period of eighty years, 
must suffice. 

Despite their ultimate failure, to Spain belongs the 
merit of having founded the earliest settlement in Guiana. 
As early as 1531, or perhaps in the following year, DIEGO 
DE ORDAZ of whom mention has already been made, 
founded a settlement at the mouth of the River Caroni, 
on the eastern bank of the Orinoco. This, which after- 
ward received the name of Santo Thomé de Guayana, was 
destroyed by the Dutch in 1579, and, being rebuilt near 
the old site, was again destroyed, as has been told, by 
KEYMIS in 1618.* A second settlement is also said to have 
been formed by Spaniards, under GASPAR DE SOTELLE, 
at Cayenne, in 1568, but this, having endured for five 
years, was then destroyed by the Indians of the district.t+ 
This latter is as far as I know, the only recorded Spanish 
settlement south of the Orinoco. But in 1593 BERREO, 


* RALEIGH’S ‘ Discoverie of Guiana’—Hakluyt Society, p. 79. This 
settlement is also mentioned in the MS ‘ Description of Guiana’ which is, 
in the Sloane Collection, but the founder is there said to have been, not 
OrpAz, but PEDRO DE Acosta. 

+ See the same MS. ‘ Description of Guiana.’ 


56 TiMEHRI. 


the Spanish Governor of Trinidad, the same who was 
afterward RALEIGH’S great opponent, formally took 
possession of Guiana for his master PHILIP the Second. 
Two years later RALEIGH reached Guiana and broke the 
shadow of Spanish power along the whole of that coast. 
It is perhaps worth noting that Guiana, which is the only 
civilised district of South America which was never for 
any time subject to Spaniards or to their kindred the 

Portuguese, is also the district in which order and civili- 
zation have been most uniformly maintained. 

_ All the French attempts to settle in Guiana took place 
within the eighty years (1580-1660) which, as I have 
pointed out, formed the chief period of colonization. The 
first settlement was in 1607 on the Wiapoca, not far 
from the Cayenne for the cultivation of tobacco. These 
settlers after a time quarrelled with the Indians, and 
were by them almost entirely annihilated in 1609. A 
second party of Frenchmen tried to settle in 1613 at 
Cayenne, where, as we have seen, Spaniards had before 
settled and been destroyed by the Indians; but the new 
comers too were, some destroyed, some driven away, 
within a few months by the natives. Yet another attempt 
was made in 1625, when two shiploads of French settlers 
landed at Meriwinia; but another ship coming to the 
same place not long afterward found no single one of 
those settlers in that place. Again, in 1626 a party of 
Frenchmen established themselves on the Suramaco ; but 
these, after lingering for three years, removed to the island 
of St. Christopher. In 1639 a second French settlement 
‘was formed on the Suramaco, but was again destroyed 
by Indians, all the settlers being killed in a single day, 
Yet once more, in or about 1642, Frenchmen settled on 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 57 


the Suramaco and at Cayenne.* Of these last settlers, 
though a great many were again killed by Indians, some 
perhaps survived at Cayenne and formed the nucleus of 
the present French colony at that place; at any rate, it 
seems certain that that colony dates from about this time. 
It represents the only successful attempt at colonization 
by the French in Guiana. I shall have occasion to 
mention it but once more. 

The story of the Dutch settlements, to which we now 
turn, is one of far greater success. It may be repeated that 
while most of the settlements which have already been 
mentioned perished through the wantonly provoked ill-will 
of the Indians, those of the Dutch, who exerted them- 
selves to establish friendly relations with the Indians, 
flourished in spite of many vicissitudes. As showing 
another cause of this success, it is also note-worthy that 
the Dutch, devoting themselves from-the first simply to 
the establishment of a trade in the known and useful 
producis of the Guiana coast, left it to other nations to 
search for the expected gold and other treasure, and that 
they would, had they been allowed, have led a peaceful 
life without disturbing the colonists of other nations near 
them. Moreover, certain similarities between the natural 
features of Guiana and those of their old homes in Holland 
made their new home less repellent and disheartening to 
the Dutch than to men from other countries. Guiana, 
like the Netherlands, was a country of rich soil, barely on 
a level with the sea ; sucha place, while it would offer but 
few attractions to others, seemed home-like to the Dutch, 


* On all these French colonies see the Sloane Collection M.S. ‘ De- 
scription of Guiana’. 


H 


58 TIMEHRI. 


and at the same time seemed little likely to be perma- 
nently occupied by other nations. 

As early as 1580 certain Dutch traders established a 
settlement on the eastern bank of the Pomeroon River ; 
and even in the first year after its formation this settle- 
ment was recognised by the home government. A Dutch 
population gradually spread along the banks of this river 
and long flourished, though never developing a colony with 
a distinct government. Ata considerably later period, in 
fact between 1650-’60, a vain attempt to give new vitality 
to the settlements on the Pomeroon was made, by build- 
ing the two towns of New Zealand and New Middleburg. 
Traces of Dutch life on this river are still to be seen on 
the deserted river-banks, in abandoned coffee plantations, 
in groves of arnatto plants, long cultivated as a culinary 
dye used in place of cochineal, in ruined wells and 
remains of walls built of small, very regular Dutch bricks, 
in solitary cocoanut, and other foreign palms, in huge 
splendidly graceful and most stately clumps of bamboos, 
in solitary tomb-stones under these bamboos, and, it is 
said, in the remains of a canal which once connected 
the Pomeroon with the mouth of the Essequibo. No 
colony, however, ever developed itself on the Pomeroon ; 
though it was from there that the first settlers were sent to 
the Essequibo,* there to found the earliest of the per- 
manent settlements of Guiana. 

In, or about, the same year in which settlements 
were formed from the Pomeroon at the mouth of the 


* The origin of the name of the Essequibo is not certain. It is usu- 
ally said to have been named after JUAN p’EZQUIBEL, a companion of 
Co.tumsus. But it should be observed that the Carib Indian name for 
the river is Scapi or, more correctly Esscapio 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 59 


neighbouring river Essequibo another settlement was 
made on the Abary, a small river which runs into the 
sea about half way between the Demerara and the 
Berbice. The latter of these settlements seems to 
have had a much shorter, and even less eventful life 
than those on the Pomeroon; but the former, that on 
Essequibo, was the germ which afterwards developed 
into the colony of the same name which was the 
first, and long the most important colony in Guiana. 
The settlers at first took more and more land into cul- 
tivation at the mouth of the river and developed a 
very considerable trade with the Indians. But in 1596 
this prosperity began to be roughly disturbed by roving 
bands of Spaniards; the settlements were again and 
again destroyed, and the inhabitants were (in 1616?) 
compelled to retire some forty miles up the river, to the 
point where the Cuyuni joinsthe Mazeruni just before the 
latter river flows into the Essequibo. There they estab- 
lished their head quarters ona tiny island to which they 
gave the name Kykoverall, from the wide view along 
three huge rivers which it affords, and on which 
they found the remains of a small Portuguese fort, 
the earlier history of which was, and is, entirely un- 
known. After this, Dutch cultivation spread rapidly 
along both banks of the Essequibo for some distance up 
its course, and, somewhat less extensively, along the 
Mazeruni and Cuyuni. 

To turn for a moment from the colony of Essequibo : 
In the year 1615, two hundred and fifty Dutchmen from 
Zealand had landed at Cayenne; but, probably because 
other colonists, Spanish and French, had attempted that 
place before and had left an evil reputation, these Dutch- 

H 2 


60 TIMEHRI. 


men for once failed to establish friendly relations with 
the Indians ; in default of which they were obliged to 
quit the place within the year of their arrival. 

The year 1616 was an eventful one in Essequibo; for 
the chief authority there then fell into the hands of a man 
named GROMWEAGLE who seems to have been qualified 
in a very remarkable degree for the work which he had to 
perform. To him that colony, the mother of all the others 
which grew up in what is now British Guiana, owed much 
of its success. The recorded events of history, unfortu- 
nately few in number, therefore deserve some notice. 

GROMWEAGLE * was a Dutchman, born in 1581, who, 
serving in various Spanish expeditions in the Orinoco, 
acquired so great a liking for the adventures incident to 
a life in Guiana that, having heard that his own coun- 
trymen from Zealand were establishing themselves 
more firmly on the Essequibo than the Spaniards were 
likely ever to doin any part of Guiana, he asked for 
employment from his own countrymen and was sent out 
from Zealand, in what capacity does not appear very cer- 
tainly, in 1616 with three ships, ‘and was the first man 
who took firm footing on Guiana by the good liking of 
the nations, whose humours the gentleman perfectly 
understood.’ According to the document from which I 
am now quoting, it was he who erected the fort on the 
island of Kykoverall; but, from other sources, it seems 
almost certain that he only strengthened it and adopted 
it as his stronghold. All his time the colony flourished ; 


* For the facts of this story 1 am indebted once more tocertain M.S.S. 
in the Sloane Collection, to which my attention was especially called 
by my friend N. DARNELL Davis, to whom | take this opportunity of 
offering great thanks for this, and much other kindness, 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 61 


he traded largely even with the Spaniards, and behaved 
himself in a friendly way to all colonists in that part of 
the world, and especially to the English who were then 
newly established in Barbados. Having served the colony 
for forty-eight years he died in 1664. The reason of his 
success it is not difficult to find, and has already been told; 
it lay especially in his wise treatment of the Indians and 
also in his neglect to spend time and means in har- 
assing Europeans of other nationalities in neighbouring 
colonies. The following well illustrates his habits in 
both of these ways. Acertain man named POWELL, who 
had served with GROMWEAGLE under the King of Spain 
in the West Indies, took possession of the island of Bar- 
bados about 1625 and founded an English settlement there. 
The new settlers had no stock of food-producing plants 
suited to their new home, nor even if they had had them, 
would they have known how to cultivate such. In this 
emergency POWELL sent his son THOMAS to his old com- 
rade GROMWEAGLE in Essequibo with a request for such 
thingsas were proper to plant for food and for trade. 
GROMWEAGLE “willing to gratify an old friend, persuaded 
a family of Arawacoes, consisting of forty persons, to at- 
tend POWELL to Barbados, to learn the English to plant, 
and to carry with them cassava, yams, Indian corn, and 
other pulses, plantains, bananas, oranges, lemons, limes, the 
pine-apple, melons, &c., and, for to produce a trade, they 
carried over tobacco, cotton, and annatta, a rich dye 
(a commodity the English never yet know how to 
manage *) ; to all which Barbados was naturally a stran- 

* It must be remembered that this was written by an Englishman, one 


well acquainted with Barbados, and, at the time he wrote, hostile to the 
Dutch, 


62 TIMEHRI. 


ger. The Indians fell to planting soon after their arrival 
at Barbados, and all things grew well and came to great 
perfection, agreeing with the soil and clime, and they 
soon had all things necessary for life....... Captain GROM- 
WEAGLE had undertaken ... that at the expiration of two 
years, if they did not like the country, or should upon 
any other occasion desire to go back to Dissekeeb, they 
should be transported with their reward, which was to be 
fifty pounds sterling in axes, bills, hoes, knives, looking- 
glasses, and beades.” ‘This certainly shows that the in- 
fluence of GROMWEAGLE was great with the Indians, and 
also considerable generosity to the English who were 
even then very jealous of the Dutch in Guiana. Unfor- 
tunately GROMWEAGLE afterward had considerable rea- 
son to regret his kind action. POWELL himself behaved 
well in the matter ; but he kept his authority in Barbados 
only for three years, after which he was superseded by 
other English governors, who repudiated his share of the 
bargain, and, the Indians objecting, “made slaves of them, 
separating the husbands and wives of some, parents and 
children of others, one from another.” At last one of 
these Indians escaped, and, getting on board a Dutch 
ship, reached Essequibo and there told the story to the 
rest of his tribe: “which prceved of all consequence to 
Captain GROMWEAGLE, who had like to have lost his 
colonie for that cause only, and was forced to marry a 
woman of the Careebee nation, to balance the power of 
the Arawacoes, and afterward was at the charge of great 
presents to make up the business between the Dutch and 
the Arawacoes nation.” It is evident that GROMWEAGLE 
understood the value of the balance of power and was 
prepared to go to any length to maintain it. 


2 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 63 


Various internal affairs of great importance also hap- 
pened in Essequibo during the rule of GROMWEAGLE. 
The traders to the colony were incorporated in 1621 
into the Dutch West India Company, into whose hands 
passed what was virtually a monopoly of trade between 
this part of Guiana and the world beyond. The first 
act of this company, or indeed it may be said, the 
purpose for which it was instituted, was to introduce 
negroes as slaves into Guiana. This was part of the natu- 
ral course of events. The trade in negroes, which had 
been begun, by the Portugese, in the middle of the 15th 
century, was flourishing in the 17th century. In Guiana 
the soil was rich and promising; but this was almost 
useless to its owners owing to the climate, which is such 
as to prevent Europeans from seriously undertaking field 
labour ; nor were the natives of the country, the Indians, 
apt for continued hard work. The natives of Africa 
were the very people to do what was required, to ex- 
tract the wealth of Guiana for their Dutch owners. It 
was an eventful undertaking. 

The plantations at once became yet more flourishing ; 
nor were they much longer confined to the Essequibo. 
In 1626, JAN VAN PEERE, a man from Flushing, settled 
on the Berbice River, and there soon put a considerable 
extent of ground under cultivation. It was in 1614 
that, by the official recognition of the Dutch govern- 
ment, the settlements on the Essequibo became a 
colony. Berbice became a colony in the same way in 
1627, when the government of the Seven Provinces 
extended such rights of trade as they had before given 
to the West India Company to VAN PEERE. 

Passing on to 1650, it must be noted that in that year 


64 TIMEHRI. 


there was a large accession of Dutchmen to the number 
of those in the settlements on the Pomeroon, which had 
by this time spread to the neighbouring small river Moroo- 
ca; and, once more, in the following year “a great colony 
of Dutch and of Jews, driven off from Brazil by the 
Portuguese, settled there, and, being experienced plan- 
ters, that soon grew a flourishing colony.* ” 

It is as well here to try to realize the relative 
position of the three centres of Dutch population by 
that time established in Guiana, on the Pomeroon, the 
Essequibo and the Berbice. Each stood, as it were, in 
a clearing in a land otherwise everywhere covered with 
dense forest down to the edge of the water. Between 
these clearings there was no road and no means of com- 
munication except by water. Between them laya dense 
trackless forest, inhabited only by Indians. Gradually, 
however, in spite of this isolation, the settlers on the 
Esssequibo on the one side, and on the Berbice on 
the other began to extend their cultivation towards the 
then hardly known Demerara river, which lies between the 
two. The Demerara, a river of large size was known, but so 
little was it regarded that when, at as late atime as 1672, 
the boundary between the two settlements of Essequibo 
and Berbice was defined, not the Demerara, but the small 
river Abary, probably because of the insignificant settle- 
ment which, as has been mentioned, had existed for a 
very brief time on it, was selected for the purpose. 

It is time to turn to the history of the efforts 
of the English to colonize Guiana. The first serious 
attempt was made in 1604, or twenty years after the 


* Sloane M.S. ‘ Description of Guiana.’ 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 65 


Dutch had succeeded in gaining a footing, when one 
Captain CHARLES LEIGH with fifty Englishmen arrived 
in the ship “Olive Plant” at the mouth of the river 
Wyapoca (now called the Oyapocko), a river somewhat to 
the east of the Cayenne, and there formed a settlement, 
to which he gave the name of Caroleigh. By the ship 
which had brought him he sent a letter to the Privy 
Council in England, in which, after announcing his safe 
arrival, he told that the Indians of the district had received 
him kindly and urged him to stay among them, that he 
had determined to accept this invitation, and that there- 
fore, having kept forty of his men with him, he now sent 
the other ten back to England, together with four Indian 
chiefs as pledges; and he finished with a petition for 
the King’s protection both to himself and to all such as 
might be willing to join him.* Having thus written 
he waited patiently for reinforcements and stores from 
England ; but these supplies, which left the Thames in 
May of 1605, never reached LEIGH. After enduring 
very great hardships for some four years, during which 
LEIGH himself and many of the others died, the sur- 
viving settlers, apparently fifteen in number, finally took 
passage in a passing Dutch vessel and abandoned 
the place. 

Soon after this the English began to grow anxious 
lest some other nation, and especially the Spanish, should 
forestall them in obtaining possession of the unoccupied 
land of Guiana. Urging the value of Guiana and con- 
firming this fear of Spain, Sir THOMAS ROWE, writing to 
Lord SALISBURY from Trinidad on the 28th February, 


* Calendar of State Papers. Col. Series. Vol. i. p. 5. 
I 


66 TIMEHRI. 


1611, after speaking of himself as having seen 
more of the country from the river Amazon to the 
Orinoco than any Englishman alive, seeing that he 
had passed along the ‘wild coast’ and _ reached 
Port d’Espagne, alludes significantly to the design of 
the King of Spain ‘to plant Orinoco’, but he added, 
that, as it seemed to him, the military power of Spain 
was of little account and that their designs ‘ all will be 
turned to smoke.’* Whether in consequence of this re- 
port by ROWE or not, the first royal English grant 
of Guiana was made soon afterwards, on the zoth August 
1613; it was to ROBERT HARCOURT, Sir THOMAS CHAL- 
LONER and JOHN RAVENSON and to the heirs of HAR- 
COURT, ‘‘of all that part of Guiana on the continent of 
America between the Rivers Amazon and Dollesquebe.”’ 
The limits of the tract granted were, therefore, roughly 
such as would avoid encroaching on that part of Guiana 
which was at that time occupied by the Dutch. This 
ROBERT HARCOURT had reached Guiana in 1608, and 
formed a settlement on the Wyapoco, near the spot 
where LEIGH had failed a few years before. 

The next enterprise of importance was that first under- 
taken by Captain ROGER NORTH, a brother of Lord 
DuDLEY NoRTH, in 1650. Among the State Papers, 
exist documents in the handwriting of NORTH himself 
in which he pleads, that, he having informed the King that 
year of His Majesty’s right to Guiana, the King had 
granted to him and to all who would engage in an 
adventure to that country a patent and certain privilege ; 
that an expedition had been eagerly prepared for the 


* Calendar of State Papers. Col. Series, Vol. 1. p. 11. 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 67 


purpose ; but that, the Spaniards, and of them especially 
their ambassador GONDAMAR, trying by every means to 
stop the undertaking and falsely affirming that the King 
of Spain already held those countries, the King had 
yielded to these clamours and had sent sudden orders to 

suspend the expedition, even while it lay at Plymouth 
- ready to put to sea. The writer continues that, in this 
difficulty, the Duke of Richmond and others having assured 
him that ‘the world expected he should go without 
bidding,’ he, NORTH, had put to sea.* GONDAMAR, 
enraged at this, induced the most timid of kings to issue 
a proclamation on the 15th of May against NORTH and 
his companions, in which he declared “his utter mislike 
of their rash and foolish attempt, revoking any commission 
they may pretend to hold from his Majesty, and com- 
manding their immediate return and surrender, or their 
seizure by any vessels that may meet with them.” Such 
property as NORTH had in England was also sequestrated 
at the demand of the Spanish ambassador. Meanwhile, 
NORTH and his companions sailed to Guiana, which 
they reached in about seven weeks, then an average 
passage. There they left 100 gentlemen and others, many 
of whom remained for many years, making use of 
thousands of Indians, who ‘were rewarded with glass beads 
and such like contemptible stuff’. NORTH himself sailed 
back to England, which he reached in December of the 
same year, having heard no word of the proclamation 
which had been issued against him. He was thrown into 
the Tower, but was released within six months, and 
before long managed to obtain restoration of his property. 

* For the details of this expedition see Calendar of State Papers. 
Col. Series. Vol. i. pp. 23, 77, 78 

12 


68 TiMEHRI. 


But NORTH was not yet deterred from his project. In 
1623 he submitted to the king further statements of the 
advantages of Guiana, of the injustice of the Spanish 
claim, and added that the newly formed Dutch West 
India Company, though they had not as yet gained foot- 
ing to the east of Essequibo, in the district covered by the 
English king’s grant, were then designing to send two or 
three ships to take possession of that part of the country. 
The Dutch expedition to which this referred was 
that which in the following year, 1624, did in fact 
take possession of the Berbice and there formed the 
colony of that name. But NORTH’s petition seems to 
have met with no immediate response. 

Yet in 1626 the Attorney General of England was 
directed to prepare a bill for the incorporation of the 
‘Amazon Company’ for the formation of which NORTH 
had so long striven. Accordingly a grant was pre- 
pared, which, though dated on the roth of May 1625, did 
not pass the great seal till the following month, by which 
a company was incorporated under the title of ‘the 
Governor and Company of Noblemen and Gentlemen 
for the planting of Guiana’. * The company consisted of 
the Duke of Buckingham, as Governor, and fifty-five other 
noblemen and gentlemen, of whom each had subscribed, 
some one hundred and fifty, some a hundred, and some 
fifty pounds ; and ROGER NORTH himself was appointed 
first Deputy Governor.t 

Even then the company does not seem to have flour- 
ished; for about two years later a petition was presented 
to the King to take ‘ the adventure to Guiana’ under his 


* Calendar of State Papers. Col. Series. Vol. 1. p. 79, 84. 
+ Ibid. p. 85. 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 69 


own protection. From the terms of this petition it 
would appear that the settlers were much _har- 
assed by enemies. The king was prayed to send, and 
to maintain at his own charge for four years, 3,000 men, 
100 pieces of ordnance, together with ammunition and 
a certain number of ships for transport and for the 
protection of the settlers ; the probable expense of this 
is somewhat oddly estimated ‘at £48,000, or £15,000 
teady money’; and the inducement held out was that 
after the four years the colony would probably be able 
to pay to His Majesty or to his successor a sum of 
£50,000 per annum for twenty-one years.* No serious 
attention seems to have been paid to this naive petition, 
though a warrant exists, also among the State papers, 
for sending four small pieces of ordnance (drakes) for 
the use of the company. 

The next and only other occasions on which the affairs 
of the company can be brought prominently into the 
light is in 1635, when the King was urged to prevent 
certain Dutch who seemed likely to find their way to 
Guiana, lest their settlement there should “cause quar- 
rel and bloodshed between the two nations;”’ ¢ and in 
1638, when one GEORGE GRIFFITH, an English merchant 
of Guiana, presented another petition to the king, who 
must surely by this time have been weary of the unpro- 
fitable business, in which, after expressing mighty fears 
that the Dutch were likely to take possession of those 
parts and complaining bitterly of the apathy of the old 
company, the writer craves that the King will once 


* Calendar of State Papers. Col. Series. Vol. i. p. ror. 
+ Ibid. p. 218, 


70 TIMEHRI. 


more interfere.* From that time the company disap- 
pears from the story; it may be dismissed with the 
remark that it never had any real success. 

The next attempts at settlement were made on the 
Surinam and some neighbouring rivers, probably in 
1643. Aconsiderable number of English families, under 
a man named MARSHALL, were sent by the Earl of WAR- 
WICK to settle there, to plant tobacco. The head- 
quarters of this undertaking was at the old Indian village 
of Paramaribo, on the site of the present chief town of 
Dutch Guiana. The history of this settlement has never 
been satisfactorily traced, but it seems certain that it was 
abandoned within a few years after its formation. But 
on its site rose a few years later the only settlement 
which the English ever really established in Guiana. 

Owing especially to the exertions of FRANCIS, Lord 
WILLOUGHBY of Parham, who was then stationed in 
Barbados, Englishmen began to arrive once more in 
the Surinam in considerable numbers in 1650; and in 
1652 Lord WILLOUGHBY went himself to his new colony, 
to provide for its organization and defence; + and at 
this time and for long afterward he spent much labour 
and large sums of money on its development. At the 
time of this his first visit, according to a contemporary 
document, there were already in the colony “ one hundred 
and fifty lusty, well-armed men,” { besides many others. 
In recompense for his exertions and expenditure Lord 
WILLOUGHBY asked for a grant of that part of the 
country: and his request was, in 1654, favourably recom- 


* Calendar of State Papers. Col, Series, Vol. i. p. 270. 
+ Ibid. Vol. v. p. xli. 
i Ibid. Vol. i. p. 374. 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 71 


mended to the notice of the king by the Council of State, 
the members of which informed His Majesty that his 
possessions were in all about 350 square leagues in 
extent, and extended to the Amocco, at the mouth 
of the Orinoco—thus ignoring entirely the perfect 
right, both in justice and by possession, of the 
Dutcheeto, thei; “own »settlements. Of this tract, 
WILLOUGHBY asked for thirty leagues for himself; * 
and a warrant was actually prepared, being dated on the gth 
of July 1660, by which the district asked was granted, 
the condition being the payment of two white horses by 
WILLOUGHBY or his heirs when the king or his successors 
landed in the country.+ But this grant was strongly 
objected to, not only at home by the Committee of 
Foreign Plantations, the members of which thought the 
tract far too extensive, but also by some at least of the 
colonists in Surinam, on the alleged ground of the 
unhappiness of their position should they and their fields 
be delivered over absolutely as subjects to one who was 
himself a subject, of the king. Probably other more 
private reasons induced some of the colonists to oppose 
Lord WILLOUGHBY. { It is at least certain that there was 
some very bitter feeling. Either at this time or perhaps 
a few years later, this ill will took a form very serious to 
Lord WILLOUGHBY. A certain landed proprietor named 
ALLEN, who had been charged with blasphemy but had 
cleared himself of the charge, and who even after this 
escape ventured to hold ‘strange opinions . . . as 
that no subject could be . . Lord Proprietor, because 

* Calendar of State Papers. Col. Series. Vol. v. p. xli. 

+ Ibid, Vol. i. p. 483. 

+ Ibid, Vol. v. p. xli. 


42 TIMEHRI. 


it doth clip the wings of Monarchy and infringes the 
liberty of the subject,’ and who also seems to have 
believed that Lord WILLOUGHBY coveted his estates, 
attacked his Lordship, cutting off two of his fingers and 
wounding him in the head, expecting at the same time 
to have slain him; after which strong measures, ALLEN 
poisoned himself. Moreover, ‘several people this year 
left Surinam, strange jealousies having possessed them, 
which broke out into great discontents.”’* However in 
spite of all opposition, CHARLES the Second in 1663 
granted to Lord WILLOUGHBY jointly with LAURENCE 
HYDE, the second son of the Earl of Clarendon, certain 
crown rights being reserved, all that part of Guiana then 
called Surinam, but which was thenceforth to be called 
Willoughby-land, except about 30,000 acres. ¢ The tract 
granted was defined as ‘all that part lying westerly one 
mile beyond the River Copenaam, and easterly one 
mile beyond the River Marawyn, containing from east 
to west forty leagues or thereabouts, and extending from 
the sea southwards to the heads of those rivers, and 
thence by direct line to the South Sea’. It is perhaps 
worth noting that, with a curious abuse of language, the 
proprietors were especially allowed to fight in case of 
invasion by the natives. t 

There still exists a letter written from Surinam, in the 
same year in which this grant was made, by RENATUS 
ENYS to Secretary Sir HENRY BENNET in which particu- 
lars are given of the state of the colony. The natives 


* SioaneE MS. ‘ Description of Guiana’ (by Major Jon Scott?) in 
which, however, the date of the ALLEN incident is put as late as 1665. 

+ Calendar of State Papers. Col. Series. Vol. v. p. xli. 

¥ Ibid. Vol. v. p. 131. 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 73 


were not numerous and were at peace with the English. 
The colony was in good order, being nobly upheld by 
the power and prudence of those at the helm, who, 
though hitherto not commissioned by His Majesty, 
expected the immediate arrival of Lord WILLOUGHBY and 
‘those bottomed on royal authority.’ There were about 
4000 inhabitants. The country began to be populous, 
there being new arrivals weekly. The chief commodity 
was sugar—‘ better can not be made.’ Negro slaves 
were much wanted. And the Barbadians continued, as 
before, great enemies and runners down of the colony. 
Very soon after this letter was written those ‘bottomed 
on royal authority’ must have arrived among the loyal 
and the disloyal settlers on the Surinam, bringing 
with them news of the long expected official recogni- 
tion of those settlements as a colony. ‘Thus closes 
the history of English attempts to found colonies in 
Guiana. 

It is convenient to pause again for a moment, to 
re-call to memory the number and nature of the centres 
of population then in Guiana. North-westward were the 
settlements on the twin rivers Pomeroon and Morooca, 
which had no definite and distinct government and can not 
therefore be called colonies. Next, to the eastward, was 
the colony of Essequibo and, still more to the east, the 
colony of Berbice. These places had all been founded 
by Dutchmen and were in the possession of Dutchmen. 
Again, still more to the east, on the Surinam was the 
new colony called Willoughby-land, round the central 
town of which were doubtless a few scattered settle- 
ments, unimportant and dependent. Lastly, and still 
more to the east, there were a few scattered French 

K 


74 TIMEHRI. 


settlers on the Cayenne. That exhausts the list of 
Europeans then in Guiana. 

No sooner had the English thus obtained standing 
ground than they seem to have turned their attention to 
harrassing the people of the neighbouring colonies. The 
war which at that time raged between the English, 
French and Dutch nations in the outer world affected 
these same nations in Guiana. In 1664 Lord WIL- 
LOUGHBY wrote home regarding the Dutch seizure of 
several places in Guiana,—as though these so-called 
seizures had not been made before, and with more justi- 
fication than, that which the English had made—and 
advised that they should be attacked before they grew 
too strong; * and in the following year Sir THOMAS 
MODDYFORD submitted his proposition for rooting the 
Dutch out of Guiana and out of the West Indies gene- 
rally.+ Accordingly, in this latter year, Lord WIL- 
LOUGHBY set out himself to attack the Dutch in various 
places, and sent {| Major JOHN SCOTT with a small fleet 
and a regiment of foot “against the Dutch on Tobago, 
and at New Zealand, Desse Cuba (Essequibo) and Tim- 
beran (?) on the main of Guiana.” § SCOTT in 1666 “ by 
the assistance of the Caribbee nation ... burnt and 
destroyed the enemy’s towns, forts and goods, and set- 
tlements to the value of £160,000 and disbursed for His 
Majesty’s service 73,788 ibs of muscovado sugar.” 
From a certain state-paper it appears that the settle- 
ments taken by SCOTT were those on the Pomeroon and 


* Calendar of State Papers. Col. Series. Vol. v. p. 246. 
+ Ibid. Vol. v. p. 281. 
+ Ibid. Vol. v. p. 355. 
§ Ibid. Vol. v. p. 481. 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 75 


Essequibo.* ScoTrT left some of his men in possession 
of these captured places.t 

A few other, unimportant settlements, Dutch and 
French, having also been taken in 1665 by the English, 
Major Scott, or whoever was the writer of the “ Des- 
cription of Guiana’? from which I have so often quoted, 
could write at the end of that year—‘ This year the Eng- 
lish could boast of the possession of all that part of 
Guiana, abutting on the Atlantic Ocean, from Cayan on 
the south-east to Oronoque on the north-west, (except a 
small colony on the river Berbishees,) which is not less 
than six hundred English miles.” And the said colony 
of Berbice was even then being attacked; and it sur- 
rendered in the beginning of 1666. 

As he has figured so largely in the story, it may not be 
out of place to state here, by way of parenthesis, that 
Lord WILLOUGHBY died about this time; but that his 
policy was continued by his successors. 

Very soon indeed the Dutch reprisals began. In 
February 1667 a Dutch fleet with tooo men, under 
Admiral CRYNSENS, appeared before the fort of Surinam. 
The Governor, Lieutenant-General WILLIAM ByAM, at 
first refused to surrender, but, after a few hours’ fighting, 


* SLoaneE M.S. Description of Guiana, and State Papers, Col. Se- 
ries, vol. v. p. 448. 

+ Calendar of State Papers. Col. Series. Vol. v. p. 355. The names 
there given are ‘ Boromeo and Issikebb’. Of course the Editor of that 
volume of papers is right in identifying the latter place as Essequibo ; 
but I think he is mistaken in supposing that Boromeo means Para- 
maribo. The name which is now written Pomeroon appears in papers 
of that date in very various forms, among which perhaps the commonest 
is Bouroume ; and I cannot but suppose that Boromeo is merely another 
variation on this. 


K 2 


76 TIMEHRI. 


being left with but fifty pounds of powder, he was 
obliged. Very favourable terms were granted. The 
place was to be given over to the Dutch; but all 
Englishmen actually in the colony were to retain their 
property and enjoy equal rights with the Dutch. Only 
the property of absentees was confiscated.* In the 
terms of capitulation mention was made of the men 
whom Major SCOTT had left to guard the settlements 
which he had captured on the Pomeroon and Essequibo. 
These had been attacked, had suffered great misery, and 
had been much reduced in number. Of them, a certain 
Lieutenant EVERARD was in command in Essequibo with 
twelve men under him ‘who were all that were left of 
our men at Bowrooma and Dissekebe, all the rest perish- 
ing for want of supplies’.t They were soon forced to 
surrender to the Dutch, who then possessed exactly 
that same Guiana of the possession of which the English 
had been able to boast but a few months earlier. 

But the tide turned once more. In the August follow- 
ing the February in which the Dutch had captured Suri- 
nam, the English, under Sir JOHN HARMAN and Lieu- 
tenant General HENRY WILLOUGHBY, appeared before 
the French settlement, at Cayenne, which, though it was 
very gallantly defended, was soon taken and sacked. 
“The forts and strong buildings were demolished, the 
stock of Cayenne fully destroyed, . . . and more 
plunder, consisting of negroes, sugar, coppers, stills, 
mills, cattle and horses, carried away than will ever be 
known.” {| Some of the people were carried away pri- 


* Calendar of State Papers. Col. Series, Vol. v. p. 448. 
+ Ibid. Vol. v. p. 449. 
+ Ibid. Vol. v. p. 487. 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 77 


soners, the rest were left, “seized of the island, but with 
little to defend themselves with against the natives, as 
the French have complained since.” 

An incident in the behaviour of the English in Cayenne 
on this occasion throws light both upon the absence of 
friendly feeling between the Indians and the French of 
that district and upon the high value of those much 
desired commodities, negro slaves, in the West Indies 
in those days. An Indian chief came to HENRY WIL- 
LOUGHBY and offered his assistance and that of his 
tribe, in re-capturing and delivering to the English such 
negroes as had managed to escape in the confusion into 
the surrounding forest, an offer which, because of the 
value of the prize, was eagerly accepted.* 

Having disposed of their booty, the English sailed in 
October from Cayenne and appeared before Surinam, 
which was at the time almost undefended, the fleet by 
which it had been captured in the beginning of the year 
being at the time engaged in an expedition against 
Tobago. The place was soon compelled to surrender 
once more to the English commanders, who leaving a 
sufficient guard in it, then sailed to Barbados. 

HENRY WILLOUGHBY, who had been in joint command 
of the fleet which thus re-took Surinam and who seems 
to have acted as agent for WILLIAM, heir of FRANCIS, 
Lord WILLOUGHBY, and to that place, returned there 
with the intention, which he partly carried out of remoy- 
ing the slaves, and the movable and valuable part of the 
colony generally, to Antigua. Apparently the owner 
had by this time found that his possession of Surinam 
was so insecure that he must abandon all hope of any 


* SLOANE M.S. Description of Guiana. 


78 TIMEHRI. 


profit from it. Nor were his fears without foundation ; 
for in that same year, by the Treaty of Breda, Surinam 
was awarded to the Dutch. 

Then came to pass that evil which had been foreseen 
by those who objected to the absolute grant of Surinam 
to a subject. For now, His Majesty at home might 
make what treaties he pleased, WILLIAM, Lord WIL- 
LOUGHBY, was not going to give up his South Anerican 
possessions without a struggle. He resisted and re- 
tarded the delivery of the colony to the Dutch by every. 
means in his power: among others by commissioning 
a certain Major NEEDHAM to attack the ‘Arwacas’ In- 
dians (i.e. the Arawaks) who were the great allies of the 
Dutch, as the Caribs were of the English. The Dutch 
authorities in Europe laid bitter complaint against WIL- 
LOUGHBY before the English King. At last CHARLES the 
Second wrote to his refractory subject expressing his sur- 
prise and anger at his conduct and ordering the immediate 
delivery of Surinam in accordance with the articles of 
the Treaty of Breda. Lord WILLOUGHBY and his defend- 
ers answered with many excuses; and especially, as re- 
gards NEEDHAM’S attacks on the Arawaks, they asserted 
that ‘this nation is one of the most powerful on the 
Coast of Guiana, mortal enemies to the Caribs, who were 
and still are our firm friends, and that during the war 
they committed horried cruelties against the English.” * 
However at last WILLOUGHBY yielded ; and the English 
remarked enviously that ‘the Dutch now seem to lay 
claim to the whole main, having gotten a part from the 
English’. In truth, they had a right to do so. 


* Calendar of State Papers. Col. Series, Vol. v. p. 487. 
y Ibid. Vol. v. p. 598. 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 79 


After the peace of Breda had thus been carried into 
effect, the Dutch, being long left to themselves in Gui- 
ana, busied themselves in developing the colonies which 
already existed there. Only one new one was founded ; 
but that one has since proved itself the first of them all. 
The history of its formation is briefly this. It has 
been said that the River Demerara lay unused, and 
almost unknown, between the Essequibo and Berbice 
long after these two rivers had been settled and 
had given their names to colonies. Things remained 
somewhat in this condition till about 1739, by which 
time cultivation, spreading from Berbice on the one 
side and Essequibo on the other, had gradually 
approached the Demerara. By that time there was 
a settlement, an offset from Berbice, on the 
Mahaicony to the east of the Demerara; and there 
were some few plantations, offsets from Essequibo, on 
what is now called the west coast of Demerara. 
In 1745 an elaborate plan was drawn up and ac- 
cepted for the cultivation of the intermediate lands, 
at the mouth of the Demerara. From the plan it is evi- 
dent that it was Essequibo, and not Berbice, which even- 
tually gave birth to Demerara. It was stipulated that 
the people of the mother colony should be allowed for ten 
years to remove to the Demerara ; but those who availed 
themselves of this permission were strictly enjoined to 
obey the authority of Essequibo. It was not till 1765 that 
Demerary obtained a separate Governor. This may, there- 
fore, be considered the date of the separate existence of 
Demerara. There were at the time about 130 estates, 
chiefly planted with coffee, and sugar, in cultivation. The 
government was at first carried on from Borselen, an 


80 TIMEHRI. 
island some twenty miles up the river; but it was removed 
in 1775 to the newly-built town of Stabroek, at the 
mouth of the river, the same which is now known as 
Georgetown. 

Thus the history of the foundation of each of the 
colonies of Guiana which are now, or ever were, in the 


hand of the English has been told. 


(To be continued.) 


The Lime Industry in Dominica. 


By H. A. Alford Nicholls, M.D., Corresponding Member of the New York 
Academy of Sciences, and of the Chamber of Agriculture of Basseterre, 
Guadeloupe. 


RHE lime-tree belongs to the natural order 
i Aurantiacee and to the genus Citrus, and it is 


I now known to botanists by the name of Citrus 
limetta given to it by RISsso in his celebrated monograph 
on the orange family. Like many other plants, it has 
been described under various names, the principal of 
which are Citrus acitda, Citrus medica acida, and 
Citrus silvestris. 

The question as to the right of the orange, lemon, 
lime, citron, shaddock, and forbidden fruit to be con- 
sidered specific types of the genus Cztrus, is one that 
has given rise to some controversy amongst botanists. 
Some consider that the lime, the lemon, and the bergamot 
orange are merely varieties of the citron (Citrus medica), 
whilst others, amongst whom are the leading Indian 
botanists, believe the lime to be a distinct species; and 
Dr. ROXBURGH, in the Hortus Bengalensis, describes it 
as such, under the name of Citrus acida. 

The orange, the lime, the citron, and their various 
varieties were cultivated from the earliest times; and 
although it is difficult to determine the parts of the world 
from whence they first came, it is row generally believed 
by botanists that they are all of Asiatic origin; indeed, at 
the present time, they are found wild in the valleys of 
Nepaul. From India they were carried eastward to 

L 


82 TIMEBRI. 


China, and westward to Arabia and Media, whence 
they were introduced into Italy and the north of Africa 
soon after the Christian era. The citron and the lime 
were known to the Romans, and are well described 
by PLINY in chapter Il. of his 13th Book. As an inter- 
esting fact, it may here be mentioned that the orange was 
not carried into Italy until a thousand years afterwards. 
The lime was introduced into England in 1648 ; but it was 
established in the West Indies before that date, having 
probably been brought over by the Spaniards in some of 
their earlier voyages. It at once took to soil and cli- 
mate, and grew more luxuriantly than in its own habitat; 
and now, running far ahead of its allied types, it has 
escaped from cultivation and become wild in Central 
America, Jamaica, and other American countries. 

The date of the introduction of the lime into Dominica 
is unrecorded; but it was most probably brought hither by 
the early French settlers from Martinique who established 
themselves in the south part of the island about 1691, 
notwithstanding the fact that the English and French had 
engaged by treaty to leave the land to the undisturbed 
possession of the native Caribs. The tree must have 
spread rapidly however ; for exactly a century afterwards 
—namely in 1791—ATWOOD, the historian of Dominica 
writes as follows :—‘ The lemon and the lime trees bear 
also very aromatic scenting blossoms ; and the fruit of 
both is in great abundance, large, and of excellent 
quality. Of these, the latter especially, great quantities 
are often sent in barrels to England and America; the 
neighbouring English islands are likewise often sup- 
plied with them from this country, especially those of 
Antigua and Barbados”. This statement is most inter- 


THE LIME INDUSTRY IN DOMINICA. 83 


esting; for it is the earliest record of an export fruit trade 
in the West Indies, and it shows that the exportation of 
limes from Montserrat and Jamaica is not a new, but 
merely the revival of an old Dominica, industry. 

Notwithstanding the luxuriance of growth and easy 
propagation of the lime-tree, it was cultivated to a slight 
extent only, for the sake of its fruit, which possesses 
antiscorbutic properties ; and, until the late Dr. IMRAY 
demonstrated the fact by successful experiment, no one 
would have imagined that the lime-tree was destined to 
help to restore the prosperity of a ‘‘ decaying sugar 
island’, by furnishing to commerce the raw material 
from which to manufacture citric acid, a chemical sub- 
stance extensively used in the arts and manufactures. 
To Dr. IMRAY belongs the honour of the origination of 
this new cultivation ; but I must mention that soon after 
this public benefactor had established the lime groves on 
the Batalze estate in Dominica, the Messrs. STURGE— 
quite independently and without any knowledge of Dr. 
IMRAY’S experiments—set to work to establish similar 
cultivation in Montserrat. 

The lime-tree is so well known to the readers of 
Timehri that any minute description of its characteristics 
is unnecessary in this article. I may mention, however, 
as bearing on its cultivation, that its mode of growth 
and appearance is rather that of a large shrub than 
a tree. It has many diffused branches, set with sharp 
and stout spines at the bases of the leafstalks; and 
the main limbs start from, or near the ground. In 
Dominica it commonly attains a height of 25 feet or 
even more; and such a tree may cover a space equal to 
about 400 square feet. The tree blossoms all the year 

L2 


84 TIMEHRI. 


round, except in very dry weather, and every heavy 
shower of rain is invariably followed by the putting forth 
of new flower buds. The fruit, when ripe, is of a brilliant 
yellow colour, and it is borne in great profusion on the 
new wood of the younger branches, either singly, or in 
bunches of from three to eight or even more ; indeed, I 
have often counted as many as fourteen large fruits on 
a single bunch on some of my trees at St. Aroment. 
The slender branches are sometimes so heavily laden 
that the weight of the fruit bears them down to the 
ground ; and, in the height of the crop season, men have 
to be sent round the fields to prop the branches with 
poles and forked sticks; for unless this be done, these 
being unable to sustain their burden of fruit, may be 
torn off from the main stems. 

The principal flowering commences in March or April, 
and the full crop begins in June and continues to Decem- 
ber. I have made some calculations from my last two 
years crop on the S¢. Aroment estate, for the figures so 
obtained will give a better idea of the return in the vari- 
ous months than any general statements. Ifthe crop of 
an estate be taken at a thousand barrels of limes in the 
year, the yield, according to my calculations, would be 
as follows for the various months — 


Barrels, Barrels. 
January sk 16 July ... 500 227 
February oc 5 August er 221 
March 500 nil September dae 165 
April ... 200 2 October se 145 
May ... bot 3 November S00 III 
June ... wd 30 December oe 75 


It is thus seen that the crop commences in June, 
reaches its maximum in July, and gradually ceases in 


THE Lime INDUSTRY IN DOMINICA. . 85 


January, although a few barrels may be gathered after- 
wards. 

Like all plants of the orange family, limes delight in 
a rich soil, and in Dominica they grow best and fastest in 
the valleys near the sea coast, where there is a deep 
black soil, composed partly of alluvial deposits and partly 
of decomposed volcanic rocks. In these situations the 
lime-trees are very large and plentiful, and the juice is of 
greater density, and it contains a larger proportion of 
citricacid. The plant thrives well, however, in other 
localities; for some of the principal lime-estates are es- 
tablished on the hills, at elevations ranging from 300 to 
800 feet above the sea. In these places the soil varies, 
being clayey in some and rockey in others; indeed, I have 
seen fine trees laden with fruit growing on Jand which 
consists of a substratum of rocks covered with a layer of 
earth no more than two feet in thickness. The rocky 
and apparently barren landon some parts of the leeward 
coasts of Dominica is well adapted for lime cultivation ; 
for such is the hardy nature of the tree that it will thrive 
in situations where no other cultivation can be attempted. 
But it must be said that on such lands there is difficulty 
in establishing the trees, and they take much longer to 
come into bearing. 

In making a lime plantation, the first consideration is to 
prepare nurseries for seedling plants; and for this purpose 
narrow beds may be laid out in a situation sheltered from 
the afternoon sun. The seeds should be planted fresh 
from the fruit; and, if the Jand be dry, frequent watering 
will be found necessary, for unless this be done many 
of the infant plants will be lost. : 

The system of planting about a dozen seeds out in the 


86 TIMEHRI. 


fields in each of the places when the plants are to remain 
is frequently adopted, and sometimes with great success ; 
but the seedlings require considerable care, as they are 
liable to be choked by fast-growing weeds. When they 
become about ten inches high, all but the strongest plant 
must be removed; and some of those taken up will be 
useful for supplying the vacant holes. Whether the seeds 
be sown in nurseries or in the fields, precautions must be 
taken to preserve them from rats; for these animals—the 
natural enemies of the West Indian planter—appear to 
consider germinating lime seeds as a delicacy that rewards 
the labour of digging to procure. Quite recently I 
planted a large lime nursery, and in a few days the rats 
had devoured the greater portion of the seeds. 

The lime-tree is a fast grower and, as the seeds readily 
germinate, the young plants need not to be kept in the 
beds longer than a year. No hardening off is necessary ; 
the seedlings may be taken out of the nurseries and 
planted in the places prepared for them, with but little 
danger of failure, if the weather be wet and ordinary 
care be observed in the removal. If the roots are broken 
it is wise to trim these off with a sharp pruning knife; 
and, in order to restore the balance between those parts 
of the plant above and below the ground, it is well to 
cut back the stem or to remove the greater number of the 
leaves. 

The usual distances at which lime-trees are planted in 
Dominica varies from ro to 18 feet, and this gives an 
average distance of 14 feet between each plant and 
between the rows; but it is a most unsafe proceeding to 
adopt the same distances of planting for all lands. On 
steep hill-sides 10 feet will not be too close, whilst on 


THE LIME INDUSTRY IN DOMINICA. 87 


rich “ bottom lands” 18 feet, if anything, will be too 
near. In the latter situations the best plan is to plant 
the limes 20 feet apart, and to allow the same distance 
between the rows; and in ten or twelve years the ground 
will be entirely covered. 

After the young lime-trees are planted out they must 
be kept clear of weeds, but care should be observed that 
the weeders do not injure the superficial roots. If low 
pasture grass can be established on the plantation so 
much the better; for it will prevent the parching of the 
soil in dry weather and the washing of it in heavy rains ; 
besides which, the pasture will prove useful in raising 
cattle, as was done by the late Dr. IMRAY at Batalie, 
the pioneer lime-estate in the West Indies. No goats or 
sheep should be allowed on the plantation, as they fre- 
quently destroy the lime-trees by stripping off the young 
bark, of which they appear to be extremely fond. If it 
be impracticable to establish a carpet of low grass on 
the land, the young-plants to their advantage may be 
mulched with cane-trash or with dead weeds during the 
dry season. 

The trees once established will be found to grow ra- 
pidly, anda small crop may be looked for in three years 
after the seedling plants are put out ; and in five years 
the plantation will be in full bearing. 

Beyond removing the dead branches and those that 
lie too close to the ground, no pruning is_ necessary ; 
indeed, the cultivation of the lime-tree is simplicity itself, 
for the more the tree is left to its natural growth the bet- 
ter will be the results. 

The gathering in of the crops is done in Dominica by 
women and children, who are paid according to the num- 


88 TIMEHRI. 


ber of barrels of fruit they bring to the works, an ordi- 
nary flour barrel being the measure usually employed. 
The prices vary, according to the scarcity of the fruit 
and the distance of carriage, from three-pence to six- 
pence a barrel. The limes are not picked from the trees, 
but allowed to fall to the ground; for the riper the fruit 
the greater will be the return of juice. Care is usually 
taken to prevent the lime gatherers from shaking and 
beating the trees—as they are disposed to do when the 
the limes on the ground are not over plentiful ; for the 
crop would then be lessened, by many flowers and much 
young fruit being thrown down. The lime gatherers are 
provided with roughly made wooden rakes wherewith 
they jerk the limes from under the trees, as, on account of 
the prickles, it is dangerous work to grope in amongst 
the branches. 

The fruit having been brought to the works and mea- 
sured in the presence of the overseer, the next thing is to 
obtain the juice by the simple process of crushing the 
limes between the rollers of a mill. On some estates the 
old cane-mills have been utilized; and by nice adjust- 
ment these mills can be arranged so as to extract 
all the juice. I have seen lime-skins thrown from 
one of these mills so dry, that they left no moisture on a 
board after having been pressed down upon it firmly 
with the foot. A small space is usually left between 
the first and second rollers in order that the lime may 
be burst and a portion of the juice allowed to pass off 
with the seeds; the second and third rollers are then 
approximated so closely that the burst lime is deprived 
of all its juice and most of its oil. The next operation is 
to strain the juice ; which is done by pressing it through 


THE LIME INDUSTRY IN DOMINICA. | 89 


copper sieves with the mesh sufficiently large to allow 
the juice and pulp to pass and to retain the seeds. Iron 
or brass sieves will not do, for the citric acid in the juice 
soon destroys them. The chemical affinity between the 
iron and citric acid is evidenced by the rapid way in 
which the iron rollers of the mills are “‘eaten away’’—or 
converted into citrate of iron, to write more correctly. To 
obviate the loss caused by this decomposition of the 
citric acid, many lime-planters have mills with wooden 
rollers covered with sheets of perforated copper. 

On the principal lime-estates the mills are run by 
water power, on others with cattle gear, and on some 
the limes are “ground” through mills with wooden 
copper-covered rollers, worked by hand power. At 
St. Aroment I have such a mill as that last mentioned. 
It is furnished with two very heavy fly-wheels, and it 
is turned by four men. With this mill it is possible 
to “grind” a barrel of limes in a minute and a half, and 
it is quite capable of taking off a crop of 5000 barrels in 
a year. 

With many of the power mills, and with all the hand 
ones, a certain proportion of juice is left in the skins. 
This waste varies from 5 to 20 fer cent. on the amount 
of juice capable of being extracted, which is about eight 
imperial gallons for each Larrel of fruit. To prevent 
this loss I have the skins passed through a small cider 
press, and by this means all waste is obviated. 

Although eight gallons of juice is obtainable from a 
barrel of limes, an average of seven gallons is the 
amount usually extracted on the Dominica estates, 
the loss of 123 per cent. being due to defective machinery. 
At present the planters appear to be well satisfied with 

M 


go TIMEHRI. 


this return, but when the price of concentrated lime 
juice falls, as it most likely will, endeavours will be 
made to prevent so large a loss. 

The lime juice may be shipped either raw or 
concentrated ; but most of that exported from Dominica 
is concentrated, and used in England and America for 
the sole purpose of making citric acid. Raw lime 
juice to be of value must be carefully strained, and 
put in packages when quite fresh; for otherwise it will 
deteriorate greatly. If these precautions be adopted, 
the juice will remain in excellent condition for a consi- 
derable time; but should it be necessary to keep it for 
long periods all fermentation may be prevented by add- 
ing half an ounce of salicylic acid to every 50 gallons of 
the raw juice. 

In Dominica the lime juice is concentrated in shallow 
copper or enamelled iron pans, of capacities varying from 
40 to 120 gallons. These pans are “hung” in the same 
way as the iron taches used in the manufacture of mus- 
covado sugar; and on most of the estates the old sugar 
works have been pressed into the service. 

The degree of concentration usually followed is 12 to 
I, six puncheons of raw juice being boiled down until 
they are reduced to 54 gallons of concentrated, or to 
about enough to fill a beer hogshead, which is the pack-— 
age mostly used for shipping the juice. This concentra- 
tion I believe to be too high; for, as the bulk becomes 
reduced, the thick juice adheres to the sides of the boilers, 
and becomes charred (or carbonised) by the heat of the 
fires. Such high concentration, however, has several ad- 
vantages, amongst which may be mentioned smaller 
bulk, greater portability, and therefore, decreased ex- 


THE LIME INDUSTRY IN DOMINICA. | g! 


pense of packages and freight; but, on the other hand, 
in addition to the destruction of some of the acid there 
are the extra outlays on fuel, on labour in boiling, &c., 
and in the wear and tear of the boiler and works. 

High concentration is liked in the American markets, 
but not cared for in the English; in fact the slight 
difference in London in the value of concentrated Sicilian 
lemon juice and concentrated Dominica lime juice—to 
the detriment of the latter—is, I am informed, entirely 
due to the high concentration of the latter. On my own 
estate [have adopted two forms of concentration, namely 
8 to 1 and 6 to 1, with the following results :—-My 
American agents inform me that 8 to 1 is too low, and 
my London agents say that 6 to 1 is rather too high a 
degree. The Sicilian lemon juice rules the price of the 
London market ; and this is concentrated to such a de- 
gree as to give about 64 ounces of citric acid to the gallon 
of juice. My London correspondents, therefore, advise 
me to obtain a similar standard with the lime juice. 
From experiments conducted at St. Aroment, and from 
London analyses, I have been able to elicit the following 
facts:—When 6 gallons of raw lime juice are boiled to 
one gallon the resulting juice, at 60° F., will register 60° by 
the citrometer, and will contain 75 ounces of citric acid. 
But when similar juice is concentrated 8 to 1 the citro- 
meter, at the same temperature, will register 71°, and 
there will be only go ounces of citric acid to every gallon. 
These figures indicate that 10 per cent. of the acid is 
lost by the higher concentration. 

As a rule, better returns are realised for Dominica 
concentrated juice in America than in England, although 
the ruling prices are about the same in both markets, 

M 2 


92 TIMEHRI. 


This discrepancy, however, is due chiefly to the number 
of expenses usually charged in London. I cannot say 
that I have found much difference in the returns, for the 
analysis of my juice in England invariably shows more 
favourable results than in America; and, in this way, 
the extra expenses incurred by shipping ‘‘home”’ are 
neutralised. 

In boiling down the lime juice considerable expense 
is occasioned by cutting and carrying the wood, and, 
where this is unobtainable, by the purchase of “ patent 
fuel.” I find that it takes two cords of wood to reduce 
500 gallons of raw juice to 50 gallons of concentrated. 
The consumption of fuel of course depends greatly upon 
the construction of the furnaces &c.; but it may be said 
roundly that two cords of wood are required for every 
hogshead of concentrated juice; and to procure this 
wood is often a serious matter. . 

Anyone commencing to establish a lime plantation 
should give serious thought as to where the fuel for 
boiling down the juice is to come from; and I fear that 
this important matter has not been sufficiently con- 
sidered by our planters. It seems to have been forgotten 
that the wood should be cropped in the same way as 
the limes; and that if woodlands are absolutely cleared, 
no fuel can be expected for several years afterwards, 
and then only in small quantities. The trees should not 
be cut down, with an almost certainty of losing them 
altogether ; a portion of the branches should be removed 
every year, and then a never failing supply of wood will 
be kept up; and, ina series of years, it will be found 
that the wood-land will give an amount of fuel far in 
excess of what would be obtained by making a clean 


THE LIME INDUSTRY IN DOMINICA. -: 93 


sweep of everything, as is usually done in Dominica. 

On commencing to establish a lime plantation the 
question of fuel should be one of the first considerations. 
Ifno woods exist on the land, or if they be of insufficient 
quantity, then indigenous fast growing trees suitable for 
fuel ought to be planted simultaneously with the limes ; 
and the cultivation of wood for fuel should go hand in hand 
with the cultivation of the limes. As far as I know, the 
idea is a novel one, but I am satisfied that it will com- 
mend itself to those planters who are accustomed to look 
a few years ahead. The cost of establishing woods and 
coppices on odd corners of an estate will be compara- 
tively trifling, and it will be returned over and over 
again in the saving effected in the purchase of fuel; be- 
sides which, on dry, cleared estates, to which these re- 
marks are intended to apply, the planting of trees will 
act beneficially, by retaining moisture in the soil and 
thus rendering the air more humid. 

A good system, where practicable, would be to sepa- 
rate the lime fields by wide belts of various kinds of trees; 
for a large unbroken stretch of one kind of cultivation 
is, | believe, a mistake. Where blights, terrible in their 
ravages, and in their results to agricultural interests, 
have appeared, it has been where man setting aside the 
lesson taught by nature, of a diversity of vegetable forms 
growing on the same land, has covered the face of a 
country with one kind of plant life. In such cases history 
shows that the blight, be it vegetable or animal, comes, 
and finding everything peculiarly suited to its well-being, 
it propagates itself with astonishing rapidity, and then 
disastrous results follow. Fortunately no serious blight 
has attacked our lime groves; but, judging by analogy, a 


94 TIMEHRI. 


blight must come sooner or later, and now-a-days when 
science and scientific thought are brought to bear on all 
cultivation every precaution must be taken against pos- 
sible difficulties. 

Besides the lime juice a second product, essential oil, 
is obtainable from the limes. This oil is made in Mont- 
serrat and on several of the Dominica lime estates. 
There are two kinds of essential oil of limes, namely, 
the hand-made and the distilled. The hand-made oil is, 
of course, the most valuable, as its perfume is unaffected 
by the heat necessary in distillation. It is manufactured 
In several ways, the principal one being by the écuedle, 
which is a round copper shallow pan having a receptacle 
for the oil at its lowest part, and studded on its concavity 
by strong blunt spikes. The women, who generally make 
this oil, take the finest fruit and roll it gently but quickly 
around the inside of the écue/le; the spikes prick the 
vittz or oil-sacs, whereupon the oil, running down the 
spikes and the concavity of the pan, collects in the reser- 
voir at the lowest part. Sometimes the selected limes 
are put into buckets of water and taken thence by 
the women ; for the water assists in carrying off the oil 
which easily separates afterwards. The oil is filtered 
through specially prepared blotting paper, then poured 
into clean clear glass bottles, in which the impurities are 
allowed to settle. The strong, clear and fragrant oil is 
then separated from the water and impurities, by means 
of a glass funnel with a stop-cock; and it is as pure as 
any essential oil can be. 

Most of the oil exported from Dominica is manufac- 
tured by simple distillation from the lime juice which 
leaves the mill. It is of an inferior quality, and was 


THE LIME INDUSTRY IN DOMINICA. - 95 
formerly used solely for adulterating the essential oil of 
lemons; but, lately, it has been employed for scent- 
ing soaps and in the manufacture of the common 
essences and perfumes, and, consequently, its price has 
risen considerably. 

A fine and valuable product might be obtained by 
grating off the outer rind of the lime, and mixing the 
yellow substance thus obtained with water, and then ex- 
tracting the oil by steam distillation. Unquestionably 
such an oil would command a high price in the markets ; 
but the expense of a steam still is sufficient to deter all 
but our leading planters from giving serious considera- 
tion to the matter. 

A good oil may also be obtained by expression of the 
substances rasped off the rind. This yellow pulp must be 
put into hard bags, and the oil forced out by high pressure 
exerted by a powerful press. A small ‘‘ Boomer press’’, 
which exerts, I believe, a pressure of about three tons, 
would be admirably suited to such work. ‘The expressed 
oil is inferior to that made by ‘“‘riming’”’, as the hand 
process is called, but it is far superior to that distilled 
from the juice. 

Having described briefly the cultivation of the lime, 
and the preparation of the concentrated juice and 
essential oil, I must now say a few words on the yield 
from a plantation, and the annual profits likely to be 
realised. 

- A barrel of fruit may safely be reckoned upon as the 
average yield from each tree on a plantation, and 
if 200 trees be taken as the number to the acre, 
and seven gallons of juice be obtained from each 
barrel, the total of 1,400 gallons of raw juice per acre 


96 TIMEHRI. 


per annum is arrived at. This I think is a safe estimate, 
although it must be mentioned that a larger yield may 
often be reckoned upon. If the raw juice be concen- 
trated 12 to 1, about 116 gallons, or alittle more than 
two hogsheads, will result; and these should bring in 
the English or American markets, at the present prices, 
about £20 each. It will thus be seen that about £45 per 
acre for the juice may be calculated on as the minimum 
return, when the lime trees are in full bearing; and, if 
essential oil be distilled from the juice, another £5 may 
be added, which brings the gross return per acre to £50 
a year. 

The expense of the estates including cultivation, manu- 
facture, and all other items, is found to be in Dominica, 
about £10 per acre; and this, deducted from the gross 
return, leaves £30 a year clear profit for each acre under 
fully grown limes. Larger sums are made on well- 
managed estates, and the cultivation of limes in Domi- 
nica is found to be very profitable ; indeed, it may be said 
with justice, that it has done much to bring back pros- 
perity to an island which, when dependent on its sugar 
cultivation, was fast decaying in wealth and importance. 

Having drawn so bright a picture of this new West 
Indian industry, some of my readers may be inclined 
to embark in its prosecution ; but to such I would sound 
a note of warning. It can scarcely be expected that the 
present price of lime juice will be kept up, for the de- 
mand is limited and the cultivation is increasing. It 
may be predicted, therefore, that the price of concentra- 
ted lime juice will gradually fall, unless new uses be 
found for citric acid. The enlightened lime planters in 
Dominica foresee this fall, and are preparing for. it 


THE Lime INDUSTRY IN DOMINICA. 97 


by raising plantations of cacao by the side of their 
lime groves, and by directing attention to the cultivation 
of Liberian coffee, oranges, spices, ceara rubber, &c. The 
rich and well-watered soil of Dominica is capable of pro- 
ducing so many varieties of tropical produce, that, in a 
few years, no fears need be entertained of the island’s 
future, even if the lime cultivation become unremunera 
tive ; but, that such may never be the case will I think 
be the wish of those who know anything of this neglected 
“land of the mountain and the flood”, which is now 
slowly, but surely, becoming prosperous by the industry 
and intelligence of its few inhabitants. 


Model Settlers,—A lesson in the ‘ Small 
Industries.’ 


By_G. S. Fenman, F.L.S., Government Botanist of British Guiana. 


¥|O judge from the indefinite and fruitless discus- 
sion which occasionally takes place on the 


subject, there appears to be no local question so 
difficult of satisfactory solution as that the subject of 
which is known here under the name of the ‘“ small 
industries.’ How are these to be established ; and how 
are men with moderate means, or perhaps men of no 
means, immigrants and others, possessing only a spirit 
of industry, to take a place in the community as contri- 
butors to the wealth of the land by the surplus products 
of their labour? This colony, taking the van of the 
West Indies, has attained its present position, of late 
years, by a single great industry—an industry, as here 
conducted, requiring large capital for its successful 
working ; and the problem confronts men who take a 
broad view of what is best for the permanent welfare of 
the country, how lesser industries may be established, so 
that, in their pursuit, a kind of yeomanry class be formed, 
such as exists, and is the strength, of almost every well- 
founded state. As a rule, at present such a class 
of agricultural population may be said hardly to exist, 
so few are the representatives of it. From the more pros- 
perous Portuguese, Chinese and other provision cultiva- 
tors, coffee and cocoa growers, graziers and woodcutters, 
such a class may, however, in the future grow up. But 
my object is not to discuss the question in its broad as- 


MODEL SETTLERS. 99 


pect, but, only, to point to an instance of successful 
colonization worth imitating, which contains a valuable 
lesson for the general working community that de- 
serves to be widely known. The native peasantry, it is 
acknowledged, have withdrawn very largely from the 
sugar industry, and have taken to nothing else instead. 
Indeed, the village communities have become a bye-word 
in the country, and the despair of every one, as to their im- 
provement. This is apparent ; but a remedy for it is not 
so generally obvious. Light may be thrown on the issue 
by the condition of the Chinese settlers on the Cam- 
mooni Creek, whom I recently visited. 

The existence of a thriving community of Chinese 
near the mouth of Cammooni Creek on the Demerara 
river is well known; very few are however acquainted 
with what they are doing. Their occupation is di- 
vided between agriculture, burning charcoal, cutting 
wallaba posts, staves and shingles, and raising cattle, 
pigs, poultry and garden produce. The settlement strag- 
gles along the creek for several miles. At intervals on 
the banks the dwellings and store houses occur; and a 
road for foot traffic, well kept up, extends along the 
front, affording communication from dwelling to dwell- 
ing. This is intersected at short intervals by the 
draining trenches from the cultivation, which lies aback ; 
and the trenches are bridged by logs, which are 
usually squared or sawn into thick planks, to afford 
good footing—not a characteristic feature of such bridges 
in this colony. To give an idea of their size, I may men- 
tion that at the time of our visit, one of the draining 
trenches was in course of being dug. It was twenty-four 
feet wide at the top, narrowing gradually to the base by 

N 2 


100 TIMEHRI. 


a series Of shelf-like parapets. The depth appeared to 
be about fourteen feet. Most of the trenches near this 
were nearly as large. On the banks of the trenches are 
good foot walks, clean and well formed, leading to the 
cultivation. The latter is of the most diversified char- 
acter as regards subjects ; but for system and complete- 
ness, admitting its limited character, is second only to the 
cane cultivation of the colony. Cassava, sweet potatoes, 
tannias, plantains, bananas and rice are the principal sub- 
jects, and are all largely grown. ‘The ground is laid out 
in large plots, and thrown up into narrow beds or ridges. 
To get the surface sufficiently high and dry, the 
intervening drains are made nearly as wide as 
the beds. In their native country, these drains would be 
turned to account and put under rice, but here they leave 
them open. Being subsoil, it is probably sour, and, with 
so much land at command, not worth cultivating. The 
system and neatness and general absence of weeds, re- 
minded us at first sight of a London market-garden. 
Rice is grown on the ground when first cleared of forest, 
before it is drained for other crops. That which we 
saw, which a number of clean, tidy, bright-faced maidens 
were gathering with great dexterity, which, however, did 
not prevent their indulging in a continuance of cheery, 
girlish fun and banter, appeared to be an excellent crop, 
though the proprietor said the rice generally, even on 
this moist new land, would be much better could it be 
conveniently irrigated. In the store-houses we witnessed 
the very ingenious contrivances, made by themselves, 
for husking and cleaning the grain. But the industry 
and ingenuity of the inhabitants are seen at every turn. 
If a door-hinge is wanted, a bottle is inverted in the 


MODEL SETTLERS. 101 


ground as a pivot or socket for the door to swing on; 
and this effective resource is apparent in all they do. 
Their boats are carefully housed, in docks cut out of the 
solid bank, over which strong sheds are built. If the path 
is steep from the waterside, steps are neatly cut init. If 
the water is too shallow for landing, a simple quay is 
made of posts driven into the ground close together, and 
the enclosure is filled up with soil. Their staves, shingles 
and posts are the brightest and best looking of any, and 
their charcoal of the first quality. The kilns in which the 
latter is burned are made with that elaborate finish and 
attention to detail which ages of sharp competition have 
so markedly induced in the race. Their hogs are the fat- 
test, and are the only ones I have seen in the West Indies 
grown on the principle of high feeding. The poultry are 
allowed to eat all the rice they can. One man told us 
his crop of rice would be from sixty to seventy bags, 
which would realise in Georgetown three dollars per bag. 
Seeing that such fine crops of rice could be grown on 
unirrigated land, a stranger might be surprised that it 
should be necessary, with so much unemployed labour as 
is seen about, to import any. Unfortunately, for the 
progress of the country, the unemployed labour is not due 
to want of openings for its employment. Whether their 
much-loved opium is habitually or ever used by these 
people we had no opportunity to discover, but in doors 
or out we met no idle person, anda spirit of diligence 
and industry, such as we have never elsewhere witnessed 
in the West Indies, pervaded the whole settlement. I 
do not say that all we saw was perfect according to our 
ideas—they might, for instance, enlarge the scope of 
their cultivation and improve some of their methods ; 


102 TIMEHRI. 


but the greater part of what we saw left nothing 
to be desired; and to account for it all, there was evi- 
dent a spirit of untiring industry, perseverance and 
unity of action—qualities which these colonists show will 
as unquestionably command success here as in any part 
of the world,—a fact which is not sufficiently recognised 
in the colony. It is unnecessary to say anything on the 
controversial questions as to the maintenance of 
roads and drainage here, which, it is said, has crushed 
out settlers and villagers on the coast and river-banks, 
and, admittedly, in some cases has pressed heavily on 
men of little means. Living so far up the river, in an 
isolated state, these people are not yet affected by road 
ordinances, but I have shown that to the extent, which is 
not inconsiderable, to which they require roads and 
trenches, they have amply provided both for themselves. 
If they are not troubled by the tax-gatherers, they 
in turn ask for nothing to be done for them.  Fur- 
ther, having adopted Christianity, they appear to have 
spent a considerable sum in erecting one of the most 
commodious country churches in the colony, and in 
making a landing jetty with steps and walks to reach it. 
My companion remarked as we walked through the set- 
tlement :—‘‘the Chinese are the ants of the human race ; 
working has become an instinctive passion with them, 
apparently exercising as strong an influence as the 
ordinary passions do over other races.” 


By the Cuyooni to the Orinoco, in 1857. 
Extracted from the diary of W. H. Campbell. 


[Editorial Note. About the year 1857 there was a true gold-fever in 
British Guiana. Gold had been found in considerable quantity in 
more than one part of Venezuela close to the frontier of British Guiana, 
and gold in small quantity had even been found in the latter colony, 
and a company had there been formed for the purpose of extracting 
more. This gold-fever was of serious importance to British Guiana in 
three ways; in the first place it had raised the old, and even now unset- 
tled, question of the boundary between British and Venezuelan Guianas ; 
in the second place it threatened to drain the sugar-estates and the 
staple industry of the colony of the already too scanty supply of labour; 
and in the third place, there were ugly rumours that the many, not only 
from the hand-labouring classes but some even from classes somewhat 
higher, who had rushed to risk success at the gold-fields, found at those 
same fields, not gold but a speedy death from disease and starvation. 
To gather information as to the true state of the case, an expedition was 
sent, with the sanction of Lieutenant Governor WILLIAM WALKER, to 
explore the Cuyooni River, which was, it was thought, the chief seat of 
gold in British Guiana, and to visit the gold-fields which were even 
then being worked at the head of that river but in Venezuelan territory. 
The members of that expedition were Dr. BLair, then Colonial Sur- 
geon General, Sir WILLIAM HoLMEs, then Provost Marshal, and Mr. 
WitiiaAm Hunter CAmpsBe_Lt. These three set out, and being ac- 
companied part of the way by Mr. McCuintock, who was then living 
on the Pomeroon River as Postholder, reached the goal of their 
journey safely, and returned in safety as far as the mouth of 
the Orinoco; at that point, however, they all fell victims, under pecu- 
liar and noteworthy conditions, to severe fever. Brought back to 
Georgetown, Dr. BLair died on the next day; Sir WiLL1AM HoLmEs 
recovered, but died, partly it is believed owing to the effects of this 
expedition, within a short time; and only Mr. CamppBeEtt, happily, 
recovered, Owing to the most unfortunate termination of the expedi- 
tion, no account, save a very brief one in the minutes of the Court of 
Policy, has ever been published, though each of the three members of 
the expedition kept a careful diary, two at least of which, those of Dr. 


104 TIMEHRI. 


BLAIR and Mr. CAMPBELL, remain. These two diaries have been placed 
inmy hands, At first I intended to combine the two into one narrative; 
but I found that, in that way, much or all of the freshness of the story 
as written from day to day was lost. I have, therefore, determined to 
print Mr. CAMPBELL’s diary, his being the most full, but with the omis- 
sion of a considerable-amount of personal matter, such omission 
being rendered necessary by the great length of the original diary. As, 
however, there are in Dr. BLair’s journal certain interesting notes, on 
Indian habits and kindred topics, some of these have been added 
as footnotes, and others I propose to publish on some future occasion 
—probably in the ‘ Occasional Notes.” ] 


*3| UR party, consisting of Sir WILLIAM HOLMES 
Dr. BLAIR and myself, left Georgetown in the 

=@4) schooner “‘ Pheasant,” at 3 p.m. on Thursday, 
the 27th August, 1857, to proceed, by the Waini River, 
to the ‘gold diggings’ at Tupuquen, on the river Yura- 
wari, in or near the boundary of the Venezuelan province 
of Upata. We had arranged to meet Mr. Mc CLINTOCK, 
with a party of Indians, at an islandin the Waini just 
below the junction of the Barimanni with that river. 
At 6 p.m. the next day, we anchored off the mouth of 
the Waini, but found the stream of that river so strong 
that, without a breeze it would be difficult to make way 
against it, even by towing; we therefore started the 
next day in the batteau to proceed to the Indian settle- 
ment of Coomacka,* on the Barima River, to endeavour 
to procure Indians to assist in towing. The way lay 
through the Mora channel, which is on the left bank of 


* © Coomacka’ means ‘ Silk-cotton tree’ (Eviodendron anfractuosum). 
The word ‘ Cabacabouri’ has the same meaning in Arawak.—Ep. 

+ This passage is called by the Indians Morawhanna; Mora means 
the zta-palm (Mauritia flexuosa), whanna in Warrau mean ‘ pass- 


age’ or ‘ creek, —ED. 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 105 


the Waini, about 3 miles from its mouth. At the junction 
this channel appears to run parallel with the Waini, though 
it afterwards turns toward the Barima, and connects the 
two rivers by a tolerably wide and deep channel, about 6 
to 8 miles long, through which a schooner might be 
towed. In an hour and a half the Barima was reached, 
at a point where, though said to be 4o miles from 
the mouth, it is a fine, broad and deep stream, with wa- 
ter perfectly fresh and very good though dark-coloured. 
Turning up the Barima, the Arooka creek, apparently as 
large as the Barima itself, was reached ; and in less than 
an hour we came to the small creek, on the right hand 
going up, which leads to the settlement at Coomacka.* In 
going up the Arooka, three hills, seen before entering the 
Waini, are approached; one of these is much larger than 
the others and is probably from 150 to 200 feet high. 
We rested for two and a half hours at the Indian settle- 
men, which is near the summit of one of these hills; 
but we found it impossible to induce any Indians to ac- 
company us, most of them being from home. Returning, 
we reached the Waini at about 10 p.m., and soon got 
on board the schooner, which was then lying at a con- 
siderable distance above the mouth of the Mora. 

August 30th.—We set sail about 11 a.m., and, with 
light winds, were enabled to tack up about 15 or 20 miles. 
The river, about 10 miles above the Mora, becomes 
narrower and deeper. Up to that distance the bank on 


* This settlement appears to have been, not the true Coomacka, 
which is some small distance off, but the Atopani at which the brothers 
SCHOMBURGK made some considerable stay in 1840 (See Richard Schom- 
burgk’s Reisen in Britisch Guiana, Voli. p 146), According to them 
the hills there are composed of indurated clay, ,highly ochreous.—Eb. 


O 


106 TIMEBRI. 


the west side is very abrupt, the water shallowing sud- 
denly from 3 to 2} fathoms. Above that the bank dis- 
appears, and the channel is deep close to the bush on 
both sides. The bush, from the mouth of the river 
upwards, varies little in appearance, and consists almost 
entirely of mangroves (/hzzophora mangal), behind 
which there are lagoons and swamps, where large 
numbers of wild fowl breed or resort for food. The 
stillness and monotony of the scene is almost oppressive. 
Nowhere is the hand of man or his presence to be 
traced, and the idea presents itself to the mind that here 
the face of the earth presents the same features as when 
it came from the hands of the Creator and vast antedi- 
luvian reptiles were the only and undisputed occupants 
of its surface. Some of the bends and reaches were very 
beautiful, resembling lake and wood-land park, but with- 
out a hill or height or distinctive object of any descrip- 
tion to give expression or character to any one particular 
scene ; each was so like the other that only the practised 
eye could detect any land-mark. 

August 31st—There being very little wind, and that 
usually contrary, we made only to or 12 miles during the 
day. The river still presented the same unvaried fea- 
tures, being dark, dirty and deep, with an offensive odour, 
arising probably from the nitrogenous elements in the 
decaying roots of the mangrove trees. 

September rst.—There being still little prospect of 
rapid advance in the schooner, about 7 a.m. we started 
in the batteau, with two days provisions, for the island 
near the mouth of the Barimanni where we were to meet 
McCLINTOCK. For some distance the river-banks were 
still mangrove swamps; and we could scarcely find 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 107 


standing room to kindle a fire for breakfast. But as we 
approached the Barimanni, the mangroves became less 
dense and mora-trees were occasionally seen. Reaching 
our island, we found it to be of granite rock, rounded and 
water-worn from the summit to the water’s edge. We 
were somewhat disappointed at not finding MCCLINTOCK 
at the rendez-vous, after having exerted ourselves to 
keep the appointment. 

September 2nd.—Making a minute examination of 
our island, we found it to consist of three rocks of 
granite,* separated by passages, narrow but wide enough 
to admit our batteau. The one on which we were 
encamped was oval and about 4o by 30 feet in diameter, 
with a rounded and grooved surface sloping regularly 
and by no means abruptly from the centre to the circum- 
ference. t The second rock presents a very different 
appearance, the sides being almost perpendicular for 4 
or 5 feet above the surface of the water ; nor has it the 
same abraded, grooved and water-worn surface. The 
third rock is smaller and lower, and is so covered with 
bush that we could not land on it. 

Having to wait here for the schooner and for MCCLIN- 
TOCK, we went on an excursion up the river; and, having 
passed the Barimanni, about an hour beyond that, on our 
right, we came to a large granite rock, sloping toward 
the river, and grooved. It was about 30 feet high and 


* “The granite here seems the same as that of the hill on which the 
Penal Settlement is situated’, writes Dr. BLAIR. 

+ ‘ The grooves on this rock radiate from what seems to be the apex 
of a cone; they are from four inches deep at the commencement, but 
widen and deepen towards the water’s edge, where they are about 
eighteen inches deep’.—Dr. Barr. 


O 2 


108 TIMEHRI. 


apparently part of a ledge of rock zz sztu, extending in 
a north-westerly direction. Near by were boulders of 
the same rock, all grooved in a similar way. 

A few minutes later we reached a small creek, called by 
the Indians Warrapocka, which wound in a remarkable 
manner to the foot of a hill, on which is a settlement. On 
landing we found several large boulders of similar granite 
to that met with in the morning; one of these was 
marked ina singular manner, withcircular indentations, on 
the upper surface, a foot in diameter and from one to three 
inches in depth. The settlement was inhabited by some of 
the Spanish Arawaks who left Venezuela during the war of 
independence, fearing enforced service in the army. To 
our surprise we met a Liverpool man named WILLIAM 
KENDAL, who had been settled here for the last 12 years, 
and had married the daughter of one of the head-men of the 
settlement.* He seemed intelligent and well acquainted 
with Indian habits and customs. He showed us the pro- 
vision grounds of the settlement, where plantains, bana- 
nas of an unusually large kind, Indian corn of the largest 
kind and some with the seeds variously coloured, yellow, 
white, blueish, and lilac, with cassava and sugar-cane, all 
grew luxuriantly. He told us that these grounds were 


* ‘He was then about 30 years of age, and had for some time been a 
servant in a livery-stable in Georgetown’—writes Dr. BLair; and he 
afterwards adds of this same man, KENDAL, who accompanied the 
travellers on their further journey, that he occasionally threw aside his 
clothes and went as an Indian, without any apparent ill effect on his 
health. 

Having recently made enquiries about this man at the settlement of 
Warrapocka, I find that he died there more than 20 years ago. His is 
one of not a few instances in which solitary white men have lived a 
happy, if not very ambitious, life among the Indians of Guiana,—Ep, 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 109 


cultivated in common and that the produce was used by 
the different families * at the settlement as they required 
them. The place, he said, was very healthy ; the most 
common malady was ‘buck-sickness’, which was readily 
curable by native remedies. There was plenty of game, 
so that it was necessary to buy little besides salt and 
clothes. The houses were good and clean-looking and 
better furnished than usual. KENDAL had chairs in his, 
covered with the skins of tiger-cats and deer. We also 
saw a rude mill, composed of two wooden rollers turned 
by the hand, for squeezing sugar-cane, the juice of which 
is converted into sling, to be used either by the makers 
themselves or to be sold to the Indians of the Morooka. 
KENDAL informed us that the Upata Mission could be 
reached, overland, in about 6 days from Kariakoo on the 
Barama; and, being asked to accompany us to Tupuquen, 
he promised to give us an answer on the next day. All 
around this settlhement we saw numerous boulders of 
granite, much grooved and marked, as if subjected to the 
action of glaciers, and also large portions of similar rocks 
apparently zz setu. KENDAL informed us that there 
were many of these boulders in the neighbourhood of 
the mass near the mouth of the Creel, outs that pbneTre 
were none in the immediate neighbourhood of the three 
island rocks on which was our camp. 

September 3rd.—Having returned to our camp last 
night we found that neither the schooner nor MCCLIN- 
TOCK had arrived; but the former came in sight early 
this morning. Leaving a letter in a bottle for MCCLIN- 
TOCK at the islands, we moved our camp to Warrapocka. 


* The ‘different families’ must certainly have been elder, younger, 
and collateral branches of the same family.—Ep. . 


im ae) TIMEHRI. 


In so doing, we had not long left the islands when we 
saw two Indians in a canoe chasing a deer, which had 
taken to the water ; a small dog was following, swimming 
faster than the deer, but was kicked off whenever he took 
hold. We joined in the exciting chase,* and I caught 
the deer by the ear and fore-leg, but could not keep my 
hold. At last one of the two Indians in the canoe caught 
it by the hind-leg, and held it under until it was drowned, 
after which it was dragged into the canoe, the dog fol- 
lowing without assistance and never quitting his grip 
until the deer was dead. 

The manatee or sea-cow is occasionally caught in this 
river, by taking a portion of the flower of the moco-meco 
(Caladium arborescens) and hanging this—taking care 
not to handle it except through the medium of a leaf— 
over, and almost touching, the water, near where the 
manatee is supposed to be; and as the manatee approaches 
the bait, it is shot with arrows. + 

In Warrapocka creek we saw the large Indian bamboo, 
which has spines on the stem and has the advantage over 
the bamboo common on the coast of being free from the 


* ‘Much to the alarm of the Indians, who feared that we should 
shoot, in which case the deer would sink,’ adds Dr. Biarr. 

Indians are most unwilling to shoot an animal in the water, for fear 
that it will sink; but if they cannot avoid doing so, they wait for a cer- 
tain time after the animal has sunk, for it to rise to the surface. This 
time, they say, varies with each different kind of animal; and they can 
without hesitation tell how long, for instance, a tapir will take to rise 
(3 hours), how long a deer will take, and so on.—Ep. 

+ At the mouths of the Waini, Barima and Amacooroo, the manatee, 
which is there very abundant, is caught by means of special and very 
large harpoons. At the chief settlement at the mouth of the last of the 
above mentioned three rivers, I was assured that for about half the year 
manatee meat (which is most excellent food) is never to be had,—Ep, 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. III 


attacks of insects. Split, it makes excellent boards, 
durable for years. Some of the stems were from 50 to 
60 feet high and of great girth.* 

September 4th—Just as we had made arrangements 
to start without him, a party of eleven Indians arrived 
with a letter from MCCLINTOCK ; and he himself joined 
us at Warrapocka about 4 p.m., with a party of about 30 
Indians. We remained where we were that night, deter- 
mining to start as early as possible the next morning. 

After dinner we were entertained by a dance got up 
for the occasion, the music being produced with a fiddle, 
a frying-pan and a shaak-shaak, or gourd in which were 


ene prickly bamboo here alluded to is curiously and by no means 
widely distributed in the colony, and is very inadequately known. Even 
to the unscientific eye, it is easily distinguishable from the common bam- 
boo of the sugar-estates and the coast, not only by its prickles, but by its 
habit of growth, rather singly than in clumps. It does, it is true, sometimes 
grow in clumps, but apparently only where it has been long established, 
and even then for some distance from the clumps stems growing singly 
will be found scattered. It does not occur, as far as I know, east of the 
Waini ; but it is fairly common all along that river, from near the 
mouth upward, and on the Barama and on the Cuyooni, from about the 
point where the once much-used Indian path from the Barama comes 
out on that river ; it seems to occur commonly also on the Cuyooni above 
that point; and it certainly occurs, though in a very local way, on the 
great savannah of the interior. Now there are many indications that, 
at one time, along this route, by the Waini (or by the parallel river 
to the west, the Barima), the Barama, and the Cuyooni there was a 
great migration of Indians on to this great savannah. And, this 
particular species of bamboo being highly valued by the Indians, 
who use its wood to make their arrow-points, I am inclined to think 
that it has been gradually carried and planted along this route by 
Indians; and that, wherever its native place may be, it is, like the 
common bamboo of the sugar-estates, probably not indigenous to 
British Guiana.—Eb. 


112 TIMEHRI. 


some seeds or pebbles. Dances and music were alike 
monotonous. ‘The usual form was to advance four steps 
to the musician, the bare right foot sonorously beating 
the ground, and then to retire backward to the same time. 
This was repeated by parties of two or three, with their 
arms round each others necks, varied by an occasional 
gyration, first to the right then to the left, till the dancers 
were tired. This was continued till mid-night, before 
which we had all retired to our hammocks, to be lulled to 
sleep by the monotony of the music. 

Before going to sleep, Mr. MCCLINTOCK mentioned 
to me some facts worth noting. He said the zeta palm 
(Mauritia flexuosa) abounded in the swamps bordering 
the Barima and the Waini, and was one of the most 
useful of the palm tribe. It often saved the Indian from 
famine ; the pith was used as starch or farina; the spire, 
or young unexpanded leaves at the apex of the plant 
yielded the fibre of which hammocks were made; the 
foot-stalks of the leaves were buoyant and strong, and 
were used as shafts for the spears or harpoons with which 
fish and game were struck, thus preventing their sinking 
when dead ; the cabbage of the tree was the most deli- 
cate vegetable and salad; and the tree when tapped 
yielded 3 or 4 gallons of juice, from which two or three 
pounds of sugar could be obtained. He also mentioned 
that the ‘black mora’ abounded on the upper Barama, 
and was much more valuable as timber than the common 
mora, from which it is distinguishable by the absence of 
buttresses at the base of the trunk. Being asked by me 
as to the best arrangement for the safety of the money 
cannister, he replied ‘I show the Indians what it con- 
tains and tell them they must take particular care of it.’ 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 113 


This is a fine trait in their character, and no creed or 
system of ethics could teach them a better morality. 

September sth—To-day we joined the schooner, 
which was then at the mouth of the Barama, which 
river at its mouth is from 80 to 100 yards in width. In 
the evening we were towed for some distance up the 
Barama. ‘The current of this river is stronger than that 
of the Waini, at the junction, and the water is darker; 
it is said to rise and fall about 20 feet during the rainy 
season. 

September 6th.—This morning we left the schooner, 
on our upward course. Soon after starting we passed 
on the right hand the Waiwa Creek,* which seems about 
half as wide as the Barama. The trees, chiefly mora, 
on the banks were larger and finer than any we had 
hitherto seen; and the palms, flowers and climbing 
plants were beautifully interspersed and grouped, the 
various colours of the foliage being sometimes excessively 
beautiful and giving a rich autumnal colouring to the 
sylvan scene. The colour of the mora leaves was an 
especially striking and beautiful feature, leading one at 
first to suppose that the different colours are produced 
by different trees. On the same tree, however, may be 
seen young leaves of the most delicately pale green, 
fawn colour and pale red, gradually passing to the 
darkest shades of each as the leaves become older. The 
oldest trees are marked by a comparative paucity of 
leaves, and these are usually not of so dark a green as 


* The Warraus, at any rate, know this large creek as the Hina, 
and I never found anyone who knew it by the name of Waiwa. As 
however, the different tribes very often have different names for creeks 
and places, it is quite possible that Waiwa is a true Indian name.—Ep, 

P 


114 TIMEHRI. 


those of the younger trees, and by the branches being 
covered by epiphytes. There was an abundance of a 
prickly palm here, called ‘ yaruwa’.* 

September 7th.—Nearly opposite where we camped 
last night was the first ledge of rocks, at the margin of 
the river; and from this point upward similar rocks, many 
of them stratified, apparently clayey slate, occurred at 
frequent intervals. The banks, too, continually increased 
in height. Occasionally, too, at the points where the 
river took some of its many abrupt turns, there were 
banks of muddy sand. Examining some of the slatey 
rocks, we found them when broken to be white and 
ferruginous in colour and to resemble lime stone; but 
when submitted to nitric acid no effervescence took 
place. 

September Sth.—Passing the mouth of the Corie 
Creek, we were told that at the head of this there is a 
considerable savannah, by walking across which Kariakoo 
can be reached in about 6 hours. We occasionally saw 
trees or shrubs bearing very handsome clusters of rich red, 
or carmine-coloured, flowers, which I supposed might be 
Brownea racemosa. 

September gth.—About midday we reached the 
Waanamoo Creek, from a point up which there is said 
to be a path to the Cuyooni. It was the largest creek 
we had passed on the Barama. The current was 
strong; and the creek was so much impeded by fallen 


* This prickly palm is a Bactris like, but certainly not identical with, 
a species very abundant in many similar localities throughout the 
country, specimens of which have been named by Professor TRAIL of 
Aberdeen B. leptocarpa Nov. sp. This Barama form is very abundant 
on that river and on the Barima, but I have not seen it elsewhere.—Eb. 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 115 


trees as to be impassable. We, therefore, gave up the 
idea of attempting this route to the Cuyooni, although 
much the shorter, and proceeded on our way to Kariakoo. 
Later in the day we saw a cut in the bush, about 12 feet 
above the present level of the river, through which in 
the rainy reason one can pass by a passage a few yards 
in length, and thus save a circuit of nearly a mile. That 
evening we reached Kariakoo.* 

September roth.—This morning a number of Indians 
from the neighbouring settlements collected at our en- 
campment, with whom we had various dealings for the 
purchase of cassava-bread, the hire of corials, e¢ cet. 
Most were Accawois. Their style of ornament was 
peculiar, some having pieces of reed through, and project- 
ing 6 or 7 inches beyond, their ears, with red tassels in 
front, and another piece passing through the upper lip. 
Many of them were very handsome; and one, as_ he 
crossed the river standing upright, motionless as a 
statue, in a woodskin, which he caused to glide along by 
one graceful touch with his paddle, was a perfect model 
and study for an artist. 

September rrth.—In the stream, on our upward course 
we saw a large log of red cedar, which had apparently 
floated down ; the portion of its trunk seen was about 
80 feet in length, with a girth of 11 feet 4 inches at 
about 20 feet from the base. 

September :2th.—About 3 o’clock this afternoon we 
reached the fall at Dowocaima, beyond which we could 
not take our large corial. These so-called falls are a 


* At this place Kariakoo, there are now three more or less, civilised 
settlements, two occupied by Germans, one by a coloured man. Ep. 


P 2 


116 TIMEHRI. 


series of rapids pouring in white and foaming streams 
through chasms formed by the larger rocks, or small is- 
lands, which are densely covered by trees of considerable 
size, though much smaller than those on the adjoining 
banks. We proceeded to an encampment at the foot 
of the rapids, on the right bank going up, being a well- 
raised sandy island at the mouth of a small creek. That 
evening we had a long consultation as to our future 
plans; and it was arranged that we should devote the 
next day to sorting and packing such articles as we 
intended to take on with us, leaving a depot of stores 
here, to await the return of ourselves or crew. After 
that a day would be required for dragging the three 
boats which we intended to take on with us, and pro- 
bably another day for carrying up the luggage. It 
appeared that it would take us from 20 to 22 days to 
reach Tupuquen. 

It is proper to note that we were all particularly 
pleased with the quiet methodical way in which Mr. 
MCCLINTOCK conducted all our arrangements with the 
Indians ; and we were satisfied that without his assis- 
tance our expedition must almost certainly have failed. 
It was also most pleasing to see the confidence reposed 
in him by the Indians, his name being sufficient to secure 
their services at any moment. Moreover, the good 
humour and amiable disposition of all our Indians par- 
ticularly struck us; not a single quarrel, angry word or 
dissatisfied look has been heard or seen since they 
joined us. 

September 13th.—The Indians were employed during 
the morning in erecting a hut, thatched with palm-leaves, 
in which to shelter the surplus stores to be left at this 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 117 


place ; they also made quakes in which to pack what we 
were to take with us. 

September r4th—By about noon the embarkation 
of our stores and luggage, the latter now reduced in 
quantity and packed in quakes for the overland journey 
to the head of the falls, was completed; and we crossed 
the river to the point where the path commences, on 
the left bank going up. While the goods were being 
carried past the rapids and the boats, which being 
lightened, were hauled up, without much difficulty, Sir 
WILLIAM HOLMES and I walked on to the point above 
the highest fall which had been selected for our camp, 
and examined the nearly dry course of a small stream, 
the bed of which was filled with coarse sand, chiefly 
quartz. It appeared to me that this sand was not the 
debris or detritus of any rocks in the neighbourhood, but 
the residuum of the soil through which the streamlet 
flows, the clay being washed away and the gritty parti- 
cles left. We also examined each of the falls carefully, 
and met with several points from what they may be seen 
to great advantage, chiefly from rocks in the bed of the 
stream. The surface of these rocks was mostly black or 
dark brown, exceedingly smooth and shining.* Three 
of the falls, which may be seen from one point of view, 
are of considerable heigh*, one being about 20 feet per- 
pendicular, and the others about 15 and 10 feet respec- 
tively. 

September 15th.—At half past nine this morning the 
boats were brought to the head of Dowocaima Rapids, 


* Such rocks, their black and shining appearance being due to a 
deposite of oxide of manganese, are common in most of the rivers of 
Guiana, and are regarded with superstitious feelings by the Indians.—Eb. 


118 TIMEHBRI. 


having been carried about half way and then relaunched, 
after which they were partly dragged, partly paddled 
over the remaining rapids. Leaving our camp about 
noon we soon passed a creek, on the right bank going 
up, called Massiwindooie, probably the same which caused 
SCHOMBURGK to name the neighbouring rapid Massawin- 
dooie. This rapid is smali, but is rather difficult to get 
over, owing to the narrowness of the passage. Presently 
we arrived at a small creek, called Kamwatta,* on our left, 
from the mouth of which starts the path by which we 
were to walk across to the Cuyooni. It is to be remarked 
that each tribe adopts a path for its own special use, the 
Indians in their movements thus avoiding the chance of 
meeting those of any other tribe. About this time we 
began to observe that the continued wet weather which 
we had encountered had had an effect on the Indians, 
some of whom were suffering from severe colds; and 
this made us regret that we had not provided a blanket 
for each. 

During the day MCCLINTOCK told us that he had 
learned in various conversations with the Indians that 
from a point two or three days further journey up the 
Baramaa path could easily be made directly across the 
country to Tupuquen, which might save us 8 or 10 
days’ journey; that the path could be cleared for about 
$20, provided we could get food enough for the Indians 
employed on the work; and that the only reason why 
such a direct path did not already exist was that the 
Indians here had no communication with any settlement 
in that direction. Although this may hereafter be an 


* Kamwatta is the Indian name for the common bamboo.—Ebp. 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 119 


important route to open up, we determined, as we had 
not sufficient food for the Indians and could not depend 
on getting cassava, to adhere to our original plan of 
crossing over to the Cuyooni from here. 

September 16th.—This morning we prepared for our 
overland journey; but found that our Indians could 
not carry all the baggage on one trip. We had, 
therefore, to leave one or two behind, in charge of 
such things as were left to be sent back for in the 
course of the day. We started at 8.15 a.m., and after 
walking for an hour through the forest and over marsh 
and hilly ground, where quartz rock occasionally appear- 
ed, we reached a Carib settlement, recently abandoned, 
where we were obliged to halt for the day, to send 
back our Indians for the rest of the luggage. At midday 
they came with their second load, but there were still 
some things left behind. In the course of the day, 
some pieces of quartz with metallic particles adhering 
to them were found in the creek. This caused us to 
make further search, and it was amusing to see the eager- 
ness of the Indians in watching and assisting us. Our 
find, however, proved to be only pyrites. 

September 17th.—Two hours after starting from our 
encampment this morning we arrived at a Carib settle- 
ment called Adawyne. The path was much worse and 
more intricate than yesterday. We noticed considerable 
quantities of gravelly soil in which blocks of quartz were 
imbedded. In general the ground was undulating, and 
well adapted for the growth of coffee, cacao and most 
tropical products. In crossing a creek of considerable 
size also called Adawyne, we found it bridged by a 
large fallen mora-tree, over which, we were told by our 


120 TIMEHRI. 


Indians, Schomburgk had passed when he crossed the 
path which we were now using on his way from 
Aunama to the Acarabisi Creek and the Cuyooni. We 
did not very clearly understand how the two paths should 
thus coincide, unless owing to the circumstance that an 
Indian will deviate several miles from the straight road to 
get a tree such as this to cross upon. Some parts of the 
path were very swampy and in the rainy season would be 
almost impassable. 

At the settlement there was a considerable extent of 
cultivation, and some sugar-canes as well grown as on 
the best estates near the coast. An unusually large 
number of dogs—no less than 13—greeted us on our 
arrival; some were large and fine, apparently of the 
Spanish breed. Poultry and a few flowers showed a 
comparatively advanced stage of civilization. 

We learned to-day, with no small satisfaction, that we 
might considerably shorten our journey by avoiding the 
Yuruari and proceeding by the Acarabisci to the Cuyooni, 
and thence by the Cooroomoo Creek to Toomeremo, 
where horses can be had to proceed to Tupuquen. 

The course taken to-day, though along the only path, 
varied considerably from the proper direction ; to-morrow 
we shall go nearly west, causing us almost to retrace our 
course of this morning. 

Just before dark the last detachment of our Indians 
came in with the unwelcome intelligence that they 
were unable to bring on the remainder of the lug- 
gage, and that 8 or 10 hands must be sent in the 
morning to bring it forward. This might cause us 
to lose another entire day. It was also a source of 
great anxiety to us to find that a severe cough and 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 121 


cold was spreading among our Indians, no less than 
11 being now reported as on the sick list. This we 
attribute to the continuance of wet weather and the want 
of covering during the night, when the damp and cold 
and occasional heavy dews render a covering of the 
greatest importance. We believe that had we provided 
a blanket for each, much of this sickness might have been 
avoided.* It thus became a matter of absolute necessity 
to reduce our baggage to the smallest possible compass. 

September rSth—During last night the coughing 
among the Indians was more severe and incessant than 
ever; and Dr. BLAIR recommended that all who were ill 
should have their hammocks moved to one place, that he 
might be able to pay them more attention and observe the 
progress of the complaint. He seems to apprehend that, 
if neglected, inflammation of the lungs or pneumonia 
may ensue. It was also determined that some salem- 
poras which we had with us should be cut into sheets, to 
be used by the Indians during the night. 

The remainder of our baggage was brought up by 
11 a.m.; but, the Indians who brought it being unable 
to commence another day’s journey, and many still re- 
maining on the sick list, we determined to remain another 
day at this settlement, to rest our hands and reduce and 
repack our stores. 

We bought from a Carib at this settlement, his 
pepper-pot, containing boiled cassava juice and pep- 
pers, in other words, fresh cassareep prepared in the 


* An Indian, whether or not he is sufficiently civilised and unfortu- 
nate enough to wear clothes during the day, sleeps naked—generally 
with a fire under his hammock. When travelling in very wet weather 
it is of course difficult to keep this fire continuously alight.—Ep. 


Q 


122 TIMEHRI. 


way in which the Indians themselves use it, as a condi- 
ment with cassava bread or meat, and we found it to be 
one of the best sauces we had ever tasted, undoubtedly 
better than the concentrated cassareep which is generally 
used by all but Indians. The fresh cassava juice is 
boiled for about half an hour, peppers being added ac- 
cording to taste. Care is, however, taken to allow the 
juice to stand some hours before it is boiled, to allow all 
the starch to subside; otherwise the pepper-pot soon 
becomes sour. 

September r9th.—During last night we had been fre- 
quently disturbed by outbreaks of coughing among the 
Indians. These, by a little observation, Dr. BLAIR soon 
detected to be in part got up for the occasion, a sort of 
malingering, to enable the lazy ones to avoid as far as 
possible the anticipated march with heavy loads in the 
morning. When Dr. BLAIR by imitating them showed 
that the sham was detected, their good-humoured burst 
of laughter disarmed censure and went far to restore 
them to our good opinion. 

It was g o’clock before we could get all our Indians 
off ; and even then five loads had to be left to be sent 
back for. Our course was in a south-westerly direction, 
toward the Acarabisci. The forest-path was better than | 
yesterday’s, being usually over undulating, and sometimes 
hilly, ground where magnificent trees of locust (/Zymenea 
Courbaril) and other timber abounded. Occasionally 
the path was at the bottom of a hill and evidently co- 
vered by water in the rainy season. When we were 
there it was wonderfully dry. We crossed the Mara- 
wyne creek twice, and then came to the Aunama, which 
we also crossed two or three times. We were told that 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 123 


this was the same track which SCHOMBURGK had used. 
About one o’clock we reached a settlement where we 
encamped, having, by the promise of six bits additional 
wages, induced some of the Indians to return for the 
things left behind. 

At this settlement the Indians were wonderfully primi- 
tive, few of them having ever seen Georgetown, and 
some never before having seen salt-fish, usually esteemed 
by such people one of their greatest delicacies. When 
it was first given to these, they turned from it with 
disgust, saying it was stinking stuff. 

September 20th.—Several of our Indians are still suf- 
fering from colds and coughs, but not so severely as 
before. The character of these people still impresses 
us most favourably. They are so quick, ready and oblig- 
ing, and so ingenious in their modes of doing everything 
which they are required to put their hands to, that they 
put the more clumsy and bungling European, with all 
his advantages of education, knowledge and civilization, 
completely into the shad2 in all matters where bush-life 
and travelling are concerned. Their manners, too, are 
exceedingly pleasing; they are so gentle, modest and 
unobtrusive—and, in fact, most of them are by nature 
perfect gentlemen. 

Some of our Indians, going out to ‘poison a creek’ 
for fish, mentioned that the most deadly fish-poison 
known to them is the wood of a tree called dawahy or 
moraballi, chips of which, if thrown into the water, kill 
the fish for a great distance down the stream. 

Having to await the baggage from the rear, we were 
not able to begin our march till 12.45. Our course was 
still westward; and in about an hour we had crossed the 


Q 2 


124 TIMEHRI. 


Aunama again, and came to that point where SCHOM- 
BURGK thought it might be connected by a canal with the 
Acarabisci. After that we seemed to descend from the 
summit level which we had attained; and having again 
crossed and re-crossed the Aunama, we eventually en- 
camped on both sides of it, after a journey of about 10 
miles. 

For its bearing on climate, it is worthy of note that, 
on arriving at our camp with our clothes saturated by 
rain and perspiration, we found immediate relief from 
chill and cold by simply taking of our clothes and 
adopting the Indian costume. 

September 21st-—To-day we reached the settlement 
of Acarabisci, close to the source of the creek of the 
same name. At this season, this creek was almost dry ; 
and, as far as we could judge, at no season could it be 
navigated even by the smallest woodskins. We were, 
therefore, ata loss to understand SCHOMBURGK’S remark 
about uniting the waters of the Aunama and the Acara- 
bisci by canal. The head-man at the settlemeut, keeps 
his wood-skin on the Cuyooni, two days march off. 

From here it was arranged to send off a messenger in 
advance to the Cuyooni, to engage the requisite boats. 
To prevent mistakes, an “Indian letter’? was prepared, 
to be sent by the messenger. It consisted of a series of 
knots on a piece of cord, showing, among other things, 
for how many hands provision had to be made and after 
how many days the boats were to be ready for us. 

September 22nd.—Having after some difficulty per- 
suaded three men, by the temptation of additional pay, to 
go for the luggage left behind, the rest were set to make 
quakes, in which to carry the burima or cassava meal. 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 125 


We were told that the sharp pebbles with which the 
cassava-graters are made rough are fastened into the 
wood by means of a vegetable glue called wabba, obtained 
from the fruit of a tree or shrub called ducalli (not 
ducalliballi). It must be a strong glue to stand the 
friction and constant moisture to which it is exposed, 
and might be useful if it could be collected and preserved. 
It is used by the Accawoi and Carib Indians only. The 
juice is applied without any preparation. 

On the suggestion of Mr. MCCLINTOCK we determined 
to send 12 or 15 Indians on to-morrow with the cassava 
bread to the next settlement, to return here in the after- 
noon, and that we should then all start on the following 
morning after seeing the whole of our luggage sent on, 
instead of leaving part of it to follow us as heretofore. 

September 24th.—Even after remaining still all yester- 
day, it was not till 8-45 a.m. that we could get all our 
Indians under way with their burdens. There was a 
manifest reluctance to go, and some persuasion had to 
be used with several of them. Two were left behind, 
sick, to follow us to-morrow. After a march of 4 hours, 
we reached a deserted Indian settlement called Aranassi, 
near a creek of the same name, where we took up our 
quarters. On the way we saw a very large purple-heart 
tree (Copatfera pubifiora), which had been cut down, 
and had its bark taken off to make wood-skins. A large 
tree such as this must be a fine sight when falling ; it 
cuts for itself a space like a long avenue, overpowering 
in its fall every tree of smaller dimensions, and allows a 
blaze of light to enter where formerly the mid-day sun 
could scarcely penetrate. 

The Indians with the loads did not arrive till, some an 


126 TIMEHRI. 


hour, some more than two hours after us, showing that 
the work of carrying begins to tell upon them. They 
are by no means a strong race nor well adapted for con- 
tinuous exertion, although naturally active and capable 
of undergoing great fatigue in paddling for many hours 
consecutively, or in travelling if not heavily laden. 

In the afternoon we learned that the path to the 
Cuyooni by the Acarabisci, by which we had intended to 
go, is much the longer, occupying two days, whilst by 
another path we may reach the Cuyooni in one day 
from here at the fall named by SCHOMBURGK Kenaima, 
which is about one day’s journey below the Acarabisci. 
We therefore think of taking the latter path, sending a 
messenger to direct the corials engaged for our trip to 
meet us at the Kenaima fall. 

The Indians amused themselves this afternoon, like a 
parcel of schuolboys, at a game of ball, with the most 
hilarious and uproarious mirth. The ball was of india- 
rubber; and the fun seemed to consist in keeping it 
rebounding by striking it down with the hand; whoever 
missed his stroke was made game of, and laughed at, 
most immoderately. 

September 25th.—Having resolved to remain here 
to-day, we sent on 20 Indians at 7.30 a.m. with our bag- 
gage to Kenaima fall; but at 3 p.m. these same Indians 
returned with the unwelcome news that the journey to the 
Cuyooni could not be effected in less than two days, and 
that they had left their loads at a settlement about half- 
way. 

September 26th.—We made every exertion to get off 
early this morning, but found more than usual reluctance 
on the part of our Indians to move, and several of them 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 127 


absented themselves altogether or refused to go further. 
One left without getting, or asking for, any pay, although 
he had been with us for 10 days. However, about 8 a.m. 
we started ; and after a very disagreeable walk through 
a swampy, stiff, yellow clay in 3 hours we reached a 
Carib settlement, where we rested. But, having ascer- 
tained that the Cuyooni was distant not more than 2 or 3 
hours walk, we resolved to proceed, after giving our 
Indians arest. After a pleasant walk, over a fine, dry, 
undulating country, covered densely as before with forest, 
we arrived at 2.20 suddenly and unexpectedly on the 
banks of the Cuyooni, which is here (a short distance 
below Kenaima Cataract) a beautiful and broad stream, 
with a fine, clear lake-like expanse, in the centre of 
which is an island. A glad shout expressed our delight 
at having thus ended our tedious march between the two 
rivers. We found that the Indians sent on before had 
pitched a very nice tent for us, on a height by the river- 
side. A number of Indians, Ackawoi, Spanish Arawaks 
and Maiongkongs, came in corials, canoes and wood-skins 
to meet us, some having been engaged for our service, 
some being visitors irom the opposite side of the river. 

September 27th.—We agreed this morning to return by 
the Orinoco, and to send a messenger to the schooner to 
meet us at the mouth of the Barima. We also made 
a vain appeal to our chef d’escadron to give the 
order for a start; but so many difficulties were 
thrown in the way, and there was such an obvious 
intention to remain all day in the hammock, that we 
soon saw that all representations would prove ineffectual, 
and that we must make up our minds to. lose another 
valuable day. 


128 TIMEHRI. 


September 25th—On taking an inventory of our stores, 
we found we had barely sufficient to carry us to Tupu- 
quen, estimating the journey at from 12 to 14 days; and 
Mr. MCCLINTOCK estimated it at 20 days. 

We were off about 9.30 a. m. in six boats; and almost 
immediately we reached the first rapid. Here we saw a 
new feature of the Indians displayed to great advantage ; 
and we much admired their dexterity in carrying our 
delicate wood-skins, with gunwales not more than 3 
inches above the water, safely through the most intricate 
passages in the rapids.* 

The higher we went, the more beautiful did the scenery 
become. Landing on a small island above Kenaima fall, 
from the upper end of this, one of the most magnificent 
views burst upon us. The river, dotted with islets and 
rocks, had expanded to at least a mile in width, and 
was shut in on all sides by a fringe of the most gorgeous 
woodland scenery, in all the glory of a bright tropical 
sun. Behind, on our left as we looked down the river, 
was seen the great rapid or fall called by the Indians 
Porro-eng. The sea-breeze was felt fresh and strong, 
and the buoyancy of the air was delightful. Sir WILLIAM 
HOLMES insisted on calling the place ‘ Fairy-land’.+ 

The river continued of great width above the falls. 


* Mr. CAMPBELL does not state whether the boats were manned by 
the Indians brought from the Pomeroon or by the new hands engaged on 
the Cuyooni ; but there must have been at least some of the latter in each 
boat, for the Indians of the Pomeroon, as of other rivers equally free 
from rapids, are by no means remarkably skillful among falls——Ep. 

+ Without throwing any doubt on the beauty of the scenery, it may 
be remarked that the delight and exhilaration felt on coming out after 
many days from under the dense unbroken shade of a tropical forest, 
into a widely open and sunlit space is worth feeling.—Ep, 


By THE CUYOONI' TO: THE ORINOCO. 129 


Occasional ledges of rock appeared; though on the 
whole, its course was very clear of such obstructions. 
The current was generally slow. Our night’s camp was 
made about half a mile above the mouth of the Acara- 
bisci creek. 

September joth.—Early this morning we passed the 
mouth of a large creek, on our left hand, called Ura- 
warawa, probably the same laid down in SCHOMBURGK’S 
map as Uruaraia. Above this the river was for many 
miles like a beautiful lake, its surface like a mirror, and 
not a single rock visible. We also passed a small creek 
called, by the Accawois, Wakenaam and, by the Caribs, 
Waka. About this part of the journey several ranges of 
hills were in sight. In the course of that afternoon we 
passed on our left the beginning of a path by which it is 
possible to walk to the Masserooni in 4 days. 

October 1st.—The settlement at which we stayed last 
night, called Warraput, differs from all we have yet 
seen. It is close by the river, on a bank rising steeply to 
the height of 30 or 40 feet; the houses are all enclosed 
to the ground, and consequently very close and warm ; 
some were circular, like those of the Macusi Indians. 
On making the most minute enquiry we could not find 
that any of the Indians of this settlement had visited the 
hills in the neighbourhood ; they seem to entertain a su- 
perstitious dread of hills of any magnitude, believing that 
‘kenaimas’ reside there. 

About noon we reached the Coroomoo creek, said by 
SCHOMBURGK to be 20 miles above the Acarabisci. It 
is said that in the wet season Tupuquen can be. reached 
in 3 days by this creek; but it was impassable when we 
saw it. During the day the sea-breeze was felt most 

R 


130 TIMEHRI. 


refreshingly ; and with a sail it would have helped us on 
very materially. It usually sets in as early as 8 or g a.m. 
on this river; and from this circumstance, and the course 
of the stream being nearly east and west, and thus ex- 
posed all day to the sun, as well as on account of the 
high banks and rapid current, Dr. BLAIR thought that this 
river ought to be particularly healthy and free from the 
miasma to which most of the other rivers in the colony 
are subject. 

October 2nd.—Many hills were still in sight. At one 
place the scene was especially beautiful. The river 
appeared to pass into a kind of gorge or defile, resem- 
bling the approach to Loch Katrine and the Trossachs, 
although the hills were by no means so high, apparently 
not exceeding 1,000 or 1,500 feet. Not a palm was to 
be seen and the bush-ropes were not numerous or notice- 
able ; so that the scenery was much more like that of 
Europe than of the tropics. 

We camped on a curious sand-bank, laid out so sym- 
metrically and regularly that it appeared artificial and 
seemed levelled on the sides and top by rule. On first 
arriving here, some Indians were found who, while they 
were making a new field, had temporarily located them- 
selves by the river side. These, on seeing our boats 
approaching, fled, but returned with guns and bows and 
arrows in their hands. This was the first hostile feeling 
we had seen manifested by Indians. They were soon 
reconciled, and in the most friendly way gave up there 
own encampment to accommodate us.* 

3 The Indians on this river seem to have been much harassed by 


Venezuelans, and are always on the alert to avoid or repulse the latter. 
See Timehrvi Vol. 1. p. 130.—Eb. 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 131 


One noticeable feature of this, as of all the other 
rivers of the colony that I have seen, is the intense still- 
ness and absence of all appearance of animal life. 
Scarcely a single bird, except in the morning and even- 
ing a few parrots passing to or from their feeding 
ground, is to be seen; and only a few notes, usually 
most unmusical, are to be heard. Insects are everywhere ; 
but these give no character to the scene. For the gayer 
sorts, such as butterflies, are by no means numerous. The 
ants and their allies the wood-lice, or wood-ants,. are 
omnipresent and exercise the most powerful influence 
in the destruction of all material which comes within 
their reach ; for, from the crumbs which fall on the ground 
to the monarch of the forest when old or fallen, all is 
speedily reduced to a decayed mass, presently to mingle 
with the soil. During the day the monotonous but loud 
and shmili noise of the sun-beetle is almost the only 
insect note heard. This is fearfully suggestive of intense 
heat, being heard most frequently and loudly at Indian 
settlements, where not a tree is left to shade the ground. 
At sun-set the concert of razor-grinders, crickets and 
grasshoppers of all sorts, aided by multitudes of frogs, 
commence a din of innumerable sounds, which continues 
all night long. No mosquitoes, or only a few and of a 
small sort, are met with so high up the rivers. 
Bees, however, are tolerably plentiful, and one 
very peculiar kind was met with. One very small kind 
which we looked at too closely one day in the forest 
followed us for some distance and was only with diffi- 
culty got rid of from our hair. They sting very slightly ; 
but the Indians say that they eat the hair! 

October 3rd.—Early this morning we had to pass a 

R 2 


132 ‘TIMEHRI. 


rapid—which we did with some difficulty. It is called 
Trumbang, or Tirumba according to Mr. MCCLINTOCK, 
who says that it means ‘the tinkling as of metal’. 

About noon we reached the Carib settlement of War- 
racaba.* An.attempt was here made to dig for gold ; 
the result being a black residuum, like oxide of man- 
ganese, with one minute gold-like particle. 

October -gth—We were told that in some dry seasons 
the river may be forded here. Soon after starting this 
morning we passed the Yacami Rapid, which was one of 
‘the most difficult we have yet encountered. Above that 
-the river was one confused mass of islands and rocks :and 
one continuous series of falls and rapids. 

October 5th.—We now felt the atmosphere to be ‘re- 
markably dry as contrasted with that of the lower part 
of the country through which we have passed. ‘Clothes, 
wet at night, are here nearly dry in the morning ; and 
our guns, formerly red with rust in the morning, are now 
found quite free from it, although sometimes exposed to 
heavy rain. 

The banks here are high and sandy ; and the trees 
are much smaller than, and apparently different in: kind 
from those seen lower down. There was scarcely any 
mora, and the few bullet-trees were of no great size. 
‘There were: certain' trees which yielded a very adhesive, 
white, gummy: juice, tasteless and inodorous, which as it 
dries becomes very elastic: and can be drawn out) in 
threads several yards long. 

* Warracaba is an Indian (Carib?) name for the’ trumpet-bird (Pso- » 
phia crepitans). “Yacambi is the Arawak name for the same bird. ‘It is 
a curious circumstance that Mr. CAMPBELL mentions the existence of a 


rapid in the immediate neighbourhood of this-settlement, which-he says 
is called Yacami,—Ep 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 133 


October 7th.—This morning we entered the Yuruan ; 
which is here not more than half the width of the Cuyooni, 
or about 200 yards; and the banks, as are the trees on 
them, are here much lower than those of the main river; 
but they become higher a short distance up. The current 
is strong, and rocks and islands are almost immediately 
met with. The water is dark in colour. Some of the 
rocks present a basaltic appearance, with needle-like 
points. Some 3 hours up the river becomes a good deal 
wider. Here it is sometimes crossed by clumps of 
guava bushes (Psidium aqualicum and P. aromaticum) 
and its banks are low; from which I infer that it does 
not rise very much in height during the rainy season but, 
Nile-like, overflows the surrounding country. Six miles 

from the mouth of the Yuruan we came to the mouth of 
the Yuruari ; and hearing that there is no camping ground 
for some distance up, we were obliged to remain at the 
mouth for the night. 

October sth.—The Yuruari at its mouth is not more 
than 160 feet wide. A few hundred yards up some rocks 
appear above its sluggish and dirty-looking water ; and 
these seem to differ from those in the Cuyooni, appearing 
stratified and as if intersected by layers of quartz. The 
trees are mere scrub, and appear as if only a fringe to 
the stream, with a swamp or savannah behind. On the 
whole this river is singularly uninteresting at this part 
of its course. 

Four or five hours up, we passed two granite boulders, 
each about 20 feet high, and each with a figure of a frog, 
about 3 feet in length, neatly sculptured upon it. 

An hour later we came to a series of rapids, caused by 
the river pouring over most enormous beds and blocks of 


134 TIMEHRI. 


granite, which much exceed in height, and are much more 
difficult of ascent, than any met with in the Cuyooni. 
October gth.—In ascending a rapid this morning Sir 
WILLIAM HOLMES’ boat was upset and sank. We took 
the opportunity whilst such of his clothes as were saved 
were being dried to visit the savannah, which lay close 
by. It presented a curious sight to those who have never 
seen such a place before. Undulating and hilly ground 
stretched as far as the eye could see, with scrubby look- 
ing bushes and clumps of trees and zeta palms (M/auritia 
flexuosa) scattered over it. The soil seems poor, hard and 
arid, with a scanty vegetation of tufts of coarse-looking 
grass about 15 or 18 inches high. Great blocks of granite, 
from 50 to 60 feet in length and breadth and about 20 
feet in height, appeared in several places, all rounded 
and water-worn. Almost every small hill was covered to 
its summit by water-worn quartz gravel, of consid=rable 
size, intermixed with blocks of quartz from 1 to 2 feet 
high of various shades of white, pink and red. Cacti 
of large size and aloes were also seen. The soil was 
found to be mixed with black ashes, as if it had recently 
been burned, as, we were told, it constantly is, to keep 
the grass low and thus to guard against rattle-snakes.* 
Proceeding again, we came in the afternoon toa greater 
fall than any that we had yet passed, the noise of which 
was heard an hour before we reached it. The river here 
presents a magnificent appearance, being broad, and 


* This burning of the savannahs, which is practised by the Indians 
in all suitable places in Guiana is not fully explained. Many reasons 
have been given to me for the practice; the most probable being 
that the burning encourages a growth of young and tender grass which 
attracts deer and other game,—Ep. 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 135 


pouring its torrent through gigantic masses of granite. 
Some little distance above this the trees almost entirely 
ceased on the right bank and the open savannah was 
visible from the river in several places. 

October roth—Some Accawoi Indians, at whose set- 
tlement we stayed last night, told us that the Spaniards 
of the lower class at the diggings use threatening lan- 
guage about the English, to the effect that we had better 
leave them, the Spaniards, alone. 

About an hour after starting this morning we passed a 
most extensive rapid ; and here we saw a rock well-known 
to the Indians as the ‘sun-rock’ and named by them 
Wykoo, from certain sculptures upon it which they 
imagine to represent the sun. This rock faces due north 
and south, and on it there are several figures rudely 
sculptured. The centre and most perfect one resembles 
a figure which I think I have seen pictured as being on 
Indian, Egyptian and Mexican temples. Two other 
sculptures appear very distantly to resemble human 
figures. A small symbol to the right of these is some- 
what like a dromedary; but it may be a beetle or any- 
thing else, it is so rudely done. The rock is granite, 
and so hard that I could only get some small, weathered 
specimens off it. On the wet side are also figures, but 
less perfect than the others. 

By the middle of the afternoon we were passing through 
savannah on both sides of the river. Some of the trees 
here appeared to have been scorched, and were dead in 
consequence. 

A large cactus abcut 20 feet high was occasionally 
seen. From a hill within half a mile of the river we had 
a delightful view. From west to north-east we saw a 


136 TIMEHBRI. 


high range of mountains, probably those bordering the 
Orinoco. The view was diversified by nearer hills and 
large savannahs as far as the eye could reach, woods 
bordering the creeks and rivers, and clumps of trees in 
ali directions. There was a fine breeze ; a thunder-storm 
was passing in the distance; and the setting sun illumined 
the whole. Altogether it was very pleasing. 

Before long we passed the first cattle farm, with a 
house, and a pen capable of holding 800 head of cattle ; 
and soon passed others; and cattle began to be visible on 
the savannah. 

At night we stayed ata cattle farm called Massapiri, 
formerly belonging to Colonel HAMILTON, who had a 
very large grant here, including 8 or 10 cattle farms. 

On the savannah here there were frequent coveys 
of quail; pigeons were abundant, and several other 
birds were seen which are not seen in Demerara. 
Rabbits* also were seen by their burrows, but we did not 
see these very near. 

The house in which we slept was of clay, with a red- 
tiled roof. It had a verandah on each side, and two doors 
but no window, so that it was dark and close. The people 
had charge of 157 horses; and much cattle was on the 
savannah, of which they were catching and killing a few 
to make ‘ tasso’ or dried beef. This tasso is the nastiest 
preparation of beef I ever met with; the smell of it, 
cooked or uncooked, nearly made me sick, and I| think I 
could sooner learn to relish candle-grease than this nasty 
stuff, unless it were divested of its odour. 


hb fal el a an Re 
* These ‘ rabbits’ may possibly have been armadillos, which live in 


some numbers on the savannahs and make their holes under the nests 
of the ‘ white ants’ (termites).—Eb. 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 137 


The country between this place and the Cooroomoo 
creek is open savannah, over which cattle could easily 
be driven; and there is also a savannah on the opposite | 
side of the same creek which extends for some distance 
and approaches the Cuyooni. It would not, therefore, be 
a very serious undertaking to make a road across this 
country by which cattle might be driven to Demerara ; 
and the people here said they would much prefer to take 
cattle by such a road than over the mountains to Las 
Tablas. 

Enquiring as to the price of cattle-farms, we were told 
that half of Colonel HAMILTON’S estates, of which this farm 
of Massapiri formed part, and the whole of which extended 
over a large tract of country and had several hundred 
horses and about 20,000 head of cattle, was sold for 
50,000 pesos, and could now be purchased for about 
$33,000. The average price of cattle, here is about 10 
pesos or S10 per head. The manager of these estates 
arrived before we left; and we found him intelligent, 
obliging and communicative. Wages, we were told, for 
a trustworthy cattle-minder, such as we found in charge 
of this farm, skilled in riding and using the lasso, are $4 
a month. 

October 13th.—Travelling all yesterday through much 
the same country as on the day before, and continuing in 
the same way to-day, we arrived about noon at Tupuquen. 

Our arrival soon attracted visitors ; and among these 
was a character name WYSE, last from St. Vincent, and 
part proprietor of the /zrror newspaper, of mixed Yankee 
and Indian origin, who gave us a most graphic account 
of his labours at the ‘ diggings’ for upwards of three weeks, 
the result of which was a single grain of gold, about 

Ss 


138 -TIMEHRI. 


the size of a pin’s head, from a hole which he dug to feet 
square and 14 feet deep. He said he knew what hard 
work was, and had worked hard at various trades, but 
that gold-digging was the hardest of all. He had had 
two or three hundred dollars, but was now about to leave 
without a farthing; a few, but very few, people had 
been more lucky. 

We went up to the village, about a quarter of a mile off, 
and got quarters at the house of the alcade, one MOLERO, 
who is also aninn-keeper. This village was a wretched 
place; the houses were of the poorest sort; of wattle 
and mud, and seldom had more than one apartment. Till 
lately it had been inhabited by Indians alone, but these 
are now giving way to others. ‘The situation is fine, 
overlooking an extensive green savannah with mountains 
on three sides. This savannah, we were told, extends far, 
and would greatly shorten the length of road which it 
would be necessary to cut to the Essequibo. 

Donkeys are chiefly used for transport of every kind, 
almost all supplies being carried on these over the moun- 
tains from Bolivar or Las Tablas. Provisions, such as 
fruit, and sugar in cone-shaped loaves called papillones, 
are also brought from Tooporemo, about 27 miles dis- 
tant. 

In the evening we saw the ‘‘ Gaceta de Guyana” of the 
19th of September, which contained information about 
our alleged claims to the gold districts as part of British 
Guiana and stated very clearly the arguments on which 
the Venezuelans found their claim to the same ter- 
ritory. We were told that the lower classes here 
were inclined to stop us from proceeding, but that 
it had been explained to them that they were in error 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 139 


about our intention, and that if they dared to interfere 
with us they would be put down by their own Government. 

Caratal and the ‘diggings’ being on the opposite side 
of the river, and 6 or 7 miles distant, we resolved to 
postpone our journey thither till the next morning. 

October rath.—We could not complete our arrange- 
ments for leaving Tupuquen till late in the day, but 
moved across the river to the house of an Indian woman 
named GARCIA, whose son PEDRO JUAN GARCIA has been 
very lucky in discovering gold. In the afternoon, walk- 
ing very slowly, we reached the diggings in about two 
hours and a half. The path is very good, up and down 
hill, and through the forest the whole way. The dig- 
gings are also in the depth of the forest, where about 70 
or 80 huts thatched with palm leaves, have already ap- 
peared. Round these huts are the holes or barrancas of 
the diggers, usually square pits from 8 to 10 feet square 
and from 8 to 20 deep. 

In passing we saw HAMILTON from Demerara; he was 
suffering from ill-health and was confined to his ham- 
mock. He said he was doing no business of any import- 
ance in the way of selling his venture, and had as yet 
made nothing by digging. He had had to pay heavy 
duties; many of his things had been broken on the way, 
and others had not arrived. 

October 15th.—Having put up at the house of a Mr. 
GRAY, from Demerara, under his directions we this morn- 
ing set all available hands to open a pit in what was 
pointed out as agood locality. The implements required 
were an axe or cutlass, to clear away trees and brush- 
wood, a pick-axe, to cut through the roots and loosen the 
stiff soil; an instrument called a ‘chickora’, which is like 

5 2 


140 TIMEHRI. 


a large and long-handled socket-chisel, which is used 
to cut square and smooth the edges and sides of 
the pit ; * a crow-bar, to move the many larger pieces of 
rock; a large hammer to break such masses of quartz as 
are supposed to contain gold; a cradle—here quite cir- 
cular—in which to wash for gold; and a few coarse bags 
to carry the ‘greja,’ which is the gold-bearing soil and 
gravel, lying above the clay, to the stream where it is 
washed. From 2 to 8 men may be employed in digging 
a pit, according to its size. These pits are usually square 
or oblong, from 8 to 10 feet each way. Ours, there 
being many hands to work at it, was 16 feet by ro. 
While the digging was in progress, I started, witha 
guide who possessed a minute and excellent knowledge 
of all the Caratal hills, to visit the falls of the Macapero, 
about four miles off. The guide pointed out the likely 
places for gold, usually near running or dry watercourses, 
which he said he had traced to their sources in the hills, 
among quartz rock such as usually contains gold. We 
found the fall to be from 30 to 4o feet high, the stream 
falling over a large and solid mass of very hard rock into 
a circular basin, said to be very deep. The whole coun- 
try through which I passed was densely wooded ; the soil 
was rich chocolate-coloured, yellowish loam, such as 
prevails at the diggings. No quartz was seen; and the 
guide stated that in many places where quartz abounded 
no gold was to be found, but that where stones contain- 
ing iron were near, or mixed with, quartz, there gold 
would probably be found. 


* ©The chickora,’ writes Dr. Bair, ‘ is not peculiarly a mining imple- 
ment. Wesaw one at Santa Maria, where, as on other cattle-farms, it 
is used chiefly in digging the trench along which the posts of the cattle. 
pen are planted,—Ep, 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. IAI 


After this I devoted the greater part of the day to 
examining the pits at the diggings, and conversed with 
many of the diggers. Without a single exception, they 
had all suffered from fever or illness of some kind since 
their arrival. There were people from almost every 
country in Europe, besides natives of Venezuela, 
the West Indies, and British Guiana. All spoke 
of the work as very hard, a fact which was amply 
confirmed by our own observation; and nearly all 
seemed reduced in strength and pale from working 
in the woods; where the sun rarely reaches them. 
Most had walked from Las Tablas to the diggings, a 
journey of from 5 to 7 days, partly across arid and heated 
savannahs ; and to this we attributed much of the illness 
from which they had suffered. Poor food had probably 
also contributed to the same result. The result of the 
information we got was that ‘the diggings’ on the whole 
have been a sad failure and that most of the adventurers, 
now supposed to number about 160 or 170, bitterly 
regret having left their homes for such an unprofitable 
pursuit. Some poor creatures were crawling about, too 
ill to work and unable to get away, having run into debt 
for the necessaries of life. On the other hand, a few had 
been fortunate; one, a Frenchman, was said to have left 
with $2,000 worth of gold; and several were now find- 
ing from one to several ounces a day. The Spaniards 
show the greatest neatness and dexterity in the work ; 
and these, with the Indians, are said to be the most for- 
tunate. One Spaniard is now making so much that he 
can afford to pay a man at the rate of 810 a week to dig 
for him, although but lately he was reduced to nearly 
his last peso. 


142 TIMEHRI. 


The average quantity found per diem, at a rough guess, 
seemed not to exceed } ounce for each digger, or about 
30 to 40 ounces in all. The work is, however, very 
roughly and carelessly done, and it is said that much is 
lost in washing. The appearance of the country seems 
to indicate the existence of gold in many places besides 
that at present worked. The gold is said to be remark- 
ably pure, and is sold in Trinidad at 22 dollars per ounce. 
As usual, a great deal of gambling goes on, and most of 
the gold finds its way into the hands of the gamblers or 
strangers who keep eating-houses and gambling tables. 
The price given here for gold is only about 816, or some- 
thing less, per ounce; thus offering a good speculation to 
any one with a capital of a few thousand dollars. 

Many things here are extravagantly dear, especially 
medicine ; a dose of senna or of jalap costs a shilling 
and quinine is fourpence a grain! 

October 16th.—This morning I went down into a pit 
to examine the strata. Uppermost was a rich vegetable 
mould, usually chocolate-coloured, brown or yellowish ; 
next was a stiffer sub-soil, which is also yellowish; 
next is the stratum called greja, in which the gold is 
found, of loose and friable gravel, almost always mixed 
with rounded pieces of quartz and stones in which, when 
broken, iron is apparent; below this is a greyish clay 
which is never penetrated by the diggers. Under large 
blocks of quartz embedded in the greja nuggets of pure 
gold are often found, sometimes of considerable size. 
The ‘ greja’ after the larger stones have been removed is 
carried in bags to the water, to be washed in cradles or 
‘ batelles.’ 

We found some specimens of quartz with what ap- 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 143 


peared to be specks of platinum in it; and one of the 
diggers mentioned that he had found apparently the 
same metal. 

We were disappointed at hearing that horses could 
not be procured under two days notice; and MR. 
MCCLINTOCK and I crossed the river to Tupuquen to 
endeavour to get donkeys, if horses were unattainable; 
but we were given very little hope. 

October 17th.—We were occupied during the morning 
in making arrangements not only for our own departure, 
but also for that of Mr. MCCLINTOCK, who is to return by 
the Cuyooni, if possible by the Cooroomo and Acarabisi 
Creeks, in order that he may obtain as much information 
as he can about the nature of the ground thence to some 
point near the mouth of the Essequibo or the creeks 
falling into it, especially Groote Creek.* After we had 
taken farewell of him, he returned to Caratal, to remain 
there a few days longer if he should find sufficient 
encouragement to do so. 

In the afternoon we examined the old convent of 
Tupuquen, which is now occupied by a German named 


* The Indians under Mr. McCuintock reached the ‘ greja’ or gold 
stratum on the 17th of October, and got some particles of gold from the 
first cradles; but the pit was half filled with water by a storm during the 
following night. Mr. McCuiinrock remained at Caratal till the 2oth ; 
but the heavy rains continuing, and hardly one of his Indians being free 
from fever and ague, he then commenced his return journey to the 
Pomeroon. The Yuruari had risen much, and in 4 days the party were 
carried by the rapid current down what it had taken 8 days to ascend. 
The whole journey from Tupuquen to the Pomeroon occupied only 
22 days, instead of the 45 days which the reverse journey had occupied. 
Amongst the Indians, said Mr. McCuintock, there was no loss of 
life. Eb. 


144 TIMEHRI. 


SOMMERS as an eating-house, store, butchery, gambling 
den e¢ cet. It is ina wretchedly dirty and dilapidated 
condition, but the remains of an old tesselated tile pave- 
ment may be seen in the verandah. The whole is merely 
a framework of wood and laths covered with mud, and 
has stood remarkably well, as it is now supposed to be 
from 70 to 100 years old. In its palmy days it can never 
have been anything remarkable, but it probably afforded 
the friars a comfortable retirement, in the midst of a 
beautiful country, with plenty of Indians as servants, or 
slaves, to minister to their wants and appetites. Rumour 
states that the friars held the large possessions 
attached to 32 missions about here as their absolute 
property, and that they used the Indians as bondsmen 
for every species of labour, and that they prevented the 
ingress of Spaniards and other strangers into the mission 
territory. All this was ended by the revolution. The 
priests, having sided with the Royalists, were hunted 
out of the country or massacred; .and the Indians 
were for the most part scattered over the country, 
though a few remained in their old homes. 

From the summit of the small hill south of Tupuquen, 
immediately above the burying-ground, we had a most 
beautiful view of the surrounding country, which 
presents on every side a grand savannah surrounded by 
the Caratal, Noria and other mountains. The whole 
seems as though it had once been the bed of a lake, which 
when it burst its boundary emptied itself by the Cuyooni. 
Hearing that two pedestrians had just arrived from Dem- 
erara we went in search of them to Mr. SOMMERS’ hofe/, 
where an indescribable scene of noise, bustle, confusion 
and grumbling proceeded from a numerous throng of 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 145 


diggers and idlers. ‘The pedestrians proved to be a Mr. 
EDGHILL and a nephew of Mr. PRESTON’S, who had left 
Demerara on the 1oth of September, and had come by 
way of Bolivar and Las Tablas, walking from the latter 
place to Tupuquen. They told us that, owing to some 
informality in getting a proper manifest or bill of lading 
on leaving Bolivar in a launch for Las Tablas, nearly 
everything they had, including two donkeys, mining and 
digging tools e¢ cet. had been taken from them; and they 
had come on with little more than the clothes on their 
backs. They looked weak and fatigued, and from their 
slight build and small size seemed singularly ill adapted for 
the hard labour of digging; in fact I should say it would 
kill them in a few dayswerethey toattemptit. Underthese 
circumstances, Dr. BLAIR thought it his duty to caution 
them, and to recommend their immediate return home. 

By the way, the Caratal mountains are so named from 
the abundance of the carata palm in the woods.* 

October 18th—After many delays and difficulties, we 
succeeded in getting our horses, donkeys and guide, and 
started at 11 a.m. for Upata, which is estimated at 2, 3 
or 4 days journey, according to circumstances. Owing 
to the rivers being flooded, we found that our journey 
would take 4 days. The distance, by the road which we 
were to follow, is estimated at 72 miles. On starting 
we took a north-westerly course across the savannah, 
toward the foot of the Caratal hills. 

The scenery was singularly beautiful. From the top 


* The Carata palm is Mauritia aculeata, a fan-leaved palm, resemb- 
ling the zta palm (mx. flexuosa) but smaller, and with a much more 
slender stem beset with prickles. It occurs in British Guiana, but only 
on the rocky and higher savannahs.—Eb. 


T 


146 TIMEHRI. 


of the first rising ground, looking back, Tupuquen, with 
its red-tiled cottages contrasting well with the rich green, 
looked pretty. And everywhere around the auriferous 
appearance continued the same, the mountains seeming 
from their shape and conical summits to be volcanic, 
and the whole plain being everywhere covered with 
quartz rock and pebbles in every stage of disintegration. 
Accident or patient search will, no doubt, in time disclose 
rich gold-fields throughout this region. 

The characteristic plants of these savannahs are the 
tree or bush called ‘ chapperal’* which is usually very 
stunted, from the effects of burning, but at times is more 
luxuriant and bears a sweet smelling whitish flower, not 
unlike hawthorn, and the zeta palms,t graceful groups of 
which are seen where are springs, rivulets or swamps. 

Toward afternoon we reached a farm, near the banks 
of the small river Miamo, where a ferry-boat is kept, a 
comical-looking, flat-bottomed narrow boat, in which we 
crossed. The horses and donkeys were then made to 
swim across in pairs, led by a fine athletic Indian who 
swam across before them with the halters in his teeth. 

As we travelled we were continually reminded of 
sheep by the blocks of white quartz scattered about on 
the hills, which at a distance might readily be mistaken 
for such. These same blocks also brought forcibly to 
our minds the description given by Sir WALTER RALEIGH 
of the white quartz rocks seen by him, perhaps on these 
very hills, and called by him ‘ e/ madre del oro.’ The 
total absence of real sheep, on pastures apparently so 
well adapted for them, was also remarkable. 


* Curatella amevicana.—ED : 
| Mawuritia flexuosa.—EvD: 


By THE CUYOON!I TO THE ORINOCO. 147 


The house at which we stopped that night at Guacipa- 
ta, belonging to a Mr. MIRANDA, was of a better des- 
cription than any which we had yet seen, being substan- 
tially built of clay, with the rooms ceiled and white 
washed. 

October 19th.—This morning we examined the old 
mission buildings here. The situation is well chosen, 
on the top of one of the savannah hills, and commands 
an extensive and beautiful view on every side. The vil- 
lage, formerly occupied only by Indians but now by a 
mixed population, is composed of a number of neat clay 
cottages, with red-tiled or thatched roofs, and stands on a 
fine plateau in front of the mission. Some additional 
buildings have been put up since the monks were driven 
out, the materials having been chiefly obtained from the 
mission buildings, which were much more extensive 
than they now are. In one room may be seen the stocks 
used by the monks for punishing the Indians, with nu- 
merous holes worn smooth by the unfortunate sufferers, 
and the frame-work smeared with blood-stains said to 
have come from those who were flogged when in the 
stocks. A centre holein the stocks, larger than those 
on either side, is said to have been used for placing the 
head in, as a higher degree of punishment. Another 
room was pointed out as that in which singing was 
taught ; and here much of the old furniture still remains, 
such as benches, stands for goglets and jars of water 
et cet., and the roof is lofty. In another room is a large 
frame on which were made hammocks, all these missions 
having been famed for the manufacture of these articles. 
Long passages traverse the buildings, and off these are 
numerous large and airy rooms all most substantially 

T 2 


148 TIMEHRI. 


built and well finished. The doors and other wood-work, 
being of the best and strongest materials, are in the most 
perfect preservation. The church is really a very hand- 
some, large and lofty structure, about 160 feet long by 
45 wide. The centre aisle has a fine arched roof 
supported on two rows of lofty pillars; and a 
smaller arched roof is on each of the side aisles. 
The roof has been coated with a pale pinkish cement, 
which is highly glazed with some substance not now 
known but which has been remarkably durable, the roof 
although now more than go years old, having still a 
beautiful glistening appearance as the sun-light falls upon 
it. The floor is tiled; and the walls, although made of 
clay, are very smooth and well-finished and look as well 
as the best plastered work. The entrance doors are large 
and lofty, and over them is a gallery where the choristers 
must have sat, some music-stands being still left. Outside 
the church is a small gallery overlooking the esplanade 
and village; and by the side of this are two large bells, 
hung on strong beams, and apparently still in use. We 
were told that the Indians still resort to the church to 
worship and burn a few candles. 

On examining the walls of the mission, we were sur- 
prised at the simplicity with which the wattles of 
which they are composed are fastened together, by 
pieces of bush rope, which seem as fresh as when first 
put into position. 

We were advised, and resolved, to proceed to Upata 
by way of Platanal, to avoid crossing the rivers lower 
down, where, in consequence of the rain, we might be 
detained several days. We started about 11 a.m., and 
about sun-set reached Platanal, so-named from the fact 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 149 


that a single plantain-tree was found there when the land 
was first occupied asa farm. As we approached, two 
damsels took to their heels and fled, and, when pursued, 
set a number of dogs upon us, and drew their knives ; but 
we soon allayed their fears and showed that we had no 
hostile intentions. The house was large and good, but 
the entertainment most wretched ; nothing was to be had 
but rancid ‘ tasso’ and cassava bread. Although a cattle- 
farm of 5 square leagues, with 10,000 head of cattle, 
80 horses and to peons, no milk, fowls, eggs, butter, 
cheese or vegetables could be got. 

October 20th.—About 8 this morning we started, and 
proceeded round the shoulder of the Sierra del Bacaron to 
Para-para, another large cattle-farm. We were much 
pleased to find a patch of cane cultivation in the hollow, 
before reaching the house; and at the farm we saw a 
very nice sugar-mill, with three perpendicular rollers, 
worked by two oxen, and two small taches very neatly 
put up and scrupulously clean. The furnace and cop- 
per-walls were very well built of brick, and plastered 
with lime; brick and lime having been brought, at very 
great expense, from Las Tablas. The sugar made is 
poured into a frame containing thirty moulds, in each of 
which the sugar, hardening, forms a loaf, or papillone, 
worth about ten cents. The loaves are taken out of the 
moulds after remaining about an hour to cool. The syrup 
is much boiled, to give it consistency, by which the 
grain is destroyed. Lime is seldom used, except in very 
damp weather. A new mill was being put up, the rollers 
of which were turned out of large and fine pieces of 
locust-wood. : 

Tobacco was also grown to a small extent, and was 


150 TIMEHRI. 


cured in bales and made into cigars, which were sold 
at the rate of ten for a bit. Provisions and coffee were 
also grown for the use of the owner, who thus enjoyed 
many luxuries which all such settlers, if possessed of 
similar energy, might share. 

The view from this place is one of the most beautiful 
that can be conceived, embracing a very wide extent of 
what appears to be the richest and greenest country, 
embosomed in woods, and stretching over height and 
hollow as far as the eye can see. Yet this country ap- 
pears almost uninhabited, instead of affording one of 
the finest outlets which perhaps the world affords for 
the redundant population of Europe. 

The climate although warm is not oppressive, and 
a refreshing breeze is seldom wanting. The rain is, no 
doubt, heavy, but owing to the nature of the soil and 
the excellence of the natural drainage the ground soon 
dries; and no miasma or fever need be dreaded. 

Leaving Para-para, we proceeded by a farm called 
Santa Cruz, through a hilly country, and a more wooded 
savannah than we had yet passed, to a farm called 
Coomi, near a stream, of the same name, now easily 
forded, but sometimes impassable. This place was more 
wretched than any at which we had yet put up; there 
was literally nothing to be had but the detestable tasso. 
The people told us, by way of apology, that they 
did not use milk because it was unwholesome and pro- 
duced feverish symptoms ! 

October 27st.—After two hours march from Coomi we 
reached a very nice farm called Tigre, where we again 
found cane cultivation, and a larger mill than at Para- 
para. There was also a small still for making rum, 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 151 


On leaving Tigre, our way lay through a tolerably 
level savannah environed by mountains on every side. 
The height from the level of the savannah seemed to be 
from 1,000 to 1,500, or in some few instances, 2,000 feet. 
Toward afternoon we entered a ravine between these 
mountains, and commenced to ascend toward the old 
mission and puebla of Santa Maria. The path was in 
places very steep, and none but sure footed animals could 
mount it in safety. As we ascended we had most beau- 
tiful views of the savannah below and its surrounding 
mountains. The clear atmosphere, with the thinnest pos- 
sible veil of vapour or haze over the hills, with the pass« 
ing clouds, and the deep shadow of the wooded valleys, 
gave an Italian character to the landscape. 

Gn reaching the summit of the pass, the ruins of the 
old mission were seen, on the top of a hill, commanding 
a magnificent view of the surrounding country. There 
were also two or three houses on adjoining heights. We 
proceeded to a farm about a quarter of a mile further on, 
also called Santa Maria, where we were most hospitably 
entertained for the night by a Spaniard and his wife. 

October 22nd.—On one of the buildings belonging to 
the mission was marked in modern figures on the clay 
wall, 1657, which date, we have been informed, was about 
that when the missions were first founded. It is supposed 
that they were dismantled, and that the priests were 
finally driven away or massacred, soon after the ultimate 
success of the revolutionists at the battle of San Felice 
in 1813. 

On one of the mountains to the south east there is, we 
were told, a small lake near the summit, which our host 
said he had seen but was afraid to approach, as the 


152 TIMEBRI. 


ground shook as he advanced. This hill is called 
Guacamaio, and it was near it that the rebel BRASHE was 
routed by General SONTIJA on the 15th of June 1856, 
after which he fled and, being taken near Guacipita, was 
shot and speared. 

We did not leave Santa Maria till about noon ; and in 
about an hour Upata was seen at the foot of a range 
about 7 or 8 miles distant. We reached it between 2 and 
3 p.m., and got lodging at the house of a German gold- 
smith, blacksmith, butcher and cattle-farmer named 
DRAEGER. We had scarcely made this arrangement 
when a person came to ask for our passports, which had 
not yet arrived, being with our luggage on the donkeys. 
This led to a grand discussion as to our right to enter the 
country except by way of Bolivar. Various rumours 
were afloat about us, the general impression being that a 
large party were coming up the Cuyooni to 
claim the country and the diggings as British prop- 
erty! It was also reported that Dr. BLAIR had 
been killed by the Indians. We also heard that 
a Mr. BRATTY had arrived here, with instructions 
from Lieutenant Governor WALKER, but had already pro- 
ceeded to Tupuquen. It was also said that Mr. SHANKS 
and another were now on their way up the Cuyooni.* 

A Mr. PEDRO MARIA NUNES introduced himself to us 
as having been in Demerara and there married an Eng- 
lish wife. He lives about a mile out of Upata, and 


* These expeditions were actually sent; and the reports of Messrs 
Bratr and Suanks, which however contain but little valuable infor- 
mation, may be found in the printed minutes of the Court of Policy 
for October—December, 1857. Among these same minutes will also 
be found the report by Messrs. CAMPBELL and Ho_mEs.—Ed. 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 153 


invited us to breakfast with him the next morning, which 
we agreed to do. 

October 23rd.—The situation of this village, surround- 
ed as it is on every side by hills, appeared to us confined 
and hot ; but we were told that there is naturally a good 
breeze, and that the temperature varies from 18 to 22 
Reaumer, whilst at Bolivar it is at least 5 degrees higher. 
The houses are very neat, built in Spanish fashion, with 
outside gratings to the windows, white-washed clay 
walls, and red-tiled roofs. There is a church in the centre 
square. I observed but one house of two stories; but 
this was very nicely situated and, as in Mexican villas, 
had a flat roof, where the inmates spend the evenings. 
There are a few good lcoking stores, and several houses 
are now being built. Altogether the place has a thriving 
appearance, caused probably by the traffic to and from 
the diggings. 

As usual, innumerable delays prevented our getting 
away from Upata till 7 a.m., but we reached Signor 
NUNES’ house in half an hour. We found his English 
wife to have been a Miss DAGG, daughter of JOHN DAGG 
of Essequibo. 

All the hills in the neighbourhood, we were told, 
abounded in very rich iron ore, of which we were shown 
excellent samples. After breakfast we were taken to 
the hill* opposite the house, which is densely covered 
with wood, through which we made our way to the sum- 
mit. We found that the whole hill, from base to summit, 
consists entirely of the richest iron ore. Some samples 
appeared almost pure metal ; and our informant estimated 
that these samples contained from 50 to 70 or even go 


* This hill is called Sierra San Juan, according to Dr. BLAIR—ED. 


U 


154 TIMEHRI. 


per cent. of pure iron. He stated that he had traced 
similar rocks for more than 20 miles on each side of 
Upata. Near the top of the hill the rocks seemed to be 
particularly rich, the broken portions which lay about 
being like the refuse of iron castings in a foundry. 

It was past 3 p.m. when we left Signor NUNES’ house 
to proceed to Mayore, distant three and a half leagues 
from Upata. Moreover, having lost our way we did not 
reach our destination till long after dark. 

October 24th—Here at Mayore, as a somewhat note- 
worthy fact, it may be remarked that we got a good 
supply of milk. 

Starting at 8 a.m. for Guacaima, our next stage, the 
country through which we passed was quite as hilly as 
before, and the road, or rather horse-track, was ex- 
ceedingly rugged and bad. The country was much 
covered with timber of small size, and open savannah 
was seldom seen. Not a single house was passed by 
the way; but an entrance, something like an avenue, 
seemed to indicate a house in the neighbourhood. We 
reached Guacaima about 1 p.m., the distance travelled 
being called five and a half leagues. 

October 25th.—We started this morning at half-past 
six in order to reach Las Tablas, said to be distant nine 
leagues, before dark. The road continued much the 
same as before. A series of wooded hills lay on either 
side as far as the eye could reach; and only one inhab- 
ited house was seen, at a distance. On the right, the 
road is for a short distance parallel with a mountain 
stream, with considerable rapids and falls, judging from 
the sound, for they are not visible through the trees. 
This stream was the Upata. About 10 a.m. we passed 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 155 


close by the site of the former mission of San Felicé, 
situated on a hill below which the last battle for inde- 
pendence was fought, and the Spanish army routed and 
destroyed to a man. Here the savannah became more 
open and level, and continued so, with but slight excep- 
tion, for the rest of the way. 

About half-past eleven, the majestic Orinoco appeared 
in sight, barely visible through the rain-clouds which 
were floating over the savannah. The sound of a great 
water fall was also distinctly heard, coming as we after- 
wards ascertained from the falls of the Caroni, which are 
heard all the way to Las Tablas, from which they are 
distant, I should suppose, not less than six or eight miles. 
The view of the river gradually opened up, and was 
strikingly grand, looking like an inland sea, two or three 
miles broad. 

Las Tablas, as approached from Upata, appears well 
situated, on a high bank overlooking the river; but only 
a few small houses and thatched roof as yet indicate what 
its future may be. One or two stores of a better class 
have lately been built near the river. 


{Here ends Mr. CAmMpPBELL’s diary,—but Dr. BLAIR continues as 
follows :—Eb. | 


We found that the Alcade (of Las Tablas) had received 
an order from the Governor of Bolivar to compel us to 
proceed to Bolivar, there to be detained until he should 
return from Tupuquen. We positively refused to com- 
ply with any such order unless under personal violence ; 
and Mr. MATHESON, the British Consul at Bolivar, who 
fortunately for us happened to arrive at Las Tablas on the 
same morning on which we arrived, telling the Alcade 

U 2 


156 TIMEHRI. 


that he would take on himself the responsibility of our 
departure, we left. We also agreed with a negro, a 
native of Trinidad, to carry us in a corial to Kariapo, 
the last settlement on the Orinoco. 

October 26th—We were to have left Las Tablas at 
10 this morning, but there was another hitch with the 
Alcade, who refused the necessary permit to drop down 
the river. Mr. MATHESON had again to be called in, 
and it was 1 p.m. before we could get under way. 

October 27th.—We did not reach this place (Barancas) 
until midnight. A Mr. BURNETT, who resides here and 
has a contract for the supply of cattle to the French 
Government in Cayenne, having offered us a passage to 
the Barima mouth in the cattle-ship ‘Loyal,’ we have 
paid off our canoe-master, and shall sail to-morrow 
morning. 

October 28th—We did not leave Barancas till 8.40 
a.m. 

October 30th.—We reached Kariapo at to yesterday 
evening. CAMPBELL was sick. 

October 31st.—We left Kariapo at 8.30, and about 
10.30 the pilot left the “Loyal.” We, with our servants 
and luggage took passage in the pilot-boat, and started 
off for our own schooner (the Pheasant) which, accord- 
ing to agreement, lay since the 2oth instant at the mouth 
of the Barima, about 5 miles from where we left the 
“Loyal.” Last night CAMPBELL had a bad night, fever 
and disturbed brain. I left the ‘‘ Loyal” perfectly well ; 
but HOLMES had to be carefully hoisted down into the 
boat. 

Up to the time we reached Barancas we had enjoyed 
perfect health ; we forded the river and climbed the high 


By THE CUYOONI TO THE ORINOCO. 157 


hills ; never a day did our steeds stand still; fresh we rose 
up uponthe morrow; all our words and thoughts had scope; 
we had health and we had hope—toil and travel, but no 
sorrow. Our attempted detention at Las Tablas, however, 
had annoyed us somewhat, and delayed our voyage down 
the river till noon ; and we did not arrive at Barancas till 
midnight, and there we were further detained. HOLMES 
could not resist sleep; and he slept for five or six hours 
on the baggage in the clear moonlight. We did not sleep 
well that night (after arriving at Barancas) for we were 
in a walled house, to which our forest life had given us an 
aversion. We were tolerably well ; but after breakfast 
HOLMES became sick and took to hishammock. CAMpP- 
BELL and I strolled in the evening through the village to 
the cross-road that leads to Tobasco and Maturin. We 
passed most intolerable stinks of tasso and decaying 
flesh and slaughter-house refuse. We found also that 
the village is surrounded on all sides by lagoons which, 
though navigable by schooners in the rainy season, 
become dried up and covered with grass during the dry. 
They were now half dry. The sun during the day had 
been hot, close and oppressive to a degree we had never 
before felt, and we had to close the doors and windows 
of the house to keep out the heat. We had evidently 
been predisposed to disease by the previous day’s hard- 
ships, and we were exactly in the place where the germs 
existed in abundance. All day yesterday HOLMES and 
CAMPBELL were very ill, but up to this morning I felt 
in good health, until we got into the pilot-boat. Then, 
the two hours’ exposure to a parching sun, the slight 
motion of the sea and the immediate contact with my 
sick companions completely upset me, We had been so 


158 . TIMEHRI. 


confident of maintaining our health, after the severe 
trials endured before reaching Caratal, that I had given 
our medicine-chest to the Post-holder (Mr. MCCLINTOCk) 
for the use of the Indians on their downward passage, 
and had retained only about 40 grains of quinine and an 
ounce of opium. The last of the quinine! gave away at 
Barancas. 

When we reached our schooner we found all well; 
and we propose sailing this evening and hope to reach 
Georgetown in five days. 


[Here ends Dr. Brarr’s diary. On November tst, the schooner was 
off the mouth of the Waini. The invalids were then suffering much 
from want of proper food, the stores which they had left on the 
schooner having been inconsiderately consumed during their absence. 
There was hardly anything but salt pork and biscuit left. The next day 
the pilot-tender met them with stores. The next two days they were at 
sea, all the three travellers continuing very ill ; and at 4 a.m. on Thurs. 
day the 5th of November they reached Georgetown. All three were 
then extremely prostrated; and Dr. Biair died the next day.—Eb. | 


& J 
a % 


Occasional Notes. 


Etymology of the word ‘Grazl-stick’—On page 204 
of the first volume of Zzmehrz is an allusion to the 
‘ orail-sticks’ which are used on the wood-cutting grants 
of this colony to drag the timber from the place where 
it has been felled to the nearest river or creek, for fur- 
ther transport by water; and there is an enquiry as to 
the etymology of this word. Mrs. HAMPDEN KING has 
kindly written to me on this subject as follows :— 

‘““T have been trying to hunt up the parentage of ‘ grail-stick,’ and I 
am inclined to think that its ancestry may be traced to the Dutchmen. 
It occurred to me that as the Dutch were the first woodcutters, they, 
in all probability would leave behind them the terms used in the craft. 
On looking into an old Dutch-English Dictionary in my husband’s 
library, I find ‘greel=horse-collar’ Now the grail-sticks are described 
as ‘yoking men in couples.’ Considering the resemblance there is in 


the meaning of the two words, do you think it possible that gvail was 
once greel ?” 


— 


‘ Couvade’.—The subject of couvade, to which allusion 
was made in the last number of 7zmehrz, is so curious 
and so interesting that no apology is necessary for the 
insertion, from time to time, as they occur, of further 
notes on the subject. Mr. ALEXANDER WINTER writes 
to me as follows :— 

““T remember when settling with the Carib captain for his services 
with Governor BArkKLy’s Expedition in Corentyn, he brought back the 
salt-fish, and asked to have it exchanged for some other article. Upon 
which, I asked him if he did not like salt-fish. He replied ‘yes, he 
liked it very well, but could not eat it at that particular time because 
his wife had belly By the way, where does the word ‘ couvade’ come 
from? You remember the allusion to the practice in Hudibras; but 


160 TIMEHRI. 


as you may not have a copy of Hudibras with you in Pomeroon I 
enclose you the extract: I think there is also something in BoswELL’s 
Life of Johnson bearing on the subject, if not of couvade, of the priority 
of the father’s affinity to the child over the mother’s, as being the prin- 
cipal agent in its procreation.” 

The passage from BUTLER’S Hudibras to which allu- 


sion is made above is from the 1st Canto of the third 


part. 
“For tho’ Chineses go to bed, 
And lie-in in their ladies’ stead, 
And, for the pains they took before, 
Are nursed and pamper’d to do more.” 
Note on same page.—‘‘ In some countries, after the wife has recovered 


from her lying-in, it has been the custom for the husband to go to bed 
and be treated with the same care and tenderness. See Apollonius 
Rodius 11. 1013, and Valerius Flaccus v. 148. The history of mankind 
hath scarcely furnished anything more unaccountable than the pre- 
valence of this custom. We meet with it in ancient and modern times, 
in the Old World and in the New, among nations who could never 
have had the least intercourse with each other. It is practised in 
China; and in Purchas’s Pilgrims it is said to be practised among the 
Brazilians. At Haarlem a cambric cockade hung to the door shows that 
the woman of the house is brought to bed, and that her husband claims 
a protection from arrests during the six weeks of his wife’s confine- 
ment.” Polnitz Memoirs. Vol. 11., p. 390. 


On the same subject I may add the following extract 
from a letter which I recently received from a well- 
known Professor of Philosophy :— 


“ Tf ever you make out the couvade, I suspect you will find that its 
first origin was a real sympathy between husband and wife. I could tell 
you (if I had space) one or two very odd stories, where during preg- 
nancy the husband, at a distance, was invariably affected by sickness— 
vomiting in one case. Such things are laughed at by the scientific, but — 
if testimony goes for anything, (and perhaps it does not), they are well 
established.” 


oesese eee 


Ocean currents on the shores of Guiana.—Mr. ALEX- 


OCCASIONAL NOTES. 161 


ANDER WINTER, after his paper in the present number 
of Zimehri on “ Our Muddy Shores”’ was in print, sent 
me the following note :— 

‘““ Another sealed bottle has been washed ashore on the sand beach in 
Corentyn. It was thrown over from the ship Pleione, Captain Renaut, 
in Lat. 2° 00’ N. Long. 29° 54’ W. 15th February, 1883, and picked 
up 24th April, 1883. 


Fonah-myths.—Among the incidents which occur, with 
remarkable similarity, in the folk-lore of many and 
remote peoples, the swallowing of one of the dramatzs 
persone by some big animal, followed by his reappear- 
ance, sound and unhurt, from inside the belly of the 
monster is one of the most universal and has given rise 
to much speculation. JONAH in the belly of the whale, 
HIAWATHA in the belly of the sturgeon Nahma, Brer 
Rabbit and Mr. Fox in the belly of the cow Bookay, the 
seven kids of the well-known story in the belly of the 
wolf, Red Ridinghood in the belly of the wolf, are a very 
few out of very many instances. One other instance, 
from Guiana, I may be allowed to repeat. In the Ooro- 
pocari Fall of the Essequibo River there lived an omar, 
or monstrous being, who used to feed on rotten wood, 
and who used to drag down under water many canoes, 
merely mistaking them for floating logs; but, all the 
same, the Indians in them were drowned. So, one day, 
an Ackawol peaiman, having carefully wrapped up two 
pieces of the wood with which fire is rubbed, so that no 
water could make them damp, dived down into the midst 
of the fall and got into the belly of the omar. There he 
found large stores of rotten wood ; and to this he set fire. 

Vv 


162 TIMEHRI. 


Then the omar, in great pains, rose to the surface, belched 
out the peaiman, and then died. 

Now wherever, as in this case, an incident is found to 
recur in the folk-lore of different people it need not be 
assumed that this fact indicates intercommunication of 
the various people by whom such an incident is told, 
and that the various, more or less divergent, forms 
in which the incident recurs are merely various cor- 
ruptions of the story of some one striking incident 
which happened before this inter-communication ceased ; 
for it is, in many, perhaps in all, cases, more likely 
that the incident as told by each people is founded 
on facts or fancies which have occurred to each of these 
people separately. For example; that the folk-tales of 
most, or all, people tell of a world-flood, does not proba- 
bly indicate that most, or all, people have retained in 
their traditions a more or less corrupted version of a 
real world-flood which at some time, previous to a 
general dispersion of the nations, overwhelmed the whole 
world as we now know it, but is much more probably 
due to the facts (1) that floods occur locally in all parts 
of the world, (2) that occasionally, probably in all parts 
of the world, one of these floods rises to a very unusual 
and memorable height, (3) that these floods, in propor- 
tion as they are greater or less, do more or less serious 
harm to the people of the flooded country, (4) that sava- 
ges, or people in the stage of thought in which such tra- 
ditions or folk-tales first arise, are apt to regard the little 
bit of the world known to them as the whole world. And, 
so it happens, that such people are apt to remember in 
their traditions some one of the great floods which affected 
their forefathers in their own small corner of the world. 


OCCASIONAL NOTES. 163 


But while it may be admitted that a wide, or univer- 
sally, spread series of traditions of a world-flood, or of 
any other such actual natural phenomenon, may have 
originated in this way, it may yet be urged that the 
swallowing-myths, or as itmay be convenient to call them, 
from the example which occurs in our own folk-lore, 
these ‘ Jonah myths’ can not have originated in a similar 
way ; for it is impossible to conceive any incident which 
can have occurred again and again to many different 
people on which these myths could be founded.* This 
difficulty is, I think, due to the fact that while such myths 
as those of a world-flood are founded on some actual 
fact—on some actual phenomenon—which has occurred 
again and again to many different people, other myths, 
and of this kind are these Jonah-myths, have arisen 
equally naturally from some equally universally spread 
habit of thought. The facts in the former case are 
easily discernible by us; the fauczes in the latter case 
are, owing to their nature, less obvious. 

The habit of thought, or fancy, which seems to have 
given rise to these Jonah-myths is this. It is extremely 
probable, and entirely natural, that every people has in 
some early stage of its mental development held, not 
only that each and every body, be it human or animal, 
be it animate or inanimate, is but the outer, visible form 


* Tam of course not ignorant of the explanation that the‘ solar- 
mythologists’ would give of Jonah-myths ; but it is so utterly impossible 
to me, after a considerable and close personal intercourse with ‘ savages’ 
to believe that people in their stage of thought could ever have held the 
highly elaborate and poetical conceptions which solar mythologists 
would attribute to them, that I can accept no such dicta of that school 
of mythologists.—Ep. 


V2 


164 -Timeuri. 


of the being, which is the spirit within, but also that this 
spirit is not destroyed, or indeed affected, by the cutting 
asunder of the body or by its division in any form. 
For example, among innumerable similar instances oc- 
curring in Kaffir folk-lore, is one story which tells how, 
to gain a certain end, a woman plucked the hairs 
from her head and scattered them about in differ- 
ent directions, and how afterward the tufts of hair 
all spoke and answered in the voice and manner 
of the woman; and, again, here on the savannahs of 
British Guiana, there is a small bird which, because it is 
supposed to be possessed of a malicious spirit, the 
Indians kill whenever they can; and in so doing they 
take care that not one feather drops and floats away, but 
burn and destroy all, lest even a single feather should do 
as much mischief as the whole bird would have done. 

And if this is the universal primitive habit of thought 
it is obvious that the mere fact of being eaten would not 
affect the spirit of any body, and that, for instance, if 
once a man that has been eaten can find a way out of the 
eater, if, for example, the latter is cut open, then the 
eaten one is free to come out, whole and uninjured and is 
as he was before. 

Thus each of the widely spread Jonah-myths has sep- 
arately and quite naturally arisen from one and the same 
very simple and most primitive savage belief. 


Analysis of one year’s work on a Sugar estate—The 
Honourable WILLIAM RUSSELL has very kindly supplied 
the following very complete analysis of the work done at 


OCCASIONAL NOTES. 165 


Plantations La Bonne Intention and Beterverwagting 
during the year 1882 :— 


Acres in cane cultivation ... aa - 657 
Acres cut this year Bae ae 657 
Gallons Juice (180°) per acre as 4,776 gals. 
Dry Sugar per acre ae ... 4,392 Ibs. 

Sugar per acre in Molasses & Rum ... 2,630 lbs. total 7,022 lbs. 
Tons canes per acre Ae ni 341 tons 
Punts ” ” ” B90 ogg LF) 9 

i pee deals 600 ON: 7,714 

A » B.V.W. Sth Te 565 total 8,279 punts 
Tons Juice L.B.I. aot .. 14,949 

» B.V.W. ak tu 1,094 total 16,043 tons 

Mu@anes less). Ee ED DATO) 

3 »  B.V.W. ne fe 1,640 total 24,056 tons 
Per cent. Juice from Canes.. 66°6 
Punts Canes per clarifier Bs gls 80" ) 1'4 punts 
Clarifiers Juice each 600 gls. at 180°... 56338 


Juice at 180° Fahr. gallons L.B.I. ...3,138,115 
a i »  B.V.W.... 245,215 total 3,383,330 gals. 


Gallons Juice per 2000 lbs. nett hhd... 2,185 gals. 
Average Glucose in Juice ... “64 
» Density of Juice 8°55 B=Sp. G. 1,062 
5, Pol’zation of Juice at 80° Fahr. 941 
Sugar in Juice mnfac. into darkcrystals 834,096 Ibs. 
Kj np ¥ ,», yellow ,, 4,140,790 lbs. 
PcOmElabalicanes leer. ...4,613,810 lbs. 
34 op Bi WaMe! pg Aa ... 361,676 total 4,975,486 lbs. 
,, Obtained, dark crystals ... 652,002 lbs. 
5 Ff yellow ,, .-.2,444,320 
5 3 L.B.I. Se ... 2,885,835 lbs. 
“5 af B.V.W. Fa ... 210,487 total 3,096,322 lbs. 


is percent.darkcrystals... 781 per cent yellow 59 


166 TIMEHRI. 


Average Polarization of Juice at 80° 
Gallons Molasses (14]lbs. per gal.) from Massecuite 
10°34 lbs. invert sugar per gal. 

per 2000 lbs. sugar 
Rum distilled (43°2 o.p.) 
5 rm Molasses shipped 
Cane Engine hours at work 
Juice ground per hour 
2 copperwalls (487.25 O’ hss.) figures at ‘ote 
Average gallons evaporated per 0’ h.s. per hour 
Syrup from copperwalls at 170° om 
_ 55 3 sp. gravity at 80° ... 
No. I Vac. Pan (520 0’ h.s.) hours at work 
Wa Ul oy) (G7 TE AS) pp An 
Average gals. evaporated per 0’ h.s. per hour. 
Cubic feet Massecuite at 90lbs per cubic foot, or 
14°4 lbs. per gallon ... 566 460 
Per cent. dark crystals Sugar from Massecuite 
5 yellow ,, ,, 50 eet 
3 Molasses from d.c, 38°8 per cent. Molasses 
from yellow 
2 Centrifugals, hours at work a 
Hhds. Sugar (2,000 tbs. net) cured Pp hones 
Wash set up (10552) 
Per cent. Rum obtained ... 900 
Inverted Sugar used in making 1 gallon Rum 
Coal consumed $ 2,000 lbs. Sugar 9 ton. Total 
5 ss ~ 100 Rum Sas 
> , Acre cul, drainage 6 ,, 


(Signed) 


” 


” 


a 


g'4i 


181,694 gals. 
1173s, 
80,238 ,, 
9,358 ,, 
1465'6 hrs. 
2308.4 gals. 
2074 hrs. 
13 gals. 
2,038,435 5, 
1083 
2145'2 hrs. 
2164°5 5, 
1°02 gals. 


62667'2 Q’ 
612 
53°4 
46°6 


12646 hrs. 
12 hds. 


1,340,000 gals. 


6'o1 gals. 

23°9 lbs. 
1430°3 tons 
3778 5, 

404°3 ”) 


FOSTER MASSIAH. 


New Plants from British Guiana.—I\n the February 
number of the ‘Journal of Botany’ Dr. MAXWELL T. 
MASTERS published notes on certain newand previously 


undescribed species of passion-flower. 


Two of these 


are from British Guiana, where they were collected by 


Mr. JENMAN. 


One of these two British Guiana species, 


OCCASIONAL NOTES. 167 


together with a second new species, from southern 
Brazil, have been formed into a new genus called Mzto- 
stemma (MASTERS) containing the two species M7. Glazi- 
ov and M. Fenmaniz. Dr. MASTERS notes that, it isa 
singular circumstance that the only known representa- 
tives of an entirely new and distinct genus should have 
found their way into the herbarium about the same 
time and from two such widely separated districts as 
South Brazil and British Guiana respectively. The 
second new passion flower from this colony has been 
named Passifiora defictens (MASTERS). 

It is intended to publish descriptions of these two 
species, together with those of a very considerable num- 
ber of other new plants recently discovered in British 
Guiana, in the next number of this Journal. 


EverarpD F. im Tuurn. 


Report of the Meetings of the Society. 


Meeting held Fanuary r1th.—The Hon. B. Howell 
Jones, Vice-President, in the chair, 

There were 17 members present. 

Elections.—Members : Charles Simon Davson ; David 

Hugh McGowan; James Richard Mckenzie; James 
Gray ; J. M. Dawson. 

Associates: John W. Gallienne; W. H. 
MacIntyre ; James W. MclInroy ; H. Y. Delafons. 

Treasurer’s Account.—TYhe Treasurer laid on the 
table a balance sheet for the year, which showed a bal- 
ance in favour of the Society of $3,321.62. Messrs. 
T. H. Glennie and L. M. Hill were requested, and con- 
sented, to audit the same. 

The Amsterdam Exhibition.—The Secretary stated 
that he had received a letter from the hon. William 
Russell, dated 8th January, of which the following is an 
extract :— 


“ Business calls me to Berbice this week, consequently I shall not be 
present at the monthly meeting of the Agricultural Society on Thurs- 
day. This I regret, as I wished to lay before the meeting an extract 
from a letter from Baron Siccama, in which he kindly offers his services 
in connection with any exhibits that may be forwarded from this colony 
to the Amsterdam Exhibition. 

As there have been no arrangements made for space, etc.. by this 
colony, I am somewhat at a loss to know how private exhibits could be 
admitted ; no doubt Baron Siccama would use his influence to get such 
placed in the exhibition, and knowing this colony as that gentleman 
does, I need not point out the value of his services to any of my fellow 
colonists who may wish to send on exhibits. Any aid [ can render in 
the matter shall be given with pleasure. Perhaps you will bring this 
before the meeting.” 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 169 


The Chairman said that it was too late now for 
private individuals to send from here. They might 
ask ‘Mr. Russell to thank Baron Siccama for offering 
his services. He could not but express his regret that 
the matter had not been before the Society before 
now. 

Essay on the Sugar-cane Mill.—A paper was receiv- 
ed from Mr. J. H. Mann, entitled ‘The Sugar cane 
Mill; its usage and capability.” 

The secretary said that it was a very long paper, and 
Mr. Mann had suggested in writing that instead of 
fatiguing the meeting by reading it, it might be desirable 
to take it as read and have it published in one or two 
newspapers. Acting on this suggestion, he had arranged 
with the proprietor of the Argosy to put it in type, and it 
would appear in that paper on Saturday, after which 
slips would be supplied to the other newspapers. 

The Vice-president said he did not think anybody 
would want to hear the essay read now and that it would 
be better to see it in print. 

~Mr. Williams said that some of those now present 
came with the express wish to hear the paper read. 

The Hon. H. Braud said he was one of those gentle- 
men who came with the intention of hearing the paper 
read, but as the Secretary had mentioned that it would 
be published in the Avgosy on Saturday morning, it 
might lie over until next meeting and then be brought 
up for discussion. 

The Curator of the Museum.—A letter was received 
from the Government Secretary acknowledging the re- 
ceipt of aletter from the Secretary of the Society, in 
which it was intimated that the Society had selected, as 

Ww 


170 TIMEHRI. 


Curator of the Museum, Mr. E. H. Glaisher, B. A. of 
Trinity College, Cambridge. 

The Microscope.—Rules for the use of the microscope, 
lately presented to the society by Mr. Alexander Reid, 
drawn up by Mr. G. H. Hawtayne, were submitted ; and 
it was agreed that the necessary bye-laws for the en- 
forcement of these rules should be prepared and passed 
in the usual way. 


Donations— 
Pamphlets. 
“On the Animism of the Indians of British Guiana,” by 
E. F. im Thurn.—From the Author. 
‘Qn some Stone Implements from British Guiana,” by 
E. F. im Thurn.—From the Author. 
Newspaper. 
“The Barbados Agricultural Gazette” (with Meteorological 
tables) of 1st December, 1882.—From His Honour J. 
Hampden King. 
Engravings. 
Illustrations to “ St. Ronan’s Well.”—From R. W. Imlach. 
The meeting then dispersed. 


Mr. Mann’s paper was as follows :— 

The Sugar-cane Mull, tts Usage and Capability. 

Before the reading of this paper, circumstances demand, and, I may 
add, fortune permits me to say a few words anent the article on the 
“ Efficiency of Cane Mills” by Mr. Fryer, that appeared in the Decem- 
ber number of the ‘‘ Sugar Cane.” 

The similarity of certain opinions and ideas, although expressed very 
differently in the two papers, is so striking that I might be accused of 
plagiarism. But as my paper was written before the arrival of the second 
mail in December, I am sure to escape such a charge, particularly as I 
had, in one portion, given Mr. Fryer the palm for originality ; so that, 
giving publicity to the following, I am encouraged in the belief, that 
the above coincidence will but strengthen the interest in both papers. 


The feeding of a mill is a very important though neglected item in 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 171 


connection with its capability and safety, and I intend to describe the 
actual working, so as to point out the defects in the present style of 
doing things, aud what can be done to improve matters. 

The canes are thrown into the carrier, on both sides, in such a man- 
ner as to make them lie, as nearly as possible, parallel with the carrier ; 
this is of, course, a great improvement over the old hand-feeding pro- 
cess, and works very well so long as the feed is regular. But there are 
many contingencies to make it otherwise ; first, the laziness and stupid- 
ity of the throwers themselves, sometimes throwing quickly, and then 
standing up idle, or continuing to throw whilst the carrier, from some 
cause or other, is not moving ; second, the changing of the cane punts, 
—this leaves a gap on the carrier, on the one side, where there are no 
canes, but which could be partly obviated by prolonging the carrier so 
as to have a spare punt on both sides. This irregular throwing causes 
the requirements of the mill to vary continually, alternating with a light 
and heavy feed; with too light a feed the backers should be hard at 
work, and, if not watched, they too often cause a “‘ choke” by careless 
backing, that is, by turning back a mass of half-crushed canes, perhaps 
stopping the mill and engine, or at any rate necessitating a stoppage 
of the carrier, presenting a third contingency against regular feeding ; 
again, we have a fourth, the choking of the mill from too heavy a feed ; 
and all these are more or less dependent on, or consequent on, each 
other. There is a sort of rocking, of consequence, backwards and for- 
wards, between the throwers and the work done by the mill; if the 
former be not constant the latter cannot be; all this results in short work 
done, in two ways, from the imperfect crushing and from the loss of 
time, inasmuch as the mill would be capable of a greater day’s work 
were the feed regular, necessitating no delays; to say nothing of the 
danger the mill is subject to, on account of the continued overstraining. 

One might infer from this, I blame the throwers; but I do not. I 
think it very hard to expect them to watch the movement of the carrier, 
and to keep on stopping the mechanical movement, into which they get 
when throwing canes; they do not, and cannot give the mill an exces- 
sive quantity at any one moment, so that there should be no occasion for 
stopping the carrier. They may however do rather more than usual 
when they see “‘ big-wigs” about, whose presence inspires feelings of 
energy which unfortunately the engine cannot experience; but even then, 
Iam of opinion, that the excess of power engines possess over their 
average development, should prevent any necessity for an intermittent 


W 2 


172 TIMEHRI. 


action of the carrier. And if the carrier does of stop, how is it possible 
for the poor fellows to put the canes on otherwise than regularly? A 
heap cannot possibly occur if there be continued advancement of the canes 
previously thrown, and I cannot see whence any cause for a choke or 
stoppage is to arise, provided that the number of throwers and the 
power of the engine are proportionate. So I argue, the remedy for all 
this evil is in keeping the carrier continuously in motion. If once a 
stoppage occurs, stop the throwers, empty the carrier and begin over 
again. 

While changing a punt, you must either stop the carrier and 
all throwing of canes, or be content with poor crushing, the result of 
the mill receiving but a half-feed, taking care to prevent the commence- 
ment of the evils described above, by careful backing. 

I can mention two other causes for irregular feeding, but of a totally 
different nature; one is the too often excessive speed of the cane 
carrier, which in most arrangements is equal to, or more than, that of 
the surface of the rollers, thus bringing up the canes quicker than the 
mill can take them, and causing them to heap over on to the top roller, 
unless the carrier is stopped; when this is the case, the regulation of 
the feed is wholly dependent ou the poor judgment of the mili-bos’n 
in manipulating the carrier, instead of allowing the regular throwing of 
the canes to produce the regular feed required. The other cause for 
irregular feeding, is when the boiler power is insufficient, or when the 
pressure of steam has relaxed temporarily, which virtually means a 
reduction of the power of the engine, until it becomes incapable of 
coping with the work given it to do; the mill chokes and the carrier has 
to be stopped ; the remedy for this latter is, never to attempt grinding 
unless the proper pressure of steam is available, it being better to wait 
for the steam, than to make shift with low steam ; and for the former, 
reduce the speed of the cane carrier to about 20 per cent less than the 
rollers, 

Next let us study the crushing of the canes, or rather how the mill 
takes its feed. 

To the question, why have our mills three rollers, few would be able to 
give a ready answer, except it be because two will not do; when the next 
question would naturally follow, why will not two do? and what is the 
function of the front roller? If the front roller be screwed up to 4th of 
an inch, the canes will not go in, and we reason, the rollers lack a cer- 
tain something to enable them, when screwed up, to take canes and 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 173 


crush them at one operation ; this something is ‘‘ power of grip,” hence 
we have to introduce two operations, the first being a feeder to the 
second, it however need not do any crushing, as the mill could be con- 
ceived to work just as well, were the front and top rollers capable of 
gripping the canes, without crushing them. There is no inherent ne- 
cessity for taking ‘‘ two bites of a cherry,” and I am inclined to think, 
the front roller, in heavy mills, does a very small percentage of the 
total work. 

Now granted we ensure regular feeding, as far as possible, by keep- 
ing the carrier continuously in motion, so that the quantity of canes that 
reaches the mill is what the throwers handle, in any one moment, we 
shall not get good crushing if the mill “‘ refuses” her feed ; and here we 
have an evil familiar to us all, the jerky movement of the rollers, the 
terrible racking of the whole machine, the starting of keys, the loosening 
of rollers and the like, and all because the canes, that are fed into the 
mill, will not pass out between the top and back rollers, allowing an 
accumulation of half crushed canes to take place, between the top roller 
and the trash turner, which getting more and more solid every moment, 
refuses to move forward, and is seldom released except by reversing the 
mill. 

This refusing, may by some be assigned to various causes, the set of 
the rollers, set of the trash turner, a cane getting crosswise, or the 
smoothness of the rollers; I] have seen attempts to remedy this evil, by 
altering the position of the trash turner, but am of opinion, trash turners 
have often been wrongfully blamed, and the sole cause is the smoothness 
of the rollers; I do not say that a trash turner could not be so badly set 
as to prevent a feed passing through, but that in all instances we have to 
resort to some method of roughing the rollers; we make a murderous 
attack upon the roller, with a heavy jagging tool, or hack away 10 to 
20 per cent of its surface, by chipping heavy grooves for the purpose of 


“ power of grip”; this however soon results in disap- 


enhancing the 
pointment, the same having to be done over and over again, because 
the metal is soft and the roughing lasts a very short time. 

Now we come to my strongest argument relative to the good working 
of asugar mill. I consider we ought to blame the makers who have 
supplied rollers of inferior metal, and would recommend any one get- 
ting new rollers to have them made of the very best iron procurable, or 
even of steel; for prime cost is of very little moment, in a matter of 


such vital importance, Rollers should not wear smooth and shiny, but, 


174 TIMEHRI. 


if made of superior metal, will always remain rough, the grain of the 
iron standing out in relief all over the surface. 

For those who care to accept my suggestions, and to follow them up 
with further experiments, I beg the perusal of the following, which is 
the result of practical experience, and embraces an invention which I 
publish in the hope it will be of some good to the sugar-making 
community. 

Let the rollers (top and back at any rate) be of good hard iron, not 
necessarily brittle, and turned smooth, that is, without the usual tool 
marks, which in rollers of inferior metal, are simply a farce, as they last 
no time at all, and in rollers of superior metal, not necessary: they will 
then possess the principle essential to perfect crushing, viz., smooth 
surfaces, but to ensure perfect immunity from the refusing of canes, we 
must introduce the groove; which preferably shall be as follows :—% of 
an inch wide by 7 of an inch deep, semicircular at the bottom, and at a 
pitch of about 3 inches to 33 around the circumference of the roller. 
The chamfering of the trailing edge of the groove, as advocated by 
some, I deprecate most strongly, as being unnecessary and absolutely 
detracting from the power of grip ; the grooves should be cut slightly on 
the spiral, and not parallel with the axis, so as to minimize the inequal- 
ity of the sufaces of contact. 

By this means, we have a mill possessing perfect immunity from the 


objectionable “ 


refusing,” and whose rollers, being hard, will out-live 
those of inferior metal, by not wearing smaller or getting hollow. These 
advantages are productive of the happy result of better crushing. But 
my invention, above referred to, goes a step further, and introduces an 
idea, which I believe to be novel as regards sugar mills, viz., by causing 
the periphery of the top roller, to travel somewhat quicker than that of 
the back roller, there will be a bruising pressure, which, together with 
such perfect ‘‘ grip,” will tear up the canes, at the time of maximum 
compression, and liberate the juice with greater freedom. 

This can be effected without in any way altering the design of the 
mill, or disturbing existing arrangements, by merely substituting a new 
set of pinions, the top having one tooth less than the bottom ones, say, 
18 teeth in the top, and 1g in the bottom, giving a “slip” on the canes 
of nearly 5% per cent. 

The advantage of the hunting tooth is everywhere appreciated, and 
will be particularly so when applied to mill pinions. They will wear more 
evenly together, and must last longer, they are also indirectly strength- 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 1975 


ened, for inasmuch as there is a certain drag between the top and back 
rollers, through the crushed cane, by so much will the strain on the 
pinions be lessened. 

All this has been put to practical test, there being more than one 
mill fitted in the way described, producing crushing superior to any 
other single crushing I have seen, and suggesting the idea, that to 
crush such megass a second time would be wholly unprofitable. 

This brings us toa stage at which it may be ‘‘a propos” to say a 
word on double crushing. I do not believe in double crushing, nor in 
the arguments put forward in favour of maceration, the benefit derived 
from the latter, being, in my opinion, limited to the prevention of acidity, 
which might otherwise set in between the two mills! 

Here again, I do not mean to say all double crushing is unprofitable, 
but that we should be working to better advantage by paying attention 
to heavier single, rather than to double crushing. Circumstances may 
combine in such a way that double crushing is necessarily pro- 
fitable ; for instance, an estate having two small and light mills, 
neither of which can do heavy crushing, will do well to open up the first 
mill and put the additional power into the canes at a second operation. 
Butif put into the same weight of canes at one operation, it would produce 
the same, or better result, by means of a larger engine and a stronger 
mill, possessing the improvements suggested ; and even in the appar- 
ently most successful arrangements of maceration and double crushing, 
the question of commercial success must hinge upon the saccharine 
quality of the juice, from which I infer, there is a sort of neutral point 
in the polariscopic readings of the juice, above which, it may be profit- 
able, but below, very much the reverse, particularly with the addition 
of steam and water; this natural point cannot, of course, be defined, 
but I consider the manager ought to be allowed to exercise his judg- 
ment, under all the varied conditions as to whether he should do 
double crushing or not. 

There is an erroneous opinion amongst those who, I suppose, have 
not thought much about these matters, that the work a mill is set to do 
is a test of its capability ; certain mills are spoken of as doing so much 
per cent, others that can only do so and so, whereas any mill can be 
made to do differently, by varying the conditions ; its actual capability 
is limited only by the ultimate strength of the machine. By in- 
creasing the power expended on a given weight of canes we improve 
the crushing or, vice versa, the same can be effected by causing a lesser 


176 TIMEHRI. 


weight of canes to absorb a given development of power. Hence, the 
quality of the crushing must vary, directly as the power, and indirectly 
as the weight of canes. Here then we have the backbone of the argument 
in favour of slow-speeded mills; an increase in the ratio of the gearing, 
decreases the speed of the mill, which if taking the same feed as before, 
that is, the same quantity per revolution, will produce superior crushing 
by means of the additional power available per ton of canes operated 
on ; and | consequently advocate the adoption of the slow-speeded mill° 

Another mistake a great many people make is in supposing the size 
of the mill to be a gauge of the work it can perform; just because one 
mill is larger than another it will not necessarily do more work or better 
crushing, as this depends upon the power put behind each: this power 
is the gauge of the work done, the engine is that which virtually does 
the work, the mill being merely the ‘‘ medium”, the instrument by which 
the power is put into the canes. 

To illustrate my meaning more forcibly, I will use the following 
simile. It cannot be supposed the substitution of a larger screw pro- 
peller would increase the speed of a ship, without also putting more 
power into the propeller ; so it is, that mills, although of different size, 
must do the same amount of work, under similar conditions; if driven 
by engines of the same size, some may be doing the better crushing, but 
they do less of it, since we cannot have quality and quantity at the same 
time. 

Careful attention paid to the condition and working of a mill might 
decide between profit or loss; as it is quite within the limits of proba- 
bility to be able to improve the expression (and, relatively, the out-put) 
from 60 to 66 per cent, or 10 per cent increase, representing of itself a 
fair profit upon the annual expenditure. 

I will now proceed with a description of certain tests for ascertaining 
the comparative crushing power, under varied circumstances, of the 
same and different mills; I say ‘‘ comparative,’ because it is not neces- 
sary to know the actual expression of juice, to judge of the work done ; 
this I will show further on. 

We have first, the elaborate, costly, and I fear unsatisfactory experi- 
ment of weighing a few tons of cane, and its components, megass and 
juice ; but this, if correct, only tells us the percentage on the total weight 
of canes, and is valueless as a comparison, since it is evident that other 
canes, carrying more or less woody matter, would yield different per- 
centages, under the same treatment ; neither can we correctly compare 


REPORT OF SOCIETY'S MEETINGS. 177 


this percentage with the total amount of juice in the canes, (found by 
the diffusion process) ; because it is impossible to compare, on the same 
footing, results of processes so dissimilar as the mechanical and the 
diffusion. 

If the test zs to be made in this way, we should have a powerful hand- 
mill, capable of putting enormous power into sample canes, and so 
ascertain, what might fairly be considered the maximum possible ex- 
pression by mechanical means. Let us take some imaginary results as 
given in the tabular form below :— 


Actual Maximum Corrected 
expression. possible. percentage. 
60 o/o 80 ofo 75 o/o 
65 85 70% 
65 80 81d 


From which we see, 65 out of 85 is only a trifle better than 68 out of 
80, but that 65 out of 80, is more than 6 per cent better. 

This I take it, would be a fair test, but one far too laborious for any 
practical use. 

Next comes the practice of treating average samples of canes and 
megass, by the diffusion process, and drying, to discover the percentage 
of.woody fibre &c. in each, from which a simple calculation will show 
the actual percentage of expression ; this, too, is of no use as a com- 
parative test, because we are comparing the actual expression, with 
results no mechanical process can possibly attain to. 

We see then how futile all tests are that attempt to discover the 
amount of juice expressed, and | argue, we are altogether wrong in 
looking upon this as a test of crushing; we ought rather to say 
““ How dry is my megass ?” 

I consider two mills are doing equal crushing, when the megass 
from each carries the same percentage of moisture, independent of the 
juice obtained; and to make a comparative test, we have merely to 
weigh a sample of megass, dry it, and weigh it again. The percentage of 
the latter on the former represents the quality of crushing. 
For instance :-— 


Comparative 

Canes Juice Megass = Dry + water crushing. 

100 7700/0 30 0/0 = 20 + 10 66% per cent 
” 79 30 Tino ides TS 50 @ 

” 79 39 STOR 5 Ei ie2O 333 

5 60 40 = 20 + 20 50 3b 

” 60 40 marae Uomiewct 25 ‘37a 

D 60 40 = 10 + 30 25 


178 TIMEHRI. 


Here we see the two samples of megass, marked a@ and 4, that lost 
half their weight on being dried, (representing 50 o/o comparative 
crushing), yielded different weights of juice, not because the crushing 
was any better in one case than in the other, but because the total 
quantity of juice was 85 o/o in one, and 80 o/o in the other; hence a 
yield of 60 out of 80, is as good crushing as 70 out of 85. 

The usual method adopted for drying megass is, I believe, exposure 
to the sun, or to the radiation of heat from the outside of a boiler. 
Either of these is a long process, and | fear unsatisfactory, as it is not 
continuous, and suggests the probability of chemical action or decay 
taking place. I would recommend the sample be placed in a copper 
vessel, wholly enveloped in steam, at 50 or 60 lbs., inserted either in a 
boiler, or in a separate vessel, supplied from the steam main, the 
surrounding temperature of some 300° Fah. would effect comparatively 
rapid evaporation of the moisture from the megass, without, I trust, 
distilling over anything but water. 

Another easy test that can be made without expense or trouble is by 
the use of the thermometer alone, (suggested to me by Mr. Fryer, who 
had already made some experiments); it involves the well known 
principle of physics, that an increment of temperature is a measure of 
the absorption of power. Thus, when under pressure, the canes part 
freely with the juice, which gets away, but the megass remains, and, 
by absorbing power, gets warmer than the juice, hence, the difference 
between the temperatures of the megass and the juice can be taken as a 
fair representation of the work done upon the megass, that is, the 
quality of the crushing. 

Experiments in this way have shown that a difference of temperature 
of 7° Fah. is acquired with fair crushing. 


I may add, in conclusion, a very good, and certainly the most simple 
method, for judging the quality of crushing, is perhaps the use of 
one’s eyes. We need not weigh or measure any thing, for the 
appearance of the megass alone will tell us whether the mill 
might be doing better or not. 

JAMES H. MANN. 

Demerara, 29th December, 1882. 


ee 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 179 


Meeting held 8th February——The Honourable W. 
Russell, President, in the chair. 

There were 8 members present. 

Elections.—Member : J. Owen Alexander. 

Associate: Thomas Morris. 

Treasurer's Account.—The Secretary stated that the 
treasurer’s account for the past half-year had been audit- 
ed and found correct. A vote of thanks was passed to 
the treasurer. 

The Microscope.—Mr. Hawtayne moved the following 
rules of which notice had been given at a previous meet- 
ing for the management of the Society’s microscope :— 

1. The microscope shall only be used by members and associates of 
the Society, and on the table provided for it, and it shall be kept in the 
rooms of the Society, and on no account shall it or any of its appara- 
tus be removed therefrom. 

2. When not in use, it shall be kept in its case, which shall be locked 
and the key retained by the Curator or person in charge thereof, to 
whom applications for the use of the microscope shall be made ; such 
applications shall be registered and granted in the order in which they 
are made. 

3. No member or associate shall have the exclusive use of the 
microscope for more than one hour, when it is required by other per- 
sons, unless he requires it for some particular purpose which he shall 
specify in writing when applying for its use, in which case such mem- 
ber or associate may have exclusive use of the instrument for a period 
not exceeding three hours. 

4. The Curator or person in charge of the microscope, before de- 
livering the instrument and its apparatus to, and on receiving it from 
any member or associate, shall examine the same and shall point out 
to such member or associate any damage or loss which the microscope 
or its apparatus may have suffered while in the charge of such member 
or associate, and shall forthwith report the same to the Managing 
Director for the month. 

5. Any member or associate who shall be declared by a majority of 
the Managing Directors to be responsible for such damage or loss shall 

X 2 


180 TIMEHRI. 


be by them required to make good the same; andin case of refusal or 
neglect to comply with such requisition, the name of such member ot 
associate shall be struck off the roll of members of the Society. 

6. The brasswork and stand of the instrument, and also when neces- 
sary, the apparatus should be dried with soft leather, before the same 
are put away after use; and it is recommended, that great care should 
be observed in cleaning the lenses, which should always be done with 
soft silk. 


The rules were accepted unanimously. 

The Curator of the Museum.—The Secretary men- 
tioned that the following letter had been received from 
Mr. Walker, dated January 16th, respecting Mr. Glaisher 


—the gentleman appointed as Curator of the Museum :— 

I have the pleasure to acknowledge your letters of the 24th and 25th 
ultimo, with accompanying documents, from which I learn with great 
satisfaction, that the Directors have almost unanimously decided upon 
offering the Curatorship of the Museum to Mr. Ernest H. Glaisher. In 
accordance with the terms of the Extract Minute of their proceedings 
on the 11th of December, I have made the necessary communication to 
Mr. Glaisher, and I now forward his acceptance of office upon the con- 
ditions named. 

Mr..Glaisher has been sedulously engaged ever since I forwarded his 
application, in studying the various special branches of knowledge in- 
dicated as desirable by Sir Joseph Hooker; and it will be perceived 
from his letter, that he is still so employed and will persevere until his 
departure for the colony. I feel very sanguine that the Directors will 
have no reason to regret their decision in this matter. I have also inti- 
mated to Mr. Mellor the reasons which influenced them in declining to 
avail themselves of his services. 

I observe, in the Report of the proceeding of the anniversary meet- 
ing of the Society, that on the motion of the President and Vice-Presi- 
dent, the best thanks of the Society were awarded to me for my services 
as Director resident in London, during the past year, aud I shall deem 
it a favour if you will kindly become the medium of conveying to the 
Society my grateful thanks for the honour thus conferred upon me. 


Anniversary of the Society—The secretary said that 
the 18th March would be the anniversary of the Society, 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 18t 


and enquired what would be done in respect to it? The 
President, Mr. Hawtayne, Mr. Imlach, and Mr. Garnett 
were appointed a Committee to arrange matters. 

Mr. Mann’s Paper on the Sugar-mill.—The Hon. W. 
Russell referring to the paper by Mr. Mann on the Sugar 
Mill, said no subject could be of greater interest to the 
members than that of the expression of cane juice from 
the canes, and he wished Mr. Mann were present to 
discuss the subject; although the paper had been read 
and remarked upon it would be better if he were present 
to take part in the discussion on all points. He had 
gone through the paper very carefully, and would like to 
take objection to one or two things, he having had some 
practical experience ; it would, however, be a waste of 
time to discuss the matter during Mr. Mann’s absence. 
He moved that the paper be discussed at the next meet- 
ing, and Mr. Mann be requested to be present. 

The motion was adopted, and there being no further 


business the meeting rose. 


Perey SU Nn 2 

Meeting held March S8th.—Jhe Honourable W. Rus- 
sell, President, in the Chair. 

There were 9 Members present. 
Elections ;—Members: The Hon’ble E. F. Villiers ; 
James Smith; T. F. A. Williams. 
Associate: Noel Menzies. 
Nepaul Pepper Seed.—The following letter was 


read :— 
Government Botanist’s Office, 
Georgetown, 28th February, 1883. 
My dear Sir,—I herewith send you a parcel of Nepaul pepper seed and 
a note from Mr. Tinne to Mr. Russell, which will explain the transac. 


182 TIMEHRI. 


tion to you. The estates in Mr. Russell’s charge have been supplied, 
as have also the Botanic Gardens. 
(Sgd). G. S. JENMAN. 

W. H. Campbell, Esq. 

And, in reference to the same matter, the following 
memorandum from Mr. J. E. Tinne was also read :— 

16th January, 1883. 
The Hon. W. Russell, 

Please apportion between Jenman and the estates a few of the Nepaul 
pepper seed I have sent you per the Benhofe, and let the Royal Agri- 
cultural Society have tke balance. Prestoe, in the Trinidad, and the 
Jamaica Gardens, might have a few pods. It makes the most fragrant 
yellow cayenne known. 


The seeds referred to were placed at the disposal of 
members ; and a vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Tinne. 

Potato Cultivation in British Guiana.—The President 
exhibited a few potatoes grown by Mrs. Crossley at Pln. 
Canefield in Berbice, as proof that the potato could be 
grown in the colony. 

He further stated that he had never before seen so 
good a sample, of colonial growth. The subject was of 
some importance, as one of the many to which small 
owners might turn their attention. He had not had an 
opportunity to take lessons from Mrs. Crossley, in 
potatoe planting, but the next time he was in Ber- 
bice he would call on that lady, and he would reduce 
the result of his observations to writing for the use of 
those desirous to try the experiment of growing English 
potatoes here. He thought that Mrs. Crossley deserved 
very great credit, and that the thanks of the Society 
should be transmitted to her. 

The Secretary said the only occasion on which English 
potatoes, grown in the colony were before the Society 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 183 
was, he believed, at the only celebration of the anniver- 
sary of this Society they ever had, at which Mr. Peter 
Rose produced English potatoes grown in his own 
garden, but they were not so good as these; they were 
greenish and looked waxy. That was many years ago, and 
if the effort had been continued it might have been found 
that English potatoes would succeed here. 

A vote of thanks was accordingly passed to Mrs. 
Crossley. 

Mr. Mann’s paper on Sugar-Mills.—The following 
letter from Mr. Mann, was read :— 


Vergencegen, 6th March, 1883. 
W. H. Campse-t, Esq., 


Secretary, Royal Agricultural and 
Commercial Society. 

Dear Sir,—Your favour of the 12th ult. came duly to hand, intimat- 
ing that my presence at the next meeting is requested, so that I may 
take part in the discussion on my paper “ The Sugar Cane Mill.” I 
have now to acknowledge the honour that is done me, and to express 
my regret at not being able to attend, on account of sickness which 
keeps me a prisoner in the house. 


(Sgd.) James H. Mann. 
The Chairman said he was sure they all regretted the 


cause of Mr. Mann’s inability to be present, to discuss 
the very important paper which he had been good enough to 
write and lay before the Society for the purpose of dis- 
cussion. He (the Chairman) was prepared to go into the 
matter fully with Mr. Mann, and he had brought a small 
crushing mill used for laboratory purposes, and scales, 
for weighing the matter ina practical way before the 
members of the Society: also notes he had drawn out to 
refresh his memory. He was ready to read these notes 
now, and to have them printed, as it might induce Mr. 
Mann to write another paper on the subject. He (Mr. 


184 TIMEHRI. 


Russell) knew that Mr. Mann was taking very great 
interest in the matter, and he thought that when a gen- 
tleman took the trouble to compile such a paper as Mr. 
Mann had done, he ought to be encouraged to go on with 
the subject, and if the paper were wrong in any part he 
(Mr. Russell) was sure that the writer would wish to 
have it pointed out. 

The small mill having been brought beside the table 
and several pieces of cane having been put through it, 
Mr. Russell proceeded to read his notes, which were 
as follows :— 

The feeding of Mills. 


There is much sound criticism on this head, and there is no doubt 
much room for improvement. Planters who have given the question 
much consideration have come to the conclusion that a man’s power is 
almost the exact coefficient necessary to throw canes for a hhd. of 
sugar. This point settled, the mill is set so as to pass the quantity of 
canes necessary to make the given day’s work, and instead of the front 
roll being deemed as of little importance, it is the set of this whichis a 
safety-valve, and prevents such a feed passing to the back roller as would 
cause a fracture. My own experience is that where the bulk of the 
work is done with the front roller the expression of juice is the best. As 
when the megass passes the turner it is denuded of such a large quantity 
of juice as to reduce the absorption into the megass, after it has passed 
the final tube between the front and back roller. This absorption is al- 
ways found more where large mills are at work than with smaller mills, 
because of the necessity to open the front rollers in large mills to enable 
a large feed to be passed through. The best single crushing that I have 
come across was at Le Resouvenir, where my friend Mr. Cornish set the 
front roll to % of an inch, and ran out his engine so as to raise the speed 
of the mill to something like 25 feet surface per minute. Thus he ran 
through a thin fuel, and reduced the strain on his engine to a minimum. 

The smal! mill before you has only two rollers, and has the rubbing 
action described by Mr. Mann in the proportion two to one. I have made 
some very important investigations with that machine, and determined 
that with single canes, and by a man’s power at the crank, percentages 


REPORT OF SOCIETY'S MEETINGS. 185 


have been obtained as per accompanying table according to the woody 
fibre in the cane up to 68 per cent. In making these investigations it is 
‘necessary to be provided with accurate means of weighing the canes 
operated upon. The set on the table were procured for me by my friend 
Mr. Williams, and are admirably suited for the purpose. It is when one 
is brought face to face with the quantitative analysis of certain products, 
that one discovers errors made by theorists who write without making 
_ such experiments. Taking an example from Mr. Mann’s table giving 
percentages of crushing under various conditions of the sugar cane, 
we have :— 


Cane. Juice. Megass. Dry Percentage. 


100 70 30 © = 33% 
Nowangoypounds;merass) from) Mil) ii ta.: ce niuesce agi dae scunrindedenssincmecits «ae 
OM raya ysrsioscle teite css sae epee galSiieito wis ora sciiieatearsaiie keltes ac bina dete ns etes 


20 must have been got rid of as vapour (water) so that this water 
must have left a proportionate quantity of Sugar in the megass to what 
was contained in the original cane juice, say 16 per cent. 

Therefore we have 84 :: 20 :: 16 x 3. 81. The wet megass must 
be composed of :— 


INUOISEUTO sae Cea GT ae onan 20 
SifGES CLRAAORARS RA BGOH Pn ERie Aas One ae PBR R Ear ene mn 3-81 
NUYS ie a ie EC DE rel ee a AA eae 6.19 


30 
which would reduce the fibre in the cane to the same proportion as that 


found in the beet. It is evident that Mr. Mann has never worked out a 
quantitative analysis of megass, and this may account for his not seeing 
the advantage of what is known as double crushing and maceration, for 
it is self-evident that for every 20 tbs. of moisture carried away in the 
megass there are combined with it 3°81 tbs. of sugar. Surely the differ- 
ence in some shape ought to be applied to reduce this loss. I lay over 
a table compiled from analysis of megass. 

I am quite at one with Mr. Mann in the opinion that more care ought 
to be taken in feeding mills: a moderate steady feed always gives the 
best results, both in the quality of crushing and in quantity of work, 
and I consider those who have extended their cane carriers to admit 4 
cane punts—two a side—have made a step in the right direction. 

These are a few points on which I somewhat differ from Mr. Mann. A 
small mill may give such good results as to put dry double crushing out 

Y 


186 TIMEHRI. 


of the question, but in my opinion the larger the mill the more necessity 
arises for double crushing. 

Mr. Russell, continuing, said these were briefly the 
remarks he had to make upon Mr. Mann’s paper, and 
the results as worked out by him (Mr. Russell) by actual 
observation of the crushing of canes by means of a ma- 
chine like that (pointing to the small crushing machine 
in the room). ‘This was a question of the first magnitude 
to planters. Mr. Fryer had written a good deal about it, 
and had fallen into several errors; others too had written 
a great deal since, and they had also occasionally fallen 
into errors. He confessed that he, aiso, when making 
experiments, used to make grievous errors; one of 
these was always estimating the sugar contained in 
the cane in value as sugar, whereas sugar in the cane 
should be valued as cane juice. The whole cost of 
manufacturing the sugar had to be considered. In crush- 
ing canes, it was not that they lost so much in the 
value of sugar, but so much cane juice. In an admirable 
essay by Mr. Blake, Skeldon, on trenches, he also fell 
into a similar error. He calculated on the land produc- 
ing so much sugar, valuing that sugar as sugar ; he forgot 
that it was only canes, which he had to get manufac- 
tured, and there was all the expense of transportation, 
which makes a very great difference. He had read in 
one of the local newspapers articles with regard to the 
waste of molasses, but it must be remembered that these 
were very low molasses, and produced only a very small 
quantity of sugar. They had all their idiosyncrasies, 
and were very liable to fall into error when making cal- 
culations with regard to the hobby they were at just now. 
Again, in some of the earlier publications of this Society, 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 187 


on the manufacture of sugar cane, he found many errors 
in the calculations, and these errors had often been 
reproduced. He trusted that some other member of the 
Society would be able to give them the result of experi- 
ence. It might be remembered that Dr. Filmer, who 
gave this question an immense deal of attention, wrote 
a great many papers on the question of crushing cane, 
and he then expressed an opinion that it was not the 
size of a mill that meant good crushing. Of course, he 
need not tell them that in deciding the percentage of 
sugar from the canes, they had to be most particular in 
crushing, so that juice and refuse megass may be actually 
the same weight as the canes, minus the moisture. The 
table he had now tried to complete was drawn out from 
the results of a€tual experience from observation. He 
had no doubt that the time would come when they would 
be thoroughly acquainted with all the details for the more 
economical crushing of a cane. 

Mr. Williams hoped to have heard some gentleman 
criticise Mr. Mann’s paper, with respect to the working 
of the mill. 

Mr. Stokes having enquired as to certain grating sounds 
sometimes caused by the mill ; Mr. Russell explained that 
these were caused by one of the rollers not properly per- 
forming its work; and he added that great care ought 
to be taken in feeding the mills. 

Mr. Campbell having asked whether Mr. Russell’s 
note should be published, Mr. Russell replied in the 
affirmative. It was to invite criticism, and it was, 
he thought, one of the most important things to plan- 
ters. Although they pride themselves on their know- 
ledge they had yet a lot to learn. Mr. Mann would 

YNZ 


188 TIMEHRI. 


in the meantime read the discussion that had taken 
place and that would all the better enable him to dis- 
cuss the matter. This was the most important subjeét 
of all to the planters, and was most fertile of suggestions 
to any one who would take the trouble to go into the 
subject. The longer he lived, the more ignorant did he 
find himself in everything with regard to the treatment 
of cane juice; they were simply in their infancy. It was 
advisable to use the scale and weights in crushing 
canes. 

The Curator of the Museum.—Mr. Campbell stated 
that he had been advised that Mr. Ernest Glaisher, the 
newly appointed curator of the Museum, would leave 
England by the mail of the 2nd instant. He would, 
therefore, probably be able to assume his duties about 
the 22nd instant. 

The meeting then terminated. 


——_—_@——_—_ 


Meeting held 12th April.—Mr. G. L. Davson, in the 
absence of the President, in the chair. 
There were 10 members present. 
Elections —MWembers: W. Bovell Jones; M. Shan- 
non, M. D; Scott Herriot, W. Davis M. D. 
Associates: G. Corronel: John Wood 
Davis: Alfred Augustus D’Andrade; C. A. Cunha ; 
R.. Maclean. 

Treasurer’s Account.—The financial statement for 
the quarter ending 31st March, showing a balance of 
1,349 go to the good, was laid on the table. 

Limehri—The concluding part of the first volume of 
Timehri, the Society’s Journal, together with the follow- 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 189 


ing letter from Mr. im Thurn, the editor was formally 
presented to the Society :— 
Pomeroon, 23rd January, 1883. 
To W. H. CampseELt, Esq. 
Hon. Sec. of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society of 
British Guiana. 

Sir,—Accompanying this you will receive a copy of the 2nd Part of 
Timehri immediately on its publication. Will you be good enough to 
lay the same before the Society at its next meeting. I have given in- 
structions that a second copy should be delivered at once to the Libra- 
rian, for immediate use in the rooms of the Society. 

I regret the unavoidable delay in the publication of this part ; and | 
trust that so long delay may not occur again. 

I have the honour Sir, to be, 
Your obedient Servant, 
EVERARD F. im THURN. 

Mr. Tinne proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. im Thurn, 
for the way in which he had superintended the second 
part of Zimehrz. He thought those who read the part 
would find that it was in no way inferior to its prede- 
cessor; and he only hoped that Mr. im Thurn would be 
able to continue his duties as editor. 

Sugar-maize Seeds.—Mr. J. E. Tinne presented pack- 
ages of sugar sorghum (Minnesota, Early Amber), and 
three kinds of sugar maize, viz, Rosslyn’s Hybrid, How- 
ell’s Evergreen, and Egyptian. 

The thanks of the Society were accorded to Mr. Tinne. 

Mr. Mann’s paper on Sugar Mills.—The Secretary 
said he had received from Mr. James H. Mann a further 
communication on the Sugar Cane Mill, and he stated in 
an accompanying letter that he was sorry that owing to 
continued ill-health he would be unable to attend the 
meeting. It was agreed to take it as read at this meeting, 
to publish it, and to discuss it at the next meeting. 


190 TIMEHRI. 


Donation.—The Secretary read the following letter 
from Mr. Edmund Field, a former President of the So- 
ciety :— 

W. H. Campbell, Esq., 
Secretary, R. A. and C. Society, 
Demerara. 

Dear Sir,—I am sending by the Demerara and Berbice Steam-ship 
Company’s vessel the Laura, a set of five engravings from the 
painting by Frith, R. A., as a present to the R. A. and C. Society, 
which, I trust the President and Directors of the Society will do me 
the favour of accepting. 

EDMUND FIELD. 
Description of the Pictures. 
A RACE FOR WEALTH, 
I. The Spider and the Flies 
(Ante-room of the great financier and projector’s office.) 
IT. The Spider at Home. 
(The time is the ‘‘ mauvais quart d’heure” before dinner.) 
ITI. Victims. 
(The bubble has burst. The blow has fallen !) 
IV. Fudgment. 
V. Retribution. 

It was moved by the Chairman and carried by acclama- 
tion that the best thanks of the Society be given to Mr. 
Field for his valuable gift. 


The meeting then terminated. 


Mr. Mann’s second paper on the sugar-cane mill, 
referred to above, was as follows:— 

In continuation of the discussion on the above subject, | beg to submit 
the following communication : 

Mr. Russell in his paper read at the last meeting pays me a very poor 
compliment in supposing that I fancy there is such a thing as a sugar 
cane carrying as little percentage of fibre as the beet, and I am sure it 
does not require experiments in quantitative analysis to teach one as 
much as this. Iam the more surprised he should have criticised my 
figures in the way he has done, because he ought to have known, that 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 19i 


these, being all youwnd numbers, were vot actual examples of expréssion, 
but mere illustrations of the proposed method of reckoning percentages. 
I gave a mean and two extreme examples in each case; and had he 
taken the other extreme he would have found another mare’s nest in 
the fibre being excessive. 

Neither do I tail to see the advantage of maceration and double 
crushing, when under such circumstances ; and if I repeat my opinion 
on this subject it is simply this ‘‘ we should be working to better 
“advantage by paying attention to heavier simgle rather than to 
“ double crushing &c.” 

The other subjects under discussion are mere matters of opinion and 
I may criticise Mr. Russell’s remarks pretty minutely. 

The number of throwers, as he says, does bear approximately a 
co-efficient ratio to the hhds. sugar made in given time; but this can 
only be true when the quality of the crushing is a co-efficient also, for 
in the “ good old days” of inferior crushing more men must have been 
required than now, there being Jess juice extracted from the canes 
thrown. 

“The mill is set so as to pass the quantity of canes necessary to 
‘““ make a given day’s work” surely this is misleading, as it gives one 
the idea, a mill can do anything one chooses, whereas the power 
available remains constant ; and although by increasing the feed, and 
necessarily the set, we can increase number of gallons expressed in a 
given time, yet this is achieved only at the expense of the quality of 


« 


crushing and so upsets the idea of a 


ing 


man’s power being a coefficient 
necessary to throw canes for a hhd. sugar.” 
To decide the day’s work first, is, I think, getting hold of the wrong 
end of the stick ; we ought to decide what the quality of crushing shall 
be and then get as much out of the engine as possible. On some 
estates where the cultivation has been increased beyond the capacity of 
the machinery, it may be advisable to work the other way and sacrifice 
quality of crushing ; but it is not the machine which must be blamed 
for its poor crushing; but rather the proprietor, for growing more 
canes than the mill can take during the most favourable seasons. 

Then again, if by setting up the front roller it is to be looked upon as 
a kind of ‘ safety valve,” I would consider the mill not worth having 
and will go so far as to say mills should not and (of modern type) 
do not break under the strain due to a feed of canes alone. 

Many of you no doubt think you have seen accidents of this sort, but 


ig2 TIMEHRI. 


who can say positively when a mill tumbles to pieces with nothing but 
canes in her at the time, that nothing but canes had ever passed 
through her before? Iam afraid a good deal more foreign matter does 
pass through our mills than we have any idea of; pieces of iron, 
accidentally or otherwise, often get into the mill and many small 
things (such as cane-carrier nuts and the like) more often pass out 
unobserved but not without sowing the seeds of subsequent trouble by 
starting some minute fracture which, under continued strain, increases 
and finally shows itself in a complete breakdown. 

If one considers the enormous difference in the quality of the strains 
when a mill crushes canes or iron, the awful rapidity in the increase of 
the strain (and that local in its effect) when the square edge of a piece 
of iron suddenly enters the grip of a mill, and remembers also the fact 
that mills even under such trying ordeals do not always fail, it will not 
be hard to concede to me the supposition that mills never do break with 
an excessive feed alone, and that the effect of such can only be the 
stoppage of the whole machine. 

Mr. Russell considers that for the best results the front roller should 
be made to do aconsiderable portion of the work, and in support of 
this quotes the best single crushing he has seen where the front roller 
is said to have been screwed up, (to the same proportionate extent 
perhaps) to produce the superior crushing spoken of with a thinner 
feed than usual! 

If the back roller was originally what is called ‘‘ metal to metal,” it 
could not of course be screwed up any more, but this will not alter my 
argument ; for since the heavier the strain the more the mill yields, so 
the actual opening when passing the light feed must be less than with 
the heavy, and I look upon this mill as one in which the sets of the 
front and back rollers probably bear the same ratio to each other as 
they did before, and consider the additional power available (due to the 
increased speed of engine) produced the extra quality of work and not 
the change in the position of the front roller only. 

If we do not take into account the power absorbed by a given weight 
of canes, arguments about the set of rollers and depth of feed must go 
for nothing. We can do what we will to the mill and alter the feed, but 
if the power absorbed be not different we cannot expect any different 
result. 

The argument, again, about extracting more juice by screwing up the 
front roller and so preventing the likelihood of re-absorption is, I think, 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 193 


fallacious ; in the first place a great portion of the juice is supposed 
to escape on the back roller side of the trash turner; and presum- 
ing the space below the top roller is at all times pretty full of juice, 
from the fact of its finding its way down the inside of each head- 
stock as well as over the top of the front roller, the opportunity for 
reabsorption is practically the same whatever be the set of the front. 
I might here point out what is a decided defect in the construc- 
tion of our mills; there is no escape for the juice along the front 
edge of the trash turner; the space between it and the back roller 
can be of little use either, since it is always covered by the passing 
megass, therefore the juice must try to escape at the ends of the 
trash turner, where it is also impeded by the side blocks. If then it 
cannot find sufficient exit it will find the space between the top 
roller and the trash turner and, by accumulation, rise until it flows 
freely over the front roller. It has however the same tendency to 
flow over the back roller; there being a hydrostatic pressure up- 
wards at the point where the canes are under maximum compres- 
sion, the juice naturally avails itself of every opportunity to pass 
through any gaps or space there may be, and so come in contact 
with megass just relieved from pressure and ready to reabsorb any 
quantity of juice; the obvious remedy is to keep the back roller 
somewhat higher than the front, so that the juice finding free exit 
over the latter shall not have the tendency to rise into the megass. 
I believe, moreover, that a mill so constructed would show a marked 
improvement in the percentage of expression. 

In the case of a large mill having its rollers set in the same 
proportion as those of a small mill, but wider, there can be no 
difference in the treatment of the canes, provided the depth of 
feed in each be also proportionate to their sets; so, I cannot see 
why a big mill should not do the same quantity of work as a 
small one. The real reason why large mills do not do so well as 
some small ones is, that too much is expected of them; or rather 
the mills being in size more than their engines, the power avail- 
able per ton of canes is less in the large than in the small mills. 
Any one can verify this by making a few calculations from mills 
under his own observation, if the power available be divided by 
the work expected of the mill, i.e., due to her size, we shall get a 
figure representing the comparative crushing power of each. In other 


Zz 


194. TIMEHRI. 


words divide the area of the piston by the size of the mill. Here are 
three examples : 


CYL. MILL. CRUSHING-ROOM. 
: we ” ” Area 203 . 

Hoff van Aurich............ 20% 26" x 54 ee A ee OS 
26 x 54 
Area 24 

Anna Regina.............6... 24” 2” x 66” — ="21 

nna Regina 4: 3 6 one 4 
BauAG : 3” Hi Area 30 

e DEER ae on oe ccan ie es 30 48” x 84 48x 84 = "07/5 


It thus appears that there is less proportionate power in the larger 
arrangements. 

It is assumed for simplicity of calculation that the conditions as to 
piston speed, steam pressure &c., are the same in all; results can of 
course be altered by varying these conditions, but when mills are fed in 
proportion to their size, differences in the quality of work done will 
always be apparent as exemplified by the above figures. 

At the same meeting the trash turner was spoken of, and some one 
asked the cause of such terrible jerking and noise that sometimes takes 
place ; in my paper under discussion I stated my opinion pretty plainly 
that trash turners were often wrongly blamed, and that the cause of the 
jerking was the refusing of canes, due to smoothness of the rollers and 
insufficient grip. 1 will now enlarge upon this subject by giving further 
arguments in support of my reasonings. 

If the cause be the position of the trash turner, why does not the 
jerking go on continuously until the trash turner be moved? And as the 
jerking only occurs at intervals, I say the trash turner is not the fault, 
although I admit the possibility of a badly set trash turner; the same 
negative argument applied to the grip of the rollers will not prove the 
latter not to be at fault because the grip is more perfect in some posi- 
tion of the rollers than in others, it being impossible to ensure unifor- 
mity in the roughing all over. It is the fact of the rollers being smoother 
at some places than others, combined with the varying thickness of the 
feed that causes the grip between the back and top rollers to fail occa- 
sionally, when the rollers, as it were, continue to nibble at the canes 
until a rougher portion of the roller comes round and a hold is again 
effected. 

The noise is no doubt occasioned by two circumstances ; this nibbling 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 195 


which is a very heavy process, for the canes after nearly getting under 
maximum compression slip back with a jerk, and then there is the 
consequent accumulation of half crushed canes between the trash turner 
and the top rollers. 

When watching a large mill when she was giving trouble by refusing 
canes I noticed that when the jerking and noise lasted but a second or 
so the continuity in the wad of megass was not apparently broken, but 
when it continued for some appreciable time ,the mill passed out no 
megass at all. One end of the rollers would take up the grip then 
the other, passing out its megass at different points at different times. 
Theear could also detect the direction from whence the noise proceeded, 
whether from this end or that, according to where the rollers were refus- 
ing. This, to my mind, clearly proves where the fault exists, and I can- 
not believe a small change in the position of the trash turner can effect 
improvements with which it is so often credited. When a manager 
insists upon having his trash turner re-set he usually utilizes the time 
by jagging the rollers and then says the trash turner has improved the 
working of the mill ! 

Here is another negative proof that the set of a trash turner is 
of little moment and that there is no real proportion between the set 
and the depth of feed (within certain absurd limits of course)—take a 
mill, in which, according to experts on trash turners, the set is cor- 
rectly proportioned to the ordinary feed, what becomes of this propor- 
tion when the feed varies ? Why does not the mill refuse and jerk with 
a lighter or with a heavier feed when this proportion is so entirely 
different ? and yet we have mills that continue to work smoothly what- 
ever be the feed. 

It may be as well to state that I use the word “‘ set” as a technical term 
applied to the trash turner, meaning the distance between it and the top 
roller, and not the position generally. When the trash turner is re-set 
you raise or lower it and do not assign a new position for it relative to 
the front roller, its absolute proximity to the latter being a necessary 
condition as much as screwing up the piston rings before turning on 
steam. 

Mr. Russell is reported to have said that the jerking and noise was 
when the trash got crimped up on the trash turner, and that raising the 
latter would obviate the evil. Now, after what had been written I fancy 
some of you will agree with me (1) that Mr. Russell has got hold of the 
effect not the cayse. The megass gets crimped up because the rollers 


Z 2 


196 TIMEHRI. 


refuse to remove it, and (2) that removing the trash turner cannot sup- 
ply the deficiency in the power of grip between the rollers. 

This brings me to the end of a second paper on this interesting sub- 
ject, and I crave the indulgence of my readers to repeat some of my 
opinions in a concise form ; insufficiency of grip is the cause of nearly 
all the troubles in connection with the working of a sugar mill—rollers 
possessing roughness, in one form or another, sufficient for the grip, 
are absolutely necessary to ensure uniformity in the crushing ;—rollers 
of inferior metal must have their grip maintained in, what might be 
called, an artificial manner by continued labour bestowed upon them on 
the estates—and this rough process is no longer necessary when once 
the rollers are made of superior metal with grooves cut in them having 
right-angled edges. 

JAMES H. MANN. 

Demerara, 2nd April, 1883. 


———— 


Meeting held roth May—The Honourable W. Rus- 
sell, President, in the chair. 
There were 11 members present. 
Election —Member: Jacob Conrad 
Associate: W. Palmer Samborne. 
‘Representation of British Guiana at the Calcutta 
Exhibition——The Secretary read a _ letter from the 
hon. B. Howell Jones, intimating that he had been ap- 
pointed a member of a Committee of Court of Policy to 
consider whether this colony should be represented at the 
Calcutta Exhibition, and enclosing several documents. 
Mr. Jones further stated in his letter that the Committee 
would be glad to confer with a Committee of members 
of the Agricultural Society with regard to the matter. 
Mr. Campbell said the other documents were letters 
from Mr. Barr to the Government Secretary, stating that 
Mr. Hogg thought it was desirable that the colony 
should be represented, and the official documents of 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 197 


the Exhibition, giving all information. The Society was 
generally asked to take matters of this sort up by the 
Government, and a committee was then appointed 
of the members of this Society to undertake the arrange- 
ments and to administer any funds that might be contri- 
buted for the purpose; but at present the Society had no 
funds for that purpose. He had had no further commu- 
nication in the matter than Mr. Jones’s letter stating that 
a committee had been appointed by the Court of Policy. 

The Chairman thought that the documents ought to 
have been accompanied by some letter from the Govy- 
ernment. 

Mr. Jones said he had been appointed along with the 
hons. Robert Mitchell and Hugh Sproston, on a Com- 
mittee of the Court of Policy, to confer with the Royal 
Agricultural Society, as to whether British Guiana should 
be represented at the Exhibition. He had liberty to 
bring the documents before the Society, and he did not 
think there was any necessity for further formalities. 

The Chairman believed that there were very few in this 
colony who thought it should not be represented at the 
Calcutta Exhibition ; but, as the Secretary had stated, 
they had no funds for that purpose, and without assist- 
ance from the Government they could do nothing. 

The Chairman suggested that Messrs. J. E. Tinne, 
Luke M. Hill, and the Rev. T. J. Moulder form a com- 
mittee to confer with the committee of the Court of Policy 
and should report to the Society at its next meeting. 

Mr. Campbell, on behalf of Mr. Glaisher, intimated that 
that gentleman’s services would be available to prepare 
and forward articles to the Exhibition. 

Colonial India Rubber.—The Secretary submitted a 


198 TIMEHRI. 


letter from Mr. G. S. Jenman on certain samples of 
the India-Rubber (vulcanised) produced by the hatie 
(Hevea Spruceana) and cumakaballi (tepong) trees of 
this colony. 

On the suggestion of the Chairman, it was agreed that 
it should be published. He thought it was always desir- 
able to have these things published, as it afforded mem- 
bers an opportunity of going into details in technical 
questions. 

Thanks were voted to Mr. Jenman for his communi- 
cation. 

Authority of the Secretary to print Communications. 
—Mr. Luke M. Hill suggested that the Secretary should 
have authority to print such papers, as this of Mr. Jen- 
man’s as soon as he received them. As they were at 
present brought before the Society, they were generally 
ordered to be printed ; after which they did not gene- 
rally come up for discussion for about two months. 

The Chairman said that was a very good suggestion. 
Some discretionary power should, however, be given to 
the Secretary, as he might be flooded with papers ; it 
might become an advertising medium. 

A committee consisting of the President, the Vice- 
president, and the Secretary, was empowered to print 
papers. 

Sorghum and Mazze.—lt was agreed to send portions 
of the seeds of sorghum and maize presented by Mr. 
Tinne to the Society at its previous meeting to Mr. 
Blake of Pln. Ske/don and Mr. Luard of Pln. Peter's 
Hall, with a request that the seeds should be planted 
and a report on the results be submitted. 

The Curator’s Report.—\t was ordered that the report 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 199 


by Mr. Glaisher, the new Curator of the Museum, should 
be printed and brought forward at the next meeting ; 
also that it should be carefully considered by the Com- 
mittee of Correspondence. 

Local Cocoa-nut fibre and Palm-oil.—The Hon'ble B. 
Howell Jones submitted samples of cocoanut fibre 
dressed at Mr. Smith’s factory at Mahaicony. This was 
one of the small industries of the colony, and one in which 
he (Mr. Jones) was rather interested. The first sample 
was the ordinary fibre used for the ordinary purposes, 
and the second was for brush making. These were 
not exhibition samples. He also wished to submit 
a bottle of what was known as palm-nut oil, obtained 
from the Courze* palm. He had obtained it from a 
black man in the Berbice River District, who used it 
for culinary purposes, but it might perhaps be of value 
as an article of commerce. He might mention that 
this was the palm-nut oil mentioned ina report by Mr. 
Jenman; if there was anything valuable in it, it could 
be procured in large quantities for export if desired, the 
palm being very abundant. 

The Chairman said that no doubt the specimens were 
very interesting. He was aware that Mr. Smith had 
imported some very fine machinery for making cocoanut 
oil and dressing the fibre, and he thought Mr. Smith 
deserved great credit indeed, for that advance in what 
might be called one of our small industries. He had not 
the slightest doubt that it would pay. Formerly, when 
cocoanuts cost 820 or $24 per thousand, it did not pay 


* The Courie palm is probably the African oil-palm (Eleis Guinien- 
sis) which has become naturalized in many parts of the colony; or, it 
is perhaps more probably the Kokerite (Maximiliana regia),—Ep. 


200 TIMEHRI. 


to make cocoanut oil, but it was different now, when 
they only cost $12 per thousand. 

It was suggested and ordered that the palm oil be 
forwarded to Mr. Francis, with a request to that gentle- 
man to report on it. 

Mr. Mann's Paper on the Sugar-mill.—The Chair- 
man said he had read Mr. Mann’s paper, but had not had 
time to give it much consideration. Mr. Mann had found 
fault with his (the chairman’s) estimate that co-efficient 
man power was equal to a given quantity of sugar per 
day. He (the chairman) said that it was the assumption 
of many of the planters that it required a man to make 
a hogshead of sugar per day. He could only say that if 
Mr. Mann had served his apprenticeship under such 
planters as Mr. McLaren and Mr. James Stuart, he would 
have been told that he had to make acertain quantity of 
sugar a week; and he would then have to make his mill 
do the best he could. At the same time, he thought Mr. 
Mann deserved the thanks of the Society for the way in 
which ke had come forward and given his opinion on 
this matter. 

Donations.—Lithographic fac-similes of the execution 
warrants of Charles I and Mary Queen of Scots were 
submitted, and the donor (Mr. B. S. Bayley) was award- 
ed the thanks of the Society. 

The meeting then terminated. 


Mr. Jenman’s letter on India-Rubber, to which refer- 


ence is made above, is at follows :— 
Georgetown, 27th April, 1883. 
My dear Sir,—I enclose herewith, for the Museum of the Royal 
Agricultural and Commercial Society, samples (vulcanised) of india- 


REPORT OF SOCIETV’S MEETINGS. 201 


rubber, produced respectively by the hatie and cumakaballi of this 
colony. The raw rubber from which these samples were manufactured 
I collected on the Pomeroon River, and sent to Kew to be tested a few 
months ago; which resulted (with other correspondence) in the follow- 
ing report, communicated through the Secretary of State for the 
colonies and published in the Official Gazette of the 18th instant :— 

“The India Rubber made on the Pomeroon River, British Guiana, 
“from the Hevea Spruceana contains caoutchouc but is impregnated 
‘with other principles which destroy its properties for any manufac- 
“turing purposes involving the process of vulcanizing. Since most of 
‘the species of Hevea have been described as yielding good India- 
“ rubber, including the Hevea Spruceana growing several miles north of 
‘the Amazon, it would be important to determine whether in this case 
“the deteriorating principles are foreign [? belonging] to the tree, or 
“‘ whether they arise from injudicious incision. The rubber smells very 
“strongly of the oily matter which goes off in the smoke from the 
‘burning of the nuts of the Uracappi palm, which also has the effect of 
“softening and rendering the rubber dark.” 

“‘ The loss on washing and drying is 11°75 o/o. The soft and sticky 
‘* character would appear to be due to a volatile, or perhaps easily car- 
‘bonised substance. When mixed with sulphur and submitted to the 
“ vulcanizing process, it vulcanizes, but becomes spongy. The caout- 
“‘ chouc vulcanizes so completely, that it would be worth while to try 
‘‘ whether, by any chemical treatment, its sponginess can be prevented. 
‘* Such treatment, however, prevents its being used extensively.” 

“The (cumakaballi) India-rubber on washing and drying yields a 
“loss of 14°96 o/o, and when mixed with the suitable proportion of 
“ sulphur, vulcanizes perfectly. Its firmness and freedom from sticki- 
“ness are in favour of its manipulation” 

The passage in the report,-—‘‘it would be important to determine 
‘““ whether in this case the deteriorating principles are foreign to the 
“tree, or whether they arise from injudicious incision,’ is not very 
clear in its meaning. Injudicious incision, so far as it affected the 
character of the milk, would be “‘ foreign” to the tree; but I do not see 
how any method of tapping could be injudicious in this sense. In col- 
lecting thisrubber, the incisions were made witha cutlass; and an axe or 
this instrument must necessarily be used in the operation. It is true 
the juice was dried in the smoke of burning palm nuts, but this system 
is very largely practised in coagulating Para india-rubber. It hastens 


AA 


202 TIMEHRI. 


the process, but is not essential, and need not be pursued if disadvan- 
tage pertains to it. 

It is disappointing, however, that as Hevea Spruceana is so abundant 
in the colony, and such a near ally botanically of the valuable Hevea 
bvasilensis, its rubber should be, apparently, of such inferior quality. 
I say, apparently advisedly, for I think this cannot be regarded as de- 
termined till the nature of the deleterious principle, which prevents its 
perfect induration when vulcanized, is ascertained, and whether it was 
accidental in this sample or is inherent in the juice of this species of 
Hevea. It is possible, too, that if the sponginess cannot be prevented in 
its manufacture, considering the multiplicity of the applications which 
are being found for india-rubber, certain uses may be discovered for 
which this character will specially recommend it; which seems not 
improbable, for it is certainly a very peculiar and characteristic sub- 
stance. 

As [ anticipated in my report of the discovery of the cumakaballi, 
its rubber has proved to be an excellent material ; and considering the 
great size of the tree, its thickness of bark and prolificness in milk, the 
price (2/3—2/6 per lb.) it is estimated as worth in the market is 
very satisfactory and encouraging; and I have no doubt that in the 
future both the tree and the rubber which it yields will be in considera- 
- ble demand. I hope in the interval, steps may be taken to prevent col- 
lectors from felling and destroying a tree so valuable, and of so much 
interest for its grand proportions as a woodland feature, and thus 
ensure its abundant perpetuity in the colony. 

Very faithfully yours, 
G. S. JENMAN. 

W. H. CampBeELL, Esq., 

Secretary, Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society. 


Mr. Glaisher’s Report on the present state and pros- 


pects of the Museum, to which reference is made above, 


is as follows :— 
Report of Curator of British Guiana Museum. 


To the Directors of the Royal Agricultural and Com- 

mercial Society. 
Sirs,—l beg to submit to you the following Report on the British 
Guiana Museum as I found it, on commencing my duties as Curator. 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 203 


I have also added my views on the work which I think it would be 
desirable to do in connection with my office. 

The arrangement of the Museum as it now stands, with some slight 
modification, is very suitable. It is divided into two portions, one of 
which is devoted to showing the Natural History and Products of this 
colony, the other to extra-colonial exhibits. There are two objects to 
be obtained, 1st: to have a collection which will be instructive to our 
Colonial Population, and 2nd: one which will illustrate the Natural 
History and Products of this Colony, and therefore be of special 
interest to visitors to this country, who from a cursory inspection of the 
Museum will be able to obtain a good idea of our Colonial Fauna and 
products. To meet these two views it is desirable that both the Colonial 
and Foreign departments be kept up; but as the economising of space 
is a matter of the greatest importance, I venture to urge, as suggested 
by my predecessor, that in the Natural History Collection only types 
be exhibited, a more complete collection of skins being kept in properly 
constructed drawers. ‘This, it seems, would very fairly meet the exigen- 
cies of the case, a glance would give a general idea of the classes of 
animals etc. to be met with in this colony; and if further information 
was desired, the larger and more complete collection preserved in 
drawers could be consulted. 

The present arrangements of the birds and mammals in the cases is 
not so satisfactory asit might be. The specimens are placed on three 
flat shelves, one above the other ; the result of this is, that those which 
are placed on the lower shelf, situated only an inch or so from the floor, 
are almost hidden from view, with the exception of a few close to the 
glass ; the specimens on the top shelf are scarcely in a better position. 
To remedy this I propose to erect an inclined stage of shelves such as 
is used to display the birds in the British Museum ; the cost of each of 
these stages would be $20, and I feel sure that the great advantage to 
be derived from such an arrangement would well compensate for the 
comparatively small outlay required. 

The fish of the Colony are not well represented. Out of 600 species 
known to exist in our rivers only about 50 are in the Museum. A com- 
plete collection preserved in spirits would be of great value, and I hope 
to be able to add largely to the present stock of specimens, by collect- 
ing myself from time to time, and by contributions from various sources. 

There are several small cases of plaister casts of fishes which are very 
creditably executed, and which to the ordinary visitor are of much more 


AA 2 


204 TIMEHRI. 


interest than specimens preserved in spirits ; it would be well to obtain 
more of these casts, if they could be procured at something like a rea- 
sonable cost. 

One of the greatest difficulties to be overcome is the setting up and 
mounting of specimens; the work done by colonial stuffers is very ex- 
pensive, and, as is only too painfully shown by a glance round the 
Museum, thoroughly bad and unnatural. One solution of the difficulty 
suggests itself to me, that is, to make arrangements with a London 
taxidermist to mount and set up at a fixed and reasonable rate any 
specimens which may be sent to him; the benefit that would accrue 
to the Museum would be great and in the end it would be found no 
more expensive than having the work done by the indifferent stuffers 
here. 

The Museum possesses two good collections, both of which are very 
complete, I refer to the very fine Mineralogical and Geological collec- 
tion presented by Mr. Barrington Brown and the case of local Ethnolo- 
gical specimens presented by Mr.im Thurn. It is matter for congra- 
tulation that we possess them. There is also a very fair collection of 
shells which fully deserves to be placed in a separate cabinet. 

A Catalogue should as speedily as possible be issued. My pre- 
decessor did a great portion of this work, and I propose to finish 
it as rapidly asI can. To get a thoroughly complete Catalogue would 
take a long time, as some of the specimens would have to be referred 
to specialists at home in order to settle their respective species. I 
therefore recommend, as has been previously proposed, that a first, 
though somewhat imperfect edition of the Catalogue, be quickly and 
cheaply printed, and afterwards, when all the doubtful species have been 
named, that an amended edition be issued. 

The British Museum authorities keep a list of institutions in England 
and the Colonies to which they give their spare Zoological specimens. 
It would be desirable that this Museum should be added to that list, and 
I have little doubt if the Society showed a disposition to help the 
British Museum by presenting to it some of the duplicate specimens 
which are not required, Dr. Gunther, the head of the Biological De- 
partment would bring the matter before the Trustees, and the British 
Guiana Museum would be added to that list. This Museum would not 
only benefit by receiving specimens from time to time, but would also 
obtain the British Museum publications which are of considerable value. 

There is an important work which it would be desirable to commence 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 205 


as'soon as possible, viz:—the establishing of Meteorological Stations 
over the Colony. There are already instances of colonies situated 
within the Tropics recognising the importance of this work. Ceylon 
has a Meteorological organization consisting of 26 stations, which send 
in monthly and weekly returns. Mauritius has a Meteorological and 
Magnetical Observatory supported by the Colony; at Hong Kong 
Meteorological observations are made in connection with its Astronomi- 
cal Observatory, and there are several other stations over our Indian 
Empire. From the position of this colony, situated on the mainland of 
South America within 5 or 6 degrees of the equator, observations taken 
here would be of considerable importance. Apart from the mere scien- 
tific value that these records would have, considerable advantage would 
doubtless be obtained by combining their results with the health statistics 
of the Colony. I know also that the results of observations taken here 
would be valued and gladly received by scientific men in Europe. 

The system that I should propose would be as follows: To establish 
three first class stations where Atmospheric Pressure, Temperature, 
Humidity, Rainfall and Radiation are observed ; and in addition to these 
to obtain as many temperature and rainfall stations as I can procure: 
I.am willing to undertake the labour of reducing and preparing the 
results from the returns sent in, and to generally superintend the whole 
organization. The outlay would be small; it certainly would not ex- 
ceed £30. 

Other useful scientific work could with great advantage be carried on 
in connection with my office. At some future time, it would be probably 
worth while to erect a small Transit instrument in order to obtain the 
absolute time of the colony. It would also be an advantage to havea 
Seismometer for registering Earthquake shocks; for no doubt some 
shocks pass unnoticed, and it is impossible to give any useful scientific 
information about the shocks which are perceived without having such 
an instrument. These instruments would not cost a very large amount, 
and might be added to the Museum appliances when I have better 
assistance than I have at present at my command. 

I have the honor to be, Sirs, 
Your obedient Servant, 
ERNEST H. GLAISHER, 


Curator. 
British Guiana Museum, 


May oth 1883. 


206 TIMEHRI. 


Meeting held rath Fune.—The Honorable W. Russell, 
President, in the chair. 
There were 14 members present. 
Elections.—MWembers: R. B. O. Butts; W. A. Grant ; 
Allen C. Stewart; William Charles Easten Griffith. 
Associates: Howard T. King; Colin Sim- 
son Smith; R. T. Wright; Frank Gill; James Brown. 
The Calcutta Exhibition.—The following letter from 
the Government Secretary was read. 


Government-Secretary’s Office, 
Georgetown, Demerara, 
st June, 1883. 

Sir,—I have the honor by direction of the Governor to acquaint you, 
for the information of the Agricultural and Commercial Society, that it 
has been decided that British Guiana shall be represented at the Inter- 
national Exhibition to be held at Calcutta in December. 

2. The Governor proposes to appoint Mr. Henry Kirke, M.A., acting 
Emigration Agent for this colony at Calcutta, to be the Commissioner 
at the Exhibition for British Guiana, and as the Governor has been 
given to understand that the Royal Agricultural and Commercial 
Society will undertake upon this occasion, as on former similar occa- 
sions, the management of affairs in connection with the Exhibition, I 
am to state that it will afford His Excellency much satisfaction if the 
Society will do so, and will appoint a committee for the purpose accord- 
ingly. The Governor and Court of Policy have placed an item of two 
thousand dollars on the supplementary estimates to defray the expenses 
connected with the exhibition. 

W. H. Campbell, Esq., 

Secretary to the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society. 


The Chairman proposed, and it was agreed, that the 
matter be referred to the Committee of Correspondence. 
He need hardly impress upon the members of the Society 
the desirability of putting in an appearance at the exhibi- 
tion at Calcutta. He urged upon the members of the 
Society to do everything in their power to forward 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 207 


exhibits to Calcutta, so as to bring the colony and its 
mode of tilling the land, vividly before the people of 
Calcutta. 

Mr. Tinne, in reference to a question as to whether 
the exhibits would go by next coolie ship, said he thought 
it would be very undesirable to send the exhibits by a 
coolie ship, after the long passage of 180 days of the 
Bayard. We thought it would be far better to send them 
to I.ondon by the “ Direct Line” steamer and then tran- 
ship them to a steamer going to Calcutta; the exhibits 
would thus be transferred to Calcutta in forty-five days, 
including transhipment. 

The Curator’s Report.—This report which had been 
laid before the Society at the previous meeting and had 
since been printed and circulated, was also referred to 
the Committee of Correspondence, to take action on 
the same. 

Surinam Gold.—Mr. G. L. Davson, on behalf of Mr, 
Hugh A. Greene, exhibited a nugget of gold from Suri- 
nam, valued at 81100. The Chairman, commenting on 
this excellent find from Dutch Guiana, remarked that it 
was about equal in value to about eleven hogsheads of 
sugar; he added that he was informed that the Com- 
pany who had discovered this nugget had spent three or 
four thousand pounds before getting any return, but 
that a good deposit had now been struck. It was stated 
by a gentleman present that the Company was now 
making a very high per-centage on their outlay. 

Mr. Fenman’s Report on Indta-rubber.—lIn the ab- 
sence of Mr. Jenman, in consequence of ill-health, this 
subject was postponed to the next meeting. | 

“* The Tropical Agriculturist.”—On the suggestion 


208 TIMEHRI. 


of the Secretary. it was ordered that this journal, pub- 
lished in Ceylon, should be taken in by the Society. 

The Hour of Meeting.—On the suggestion of the Secre- 
tary, it was ordered that the meetings of the Society 
should in future be held at 3.30 p.m., instead of 4 p.m., 
on the second Thursday in each month. 

The Mahaicony Oil and Fibre Works.—A paper was 
read by the Honourable B. Howell Jones on the cocoanut 
oil and fibre works recently established by Mr. Smith 
at Mahaicony. Before doing so, he stated that his paper 
did not give full details, such as the cost of making the 
articles, because the whole factory was not at present 
working, and it would be misleading to attempt it. It 
was simply the account of a visit to the factory.* 

The Chairman said he followed Mr. Jones’s paper with 
very great interest, because twenty years ago, in the 
Island of Wakenaam, an exactly similar factory was 
started. In those days cocoanuts fetched very high 
prices—$22 to $24 per thousand; and at that time the 
production of oil from cocoanuts did not pay. There was 
a considerable loss of money. Mr. Smith was fortunate 
now in obtaining the cocoanuts; he (the Chairman) be- 
lieved they could be procured at $10 to $12 a thousand. 
The difference between $10 to $12 and $22 to S24, 
which was formerly paid for the cocoa-nuts would allow 
a large margin for profit on what they might call one of 
the smaller industries of the colony, and he had little 
doubt that Mr. Smith had struck upon a very profitable 
means of disposing of his cocoanuts. He (the Chairman) 


* This paper, having come to hand too late for insertion in the pre- 


sent number, will appear in the next.— Ep. 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 209 


believed that there was a much larger quantity of cocoa- 
nut oil produced in this colony than probably members 
were aware of. The coolies were in the habit of making 
oil in their own rude way in India, and after serving 
their time on the estate, a great many of them take 
to manufacturing oil here. He was told that at the pre- 
sent time the coolies who manufacture oil were prepared 
to pay even a higher price for cocoanuts than was got 
before the starting of this manufactory. He merely 
mentioned this to show that the coolies after serving 
their time on the estates had an opportunity of doing 
something else than merely working in the field. He 
quite agreed that it was to the introduction of these 
people, who came here with a knowledge of what are 
known as the smaller industries in their own country, 
that they must look for the successful carrying out of the 
same line in this colony. He thought the members of 
the Society were very much indebted to Mr. Jones for 
the excellent paper which he had read, and he moved 
that it should appear in the Society’s Journal. In the 
meantime he begged to move that the thanks of the 
meeting be awarded to Mr. Jones. 

The motion was carried with acclamation. 

A member mentioned that as soon as Mr. Smith started 
his manufactory, cocoanuts had gone up $2; Mr. Smith 
was giving $13 per thousand. 

Mr. Jones said that this industry was jealously guarded. 
In London there were five factories, all in the hands of 
Jews, and when Mr. Smith was in London he was refused 
admission to witness any of these factories. He thought 
that the oil extracted here could compete with that from 
factories which had to pay freight on the cocoanuts. 

BB 


210 TIMEHRI. 


Donations.—The Secretary said the following publica- 
tions had been presented to the Society :— 

By the Smithsonian Institution—“ Report of the Com- 
“missioner of Agriculture for 1880-81-82;” “ List of 
“ Foreign correspondents of the Smithsonian Institution ;” 
“Scientific proceedings of the Ohio Mechanics’ Institute ;” 
“‘ Additions and corrections of the list of Foreign Corres- 
“pondents to January 1883;” 

By Captain Sparks, ‘‘ Monthly Weather Review of the 
“ United States from January to November, 1882.” 

The President, after alluding to the excellence and 
completeness of the United States Agricultural Reports, 
expressed a wish and a hope that a statistical department 
might be established in this colony. 

The meeting then terminated. 


TIM ERAT 


Journal of the Royal A gricultural and sonnel ‘ 
cial Society of British Guiana, ; 


EDITED BY 


EVERARD F. IM ‘THURN, M.A., of Exeter College, Oxford. 


+ —<—>- + 


Published Half-Yearly..........[June & December.] 
PRICE: | 


othe syear coe Lae nae Oe canes 
For each Part Meats ge 1 ss eae 96 (4/) 


Amongst the Papers in PE jor this eo are the 


following :— | 
Tatoo-marks of the Indians of British | Balata-collecting. : 
Guiana. Essequibo, Berbice and Demerara under 
\ Notes on West Indian Stone-Implements | the Dutch (continued.) 
d (continued.) River Flora. 
; A List of Plants of the Kaieteur Savan- | Comparative Vocabulary of Indian Lan- 
nah, guages, 
A Bibliography of Guiana. Water-Supply for Estates and Town. 
The Berbice River. Rum-making, 
The Treatment of Murder among the | Coffee Cultivation. 
he Aborigines. . A Hand-list of Plants reported from Bri- 
"Treatment of Immigrants of Various|  tish Guiana. " 
Races. Yellow Fever. 
The Shell-mounds of Guiana. Bush-notes of a Huntsman. # 
Notes on the Palms of Guiana, Between the Pomeroon and the Ovnadte if 
Historical Memoranda on the Boundary | Rock Sculptures. ae 
of Berbice. | The Oil and Fibre Works at Mahaicony. & 


And many other Agricultural Papers. 


London Agent: EH, Stanford, Charing Cross, §.W. 


PRINTED AT THE ‘fARGOSY” PRLSS, DEMERARA 


vf or griquitural and ‘eal 
Hovil of pra ish = 


DECEMBER, 1883. (PART He 


CONTENTS. | — 7 
_ Papers, —Between the Pomeroon and the oe by the tag 


inter ; Ou Colonial aes ve Loy ae A Chapters im 
e Life-History of a Plant, by G. S. Jenman; Lamaha Water and 
Process for Purifying it, by E. E. H. Francis ; Essequibo, Ber- 
e and Demerara under the Dutch, Part 2, by the Editor. a 
OccasionaL Notes.—An Accawot Peaiman; Local Medicinal 
Birks ; Couvade ; Etymology of the word “ Grail-stick” Fae ae 
7 tion” by Snakes; The Barbarian View of Guiana; New 
_ Lowl Literature; A New Plant from Guiana; Dutch Guiana 
the Amsterdam Exhibition ; The Representation of the Colony 
Eshibitions ; Errata. 
Wiliam Hunter Campbell, L.L.D. IN MEMORIAM. 2 
ER)RT OF SOCIETY'S MEETINGS, from July to December 


= 


Between the Pomeroon and the Orinoco. 


By the Editor. 


SVBIESS known than any other part of British | 


Guiana, less known by far than the distriét 


@] more remote from civilization, in point of 
mileage, which lies on the borders of the Brazils, is 
the distri€t between the Pomeroon river and the Orin- 
oco. The SCHOMBURGK brothers, who travelled in, 
and have written most of, the interior of British Gui- 
ana, went but little into this distriێ\; and, examining 
only the lower courses of its rivers, they described it far 
more briefly and less satisfa€torily than any other part. 
And such information of it as they did publish is more 
or less unknown, being partly buried in a large, some- 
what scarce, and expensive book in a foreign language, 
being partly removed from easy access in the early 
volumes of the Geographical Society’s publications. And 
of those who have more recently travelled m, and written 
of, Guiana the most important, Mr. BARRINGTON BROWN, 
paid a yet briefer and more hurried visit than that of 
the SCHOMBURGKS to the distri€t in question; and he 
has described it in correspondingly brief fashion in 
the technical and little read official report which he 
wrote in conjunction with his sometime colleague, the 
late Mr. JAMES SAWKINS, and has not even noticed it in 
his more widely circulated and popular ‘Canoe and 
Camp Life in British Guiana.’ Yet this distriét is of 
interest, partly because it is chiefly as regards it, claimed 
by both the British and the Venezuelan Governments, 
that a movement has from time to time during the last 
cc 


i 


212 TIMEHRI. 


forty years been afoot, and is now once more afoot, to 
settle definitely the ownership; and partly because, in 
all human probability, this distriét, and this alone, is 
exaétly in a natural state, is exa€tly as once was the now 
inhabited coast-land between the Essequibo and the 
Corentyn before the Dutch drained this, and cultivated it, 
and altered it, in most wonderful manner, to the condi- 
tion, more or less, in which we now know it. 

Looking at the desolate coast-land between the Pome- 
roon and the Orinoco, and trying to realise that as this 
is so the whole coast of Guiana once was, one cannot 
help wondering at the glowing description of the country 
given by Sir WALTER RALEIGH and other early visitors, 
one cannot help wondering at the courage and energy 
of those early Dutch colonists who made their homes in 
such desolate wastes. But this feeling of wonder, if not 
altogether removed, is certainly much lessened when 
one recalls the faéts that RALEIGH not only saw such 
desolate coast-regions as these but that he also pene- 
trated up the rivers into the higher and more beautiful 
country ; and that it was up the rivers, on those same 
higher lands, that the earlier colonists first settled, and 
that it was only at a later time, when they were firmly 
established, that, recognizing the superior fertility of the 
coast-lands, ugly as these were, and remembering what 
their ancestors had done in the swamps, in some respects 
not dissimilar, of the Netherlands, they found courage 
to make dams to ward off the sea and made their homes 
where but just before were uninhabitable swamps. / 

Before proceeding further it may be as well roughly 
to define the distriét to be described. The northernmost 
of the fairly well-known and settled rivers of Guiana 


BETWEEN THE POMEROON AND THE ORINOCO. 213 


is the Pomeroon. This river may therefore be regarded 
as the southern boundary of the distriét to be described. 
Coasting in a north-westerly direction from the mouth 
of the Pomeroon, one passes successively the mouths of 
the Morooka, the Waini and the Barima and comes at 
last to the mouth of the Amakooroo, a river which 
discharges itself into one of the mouths of the Orinoco, 
opposite to the island of Congrévo, on which now live 
the Venezuelan pilots who convey all vessels which pass 
up that channel of the Orinoco to the city of Bolivar. 
The boundary of British Guiana in this direétion has 
never been settled ; and much of the land, in accordance 
with a temporary agreement between the British and 
Venezuelan governments, is regarded as neutral. But in 
most maps, at any rate in most English maps, the 
Amakooroo is treated as the northernmost boundary of 
British Guiana; and it will, therefore, serve also as the 
northernmost boundary of our distriét. Taking the Am- 
akooroo and the Pomeroon as the northern and southern 
boundaries, it is still necessary to find a boundary on the 
west. But to do this is very difficult, the country in that 
dire€tion being hardly known. Yet without here assum- 
ing anything definite as to the a€tual boundary of British 
Guiana, we may, to fix a boundary for the distriét to 
be described, follow the line as laid down by Sir ROBERT 
SCHOMBURGK and the English map-makers up the course 
of the Amakooroo and from the point at which it leaves 
that river to the first falls on the Barima. From there, 
leaving SCHOMBURGK’S boundary, we must take a 
straight line to the first falls on the Waini, and from 
these again a straight line to the head of the Pomeroon, 
(which has, however, never been visited). 
CC 2 


214 TIMEHRI. 


The first physical feature to be noted in this distriét 
is that it is somewhat distinétly marked out by nature 
into two tra€ts, parallel to each other and to the sea. 
Of these, the one nearer the coast, of which the land 
hardly rises anywhere, and then only for a few feet, 
above the level of the sea, is really rather swamp than 
land, and is covered, in the neighbourhood of the in- 
numerable rivers and creeks, by a dense growth of 
mangroves (Rhizophora mangale), varied in the neigh- 
bourhood of the sea by a few courida trees (Avicennia 
nitida;, and everywhere else by a rank mud-loving vege- 
tation consisting chiefly of two kinds of palms, the 
troolie (Manicaria saccifera) and the manicole (Euw- 
terpe edulis). One may pass day after day along the 
rivers and creeks of this tra€t seeing perhaps no human 
being, or perhaps passing at most one or two canoes 
with an Indian or two in each. Hidden up some of the 
smaller creeks there are a few square yards of higher 
ground, on which perhaps a few Warrau Indians live ; 
but there is little to draw these people from their se- 
cluded haunts out on to the main river, except occasion- 
ally when they pass down to the fishing grounds at the 
mouths of the rivers to catch maracots (Pacu sp?) or 
crabs. Elsewhere all is pure swamp; and there is no 
place on which to stand unless on the many and 
entangled, over-ground, or rather over-water, roots of 
the mangroves and other trees. Nowhere but in a few 
far-scattered mud-holes at the heads of the creeks is any 
water not at least brackish to be found; and such water 
as is in these is foul, to sight and taste, with mud. And 
the water of the rivers themselves is thick and clammy 
with exudations from the mangrove-roots, and the air is 


BETWEEN THE POMEROON AND THE ORINOCO. 215 


heavy and sickening owing to the smell of the same, so 
suggestive of decay. It is, in short, a desolate place 
hardly fitted for any living thing but musquitoes. 

This traét, varying much in breadth, extends on an 
average for from 30 to 40 miles from the coast. 

Beyond that lies the second traét. Here the land is 
everywhere raised a few feet above the level of the sea, 
and not unfrequently, especially further inland, it rises in 
detached hills of from 30 to 40 or even 60 feet in height. 
Just as the mangrove is the charaéteristic plant—the 
physiognomic plant, HUMBOLDT would have called it— 
of the first traét, so mora (Mora excelsa), of the most 
magnificent dimensions, far exceeding in grandeur and 
beauty the mora of other parts of the colony, magnificent 
as is this tree everywhere, is the characteristic plant of 
this traét. 

Here and there, at the heads. of some of the smaller 
creeks, and on either side of the Morooka river, are open 
savannahs of greater or less, but often of considerable, 
size. These so-called ‘wet-savannahs’.must not be 
confused with the savannahs or downs—of considerable 
elevation, undulating, and covered for the most part 
with comparatively short grass,—in the interior, between 
the upper part of the Essequibo, the Roopoonooni, the 
Takootoo and the upper part of the Cuyooni. These 
wet-savannahs are marshes, the drainage of which forms 
many of the creeks and smaller rivers; and they were 
probably once lakes which have now been silted up. 

Geologically the two traéts consist, the mangrove traét 
of alluvion in which, in one or two places granite 
boulders crop up, and the mora traét of granite, gneiss 
and syenite. 


216 TIMEHRI. 


The whole distri€t is intersected by a most unusually 
intricate system of rivers. Of these the main rivers, 
those which flow dire&tly into the Atlantic, are the Pome- 
roon with the Morooka, which two rivers now discharge 
through a common mouth, though, the land about this 
mouth having been much washed away, it is probable 
that at no very distant period the Morooka was but a 
tributary of the Pomeroon, the Waini, the Barima and 
the Amakooroo. The general courses of all these, without 
exception, is in a north-easterly direétion toward the 
ocean. It might seem, glancing at the map, that they 
belong to the water-system of the Orinoco, so distinétly 
do they all, before discharging into the sea, turn toward 
the huge delta at the mouth of that river; but it is more 
probable that they once all ran more direétly into the 
ocean, at points considerably lower down on the coast of 
Guiana than their present mouths, but that the powerful 
currents which pass from the mouth of the Amazon up 
on to the coast of Guiana have gradually deposited 
banks of mud across their mouths and have thus driven 
them to seek outlets further and further north. 

In default of exa€t measurements, it is difficult to 
give any idea of the relative sizes of these rivers. The 
Pomeroon at its mouth may be some 1000 or 1200 yards 
wide ; the Morooka is but about 30 yards; the Waini 
and the Barima are several miles wide; and the Ama- 
kooroo some 200 or 300 yards, 

All of these narrow but gradually and at points, 
roughly speaking, at a distance from the sea proportion- 
ate to the mouth of each. 

Beside these main rivers there are many tributaries, 
most of which are small, and indeed hardly noteworthy, 


BETWEEN THE POMEROON AND THE ORINOCO. 217 


but of which a few are of considerable size, sometimes, 
at the point of junction, even as wide as the main river. 
The larger tributaries of the Waini are, on the left 
bank, at about 50 miles from the sea, the Barama, which 
is even a more considerable river than the Waini above 
the point at which the two join, and on the right bank 
the Barimanni. On the Barima the two chief tributaries, 
both on the right bank, close to each other, and not more 
than from 40 to 50 miles from the sea, are the Arooka 
(which is marked but not named on SCHOMBURGK’S map) 
andthe Kaitooma. Asin the case of the main rivers, each 
of these large tributaries has smaller tributaries of its 
own; and most of these smaller tributary creeks rise, 
either in savannah, or more often run down from small 
hills, on which, hidden away in the forest, reside the few 
Indian inhabitants of the distriét. 

All the main rivers rise on the Atlantic side of the 
Sierra Imataka range of mountains, which runs, roughly 
speaking, parallel to, and at no great distance from, the 
ocean. ‘Their courses are therefore short, and singularly 
similar. All, with the exception of the Morooka, which 
seems simply to consist of the drainage of certain 
marshy savannahs, and with the possible exception of 
the Pomeroon, for this possibly though not probably, also 
takes its rise in a savannah, run down from the actual 
slopes of the Sierra Imataka. The upper courses of all, 
again with the exception of the Morooka and possibly 
of the Pomeroon, are obstruéted by one or more ‘ falls’ 
or rather catara¢ts, of greater or less magnitude, caused 
by the cropping up of the one or more belts of granite 
which run across the country at right angles to, and 
cutting, the courses of the rivers. 


218 TIMEHRI. 


‘As the crow flies’ the ‘first fall’ on each of the rivers 
is about the same distance, probably about fifty miles, 
from the sea; but, as the courses of the rivers wind 
much and in very varying degree, the traveller in pass- 
ing from the sea up to these various ‘first falls’ has to 
travel very various distances. 

The cataracts themselves seem, allowing for difference 
in size, all to be of very much the same charaéter and 
very similar to most of the many cataraéts of about 
equal dimensions throughout Guiana. A description of 
one, that of the Wain, will therefore suffice. 

The so-called fall is in reality a broad and low, but 
wide and long, cataraét, some 100 yards wide, in which 
no great body of water is spread over a wide field of 
much-broken gneiss rock. It occupies an oval space, 
itself clear of, but surrounded by, trees, which spring 
from and among other rocks of the same character as 
those over which the water flows. These rocks, which 
surround the fall and cover the ground so densely that 
only tiny patches of white sand are left exposed here 
and there, are very thickly carpeted with mosses 
and selaginellas, and with a beautiful earth-creeping 
little plant with large pink, gentian-like flowers (Szpanea 
near acinifolia), amongst which, as also in the cran- 
nies of the rocks and of the tree-roots, nestle many 
tufts of a lovely but very minute pink orchid ; and much- 
dwarfed clumps of an elsewhere tall-growing, white- 
flowered, sweet scented Anthurium rise wherever there 
is a small level patch of sand. And the trees which 
grow nearest the fall, among these rocks are, root, 
branch and trunk, so dwarfed and gnarled and twisted 
and moss-covered, so hung with long feathery streamers 


BETWEEN THE POMEROON AND THE ORINOCO. 219 


of moss and of moss-like fern that it is difficult at first 
sight to tell wood from stone, root from branch. 

So far there is nothing peculiar about the rivers of 
this distriێt. The one remarkable feature about them, 
with which we have now to deal, is the extraordinary 
system of, apparently, natural canals, or to use the ex- 
pressive colonial phrase ‘water-paths’, between them. 
For instance, there is a complete inland water-way from 
the Pomeroon to the Amakooroo, and from there on into 
the Orinoco ; and it may be as well, in order to give some 
idea of these water-ways in general, to describe some- 
what minutely this particular line of water-path. 

Hidden among the dense mangroves on the northern 
bank of the Pomeroon, at about four miles from the 
mouth of the river, is the mouth of the Wakapoa creek, 
which even there, and at high water, is hardly more than 
from ten to fifteen yards wide. Passing up this creek for 
about two hours, under trees which meet overhead, one 
suddenly enters the savannah, covered by tall, rank grass 
and sedges, the roots of which are at all times in swamp, 
and the tops of which in the very height of the rainy 
season hardly rise above the wide-spreading lake which 
then occupies what is at other seasons savannah. 
Round about, in the far distance, the forest, now 
retreating to form one of many bays, now advancing 
in one of many jutting points on to the savannah, and 
many belts and clumps and single trees of eta palms 
(Mauritia flexuosa) are seen. Whatever the season, 
the winding bed of the creek is always distinguishable, 
marked, even when the whole savannah is water- 
covered, by the absence of grass along its course, 
caused by the swifter flow of the current and the 

DD 


220 ‘TIMEHRI. 


frequent passage of canoes, and by long broad bands 
of water-lilies. Following the course of the creek 
for about half an hour from the point at which it 
first enters the savannah,’ a point is reached, close 
to the Protestant mission of Kokerite, at which two 
nearly equal streams join to form the creek up which 
one has travelled. The branch coming from the left 
is still the Wakapoa; that from the right is Correia 
creek. Up the latter lies the way. For another hour 
one crosses the savannah, along the course of the 
Correia, which winds much, now into the bays of the 
surrounding forest-wall, now between two projecting, 
nearly-meeting points of forest, and from time to time 
past island-like groups of trees in that sea of grass. 
These tree-islands are really small patches of higher 
ground, and are in almost all cases inhabited by 
Indians. At last, on the right hand as one ascends the 
Correia, a narrow water-path diverges from the main 
stream. This is the a€tual ‘ water-path,’ or ‘itaboo’ as it 
is locally called, which is certainly not itself a creek or 
stream but serves to conneét the Correia with the Mana- 
warin creek, which latter is a large tributary of the Mo- 
rooka. These water-paths, though apparently natural, are 
in all probability artificial ; but it will be better for the 
present to defer discussion as to their nature. Passing 
along this itaboo, for perhaps an hour and a half, across 
the open savannah, it then suddenly passes, still through 
purely swampy ground, into the deep shade of a dense 
but low jungle, chiefly composed of thickets of a prickly 
palm (Bactris leptocarpa, Trail); and after winding 
through this for another hour, the itaboo suddenly passes, 
between three or four forest trees of larger growth, out 


BETWEEN THE POMEROON AND THE ORINOCO. 221 


on to the comparatively broad Manawarin creek or river. 
The way now lies down this, for some two hours, till the 
Manawarin runs into the Morooka, at about eight miles 
from the sea. Turning up the Morooka, one passes 
in less than ten minutes the protestant mission of War- 
ramoori, on the left hand; and two hours later, the 
Morooka all the while running occasionally through 
savannah, occasionally through large clumps of fair sized 
forest, one passes, on the right bank, the Roman Catho- 
lic mission of Santa Rosa. 

The scenery of the Morooka, though this river runs 
chiefly through savannah, is somewhat peculiar and re- 
markably pretty. The grass being more even and less 
coarse than usual, the trees being very beautifully 
grouped, many hills rising from the savannah and these 
having been taken possession of by a peculiar race of 
Indians, called from their history ‘ Spanish-Arawaks,’ 
who, much more civilized than the pure Indians, have 
cleared the ground and planted many fruit trees and 
many clumps of that most beautiful of all tropical plants, 
the bamboo, and have built fine large houses in such 
prominent and well-chosen positions that one is inclined 
to think they chose with a view to picturesque effeét 
and view ; for all these reasons the land on either side 
of the Morooka looks more like a stretch of English 
water-meadow before hay-harvest than like the ordinary 
coarse-grassed and muddy ‘ wet savannahs’ of the country. 
In passing along the river it is not difficult to imagine 
oneself floating, in early June, along the Thames between 
Oxford and Henley. Once the resemblance is even to a 
particular place. ‘There is a place on the Thames, just 
above Shiplake Lock, where a low tree-clad hill rising 

DD 2 


222 TIMEHRI. 


somewhat abruptly amid long stretches of rich water- 
meadow, yellow in June with butter-cups and red with 
sorrel and white with ox-eye daisies, is crowned by a 
barn and some picturesque farm-buildings half-seen 
among a few huge elms standing singly. And on the 
Morooka there is a place very like this, where a pic- 
turesque Spanish Arawak house but half seen among 
the single forest trees, which the house builder has left in 
clearing the forest, stands high on a hill which rises 
from a long stretch of level savannah, the waving grass 
of which is brightened by countless flowers of a beauti- 
ful white lily (Hymenocallis guianensts). 

But about an hour above Santa Rosa, a narrow itaboo, 
along which is the way, passes off from the Morooka to 
the left. After entering this itaboo no settlements are 
visible along it, though in one or two places a well- 
trodden narrow path starting from the water side indi- 
cates that some family of Warrau Indians lives in a 
house hidden away in some neighbouring coppice. But 
even such places as these are only ‘one one,’ as the 
negroes say, along this itaboo. 

For two hours the itaboo winds in the most provoking 
and apparently aimless manner, just as does an Indian 
foot-path, here and there across the open savannah, 
through, often at the side of, or between considerable cop- 
pices, till at last entering one of these coppices it passes 
almost at once into the small river Kamwatta, close to the 
source of the river, which is here not more than four or 
five yards wide and runs, not between dry banks, but 
between heaps of mud only held together by the roots of 
palms and of innumerable small trees, the branches of 
which, overhanging and intertwining, make one long 


BETWEEN THE POMEROON AND THE ORINOCO. 223 


tunnel of the river everywhere but where, the forest 
receding somewhat, the river widens into a series of 
ponds, so thickly strewn with the flowers and _ leaves of 
water-lilies as completely to hide the water except along 
the one streak where passing canoes keep clear the path. 

There is an exquisite beauty about the place, and there 
is a terrible dreariness. For many miles there is no 
house, nor even so much as a yard of dry ground on 
which a house might be. Pull up one of the water- 
lilies, and its roots come up laden and dripping with 
the thick slimy mud; the very water is thick with mud ; 
peep under the spreading heads of the bushes, in among 
the moss and orchid covered tree trunks and palm stems, 
and nothing is visible as far as the eye can see in that 
dim light but mud heaps and mud holes and innumerable 
twisted tree-roots and tree-trunks all mud-painted by 
many previous high tides.. Here and there, a temporary 
roof of a few palm leaves marks where some passing tra- 
veller, stopping just long enough to sleep or cook, has 
used the tree roots as an uneven floor, or, failing even 
these, has overlaid the mud with a faggot of palm leaves, 
to obtain foot hold. One gladly hurries first along the 
Kamwatta for a few miles till it runs into the rather 
broader and more open Bara-bara, and then along that 
until it, in its turn, runs into the yet more pleasant 
Biara, between beautiful and dense banks of graceful 
manicole palms (Euterpe edulis). But the ground on 
either side is still pure swamp. 

The Biara is a tributary of the Barimanni, which itself 
is a very considerable river; and this latter, again, runs 
into the main river, the Waini at about fifty miles from 
its mouth, The water-way from the Pomeroon to the 


224 TIMEHRI. 


Orinoco follows the courses of the rivers just mentioned. 
But on reaching the point at which the Barimanni runs 
into the Waini, the traveller has to choose between two 
ways by which he may make his further journeys. He 
may either pass up the Waini until he reaches its tribu- 
tary, the Moraybo ; or he may pass down the Waini till, 
when the sea is in sight, he comes to the Morawhanna. 

If he takes the former course, on reaching the Moraybo, 
an inconsiderable river not more than some 30 yards 
wide at its mouth, his way lies up this for a short dis- 
tance to a point where two branches meet. From here 
it is somewhat difficult to explain the passage, owing to 
the fact that, comparatively inaccurate as is the existing 
map of this distriét generally, it is absolutely inaccurate 
in its representation of the conneéting passage between 
the Waini and the Barima. On the other hand, for that 
very reason, and as a guide to future travellers by that 
way, it is desirable to describe the real route, as nearly 
as may be. 

At the point where the Moraybo, as one ascends it, 
first branches, the left hand branch is, according to the 
Indians of the distri€t, the Moraybo proper; the right 
hand branch, along which the way to the Barima lies, is 
the Sowareeko. Travelling along this, having passed a 
small creek coming in on the right hand, which being 
uninhabited and never penetrated is said to have no 
name, and also another small called Hobima—which 
name in Warrau is said to mean ‘tiger-water’—one 
comes in about an hour to a point where the river again 
divides, the two parts being of about equal size. The 
branch coming from the right is called the Saoreena; for 
the branch from the left, along which lies the way, I 


BETWEEN THE POMEROON AND THE ORINOCO. 225 


could learn noname. Again three quarters of an hour 
further on, the river divides, the large branch from the 
right being the Beesi-besani, the small creek from the 
left, along which lies the path, being the Seba-seba. And 
in another half hour the entrance to the actual itaboo, or 
connecting water-path, is reached, on the right bank. 

This itaboo is very small and very much blocked by 
fallen trees ; for the savannah through which it flows is 
not open and grass-covered but is occupied by a jungle of 
tall bushes and low trees. It conneéts the Seba-seba 
with the Entagga river. After entering the latter, pass- 
ing down its course, one reaches the main river, the 
Barima, in about an hour. 

A comparison of the passage between the Moraybo 
and the Barima as above described from a€tual experi- 
ence with the same passage as laid down in the map, 
serves to show the inaccuracy of the latter. But though 
the difference is certainly partly due to error on the part 
of the map-maker, it is possible that it has also in part 
arisen from the facts that there may be more than 
one water-way between the two rivers, ‘and that, as is 
certainly more noticeable in this part of Guiana than in 
any other, each tribe often has its own name for each 
creek, so that though none of the connecting streams as 
above named are to be found on the map, it is possible 
that some of these are really the same streams as those 
indicated, under different names, on the map. 

If, on the other hand, the traveller, instead of passing 
from the Waini to the Barima by this Moraybo itaboo, 
decides to go by the Morawhanna, on leaving the mouth 
of the Barimanni he will turn, not up, but down the 
Waini, and will travel along the ever widening course of 


226 TIMEHRI. 


that river till he comes within sight of thesea. Here, on 
his left, he will find the mouth of the Morawhanna, an 
itaboo which, on account ofits great size, requires special 
mention. It conneéts the Waini, at a point close to its 
mouth, with the Barima at a point some forty miles from 
the mouth of that river. Perhaps the Morawhanna 
should not in stri€tness be called an itaboo, as will pre- 
sently be explained, in that it is certainly of natural, not 
of artificial, formation. It is also of considerable greater 
size than any of the other water-ways, and is of different 
charaéter. As regards size, its entrance from the Waini 
is about 100 feet wide; and its average width from end 
to end is probably about 80 feet, though it broadens out 
every now and then into a series of lake-like ponds. 
Unlike the other water-ways, it is not a series of conneét- 
ted creeks, but is a single, natural canal, perhaps ten 
miles in length, between the Waini and the Barima. The 
depth seems, on. the average, about 15 feet; and it 
is hardly at all obstruéted by fallen trees, stumps or 
sand-banks. There is no reason why, if it is ever 
necessary, it should not be traversed by craft of consid- 
erable size. It takes its tide, which runs through it very 
strongly, from the Waini, not from the Barima. _ Lastly, 
the scenery along its course is very different from that 
of ordinary itaboos, or even from that of most rivers. 
For, for some not very obvious reason, the low trees and 
very numerous palms, principally troolie and manicole, 
which everywhere clothe its bank are here grouped in 
very unusually beautiful fashion. The great broad leaves 
of the troolie, sheltered and yet not crowded by the 
encircling trees, rise untorn by the wind and stand in 
splendid relief. And the almost circular ponds into which 


BETWEEN THE POMEROON AND THE ORINOCO. 227 


the channel now and again expands, their still water 
broken perhaps by a-single picturesque tree rising from 
the surface, seem as though arranged by some skilful 
gardener. 

But whether the traveller pass from the Waini to the 
Barima by the Morawhanna or by the Maraybo, on 
reaching the Barima he has again to decide between 
alternative ways by which he may make his further 
journey. 

Between, and roughly speaking parallel to the courses 
of, the Barima and the Orinoco lie, to mention them in 
their order from the Barima to the Orinoco, the rivers 
Kaitooma and Arooka, which are tributaries of the 
Barima, and the Amakooro. All of these, as are also 
the Barima and Orinoco themselves, are ‘inter-connected 
by one or more itaboos, such as have already been 
described. 

For instance, the Annabeesi creek, a tributary. of the 
Barima, has an itaboo which connects that main river 
with the upper waters of its tributary the Kaitooma; the 
Kaitooma, again, has a tributary stream called the Quara, 
or Cooshi, from which there is an itaboo into the Maho- 
kobunna, which is a tributary of the Arooka; and the 
Arooka in its turn is conneéted by its tributary the Aroan 
with the Amakooroo, though in dry weather boats have 
to be dragged for a few yards overland between the ‘two. 
Again, the Amakooroo is conneéted, by the Cuyueeni, the 
Waiakakoroo, the Bassana and the Aratoori, with the 
Orinoco. 

But the simplest way of reaching the Amakooroo from 
he point on the Barima which is first reached in using 
the itaboo by the Moraybo between the Waini and 

EE 


228 TIMEHRI. 


the Barima is by following down the course of the latter 
river to its mouth; and from there it is not more than 
four, or at most five, miles by sea round to the mouth of 
the Amakooroo. And in the same way, instead of using 
one of the itaboos, of which there appear to be several, 
though these are little known, between the Amakooroo 
and the Orinoco, there is little danger or difficulty in - 
coasting round by sea from the one river to the other. 
In either way, the water communication between the 
Pomeroon and the Orinoco is completed. 

Probably when the district is better known many 
other itaboos will be found. But enough has already 
been said to indicate the very remarkable and _ intri- 
cate net-work of water-paths throughout this district. 

Something must still be said here as to the real nature 
of these itaboos. The word itself, ‘itaboo,’’ is almost 
certainly Indian; but whether it be Warrau or Arawak 
or Carib it is difficult to discover. It seems now to 
be used broadly for any water-way which connects 
either one main river with another or two points on 
one and the same main river; but its original meaning 
is probably considerably less wide. In its broader sense 
it is used of at least three slightly different sorts of 
water-way. 

One form is where a small side-stream leaves a large 
main river to re-enter it at some lower point. Of 
this kind, very curiously and most conveniently, there 
are many on the upper Essequibo, so situated that 
each of them affords an alternative way past, and by 
which may be avoided, some dangerous cataract on the 
main river, leaving the river above the fall to re-enter 
below. For instance, there is such an one, of perhaps 


BETWEEN THE POMEROON AND THE ORINOCO. 229 


two miles in length though but a few feet in width, 
down the rushing waters of which, swiftly as these 
flow, boats may in comparative safety pass by and 
avoid the big cataracts of Etannime; for in the itaboo 
the too rapid passage of the boat may be checked 
at the will of its crew, as they catch and cling for 
the necessary moments to the tree-branches which 
everywhere overhang and inter-arch at no great height. 
Again, on the same river, the Essequibo, there is another 
so-called itaboo, of considerably greater length and 
widening out here and there into great pond-like reaches, 
which does not avoid any fall. This leaves the main 
tiver a mile or two below the point at which it is joined 
by the Roopoonooni. 

Another form is merely a natural canal, not between 
two creeks of adjacent rivers, but between the two 
main rivers themselves. And of this the best example is 
the Morawhanna above described. 

The third form is where a water-path almost cer- 
tainly artificial connects the upper courses of two small 
creeks or rivers. Of this kind are the water-paths al- 
ready described, between the Correia creek and the 
Manawarin, and between two side streams of the Mo- 
raybo and the Barima respectively. These occur always 
where the upper courses of the two connected streams 
start from points not far apart on one and the same 
‘wet savannah’ or, more rarely, insome forested swamp. 
In such places there is at all seasons of the year a more or 
less moist and muddy surface; and during the wet season 
a good deal of water overlies the mud. Through this mud 
or shallow water it is easy to move a canoe or light-boat, 
either pushing it with poles or dragging it, from one 

EE 2 


230 TIMEHRI. 


stream to the other; and in course of time, one canoe 
after another having been thus pushed or dragged alone 
the same path, an artificial channel is formed, along 
which water flows at all seasons. Thus an artificial 
itaboo is created between the two streams. The process 
by which this happens may be readily seen on the upper 
part of Morooka river, where its stream winds much and 
widely through moist, grass-covered savannah ; and here 
in many places, passing boats are dragged over such land 
as is there for short distances, from point to point, so 
as to cut off a long bend of the river. These short-cuts, 
half-formed itaboos ona small scale, are already very 
clearly and definitely marked on the savannah by their 
very much shorter grass and the smoother surface of the 
ground; but, though in time water will flow constantly 
through these, at present it is only at times when there 
is a considerable amount of water over the savannah that 
boats can float along them. 

It is to these artificial water-paths that the name 
‘itaboo,’ it seems to me, more properly belongs. 

The vegetation of the district, to which we must next 
turn, has already been described as regards its general 
characters in distinguishing the parallel tracts, of man- 
grove and mora, which occupy the whole district. But 
while the mangrove and the mora, respectively, are by 
far the most abundant plants in these two tracts, other 
plants are of course intermingled with these, especially 
in the mora tract. And as these additional plants differ 
in some degree from those general throughout the colony, 
they claim a few words of notice. 

Next to the mangrove and mora, the most abundant 
vegetation is supplied by palms of various species, Of 


BETWEEN THE POMEROON AND THE ORINOCO. 231 


these the manicole palm (Zuterpe edulis) is the most 
prominent, growing as it does in a profusion greater even 
than in other parts of British Guiana. It is abundant in 
the mangrove tract, and is present, though in less abund- 
ance, in the mora tract; but it is just where the one of 
these tracts passes into the other that it flourishes most. 
On either side of the Biara river, for instance, which 
runs just where the two tracts meet, it occurs in surpris- 
ing numbers. Indeed, the dense ‘‘bush’’ there consists 
almost entirely of enormous numbers of manicoles. 
varied only by a good many bushes, or rather small trees 
of ‘wild chocolate’ (Pachira aquatica), of unusually 
large size, and a few trees of a kind (Spathelia sp?) of 
which more will be said presently. 

But if manicole is unusually abundant in the district, 
another palm, commen elsewhere throughout the colony, 
is here remarkable for its great scarcity. Throughout 
the district there are but very few kokerite palms (I/axz- 
miliana regia) ; and those which do occur are of remark- 
ably stunted growth. Nowhere in this district does one 
see the noble column-like trunk, the grandly curved capi- 
tal of huge down-hanging spathes and flowers and fruits, 
and the noble crown of vast plumed fronds which distin- 
guish the kokerites of other districts. Here, where this 
palm occurs at all, its dwarfed leaves rise to no great 
height, it is almost without stem and has its few miser- 
able bunches of flowers and fruit almost buried in the 
mud. 

Yet another palm requires notice here. This is 
the troolie (Manicaria saccifera), which occupies so 
much of the swamp lands of the Pomeroon and Barima 
but is, curiously enough, rare, or at least very locally 


232 TIMEHRI. 


distributed, in the intermediate, though apparently equal- 
ly suitable parts. For instance, on the Waini, at least 
on those parts of its banks immediately above the junc- 
tion of the Barimanni, the troolie does not occur at all. 
But on entering the Moraybo, a tributary it will be 
remembered of the Waini, close, but on the opposite 
side to, the Barama, the troolie region is again at once 
entered ; and from there right through to the Barima, 
and down that river, it is once more abundant. The 
leaves of this palm being used by the Indians of this dis- 
trict almost exclusively for thatching their houses, those 
of them who live away from the troolie-swamps have to 
travel far and to carry home the leaves with much labour. 

A few booba-palms (/rzartea exorrhiza) are scatter- 
ed along the upper reaches of the rivers ; but apparently 
nowhere within this district does this palm form the chief 
vegetation of special tracts of swamp, as is the case in 
the Corentyn district. The only other palm claiming 
special notice is a small Gactris (like, but not identical 
with, B. leptocarpa of Professor Trail), called by the 
Warraus of this district yarooa, which occurs in very 
great abundance on the lower part of the Barama, from 
its mouth for some distance upward, and occurs scantily 
in one or two spots on the upper Waini. 

Along the upper reaches of these rivers two flowering 
trees form a special and very noticeable feature. One 
of these is the beautiful Brownea racemosa, the ‘rose of 
the tropics’ as RICHARD SCHOMBURGK characteristically, 
but somewhat inaptly, called it. It occurs scantily on the 
Pomeroon, but apparently nowhere in Guiana south of 
that. But on the Waini, the Barama, the Barima and 
their tributaries this tree, for it there attains the 


BETWEEN THE POMEROON AND THE ORINOCO. 233 


dimensions of a small tree, constitutes the bulk of the 
lower growth under the moras. Though it appears not 
to flower abundantly, its few but very large bunches of 
blossoms are of such intensely brilliant crimson colour 
as to attract the eye from afar. Equally attractive are the 
enormous magnolia-like flowers of a Gustavia, which is 
very abundant on these rivers. 

One other tree, though occurring throughout Guiana, is 
nowhere so abundant as here. This is a species of 
Spathelia, which makes a great show among the moras 
by the river banks. Ina young state its single upright 
stem and palm-like crown of grandly cut, dark-green 
leaves make it look like a young booba-palm ; but as it 
grows older, it branches scantily, and forms a wide- 
spreading head of a few finely grouped leaf-clusters, in 
the midst of each of which is set, in the flowering season, 
a huge plume of countless white flowers. 

Of the prickly bamboo which seems to belong, as 
regards Guiana, almost exclusively to this district, I have 
written already in an earlier number of Z7zmehrz.™ 

Orchids, as might be expected from the damp char- 
acter of the district, are unusually abundant ; but these 
are not very different from those of other parts of 
Guiana. Probably because the district has been less 
visited and less despoiled than many others, several 
orchids, however, which were apparently once abundant 
throughout the colony but are now rare elsewhere, are 
here abundant. As an example of this kind, may be 
mentioned Oncidium Lanceanum, which, common as it 
is in quasi-cultivation in the gardens of the coast, is now 


= _ = 


* See p. III, ante. 


234 TIMEHRI. 


rarely to be seen in a wild state, except in this district, 
in which it is fairly abundant. 

One very beautiful little yellow orchid (Oncidium 
wridifolium), occurring sparingly and in very small 
clumps on the Pomeroon, grows wonderfully abun- 
dantly and in very much larger clumps on the Barima. 
The plant is fan-shaped, like a tiny iris plant, gene- 
rally not more than an inch high and as much across, 
from which rises, well above the leaves, a delicate 
stem, on which unfold, one at a time, many yellow 
flowers. Generally, each plant consists of one, or at 
most two, fan-like tufts of leaves; but on the Barima 
plants are to be found composed of a dozen or more 
tufts, but so small that one can hold the whole clump, 
root and leaves, in the hollow of both hands; and yet 
there may be on it, besides buds, from thirty to forty 
open flowers each an inch long and three quarters of an 
inch across, of brilliant yellow, and like, but of more 
brilliant tint than, single florets of Oncidium altissimum. 

Another peculiar, and somewhat puzzling, orchid oc- 
curs in this district, resembling in the general habit of 
plant and leaf (though these latter are broaderand of a 
darker shade) Burlingtonia candida, but with a pendent 
wreath of greenish white flowers, like a long, down- 
hanging spike of mignonette, rather the wild English 
mignonette than the sweet kind of gardens. 

A beautiful pure yellow (lemon coloured) variety of 
Gongora is also noteworthy ; a violet flowered Sobralza 
grows, though sparingly, on some of the tree trunks ; and 
in the shady creeks, the lovely Stanhopea grandiflora 
hangs down many of its great white delicate flowers. 

On the whole, it may safely be affirmed that while the 


BETWEEN THE POMEROON AND THE ORINOCO. 235 


vegetation of this distri€t resembles in the main that of 
the rest of Guiana, yet it has certain well-marked and 
note-worthy features. 

The animal life of the distriét is less peculiar. The 
one bird to be noted as peculiar, as regards Guiana, to 
this distriێt is the great horned-screamer (Palamedia 
cornuta), the kamoko of the Indians, a huge black powis- 
like bird with very formidable spurs on wings and legs. 
It lives, breeds and feeds among the long grass of the 
open patches ; and it becomes more and more abundant 
the nearer one approaches the Orinoco. Another 
marked feature in this distri€t is the very great abun- 
dance of the blue and yellow macaw, (Ara ararauna) 
the abouen-neh of the Warraus, which is to be seen in 
parties of two, three or even more, on at least one tree 
in almost every one of the innumerable bends of the 
river. 

Game, both four-footed and feathered, is unusually 
abundant—doubtless on account of the sparse popula- 
tion. Fish, too, is very abundant. One much sought 
after species, locally called maracot, seems to be pecu- 
liar to the mouths of the rivers of this distri. It 
belongs to the genus Pacz, but is certainly not of the 
‘same species as the Pacu shot in large numbers in the 
Essequibo and Masserooni. 

But of living things the most numerous in the distri@ 
are certainly mosquitoes, which swarm inside the mouths 
of most of the rivers in such vast numbers as can only be 
realised by experience. Yet these inseéts are curiously 
distributed. Within the mouth of the Pomeroon, and that 
of the Waini at many seasons of the year, they blacken 
the air; and it is no exaggeration to say that they there 

FF 


236 TIMEHRI. 


make night noisy with their roar. At the mouth of the 
Barima they are less abundant; and within the Amakooroo 
they do not seem to occur atall. It would almost appear 
as though the head-quarters of these inse€ts were at the 
mouth of the Pomeroon, and that they become less and 
less abundant further and further from that point. But, 
on the other hand, within the mouth of the Orinoco itself 
they again become enormously abundant. It must be 
added that the upper courses of all these rivers, and this is 
especially true of the Pomeroon, are free from these 
blood-suckers. 

The population of the whole distriét is very scanty, 
and is very scattered. Most of the inhabitants are Red- 
men—True Caribs chiefly on the Barama and upper 
Barima, Ackawoi on the Morooka and upper Waini, 
Arawaks on the Morooka, and many Warraus everywhere 
at the mouths of the rivers. On the Morooka there are 
two missions—Warramoori, belonging to the church of 
England, Santa Rosa belonging to the Roman Cathoiics ; 
and these serve as centres, bringing the scattered popula- 
tion together and making it thicker on that river than 
elsewhere. | The members of the Warramoori mission are 
the scattered pure-bred Indians of the above mentioned 
tribes, who live elsewhere but have houses at the mission 
to which they resort from time to time and especially on 
Sundays. The members of the Santa Rosa mission, on the 
other hand, form a curious and isolated group of people, 
locally called ‘Spanish Arawaks.’ These are half-breeds, 
between Spaniards and Arawaks, who fled southward 
from the Orinoco to escape the evils of the final war of 
Venezuelan independence, and, settling on the Morooka, 
took shelter, as they supposed, under English rule. In phy- 


BETWEEN THE POMEROON AND THE ORINOCO. 237 


sique they show trace of both their parent races; they 
speak, more or less impurely, bothlanguages; they pay de- 
cidedly much more attention to cleanliness, and do far 
more to make their homes pleasant, as for instance by 
cultivating fruit trees and even flowers, than do pure 
Indians; and they almost invariably in all ways keep 
themselves aloof from the pure Indians. On the Waini, 
at Quobanna, is a third mission, recently established, 
in conneétion with that at Warramoori; but this, as is 
the parent mission, is chiefly a centre to which the 
pure Indians from the surrounding distriéts occasionally 
and for very brief times resort. All the pure Indians 
of the distri€t, whether they occasionally attend missions 
or not, live, not on the main rivers, but far up the most 
retired creeks; and consequently they are but very 
seldom seen by the traveller, unless purposely sought. __ 

Except these Indian missions, there are but few 
centres of population. Just within the mouth of the 
Amakooroo there are some half dozen settlements, oc- 
cupied chiefly by coloured men and Portuguese, who 
have passed from the English side and settled there, 
and by a very few Venezuelans. Again, on the Mor- 
awhanna settlers of the same class as those on the 
Amakooroo are now beginning to gather; and at a point 
far up the Barama a few other settlements of the same 
charaéter have recently been formed. There are also 
two or three more such settlements scattered singly 
throughout the distri€t. These are all the regular in- | 
habitants of the distriét. i 

But during the fishing season considerable numbers 
of people from the Pomeroon and the Orinoco gather at 
the mouths of the Barima and Waini to catch and salt 

FF 2 


238 TIMEHRI. 


fish. And there are also some half-dozen regular tra- 
ders, black people or coloured, who almost constantly 
move about in their boats, or ‘floating shops,’ carrying 
cheap European goods to the Indians and obtaining in 
return such produce as these people have to give. 

And this brings up the subject of the preduéts of the 
distri€t. At present these are extremely few and unim- 
portant. Chief of those a€tually obtained is perhaps 
balata, the milk of the bullet-tree (J/7?musops balata), 
which till recently was abundantly and widely scattered 
throughout the mora traét; but, owing to this same search 
for balata and the wasteful method in which it has been 
carried on, the tree is now not far from being extermin- 
ated. Almost every Indian colleéts bullet tree milk, and 
in doing so unfortunately chops down the trees. Consi- 
derable quantities of locust gum are also collected by the 
Indians ; but as is the case with this substance elsewhere 
in the colony, the supply, by its very nature, is limited, and 
it must before long be virtually exhausted, even under the 
very dilatory and inefficient system of colleétion followed 
by the Indians. By the Indians a few yams are grown 
for purposes of barter, and a few fowls and parrots 
reared; and a very large quantity of fish is caught, cured 
and, with the corresponding amount of fish-glue, bartered. 
And, considering the small amount of land under such 
cultivation, large quantities of yams, corn, and even 
cacao are produced by the few coloured and Portuguese 
residents ; this produce finding its way in about equal 
proportions into the English colony and into Venezuela. 
A very little timber, chiefly red cedar, is also cut by 
these people. ‘This fairly exhausts the list of produce at 
present obtained from the distriét, 


BETWEEN THE POMEROON AND THE ORINOCO. 239 


As to produce which might be obtained, the land is 
very rich, and, under proper cultivation and with the 
necessary heavy outlay on drainage, might undoubtedly 
be made as fruitful as the similar lands along that part of 
the coast which lies between the Essequibo and the 
Corentyn ; and the uplands of the district seem especi- 
~ ally suited for the cultivation of coffee and cacao. Timber 
is abundant and fine; the mora, especially on the upper 
parts of the rivers, is far finer than any to be found else- 
where in the colony. And up the Barima and Amakooroo 
red cedar is very abundant and fine. Nor would there 
be much difficulty in getting this timber, when once cut, 
to market; for the rivers are large and fine and afford 
an unsurpassed system of water carriage. Lastly—and 
according to some this is the most important faét about 
the distritt—it may be taken almost for granted that 
gold will, for good or evil, one day be found there. 


Health in the Colony. 


By §. E. Tinne. 


Mie question can be of such burning importance 


skae\ ape] to the colony as its public health; and yet none 

MUeatd] here presents such glaring anomalies at the 
outset, or offers more opportunities toa reformer, than the 
conditions under which it at present exists. 

The late epidemic of yellow fever, the still more 
recent quarantine of the Shez/a from fear of cholera, 
the alarming increase of leprosy, and the general sani- 
tary state of our community now, as compared with 
former years, present serious points of reflection. 

It strikes one as strange that a country should have 
such large and apparently unlimited powers of excluding 
disease from outside as we now possess, and yet be so 
regardless of the faét that disease is never purposely 
brought here by those who visit us. For instance, we 
introduce to this country annually some four thousand 
immigrants from a city where Asiatic cholera is endemic, 
besides the number of visitors to our shores from other 
parts and yet we have no existing quarantine accommo- 
dation for either East Indian coolie or mail passenger, 
such as even Trinidad or Surinam can boast of. Ata 
cost of from £6,000 to £8,000 we could purchase an old 
iron steamer or ship, dismantle her, and place a double 
deck upon her, making a floating hospital to hold a 
thousand people if required. 

Whilst, however, we have the means of placing a cor- 
don around us that nothing but brute force could break, 


HEALTH IN THE COLONY. 241 


we are compelled by English medical opinion, enunciated 
by at least some who have never seen a case of leprosy, 
and in opposition to the voice of almost every other civi- 
lized country, to allow that foul and deadly contagion to 
spread rapidly within our camp and beyond our own 
control. If, by the sense of modern public opinion at 
home, local option in matters of drink has been recog- 
nized, can any refuse us, living in the midst of this dread- 
ful disease, the power to isolate its victims and save the 
rest of the country? Is it the enormity of the task in India 
that appals those who inwardly confess to the truth of 
the increasing evil, and urges them to withhold from us 
liberty to take the steps necessary for our own protec- 
tion, because they would have to follow our example at 
a heavier cost? In the Sandwich Islands, if a member of 
the royal family itself, or one of the highest nobility, 
becomes infeéted,—without a word or murmur against 
what he recognizes as for the public good, he bids adieu 
to his relatives in this world and retires for the remainder 
of his life time to the leper island of Niolo Rai. What 
savages of yesterday have learnt as a bitter experience 
to be a necessity? what our neighbours, the Dutch, 
consider a proper precaution at our very door, is to be 
forbidden us, (who are almost omnipotent as regards 
excluding disease from without) because it has already 
landed and made its home here. Debates in the Court of 
Policy, aletter to the newspapers, may awaken a passing 
interest in the matter at the moment; but it is for those 
who have known its unhappy viétims here and who live 
in its proximity, persistently to agitate for a better state 
of things and a sufficient control against the evil. 
Generally, the colony would seem of late years to have 


242 TIMEHRI. 


made some pigmy strides in the path of sanitary reform. 
Public baths, such as even the railing off the space be- 
tween the two groynes where the Militia Band plays at 
the sea wall, to keep out sharks, would afford at a very 
trifling expense, seem to have gone out of recollection, 
although in 1879 the money was voted for their ere¢tion. 
One sees a few washing sheds, with Lamaha water laid on, 
over some city trenches; but where overcrowding, de- 
fe€tive sewage management (save in one experimental 
distri€t), the rapid growth of tropical vegetation, the 
equally quick alternation of heat and rain, the indolence 
and improvidence due to climate and conducive to filth 
and consequent sickness, exist there appears to be still 
a wide field indeed for philanthropists to work in. That 
an ample supply of pure tank water in time of drought 
has as yet been secured only upon sugar-estates affords 
a theme in itself. 

Temperance also, as distinét from teetotalism or good 
templarism, has lessons to teach here which are no less 
valuable; and whilst it may reasonably be doubted 
whether total abstinence from stimulants is to be the 
rule for all, it is undoubtedly true that more to do, 
whether in work or recreation, and less to drink would 
be of benefit to the bulk of the community. From 
this point of view it seems right that, whether one 
partakes in the different means of occupying one’s 
leisure or not, every one should support more a€tively 
than they do, the boating, cricket, rifle shooting, athletics, 
jawn tennis and other amusements; and steps should 
be taken to facilitate the modes of access to pleasure- 
resorts, such as the new Botanic Gardens, the many beauti- 
ful lakes and creeks behind our estates, even the Kaieteur 


HEALTH IN THE COLONY. 243 


itself, from which at present the general public are 
practically excluded by the want of very inexpensive aids 
to travel, such as benabs at stated points, ferries and 
tramways, at a minimum of cost and a maximum of 
convenience. Lastly, it must not be forgotten that for 
many years the colony has had to work for its bare 
existence and could spare no time for those diversions 
which make life in the Tropics as palatable as at home. 


ACCOR 


GG 


A Visit to the Oil and Fibre Works at 
Pin AForucuaernd 


By the Hon. B. Howell Fones. 


4 Y curiosity was aroused by the samples of co- 
| coanut fibre which were given to me by Mr. 
MusTARD and which I had the honour of laying 
on the table at a meeting of this Society, on roth May, 


1883. I therefore determined to take the first opportu- 
nity of visiting the estate on which these were made. 
Consequently, on the 17th of May I found myself wend- 
ing my way, accompanied by Mr. MUSTARD, towards 
Mahaicony, in which district Plantation Fortitude is situ- 
ated. No sooner had we arrived on the creek road, 
which has recently been put in order, than I found I was 
indeed in the land of cocoanuts. Sugar was nowhere, 
and King Cocoanut reigned in his stead. Wherever one 
looked, cocoanuts in all stages of growth surrounded 
the observer. Anda pretty sight it is to see the long 
avenues of palm trees casting a refreshing and inviting 
shade from the heat and glare of the tropical sun. Our 
first resting place was at Pln. Sophia’s Hope, the resi- 
dence of Mr. BARLOW, where we were most hospitably 
entertained at breakfast. Mr. BARLOW is indeed a splen- 
did specimen of a colonist. Forced on account of ill 
health to leave the hills and dales of beautiful Devon, 
he joined his brother, who was already a planter out 
here, and for over fifty years has made this the land of 
his adoption ; and during the last thirty-five years has 
never left its shores; over eighty years old, hale and 


OIL AND FIBRE WORKS AT PLN. FORTITUDE. 245 


hearty, a living denial of the unhealthiness of the colony ; 
and surely if our Honoured President merits the title of 
“Sugar King,’ Mr. BARLOW may rightly be called 
“ King Cocoanut.” But I am digressing from my sub- 
jet. After breakfast and a chat on nuts and things 
pertaining, we started for Plantation Fortitude, arriving 
at which we were kindly received by Mr. SMITH, the 
owner, who immediately proposed visiting the works. 

No sooner had we entered the yard than we saw piles 
of nuts ; and it is not until a tyro, like myself, sees masses 
of nuts together like this, that he understands what a 
vast difference there is in nuts. Here we saw large, 
bright, reddish-brown, even-sized looking nuts which we 
were tola came from such an estate, others dirty, brown, 
undersized, and shrivelled, showing care had not been 
taken with the estate on which they grew, tell-tales of 
dirty trees or drainage unattended to ; but Mr. SMITH 
makes use of them to keep his machinery employed, and 
all is grist that comes to his millat present. As you enter 
the machine shed, you soon discover that the manufactory 
is divided into two distinét operations, the Oil Depart- 
ment, and the Fibre, the motive power for both being a 
14 horse power Robey Patent Engine, this being station- 
ary, and placed under the boiler, working with a pressure 
of 60 Ths. the square inch. 

The nuts are first divested of their fibrous covering, 
by manual labour, in the yard, 60 cts. per 1000 being 
the price paid for this work, which consists simply of 
splitting the husk on the sharp edge of a hoe fixed in 
the ground, no better method at present being discovered. 
The husks are then sent to the fibre department and 
the hard nut, the fortune of which we intend first to fol- 

GG 2 


246 TIMEHRI. 


low, being broken up by a hammer, is then placed on long 
trays mounted on wheels, running in and out of a shed, 
so as to avoid danger of getting wet, should a shower of 
rain fall, whilst the sun’s aétion is shrivelling the kernel, 
allowing it to come away easily from the hard shell. This 
is soon accomplished and children are employed in sepa- 
rating one fromthe other. The kernels, which at this stage 
are called Copra, are sent away to the store room, and 
the shells to be burnt to raise steam in the boiler. The 
copra is then placed under the crushing mill, worked from 
a shaft driven by a pulley, on the fly-wheel shaft of the 
engine, as indeed are all the machines in this department. 
The crushing mill consists of two large mill-stone wheels 
revolving round a large iron saucer or pan and also round 
their own centres; it is to all appearance like a large 
mortar mixer, socommonly seen in England, only in that 
case the saucer moves round, whilst in this the saucer is 
stationary and the stones revolve. ‘The outer edges of 
these stones are set in such a way that each one delivers 
to the other the mass it has just crushed ; in this way the 
whole is reduced toa fine powder. A door at the bottom 
of the saucer is now opened, a scraper, revolving with 
the stones, gathers the materials together and pushes it 
through the opening into a shallow tray ready to receive 
it. Itis now to all appearance like damp brown saw- 
dust and is ready for placing in the steam-kettle, which 
has a stirrer revolving inside which keeps the mass 
moving until the temperature is raised to 120 F. A 
sliding door is then opened, and the mass, which has as- 
sumed an oily appearance is run into coarse cloth bags ; 
these are put between wooden envelopes lined with tin, 
and placed on the iron trays of the hydraulic press, The 


OIL AND FIBRE WORKS AT PLN. FORTITUDE. 247 


hydraulic pumps working in ail, which are self-aéting, 
are then set to work, the first and biggest pump quickly 
raising the pressure, which when it rises to a certain 
point is taken up by the smaller pump until a pressure 
of 1? tons to the square inch is reached. Long. before 
this point is arrived at, the oil is seen bursting out from 
the bags, flowing from tray to tray, until it finally falls 
into a tank, from which it is pumped into the oil store. 
This consists of a receiving tank, a settling tank, and 
the pure oil, or shipping tank, arrangements being made 
for drawing from one to the other. 

We now return to the hydraulic press from which the 
pressure has been taken off and the envelopes removed ; 
the bags are now perfectly flat, and it is with difficulty 
they are taken off from the hard cake formed inside. This 
is now like oil-cake made from linseed, but is lighter, 
in colour. Sometimes these cakes are again broken 
up under the mill and are squeezed a second time, 
or are mixed with the copra to prevent the mass under 
the stones from becoming too oily, and after the second 
pressure the cakes are fit for food. The broken cakes 
are ground up into powder and form a fine food for 
poultry, most of it being sold on the spot at 72 cts. per 
100 ibs., or is used for mixing with fresh copra ; in this 
way little or nothing is wasted. 

One aétion of the pair of presses will crush the copra 
fron. 400 nuts and yield per day 130 to 140 gallons of oil, 
and the filter bags used will work up 100,000 nuts before 
wearing out. 

We then turned our attention to the husks, which are 
first placed in a crushing mill, worked by a belt from the 
fly-wheel, as are all the machines in this portion of the 


248 TIMEHRI. 


fa€tory, and which consists of two deeply grooved rollers 
which flatten out and break up the outer silicate cover- 
ing. They are then placed on trucks and wheeled to the 
ponds placed at the side of the tramway, where they re- 
main soaking in water for at least a week, but generally 
for a much longer period, until the outer cuticle has to 
some extent rotted and become soft. They are then 
taken back to the factory and the process of extraéting 
the fibre by the teazing machines commences. 

The husk, being held in the hand, passes between two 
small rollers about 14 inches in diameter, close to which 
a large wheel, with its periphery covered with small 
teeth, revolves with great speed, which, as soon as the 
husk touches it, tears the refuse from the fibre and in 
a few seconds leaves the fibres still somewhat dirty but 
separated from each other. Then it is withdrawn and 
the portion of the husk previously held in the hand 
is submitted to the same process, leaving a bunch 
of comparatively clean fibres. The refuse from these 
machines goes to make what is known as “ No. 2 mat 
fibre.”’ The fibre just aéted upon, which I have stated 
is only comparatively clean, is again submitted to 
a second process in another teazing machine kept clean 
for this purpose, the result being a clean sample. The 
refuse from this second operation goes to form what is 
called ‘‘No. 1 mat fibre.” Mr. SMITH has three of these 
teazing machines at work; but he finds they are not suffi- 
cient for his wants, and he has three more, on their way 
from England. 

The fibre is tied up into small bundles, a number of 
these being placed together and placed under an hydrau- 
lic press forming a bale 2 feet x 2 feet x 3 feet weighing 


OIL AND FIBRE WORKS AT PLN. FORTITUDE. 249 


about 200 tbs. The refuse from the teazing machine is 
again passed into a cleaning machine, consisting of a 
wire cylinder about 8 feet long, slowly revolving in the 
opposite direction to a shaft inside carrying teeth which 
shake out the dust from the fibres, carrying it at the 
same time forward and discharging it clean at the other 
end. This machine is most simple and effeétive. Of 
course the 1st and 2nd mat fibres are passed through 
separately and are packed by themselves, in bales similar 
in size to the brush fibre, but only weighing 120 to 130 Ths. 
But before packing, all the fibres are exposed to the sun, 
for drying, and are exposed on wheeled trays running on 
a tramway similar to those used for drying the copra. 

Thus every portion of the cocoanut is disposed of, and 
is marketable with the exception of the refuse from the 
mat fibre cleaning machine, no use having been found for 
this, except for nurserymen at home, who place it as a 
top dressing to bedding plants and on the pots in green- 
houses, and I have no doubt our Government Botanist 
will be able to take some of this for the Botanic Gardens, 
and perhaps tell us if it would be suitable as a manure in 
cane cultivation. 

After inspeéting the works we walked through the 
cocal. This consisted, a few years ago, of some hun- 
dred trees, but Mr. SMITH with his energy has now 7000 
trees in full bearing, all kept clean and in good order. 
He states his average crop is 700,000 nuts, at which Mr. 
MUSTARD expressed some surprise, as he considered it 
high. Here and there we saw signs of the inexplica-— 
ble cocoanut disease, not to be confounded with the 
tatack of the beetle, and on talking over the matter, both 
Mr. SMITH and Mr. MUSTARD were of opinion that it 


250 TIMEHRI. 


results from the planting of green nuts, which grow much 
more rapidly than ripe ones, and that after bearing one 
or two crops they seem to get exhausted and die away. 
This opinion is to some extent borne out by the faét that 
in the older walks, such as that behind Mr. BARLOW’S 
house, the trees have never suffered. I mention this, as 
anything that can throw light on this strange disease or 
lead to a clue to the mystery must be useful to those in- 
terested in this cultivation. 

In this paper I have not touched on the number of 
persons employed on the works or the rate of wages 
paid, as it must be remembered the works are only in 
their infancy, the full power of the faétory undeveloped, 
and the hands unskilled in the use of the machines. 
Under these circumstances any minute detail of this des- 
cription would be unfair to Mr. SMITH and misleading to 
the members of the Society; but I hope I have shewn what 
anyone with energy and push, coupled with brains such 
as Mr. SMITH possesses, can accomplish in establishing 
what are now termed “small industries,’ and I am sure 
all members of the Society will wish Mr. SMITH all suc- 
cess in his venture and that it may be the forerunner of 
similar establishments in the colony. 

There is one thing which struck me on my visit to 
Mahaicony which I do not think it is out of place to men- 
tion here, this is the answer received to my question 
‘“Who are your labourers ?’’—“ Oh, Coolies ; nothing but 
Coolies” ;—a warning, to those who advocate small indus- 
tries, that if their theories are to be successful they must 
look to immigration for assistance; a rebuke, to those who 
are constantly grudging the revenue supplying } the 
present cost; and a strong point in favour of those who 


OIL AND FIBRE WORKS AT PLN. FORTITUDE. 251 


know that without immigration the colony would not be 
what it is, and that as its success at present and in the 
past must be attributed to immigration so in the future 
will this have to be continued, if we wish to see that 
prosperity maintained and small industries progress and 
flourish. 


HH 


Notes on West Indian Stone Implements. 
(/lustrated.) 


By the Edttor. 


No. 2. 
Aff (ia N the former note on this subjeét* the last speci- 
A © men described and figured | Plates 3 and 4,] was 


a curious stone mill or mortar, or, as I rather sup- 
pose it to be, a bench, from Mr. E. L. ATKINSON’S collec- 
tion. Since that was written, the owner of that implement 
has called my attention in a letter to certain hypotheses, 
one of which is somewhat wild, which have been held as 
to such stones. ‘I did form some opinion,” he writes, 
‘as to what use the ‘cocked hat’ had been put 

I thought it had been used rather to make fire with, 
as the inner groove seemed to be for the purpose of 
rubbing, or as a mill; but I have read of others 
perfeétly flat. I also saw in an American catalogue 
that they were supposed. to represent the island of 
Cuba, as all they had had come from that island, and in 
the distance it (Cuba) had the appearance of one of those 
stones ; but I think the faét of one coming from another 
island (i. e. St. Vincent) so far away from Cuba knocks 
that on the head. Mr. OBER, who was sent to the West 
Indies by the Smithsonian Institute, picked up a very 
curious little imitation of a turtle in Balliceaux, a small 
island near St. Vincent where the Caribs were imprisoned 
after the last war. An engraving of it may be seen in 


*See Timehvi, vole 1. Pp». 257: 


WEST INDIAN STONE-IMPLEMENTS. 253 


his book ‘‘ Camps in the Caribbees,”’ where he also gives 
extra€ts from various authors about these images. It 
might be inferred that the turtie was one of the deities 
of the Caribs of St. Vincent. I think the head on one 
end of my stone represents that of a turtle and the 
other that of some fish. The stone may have been 
used as an idol, and the hollow part made to cause it to 
fit firmer on its pedestal.’ As regards the strange sug- 
gestion that the stones are representations of the island 
of Cuba it is probably not necessary to write. As 
regards the other theory, based partly on Mr. OBER’S 
remarks, that these stone benches were idols, | may 
add that in reviewing /Mr. OBER’S book, at the time of 
its appearance, in an English literary journal, I remarked 
that ‘the wooden objet, representing a tortoise, figured 
on p. 223 as an image of a gemz, an inferior sort of deity 
said to have been worshipped by the old Caribs, is in 
reality, as Mr. OBER himself seems half to suspeét, part 
of an Indian bench or stool. The Indians are still in 
the habit of making stools roughly resembling such 
animals as alligators, tortoises and frogs ; and the ‘zemz’ - 
figured is the head-piece of one of these stools. To 
Mr. OBER’S information that the eyes ‘are carefully. 
carved hollows, as if for the reception of some foreign 
substance’ I may add that the substance now usually in- 
serted to represent the eye is. a bright-coloured seed.’ 
In short, while agreeing with Mr. OBER that his turtle. 
was part of one of these bench-like articles, 1 cannot 
agree either with him or with Mr. ATKiNSON that there 
is any probability of such articles having been regarded 
as idols. The further suggestion of the latter gentleman 
that the hollow part of the stone may have been 
HH 2 


254 TIMEHRI. 


intended to fit on to the top of a pedestal is, I think, 
negatived by the fa€t that in the great majority of 
examples the hollowed surface is obviously intended 
to be uppermost, the opposite surface being flat, not 
pointed as is Mr. ATKINSON’S peculiar example, and 
very certainly intended to rest on the ground. It may be 
as well to add that I gather from Mr. OBER’S book that 
in the Report of the Smithsonian Institute for 1876 there 
is an elaborate article describing, amongst other things, 
several of these ‘stools’, from Porto Rico; but this 
article I have never been fortunate enough to see. 

Those notes being as it were jottings of such informa- 
tion as comes to hand from time to time, I may here insert 
another interesting extraét from a letter of Mr. ATKIN- 
SON’S, concerning the same island of Balliceaux above- 
referred to. He writes ‘that the Caribs had a burial 
ground in the island of Balliceaux. I have only heard of 
it, having only once been there. The gentleman who told 
me said he had often seen the skulls, each one packed in 
a little urn, and very close to the surface of the ground. 
I cannot say if there are any there now. Balliceaux is 
about eight miles from St. Vincent ; and from it to Gren- 
ada there is a string of small rocks and islands. I have 
specimens (of stone implements) and have heard of many 
more that have been picked up on these rocks and 
islands, upon which Caribs were never known to live; 
and,in fa€t, on some they would not have been able to, 
from their small size, On one of these islands (Mustique) 
I picked up some very curiously shaped pieces of shell, 
seemingly made, or rather shaped, by hand; but the 
people on the island told me they were pieces of conch 
shell broken of and smoothed by the sea, I have reason 


WEST INDIAN STONE-IMPLEMENTS. 255 


now to believe that they were Carib implements similar 
to the St. Lucia (?) and Barbados specimens. : 
My ‘gouge’* and a very sharp ‘knife’ of greenstone 
1m, also came from Mustique. But Caribs 
could hardly have lived there, as there is no water.’ 

It is very much to be wished that further information 
may be obtained of this supposed Carib burial place and 
of the other Indian relics of these islands. 

As regards the skulls packed in urns | may mention 
that some years ago Dr. WALLEN, a Venezuelan, and for- 
merly in the army of that country but since resident in 
Georgetown, in the course of a very interesting letter on 
shell mounds and other similar subjeéts which he sent me, 
mentioned his possession of an earthern cup of baked 
clay, the shape of a human skull, which was found, toge- 
ther with some other relics of Indians, in some loose 
mould near the village of Serro on the coast of the Gulph 
of Paria. As it is just possible that this skull-shaped cup 
may bear some relation to the skull-urns of Balliceaux, 
Dr. WALLEN’S statement is worth mentioning. 

The implements which Iam able to figure on this 
occasion are all from the collection of M. ROUSSELET of 
St. Lucia; and they were, I believe, all found on that 
island. M. ROUSSELET was good enough to send them 
to the British Guiana Exhibition held in Georgetown in 
1882. 

By far the most remarkable of these implements is that 
figured on Plate 5. It is of very considerable size; its 
greatest length is thirteen inches, and its greatest height 


* This ‘ gouge’ is the very beautiful little implement figured (No. 7) 
on Plate II, See Timehri vol. 1. p. 265. 


256 


TIMEHRI. 


_ Plate 5. 


UGE MEGS MGA cat ler... c 


WEST INDIAN STONE-IMPLEMENTS. 257 


(from top to bottom as it stands on the plate) is seven 
and ahalf inches. Unfortunately, I failed to note its 
greatest thickness ; but this must be at least an inch and a 
half. Nor did I note its weight. 

It will at once be obvious that its manufacture must 
‘have involved great labour. Its chief and great value to 
us then rests on the rather paradoxical fact that, 
notwithstanding this great effort involved in its man- 
ufaéture, it is almost, if not quite, impossible to suppose 
that it can even have been of any practical use to 
its makers and first owners. I have already pointed out 
that, in accordance with an Indian habit of which strong 
traces may yet be observed in the surviving members of 
the race, Indians, and of these especially the Caribs, 
seem to have been in the habit of very elaborately 
fashioning and ornamenting certain hatchets and other 
implements of the types which they ordinarily used, and 
of keeping these glorified examples not for use but for 
ornament. Possibly these were made as examples of 
what they could do; possibly, though not used praétical- 
ly, these had certain ceremonial uses. Perhaps the 
very remarkable stone here figured belongs to this 
class of ornamental or ceremonial, as distinguished from 
practical, implements. But if so, it differs from almost all 
others known to me in that at first sight it appears to 
be, not a glorified hatchet, or any kind of implement 
ordinarily used, but is apparently of a purely imaginative 
form. On the other hand, it is quite possible that this 
stone may have been made and used as a sort of 
‘banner-stone,’ as an emblem or ensign, to be carried 
perhaps with war-parties, perhaps in ceremonial dances 
or feasts; and in that case it may be of a form tradi- 


258 TIMEHRI. 


tionally proper for such purposes, and may even be the 
conventionalized figure of some common objet, just 
as for instance the conventional ‘fleur-de-lis’ represents, 
or misrepresents, some flower, probably the common 
iris. 

As regards these ‘ banner-stones’ some information 
may be gathered from the catalogue of General PITT- 
RIVERS’ instruétive colleétion as exhibited a few years 
ago at the Bethnal Green Museum, which colleétion, by 
the way, has recently been given to the University of 
Oxford. In this catalogue it is pointed out that axes in 
their earliest and simplest forms were probably used 
merely as tools ; at a later period they were used also 
as weapons; and ata still later period a further use was 
found for them, as ceremonial emblems. And when used 
in this latter way the blade, and often the handle, were 
sometimes modified and ornamented to such a degree that 
the whole was hardly to be recognised as a weapon. 
General PITT-RIVERS writes* :— 

Thus, modified and scarcely to be recognized as the semblance of a 
weapon, it may be regarded as the last vestige of the war axe. The 
axe, like the spear, was in ancient times used to mark a boundary. Of 
this we have an instance in the charter of Canute to Christ Church, 
Canterbury,.....51.... granting the harbour of Sandwich and the dues 
thereof on either side as far as a man standing on a ship at flood tide 
could cast a taperaxe. Thiscustom of throwing an axe to mark a 
boundary has survived in some parts of England to our owntime. The 
axe bound up in the fasces and carried by the Lictors before the Roman 
Consuls and others affords another example ofthe use of this imple- 


ment for state ceremonial purposes. In the consular coins it is repre- 
sented crowned as a badge of office. In ancient Egypt it passed into 


* Catalogue of Anthropological Collection lent by Colonel LANE- 
Fox (afterward Genera] Pirr-Rivers) to the Bethnal Green Branch of 
the South Kensington Museum. p. 142. 


WEST INDIAN STONE-IMPLEMENTS. 259 


the reign of mythology and became the symbol of the Deity, and from 
thence into the hieroglyphs inscribed upon the ancient monuments, in 
which it stands for the word God. 


So far | have been condensing from the PITT-RIVERS 
catalogue a brief account of the transition of the simple 
axe, a practical tool, into the highly ornamented weapon, 
useless but as an emblem. But it must be added that in 
the instances given above the transition was accomplished 
only in a long period of time ; it began probably when 
stone was the only material of which axes were made 
but was not fulfilled until the much later stage when 
civilization had long ago brought about the use of iron as 
a more suitable material for these weapons. But if the 
suggestion that some of the very elaborate and appa- 
rently useless stone implements found in the West Indies 
were in reality axes elaborated into ‘ banner-stones,’ or 
mere ceremonial emblems, could be proved it would fol- 
low that the modification of the pra€tical axe into the use- 
less emblem was, at least occasionally, accomplished 
much more rapidly than is indicated in the above-men- 
tioned catalogue, and within the duration of that stage of 
civilization when stone remained praétically the only 
material of which implements were made. 

In any case this stone is a remarkable example of the 
extreme and, I believe, almost peculiar, elaborateness of 
certain West Indian, or as they are commonly, though on 
perhaps somewhat insufficient evidence, called Carib, 
stone implements. Viewed in this light, side by side with 
this implement may be placed the stone (or sometimes 
wooden) benches or mortars already described. And 
yet other examples to be placed in this class are to be 
found in the very remarkable ‘stone-collars’ which have 

I] 


260 TIMEHRI. 


been found in St. Domingo, Porto Rico and St. Thomas. 

These stone collars are so rare that | may not be for- 
tunate enough to be able to figure an example in this 
series, more especially as none have occurred, I| believe, 
in the Lesser Antilles or in Guiana, from which places I 
have as yet been obliged to draw most of my examples. 
But as no general notice of West Indian stone imple- 
ments would be complete without some account of 
these collars, | reproduce the following descriptive note 
from Mr. STEVENS’ catalogue of the BLACKMORE Museum, 
in which is included an example of these collars, which 
was procured by Sir ROBERT SCHOMBURGK in St. 


Domingo.* 

No, 8 isa sculptured stone collar. It is of an oval form, measuring 
ten inches and a half in its lesser, and fifteen inches and three quarters © 
in its greater, diameter. 

An elliptical stone collar was exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries, 
January 21st, 1869, by Mr. Josiah Cato, who made the following obser- 
vations upon these objects :— 

The ancient stone ring which I have the honour of exhibiting to the 
Society of Antiquaries this evening is an object of extreme rarity in 
English collections, and of quite unknown use. It was brought to this 
country in December, 1865, by my friend, Mr. E. B. Webb, from the 
island of Porto Rico, where it wasfound. It is formed from a boulder 
of light coloured volcanic stone, is seventeen inches and a half in its 
greater, and fourteen inches and a quarter in its lesser, diameter. The 
elliptical perforation has a major axis of twelve inches and one-eighth, 
and a minor axis of eight inches and a quarter. The weight is twenty 
five and a half pounds (avoirdupois). Externally, the ring has two dis- 
tinct ornaments; one, at the end of the ellipse and the thickest part of 
the ring, is chevronnée, with nine incised chevronels. The other, on 
the side of the ellipse, may perhaps be intended to represent the ends 


of a loop which have been laid together and bound with a ligature. 


* Guide to the Blackmore Museum, Salisbury, by Epwarp T. 
STEVENS. p. 70. 


WEST INDIAN STONE-IMPLEMENTS. 201 


This second ornament appears on other specimens found in the same 
island, but the chevronels are replaced by other designs. I am not aware 
that the human figure is any case represented. The example before the 
Society was exhumed from a considerable depth from the surface, near 
the top, but on the southern side of, the sierra, or range of hills, which 
runs from east to west nearly throughout the length of the island. It 
is supposed to be the only specimen from this southern slope ; but Mr. 
Webb saw several which had been found on the northern, anciently the 
more populous, side of the island. They included about five entire 
rings, and fragments of about as many others. They were all in the 
possession of one person, who would not part with them, and were all 
which were then known to have been found in the island ; but Mr. 
Franks has kindly pointed out to me that a similar ring is engraved 
in the ‘Mémoires de la Société Royale des Antiquaires du Nord,’ in a 
report by C. C. Rafn on the ‘Cabinet d’Antiquités Américaines a 
Copenhague, 1858,’ and that it is said to be from the island of Porto 
Rico. 

A similar ring, but of lighter proportions and more finished work- 
manship, is in the magnificent collection formed by the late Mr. 
Christy. It is from the island of St. Thomas, and may have been 
obtained by Mr. Christy, in exchange, from the Copenhagen Museum. 
Its internal diameters are thirteen, and eight and a half inches. 

The only other specimen known to be in this country belonged to 
the late Sir Robert Schomburgk. It was sold on the 1st December, 1865, 
by auction at Steven’s ; and is now in the Museum formed by Mr. 
Blackmore, at Salisbury. Its internal dimensions are twelve and a half 
and eight and a quarter inches. 

Dr. Wilson, in his ‘ Prehistoric Annals of Scotland” (Vol. I. p. 222), 
engraves two stone collars, which are somewhat like the specimens in 
the Blackmore and Christy collections, and are said to have been found 
near the parallel roads of Glenroy. Judging only from the engraving, 
they are, however, very much more likely to have come from the Carib- 
bean islands. 

With regard to the probable use or purpose of these rings I can give 
no information, but I shall be very much obliged for any suggestion, 
or for hints as to any works likely to contain such an account of the 
customs of the natives at the time of the Spanish invasion as may 
afford a clue to the mystery. Such elaborate pieces of work in hard 
stone could not have been intended to serve either atemporary or a 


{1 2 


262 TIMEHRI. 


trifling purpose. They are all far too heavy for ordinary use, but yet 
not heavy enough to kill, or even torture the wearer, if we regard them 
as collars of punishment. 

It is doubtful whether in any other part of the world 
a people as primitive as the inhabitants of the West 
Indies who carved these stones presumably were have 
produced such elaborate carved work in this same stub- 
born material as these stone benches, stone collars and 
the implement here figured. 

Turning now to Plate 6, No. b, on this is another 
example of the winged type of hatchet, which may be 
compared with No. 2 on Plate 1 (see Zvmehrz, Vol. 1p. 
264), from which, however, it differs in that the wings 
of this are simple, not as in that, double. The pre- 
sent example differs from No. 3, also on Plate 1 in that _ 
it wants the perforation of that example. No. 2 on the 
present plate [Plate 6] is also of the winged type, but 
is especially noteworthy in that it shows very clearly 
that it was bound, at the neck, on to its handle, and was 
therefore not used, as many of these so-called stone 
‘hatchets’ almost certainly were, without a handle, as a 
wedge with which wood was split. The present example 
is also a good illustration of the way in which these 
wings were of service in strengthening the binding of 
the stone on to its handle. 

Nos. 4, 5, 6 & 7 are all alike of a round-bladed type, 
in which the blade is almost completely circular and the 
handle, or upper end, is also often in the form of an 
almost complete, but smaller circle. This type occurs 
in remarkable abundance in St. Lucia and in St. Vincent, 
but is apparently not nearly so frequent elsewhere. 

Of other examples from M. ROUSSELET’S colle¢tion 


ae 
s 
ao 
=a 
3 
jz 
a 
5 


264 TIMEHRI. 


I have figures which I hope to be able to produce on 
some future occasion. But the next of these notes it is 
proposed to devote to a splendid series of implements 
most generously placed at my disposal by Sir THOMAS 
GRAHAM BriGGsS, Bart, of Barbados. 


The River Berbice and its Tributaries. 


By Alexander Winter. 


PpHIE Berbice, next to the Essequibo and Coren- 
Eo) tyn, is the finest river in British Guiana. It 
YY 


rises in Lat. 3° 14’ N. a little to the south of 
King WILLIAM THE FOURTH’S cataraét on the Essequibo, 
from which it is distant about ten miles, and empties 
itself into the Atlantic Ocean in Lat. 6° 20'N. after a 
somewhat winding course of three hundred miles, of 
which more than half is navigable for ships of consider- 
able size. The first barrier of rocks, to impede naviga- 
tion, does not occur for a distance of 175 miles from the 
mouth, consequently ships can go a longer distance up 
this river than up the larger rivers Corentyn and Esse- 
quibo. 

It forms the drainage of a very wide extent of country 
lying between the rivers Corentyn and Demerary. The 
former of these rivers has no important tributary on its 
left bank, above the Mapenna, so that the drainage of 
the eastern portion of the colony finds its way to the 
sea by the Berbice, being brought in by the large 
tributaries the Icoorowa, Canje and Wikky. To the 
westward of Berbice, the alluvial portion of the land 
is drained direétly into the sea by the rivers Abary, 
Mahaicony, and Mahaica ; but the upper distri€t, beyond 
the sources of these three rivers, has to be drained by 
the Berbice, as the watershed between this river and 
the Demerary is within a few miles of the right bank of 
the latter river, and the drainage is brought in to the 


aaa TIMEHRI. 


Berbice by the Virogne and the Etoony, both consider- 
able rivers, and higher up, by the Eberoabo and the 
Youacoury. 

The Berbice, in common with all the rivers of Guiana, 
has a bar across its mouth, or rather a mud flat, on which, 
at low water during spring tides, there is not more than 
five feet of water ; but at high water there is some 
fifteen feet. In the sea reaches of the river, there are 
also shallows for about 25 miles up, which though imped- 
ing the navigation of large vessels at low tide, yet 
have a beneficial effect in keeping back the run of fresh 
water from the interior, so that the river is always navi- 
gable. 

The Berbice at its mouth is about two miles wide, and 
is divided into two channels by Crab island. It has often 
been suggested to close up the lee channel and so cause 
all the water to go out at one channel, which would 
probably have the effect of deepening the water on the 
bar. This might be brought about gradually, by run- 
ning a groyne out from the west bank towards Crab 
island and a similar one from the island towards the 
the shore. This would cause the lee channel to silt up, 
and also prove a proteétion to the west coast, which at 
present is being rapidly washed away. 

Nearly opposite Crab island, on the east bank the 
river Canje (pronounced Canye) falls in. This is a very 
important tributary, having a course of over a hundred 
miles, and receiving at eighty miles from its mouth, a 
considerable addition in the water brought in by the 
[coorowa from the eastward, being the drainage of a 
large tract of country lying between the Canje and the 
Corentyn. At the head of the Icoorowa, is a fine lake, 


THE BERBICE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 267 


called the ‘‘ Broadwater’’, of several miles extent, with 
white sandy margin, and some small islands in it. It is 
from the banks of the Icoorowa that the principal supply 
of bullet-tree timber comes, and it is of a very excellent 
description. 

In the upper distriét of Canje, or as it is called in the 
Dutch maps ‘ Canje boven’’, were several estates in 
cultivation, traces of which still remain, particularly of 
the cocoa plantations where cocoa trees have survived 
and grown into forest trees. 

The Canje is much impeded in parts by so-called 
“floating islands”, which in some places, stretch right 
across from bank to bank, presenting an unbroken sur- 
face of green entirely covering the water and giving it 
the appearance rather of a green lawn than a river. 
Lower down towards the end of the creek this vegetation 
is broken into detached masses and carried down by 
the current into the Berbice river, where these drift up 
and down with the tide and are eventually carried out 
to sea. These floating islands are generally called “ mis- 
“souri grass’, but they are composed of three distinét 
plants. Missouri grass (Panicum), a kind of floating 
buckwheat (Polygonum), and a Pontederia with pretty 
hyacinth-like pale flower. The Berbice river is remark- 
ably free from these floating masses, except high up, 
above the cataracts, where they are found, composed of 
the same three plants. 

Opposite Crab island, on the east bank of the river, is 
the site of Fort St. Andrew, where the military were 
stationed till 1828 or 1829, when the troops were removed 
to the new barracks which had been built at the junction 
of the Canje with the Berbice and called Fort Canje. 

KK 


268 TIMEHRI, 


Fort St. Andrew was then dismantled and the buildings 
sold. A little below Fort St. Andrew was the ‘‘ one-gun 
‘battery’, at the mouth of the East Coast Canal, and 
immediately opposite on the West Bank was the York 
Redoubt, the site of which has been covered by the sea. 

The extensive buildings of Fort Canje were built by 
the home government under the direction of the officers 
of the Royal Engineers ; and to furnish plank for them 
a powerful steam saw mill was established on the banks 
of the Canje, and large quantities of bullet tree timber 
were sawn up there. The person in charge of this saw 
mill was a Mr. WILLIAM FRy, who also had a boat build- 
ing establishment of his own, a littie higher up the 
creek. He had a steam engine and saw mill, and 
carried on a very profitable trade. When emancipa- 
tion took place and the negroes began to leave the estates 
and wander about, Mr. FRy employed many of them 
in planting canes, and applied his steam engine to a mill 
to grind canes; and so a small sugar estate was estab- 
lished. This employment of the emancipated negroes 
gave great offence to their former masters, the proprie- 
tors of the estates in Canje ; but the Governor, Sir JAMES 
CARMICHAEL SMYTH, was pleased with the idea of this 
new sugar estate started on the free system, and sup- 
ported Mr. Fry in his undertaking, by giving him the 
occupancy of the government land lying between the two 
saw mills. In gratitude to this Governor, the place was 
called ‘‘Smythfield” ; which name it still retains. 

About a mile above the mouth of the Canje is the town 
of New Amsterdam, on the banks of the Berbice, built 
on a peninsula, surrounded on two sides by the river and 
on a third, by the creek. The town of ‘‘New Amster- 


THE BERBICE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 269 


dam’’ was built as the capital of the colony when the old 
town of the same name, near Fort Nassau, about 60 
miles up the river, was given up and the alluvial lands 
of the lower distri€t began to be cultivated. The Dutch 
originally settled in the upper distri€t, not so much, as 
has been said, for security from pirates and buccaneers, 
as because, with the few labourers they had, the higher 
lands, having natural drainage, suited them best ; when the 
supply of labour increased, they could afford to empolder 
the heavy clay lands of the alluvial distri€t, which, when 
once drained and put in cultivation, were far more pro- 
fitable. 

The exact date of the commencement of the town of 
New Amsterdam does not appear; but we learn from 
Dr. PINCKARD’S amusing “ Notes on the West Indies’’, 
that the town, at the time of his visit in 1796, was the 
residence of the Governor, (VAN BATENBURG), though 
there were few other houses. This is his description of 
the place, ‘‘The town is yet in embryo. The whole 
“scenery at New Amsterdam, as well as at Fort William 
‘Frederick (Demerary) betrays the infant state of the 
‘colony. The dreariness of the land, just robbed of its 
“thick woods—the nakedness that prevails around the 
‘government house—the want of roads and paths—the 
“wild savannah—the heavy forests : in short all that 
‘meets the eye conveys the idea of a country just emerg- 
“ing from its original wildness, into cultivation.” 

Berbice has suffered much socially from the transfer of 
the seat of government to Demerary, and by the system 
of centralisation which has followed this, as well as from 
the removal of the troops and from the cessation of the 
coffee cultivation ; yet the town of New Amsterdain has 

Kk 2 


270 ‘TIMEHRI. 


gone on increasing in size and number of inhabitants. 
The population by the census of 1881 was 8,386 and the 
amount of shipping that cleared at the Port last year 
was 206,685 tons. 

The river opposite the town is broad but shallow. On 
the west bank was formerly a continuous line of estates 
for some fifteen miles up. Now, excepting plantation 
Blatrmont, there is not a single estate in cultiva- 
tion on that side of the river. On the town side 
about two miles up is a fine sugar estate called Pvrowr- 
dence. ‘This is the only sugar estate in the county that 
remains in the possession of the same family that owned 
it at the time of emancipation in 1834. 

About three miles further, at Plantation Bellevue (hap- 
pily so named), the river takes a bend and a fine reach 
opens up, giving a somewhat lake-like charaéter to the 
scenery. This reach is called in the Dutch grants, the 
‘“ Groote marri-paam,’’ meaning probably the great es- 
tuary, or sea reach. 

Near the upper end of the Groote marri-paam on 
the east bank, is Plantation Hzghbury, a fine sugar 
estate that once belonged to the ‘“ Berbice Association.” 
The Berbice Association occupied in this colony very 
much the same position as the East India Company 
did in Hindoostan. Although owning allegiance to the 
Sovereignty of the States General in Holland, the mem- 
bers of the association were the virtual proprietors of all 
the country, and had the government of it. They sold 
out lots of land to private individuals who were willing 
to cultivate them and establish estates. These lots or 
grants were all carefully measured by land surveyors, 
and diagrams of them were deposited in the Registrar's 


THE BERBICE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 271 


Office, where they are still to be seen; but the associa- 
tion retained certain portions themselves and established 
what were called ‘‘model estates.’ These were not 
measured off, and no boundaries fixed, as all the un- 
granted land belonged to the association. 

These estates are valled ‘‘Society’s ground,’’ or ‘So- 
ciety’s Plantations’”’ in the Dutch charts of the colony ; 
and in DOWNER’S map of Berbice they are marked as 
“Colony Estates.” At the time of the capture of the 
colony by the English, there were four of these estates 
in cultivation in the hands of the association ; and it was 
specially agreed that they should be treated as private 
and not as government property. In the Aét of Capitu- 
lation of the Colony of Berbice in September 1803, it 
was stipulated in Article 2 that ‘‘The Plantations, 
‘Lands, Manufactories, Workshops, Slaves, Effects and 
“Possessions of the Berbice Association of whatever 
“ nature shall be considered as Private Property in the 
“same manner as is agreed to by the Capitulation with 
“General Whyte in May, 1796.” 

The estates reserved to the association under this 
article were Dageraad, St. Jan, Dankbaurheid and 
Sandvoort. The association carried on the cultivation 
of these estates until the year 1818, when they sold 
them to English proprietors. 

From the earliest days of the occupation of Guiana by 
the Dutch, there had been some English settlers, but 
these were much increased in number after 1814, in which 
year the colonies of Demerary, Essequibo and Berbice 
were finally ceded to Great Britain by the Government 
of the Netherlands. Soon after many estates were 
bought by the merchants of London, Liverpool, Bristol 


272 TIMEHRI. 


and Glasgow; and in 1818 estates in Berbice seem to 
have attracted the attention of British capitalists to a con- 
siderable extent, and the Dutch Berbice Association availed 
themselves of it to dispose of their estates. The purchas- 
ers were Messrs. D. C. CAMERON, HENRY DAVIDSON, 
and AENEAS BARKLY. The directors of the association 
were represented on this occasion by their attorney, Mr. 
THOM30N HANKEY of Mincing Lane, whose power of 
attorney is recorded in the Registrar’s Office of Berbice.* 
The following is the entry in the Highbury books of 
this purchase :— 
‘“ The Colony Estates, ‘November 1818, 
“Plantation Account Proper Dr. 
“To Thomson Hankey, 99. 
‘For the purchase of the following Plantations from 
“him in August last, viz., Pln. Sandvoort, Pin. 
“© Dankbarheid, and Dageraad with all and every 
“thing to the same belonging together, with 682 


‘‘slaves, names and particulars as per Inventory 


“ fleda—£66,000 @ f12. ... ee a ne 4792,000 


‘Thomson Hankey, 99, Dr. 
“To Davidsons, Barkly & Co. 


‘For this sum paid him on signing of contract for 
‘part payment of purchase of said estates— 
4S Veppxroyorey (Cpt) ee is i ae £264,000 
The partners in this purchase ciiled their interest in it 
thus: Mr. D. C. CAMERON, joined by his friend Mr. 
JOHN CAMERON (G/enev7s), took Sandvoort, which was 
a large coffee estate in Canje. This they divided in two, 
and made one half of it a sugar estate, which they called 


* Nore.—A carefully compiled index to the records of this office has 
been lately made. It was commenced by the late Registrar, Mr. A. B. 
STEWART, and completed by the gentlemen now in charge, Mr. 
O’MEaARA and Mr. JAMES WALLS. 


THE BERBICE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 273 


Lochaber, after the head quarters of the CAMERONS in 
Scotland. The remaining three estates were retained by 
the other two partners: St. Jan and Dankbaarheid 
were united and called Highbury after Mr. BARKLY’S 
place Highbury Grove, near London; Dageraad was 
continued in cultivation for some time, but eventually 
was made over to government as an asylum for lepers. 

Both Dageraad and Highbury were worked by water 
power. The water from the river was admitted by a 
large brick sluice some six or eight feet wide, which was 
shut at high water, to retain the water till half ebb-tide, 
when it was loosed out at a narrow sluice about two feet 
wide, thus forming a mill-race in which the wheel worked 
which drove the cane mill. One inconvenience of this 
system was that the machinery could only be worked 
when the tide suited, whether by day or night. 

Highbury was the first estate in Berbice that employ- 
ed coolies from India. It soon became evident that the 
negroes after emancipation would not work as they had 
before, and that if British Guiana were to continue a 
sugar-producing colony, additional labourers must be in- 
troduced from elsewhere. 

So Messrs. DAVIDSONS, BARKLY & Co. joined by Mr. 
Moss, of Liverpool, and some others, sent to India for 
some of the surplus population of that teeming country ; 
and in 1838 the ship Wvtby arrived from Calcutta with 
the first lot of coolies! They were a very fine set of 
people and did remarkably well at Highbury ; and at the 
end of their indenture they returned to India carrying 
large sums of money with them. Thus was commenced 
that system of Indian immigration which has saved this 
colony from abandonment and bids fair to establish a 


274 TIMEHRI. 

labour supply on such a footing as will ensure to the pre- 
sent sugar estates something like an adequate return for 
the enormous amount of capital, skill and energy that has 
been expended onthem. Capital has followed the supply 
of labour, and science is following capital. But success 
is only now setting in, after an arduous struggle of over 
forty years, during which most of the proprietors of 
former days have disappeared. 

By the disposal of their estates the “ Berbice Associa- 
tion’? ceased to have any interest in the colony, which 
soon became thoroughly British. A few coffee estates 
remained in the hands of merchants in Holland up to the 
time of emancipation ; but for some years past, not a sin- 
gle estate in Berbice hasbeen owned by a Dutchman, and 
the time seems to have arrived for revising the system of 
Dutch laws guaranteed to the former owners of the col- 
ony by the Articles of Capitulation. It surely is unrea- 
sonable that Englishmen in a British colony, living under 
the reign of a limited monarch, should be tied down to a 
foreign law of inheritance forced on them eighty years 
ago by a Dutch Republic which no longer exists. 

Towards the head of Groote marri-paam the river has 
a winding course of some ten miles,-and here the water 
is deep. Here there were once ten or twelve. coffee 
estates and two sugar estates, all now out of cultivation. 
One of the former, plantation Bestendighied, belonged 
to an enterprising Dutch planter named TIMMERS, who, 
at the time of emancipation, thinking as many did then, 
that the colony was about to enter on a course of pros- 
perity under a happier system, extended his operations 
at Bestendighted by adding a saw-mill to his coffee 
machinery, and getting out a steam engine to work the 


Tue BERBICE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. = 275 


whole. The river Abary flows parallel to the Berbice, at 
no great distance from its left bank. Mr. TIMMERS con- 
neéted his’ estate with the Abary by extending his 
middle-walk canal a couple of miles through the savan- 
nah into the Abary. At this point the whole country is 
an extensive swamp with a foot or two of water over the 
surface, but a few miles higher up the land rises, and 
there is a high reef on which is a forest of bullet-trees ; 
and Mr. TIMMERS proposed cutting timber there, with 
the assistance of some Warrau Indians who were then 
living on the spot, and bringing it down the Abary, and 
up his canal to the Bestendighied buildings, where it 
would be sawn into plank by his newly ereéted steam 
engine, which would thus be kept usefully employed 
when there was no coffee crop going on. It was a well 
conceived plan and for sometime things looked promis- 
ing, but, alas! the want of labour, which in this colony 
generally defeats every project, caused it to fail. Coffee 
cultivation ceased to be profitable because the laborers 
would not pick the crop, hard times set in, and poor 
‘Polyglot Timmers’’ had to pass through the insolvent’s 
court !* 

A few miles above Bestendighied the river makes a 
bold turn to the eastward, and consequently vessels sail- 
ing up meet the wind right a head, and instead of running 
before the wind, they have to beat against it, and their 
progress is much retarded; hence this turn in the river 
has got the name of ‘“‘ Humbug Point.” Beyond this, a 
fine stretch opens up, running nearly due south for about 
eight miles. This is called in the Dutch grants the 


* This soubriquet he got from his habit of jumbling up so many 
languages in his talk, Dutch, English, French and Creole Dutch. 
LL 


276 TIMEHRI. 


’ or little sea reach. There was once 


“ Klein marri-paam,’ 
an unbroken line of coffee estates along this on the east 
bank. There are now only two estates in cultivation, 
both in sugar. These are plantations Mara and 
Ma Retraite, now the property of the Colonial Company, 
but formerly owned by Messrs. GEORGE and JAMES 
LAING, the leading merchants of Berbice, and the most 
enterprising and energetic of our colonists. Emancipa- 
tion took place in August 1834. This was followed by 
the apprenticeship system, during which the negroes were 
still under some control, and had to continue on their 
estates and work certain regulated hours a day, for which 
they received money wages. This was intended to ac- 
custom the newly emancipated to habits of steady indus- 
try and to prepare them for unlimited freedom. 
Estates throve under the system ; the seasons happened 
to be good, and the price of sugar ran up very high. 
This gave a great impulse to speculation, the Dutch sold 
out their coffee estates to the more enterprising English 
who put them in sugar. The Messrs. LAING bought 
plantation Mara, which was then in coffee, put it in 
canes, and established a fine sugar estate. The appren- 
ticeship system according to the emancipation aét was to 
continue six years, but four only had elapsed when it was 
prematurely terminated, and the negroes made entirely 
free, and left to their own devices. From this time the 
planters’ troubles commenced in earnest; prices fell, 
labour was scarce and only to be had at a high rate, 
Hard indeed was the struggle ; and many had to succumb. 
The Messrs. LAING suffered severely, for they had em- 
barked largely, having besides Mara, become interested 
in Ma Retraite, Friends, Enfield, Smythfield and Albion. 


THE BERBICE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 277 


Mr. JAMES LAING published a touching memorial on the 
subject, * addressed to Lord GREY, showing that though 
starting under the most favorable auspices, the invest- 
ments of himself and partner had resulted in a loss of 
£197,000 sterling, incurred from the rst August 1836 to 
31st December 1847. He winds up his indignant pro- 
test in these words, ‘‘ In such case no choice will be left 
“to the memorialist than to abandon the cultivation of 
‘his estates, and submit to their realisation at whatever 
“sacrifice, in behalf of his creditors. But, he will deem 
“it only due to himself, and to his family, and creditors 
“to appeal to the justice of Parliament and the people 
‘‘of England for redress and compensation for losses 
‘which have been altogether occasioned by the Legisla- 
‘tion and ats of the British Government.” 

It was probably such cases as this, and there were 
many of them, that at last startled the Colonial Office 
into believing the truth of the reports of the state of the 
West Indies, and of the necessity of at once coming to 
their relief by sanétioning the importation of laborers 
from the East, as otherwise the cultivation of sugar 
would cease, the educated classes would abandon the 
colonies, and the manumission of the negroes prove a 
dead failure. Earl GREY tells us as much in his book 
“The Colonial Policy of Lord JOHN RUSSELL’S Govern- 
ment.” He says (page 63.) :— 

‘This prosperity, and the welfare of all classes of the 
“inhabitants of these colonies, depend upon their being 


* A similar memorial was also sent in by the late R. M. Jones Esq., 
of Pln. Houston, Demerary. 

A beautiful marble monument to the memory of Mr. Grorce LaInG 
has been erected in the Court House, New Amsterdam. 


LL 2 


278 TIMEHRI. 


“enabled to continue to advantage the cultivation of su- 
“gar, not merely because this branch of industry consti- 
“tutes their chief source of wealth, but because, if it 
‘““were to cease, there would no longer be any motive 
‘for the residence of the European inhabitants in a cli- 
‘‘mate uncongenial to their constitution, while it is cer- 
“tain that they could not be withdrawn without giving 
‘an almost fatal check to the civilisation of the Negroes.”’ 

Beyond JZara there is no estate in cultivation, and in 
passing up the river we leave sugar estates and their 
cares behind us. At the head of the Klein marri-paam, 
and commanding a view down this fine reach, is the site 
of the “ Brand-waght,” literally, watch fire. This was a 
military outpost, of which there were several throughout 
the colony and always, placed at an important bend of 
the river, or at the junétion of a tributary, as at the 
mouth of the Virogne. PINCKARD mentions that he 
found one such fort, the garrison of which consisted of 
30 old Dutch soldiers, all in a state of intoxication. It 
was to these inland posts that the colonists looked for 
proteétion from any insurrection, and it was one of the 
stipulations, in the surrender of the colony, that the cap- 
tors should keep these posts garrisoned for the proteétion 
of the inhabitants. There is one in Canje in very good 
preservation, called ost Orototo, and another at the 
entrance of the Icoorowa, where until quite lately there 
was a twenty pounder gun which has been recently 
taken away by the unscrupulous master of a ship joading 
timber there. There is also a smal] redoubt at the mouth 
of Bartica creek with an embrasure for one gun. 

From the Brand-waght the river (going upwards) turns 
abruptly towards the west; then after making a bold 


THE BERBICE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 279 


sweep, returns to the east, thus forming a considerable 
peninsula. Across the isthmus thus formed, a canal 
was commenced called the ‘ Brand-waght canal.” This 
was one of the many “ projected canals’’ we find in the 
old Dutch charts of the colony ; but this was more than 
projected, it was cut half way, -and estates laid out on 
its bank, when the colony changed owners and the canal 
was never finished. 

Following the river along its bend to the westward we 
leave the sea reaches, and from this turn, the water is 
clear and deep, and seldom salt. At a bend to the 
south opposite the site of plantation New Dageraad, is 
a large sand-bank extending from the east bank more 
than half way across the river, and on this there is, at 
low tide, only a few feet of water. There is however 
a deep channel on the west side; but this sand-bank 
should have a beacon on it for the guidance of ships. 
This is the only sand-bank in the river for a hundred 
miles up. Near this is an “itabo” which is said to com- 
municate with the river Abary. 

Some creole settlers are to be met with here at the 
old estate Hoorn, and also further on at Yacatta. Their 
presence is betrayed by a few aa trees showing 
through the bush. 

It was at Yacatta that the late Mr. COSTENBADER 
lived, whose house was a convenient resting place for 
travellers passing up or down the river. It had a pleas- 
ing appearance, as the space between the house and the 
river was a green lawn of short grass, which was caused 
by the grazing of a few cattle on it. When the bush is 
cut down, it soon grows up again, unless there are cattle 
to graze upon the land, then a short grass or turf takes 


280 TIMEHRI. 


its place, which gives a civilised look to the homestead. 
It is all bush again now. Mr. COSTENBADER was very 
successful in capturing manatees, which abound about 
here, and his house was full of harpoons, spears, and 
tackle for catching them. 

The surface of the land all the way up above Yacatta 
is higher than the level of high water and there is natu- 
ral drainage, but the soil is still alluvial. 

There is an estate near this marked on the map Meso- 
potamia. It does not appear to have been in cultivation 
for a very long time. It is the last estate laid down ina 
curious old Dutch map, now in the library of the Royal 
Agricultural Society. Lower down than Mesopotamia 
there appears in this map no signs of a settlement of 
any description, no plantation, no town, nothing to show 
that the country had ever been visited by human beings, 
except at the mouth of the river, below Crab Island is 
marked ‘the new Brand-waght.” Most likely this is 
what was afterwards called the one gun battery. Unfor- 
tunately there is no date to this map, nor the name of 
any publisher, only nine coats of arms, perhaps of the 
leading colonists of that day. It would have been inter- 
esting to know the date of this map, showing as it does 
that the occupancy of the country by the colonists at 
that period, was confined exclusively to the upper self- 
drained districts.* 


* This map was probably made in 1720, when the Berbice Associa- 
tion was formed, for the purpose of extending the cultivation of the 
colony, and the coats of arms are those of the nine directors of that 
period. Their names are mentioned in Hartsinck (page 519) as being 
directors during the years 1720 to 1738. This company by paying the 
French captors of the colony the balance of the ransom money, became 


THE ‘BERBICE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 281 


Proceeding up the river we find both banks covered 
with a thick forest of trees, enlivened here and there by 
some flowering creepers, such as the various species of 
Bignonia, Alamanda, Echites, the gorgeous cara-cara 
or supple-jack (Norantea guianensis;, and the curious 
Marcgravia umbellata. The graceful and picturesque 
manicole (Zuterpe edulis) is frequent, also another 
palm with a larger leaf, probably the Zoo or the tooroo; 
and in one place there is a clump of tree ferns growing 
close to the edge of the water and attaining a height of 
fifteen or twenty feet. The view up some of the long 
reaches (or hooks as they are called) affords fine vistas, 
but on the whole the journey is monotonous, and the 
traveller looks impatiently for the first sight of the high 
land on the Bartica downs, where the open country com- 
mences. After passing Bamboo Creek, so called from 
some indigenous bamboos growing there, we come to 
the Bartica Creek, called in some maps Baracarabana 
Creek, a navigable stream of some size, and immediately 
beyond, the land rises, the bush ceases, and the open 
savannah is seen from the river. 

The banks of the river here (on the east side) are 
steep, and steps have been cut in the hard clay to assist 
in ascending them; the highest point is twenty-five feet 
above the level of the water. On this spot a house has 
been lately erected, commanding a most extensive pros- 


possessors of the whole country, and by importing additional labourers, 
were able to extend the cultivation by empoldering the alluvial land of 
the lower district. This map was evidently made for the guidance of 
the new association, and not published for sale. The seat of govern- 
ment was not changed to the coast for some seventy years after this, al- 
though Fort St. Andrew was established and garrisoned in 1746. 


282 TIMEHRI. 


pect over the downs towards the north, east, and south, 
and as the open country extends all the way over to the 
Canje, there is generally a cool breeze blowing from the 
north-east. The grazing here is particularly good and the 
site is an admirable one for a cattle farm on the largest 
scale ; the extent of pasture is almost boundless and the 
water is always fresh. The late Mr. ALPIN GRANT had 
some fine cattle here; but his executors sold them on 
account of the difficulty of looking after them owing to 
the distance trom town, two tides. That difficulty is 
now removed, as the river steamers pass the spot twice 
a week, bringing it within five hours of New Amster- 
dam. There is good shooting in the savannah, snipe 
at times.in the low places, pigeons in the bush, and 
parrots all the year round. About the creek are bush 
hogs and labba. 

Across the river, on the west bank, at De Velde, was 
the residence of the late Mr. SANDERS, who had a fine 
cattle farm there. His family have lately moved higher 
up the river. There are the remains of a stelling project- 
ing into the river, with a bathing house at the end of it. 
Mr. SANDERS held peculiar religious views and advocated 
total immersion in baptism. 

At Bourderoz, nearly opposite De Velde, there lived 
a Dutch family of the name of MANDHAR, natives of 
Holland. They had a small farm here, but to the usual 
indoor occupations of a boviander, such as making 
hammocks and fancy basket work, plaiting palm leaves 
for hats, and so on, the MANDHARS added the trade of a 
joiner. They had a turning lathe and made furniture of 
a very good description. ‘The chairs they made were in 
great demand, not only in the river but in New Amster- 


THE BERBICE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 283 


dam; the frames were made of the white wood of the 
lana, and the bottoms of tibiceri from the eta palm. 
The MANDHARS owned a good deal of land in this 
neighbourhood which is now occupied by their descend- 
_ ants of the third generation. 

Beyond Bourderot the river turns abruptly to the 
south east ; and near this, in the centre of the river, is a 
small whirlpool, caused probably by the formation of 
the reach, which is contraéted at each end and expanded 
in the middle, and this causes a ‘‘turnwater,” but the 
natives say that there is a hole in the bottom of the 
river. 

We now come to the site of Fort Nassau and the 
ct devant town of New Amsterdam. The place is en- 
tirely overgrown and there is little to distinguish it from 
the surrounding bush, except some tall cabbage palms, 
which not being indigenous, always indicate the handi- 
work of man. There is a thick growth of badouri pim- 
pler at the water side which has to be cut through and 
then the bank is reached, which rises steeply up some 
fifteen feet to a level terrace or esplanade the whole 
length of the town, on the margin of the river. This 
seems to have been the principal street and is still in 
good order ; where it is crossed by a draining trench 
there is a neatly turned brick bridge. At present there 
is only one house remaining, and that is in ruin, but has 
evidently been a fine mansion, of more imposing appear- 
ance than most of the houses in the more modern town 
of New Amsterdam. It is built entirely of brick, and a 
flight of semi-circular brick steps leads up to the 
entrance, which is wide and lofty, and where, until lately, 
there was a scroll with the name of Buse on it. A range 

MM 


284 TIMEHRI. 


oi side buildings, also of brick, forms a court yard, which 
at present is occupied by a forest of papaw trees, which 
always seem to delight in growing among the ruins of 
old brick work. The rooms of the house, though not 
large were very lofty, and SCHOMBURGK, who visited 
this spot in 1835 speaks of ‘‘ the glazed and richly orna- 
‘“ mented windows.” ‘These are no longer to be seen, 
and what little remains of this fine old mansion will soon 
disappear, for the roots and branches of trees have forced 
themselves into the brick walls, and the neighbours do 
not hesitate to go and help themselves to the bricks 
whenever they want them. The site of the town seems 
to have been well chosen and no doubt there were good 
reasons for selecting this spot for the capital of the 
colony. It faces a fine reach of the river, where there is 
generally a good breeze. 

Near the town, at the junction of Toorany creek with 
the Berbice was Fort Nassau, of which Hartsinck gives 
us a drawing showing its appearance in 1682. He also 
gives a ground plan of the intrenchments, with the posi- 
tion of the several buildings and fortifications. These 
are in his book ‘‘ Description of Guiana and the Wild 
‘“Coast.’* All that remains to mark this spot are the 
graves of its inhabitants, which are in very good order, 
with the inscriptions on the tombs quite legible. It 
would be interesting to have the place cleared so that the 
lines of the old town and fort could be traced, a few days’ 
labour of the cutlass would doit. Some fine lime trees 
have survived those who planted them, and are in full 
bearing, and some venerable old tamarind trees remain 
to tell of former days, and doubtless if the place were 


* Published in 1770. 


THE BERBICE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 285 


cleared many other fruit trees would be found. This 
should be the site of the residence of the river magistrate. 
It is nearly central and when once cleared could be 
easily kept in order and made a very suitable centre of 
civilisation. 

Nearly adjoining the town, a little higher up was a 
brickery. Here also are several lime trees, which seem 
very hardy and once established take care of themselves 
and survive all other cultivation. 

For some miles above the old town, on both sides of 
_the river are estates which have not very long been out of 
cultivation, and are now occupied by the descendants of 
the former owners, who hold possession by titles more or 
less defe€tive. The bread-nut seems to have been a 
favorite tree and thrives well, and generally marks the 
waterside of a boviander. 

At Hitia are the Sand Hills, which supply the white 
sand used for making mortar. It is here the coast 
deposit, or fluvio-marine alluvium of geologists, ends, 
and the sand beds and clay deposits begin. This traét is 
marked 2 in BROWN’S geological map and extends in- 
wards as far as the granite region. These sand hills are 
supposed to mark the line of the gradual receding sea of 
a former era. The open savannahs on both sides of the 
river all the way from Bartica upwards, though well 
raised above the level of the water, belong to the coast 
alluvium, or more correétly, to the river loam deposit ; 
and it is only at Hitia that the second geological belt 
commences. This traét consists mostly of extensive dry 
sandy savannahs, some forty to one hundred feet above the 
level of the river, interseéted by many large rivers, on the 
borders of which are generally dense forests of timber trees. 

MM 2 


286 TIMEHRI. 


These extensive dry savannahs are a special feature in 
the upper Berbice distri€t, they extend nearly to the 
banks of the Demerary on one side, and to the Corentyn 
on the other; the soil is so loose and porous that the 
rain never lodges but passes direétly through, so that the 
surface is always dry. It is probably owing to the large 
extent of these dry plains that the air of the upper Ber- 
bice is so free from miasma, and the climate so 
healthy. What BROWN says of the savannahs of the far 
off interior of the country, is quite applicable to these Ber- 
bice savannahs or downs as they are now usually called : 
“the views from the savannahs have a beauty and singu- 
“larity of their own, and it stirs one with a sense of 
“boundless freedom to stand upon a knoll amidst one, 
‘and view the grassy plain fading away to the horizon 
“in the distance and melting gradually, as it were, into 
“the atmosphere.” ‘This feeling is shared by all travel- 
lers who visit this part of the country, and the pleasur- 
able sensation is enhanced by the striking resemblance 
of the scene tothe commons and downs of England; not 
only are the undulations of the land similar, but the 
stunted bushes, here and there, may readily be taken for 
the English gorse or broom. 

The grass that covers the surface grows in tufts with 
spaces between them, and has a dry wiry look, but the 
cattle thrive upon it, and itis said to be very similar to 
what is found in the cattle distri€ts of Venezuela; and a 
recent traveller remarked that these downs remind him 
‘of the pasture lands of Australia. When these savannahs 
are burnt off, which they generally are every dry season, 
there is a fine spring of young grass. 

The flora of the savannahs is also peculiar, and with 


THE BERBICE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 287 


the exception of a few clumps of palm trees, has nothing 
tropical in its appearance. The bushes are dwarfed and look 
stunted, and the leaves of some of them are so dry and 
harsh, that they are used as sandpaper. The flowers also 
have an English look about them. There isa beautiful little 
terrestrial orchid with a bulbous root that grows amidst 
the tufts of grass ; its leaves are long and narrow and so 
much like the blades of grass that surround them, that 
the plant would escape observation were it not for its 
pretty little pink flower. A small quail, called deyseroo, 
abounds here. 

The origin of these open savannahs has been variously 
accounted for. One theory is that they were form- 
erly covered with trees which have been destroyed by 
fire. This however is not likely, for the burning of the 
bush has the effect of promoting the growth of vegetation. 
The most probable cause is this. The whole country 
has, at some remote period, been submerged. This all 
geologists are agreed upon. On the subsidence of 
the water into the valleys where the rivers now flow, 
the higher parts of. the land have been left bare and 
sterile ; what surface mould may have been on them 
has been washed down into the low parts, forming 
a rich soil in which trees have grown, and which by the 
constant addition of decaying leaves is annually enriched 
and is extending laterally on to the savannahs. The 
higher parts, having been left bare, have only produced a 
partial covering of coarse grass, and in some places not 
even grass has grown, the surface being quite bare and 
hard, and occasionally strewn with iron ore in rounded 
nodules. The tendency of the bush is to encroach upon 
the savannahs, to an extent that is very marked. 


288 TIMEHRI. 


The Hitia savannah is a pretty spot, and has long 
been the site of a settlement of Arawaaks, well behaved 
peaceable people, appreciating the benefits of civilisa- 
tion, sending their children to school, and attending the 
services of the Church of England mission, which has 
been established here for thirty years. There is a de- 
cent little ‘church, St: Peter's, onthe top or thesia 
which is about to be rebuilt lower down for the conve- 
nience of the old and feeble. 

The pine-appies grown here by the Indians are most 
delicious, quite as juicy as the common pine of the coun- 
try with the fine rich flavour of hot-house pines at 
home. All the Indians at Hitia raise poultry, and one of 
them guinea birds which is not usual. A path leads 
from Hitia to the head of the Abary, a distance of about 
five miles. | 

About a mile beyond Hitia is the old estate Przendship 
where the river steamer halts for the night, and where 
the river magistrate holds his monthly courts. It is at 
the house of Mr. PATOiR, who once had charge of the 
school at Hitia and is still useful as a warden of the 
church. He has been resident here for some twenty 
years and his farm has done well, his cattle having in- 
creased from six cows to a herd of eighty head, all 
fine animals doing credit to the pasturage of the savan- 
nah, where they graze during the day, coming home 
quietly in the afternoon to take a drink in the river, and 
then lying down about their master’s house, giving the 
farm a cheerful and thriving appearance, There are five 
other farms in the neighbourhood of the same kind. 

At Manacaboury waterside, travellers land to walk 
across the savannah to the mouth of the Virogne, which 


THE BERBICE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 289 


can be done in about an hour and a half, while it takes 
four hours to go round in a boat, so much does the river 
wind. ‘The path leads first through a manicole swamp, 
then rises abruptly up a steep escarpment to the high 
ground above. This is the usual formation; the high 
land of the savannah rarely extends to the edge of the 
river, there being nearly always a terrace or plateau of flat 
level ground between the river and the savannah, more 
or less wide, of good soil; and beyond this there is a 
perpendicular cliff, from the top of which the savannah 
commences. There is no gradual slope from the river 
to the high land, but the rise is abrupt in steps. In two 
or three places the lower terrace is wanting and the 
river washes the foot of the cliff, but generally there is a 
tract of level ground that intervenes between the river 
and the high land, and this level traét is composed of 
good soil suited for cultivation and is very often swampy ; 
for the water is kept in by a kind of natural embank- 
ment, the edge next the river being generally higher 
than the level of the surface inside. This is probably 
caused by a deposit of soil by the river when in flood. 
The same formation occurs on the coast. The large sa- 
vannahs are generally surrounded by a high mora, or 
bullet-tree reef next the river. This forms a natural 
empolder, which prevents the savannahs from running 
dry ; and thus is preserved that water supply so valuable 
for navigation purposes. In the upper districts these 
swampy levels are mostly occupied by the useful mani- 
cole. These elegant palms grow there to the. exclusion 
of all other trees and form a scene of beauty only ex- 
celled by a forest of bamboos. And fortunate it is for 
the inhabitants of these parts that nature has furnished 


290 TIMEHRI. 


such a supply of manicoles, for it is the principal ma- 
terial of which their houses are made. The manicole, 
split up, is used for wattling the sides of the house, for 
the floors, and also for the laths on which the thatch is 
tied. 

The word manacaboury means plenty of manicoles— 
caboury signifying plenty or abundance. The names of 
places given by the Indians are generally taken from 
some tree or animal, with a suffix such as caboury, 
abounding, cabra a creek, oény or abo water, as Etoony, 
a river full of zta trees; Mahaicony, a river where the 
mahooka is found; Caycooti-cabra, tiger creek, and 
so on. 

Manacaboury was once the head quarters of the Ara- 
‘waaks of the river, and the soil being very suitable for 
the growth of cassava, their great paiwarri feasts were 
held here. 

Opposite Manacaboury on the east bank is a fine 
creek called Kimbia. It rises in the savannah and flows 
through a pretty lake, Abaribana, which used to be a 
favorite resort for pleasure parties from the old town. 
Souari nuts are found in Kimbia. Beyond Kimbia is 
Ebeni, another nice creek with sandy bottom. The river 
here makes so sharp a turn that steamers are apt to run 
into the bush unless their speed is reduced. ‘There is an 
old cocoa plantation near this, called Dornboom, where 
the cocoa trees have grown into a forest. This estate 
is claimed as private property, by right of inheritance, 
by persons living in New Amsterdam; but their title has 
not yet been admitted and the place is held by the 
government as crown land. 

At the junétion of the Virogne the Berbice expands. 


THE BERBICE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 291 


At this point there was formerly a fort, a church and 
a minister’s residence. All have disappeared. The 
Virogne is a very fine river and extends almost to the 
banks of the Demerary, draining a large traét of country, 
mostly savannah. There were several estates on its 
banks, of which Dex Arend was one. This was visited 
in 1796.by Dr. PINCKARD, who rode on horseback with 
a party from Hitia across the Manacaboury savannah. 
He must have crossed the Kaderabisce creek, though 
he does not mention it. There are still the remains of 
a bridge over that creek. The Den Arend negroes, 
178 in number, were removed in 1818 by Messrs. N. 
WINTER & Co. to their estate the /rzends in the lower 
distriét. The change of climate was fatal to many of 
them. 

About an hour’s pull up Virogne is the Mattara mis- 
sion, a beautiful spot. It has long been under the charge 
of Plymouth Brethren and is the largest Indian settle- 
ment in the river. Some fine coffee trees grow here ; 
and the cultivation might easily be extended and kept 
in order, for the soil is a loose sand in which weeds do 
not grow. ; 

A path leads from the mission to the savannah, 
about half an hour’s walk, through one of those cu- 


ia 


rious spots called ‘‘moories,” so different from the 
bush on one side and the savannah on the other, be- 
tween which they are generally placed. Moorie is the 
name of a tree which grows in these spots, but the word 
is applied to the place itself, just as in England a 
heath is called from the plant of that name. The trees 
that grow ina moorie are all of small size and peculiar 
appearance; no grass or weeds are seen, only a pretty 


NN 


292 TIMEHRI. 


white lichen and some moss on the ground—altogether 
these spots have almost a mysterious appearance, as if, 
as has been said, they were kept in order by fairies. 

Above the junction of the Virogne, the Berbice narrows 
considerably, with high land on the right side (going up). 
At Peerboom, on the top of a hill 69 feet high, stands 
the house built by the late Mr. T. B. DUGGIN, who lived 
here many years. From this up to Coomacka is the 
most populous part of the river, having numerous settlers, 
nearly all creoles, on both banks. These are mostly the 
descendants of the gang of plantation Karel and William's 
Hoof, which was in cultivation up to the time of freedom. 
There were shipments of coffee from this estate in 1834, 
since which the cultivation has been given up. The 
labourers however did not leave the district, having 
a strong local attachment to the place, but settled on 
land of their own in the neighbourhood. The manager’s 
house, a good building with a double flight of brick steps 
leading up to it, was long the residence of Mr. SANDERS, 
before he moved down to De Velde, and here also he had 
a Stelling, jutting into the river, ending in a bathing (or 
baptising) house! It is only last year that this house 
was pulled down, and yet the place is already so com- 
pletely overgrown that it is hardly recognisable. 

In this district, which is called the Lana district, is a 
chapel and school in charge of the London Missionary 
Society. There are some good houses, in one of which the 
magistrate’s courts are held, and four or five retail pro- 
vision shops. The Lana district ends at Coomacka, 
where the river takes a bend and the land rises consider- 
ably. The view here is very fine, especially if approached 
early in the morning, or in the afternoon, when the sun 


THE BERBICE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 293 


is low. At the waterside is the mission chapel, and resi- 
dence, some Indian houses, and the fine old silk-cotten 
tree which gives name to the distri€t; and the wooded 
heights behind complete the scene. This was once a 
cocoa estate, the former owners of which lie buried here, 
in tombs which are in good preservation. 

The cocoa trees have grown to a height of thirty or 
forty feet, and are in full bearing and the ground is 
strewn with the fallen pods which no one seems to care 
to pick up. There is a path here leading up to the 
downs ; but most travellers prefer going round in a boat 
to the Etoony, and so reaching the downs, which is one 
of the choicest spots in the river, and commands the 
admiration of visitors from the extensive view and fine 
undulation of the land and the English character of the 
landscape. A pull of an hour and a half up the Etoony 
brings you to the open savannah where are several Indian 
settlements. 

Before reaching the Etoony, the Wikky falls in from 
the east. This is an important tributary bringing in the 
drainage from the country lying between the Berbice and 
Canje. It is a deep, navigable river, and on its banks 
are several Indian settlements, prettily situated, and a 
well conducted mission and school of the London Mis- 
sionary Society. The land between the Wikky and the 
Berbice is a high level plateau, covered with green heart 
trees forming a dense forest of many miles in extent. 

Proceeding up the Berbice, and passing the Parway, 
a fine creek on the left, and the Paripi on the right, we 
come to the Kibbiribiry creek, famed for the healing 
quality of its waters. It was a favorite resort as a sana- 
torium in the Dutch times, and wonderful tales are told 

NN 2 


204 TIMEHRI. 


of the cures effefted by bathing in its waters. It has a 
white sandy Lottom, and the water is icy cold. There 
are many of these “cold creeks,’ and no doubt a resi- 
dence of a couple of weeks amongst them, with frequent 
bathing and a life in the open air, together with the cold 
nights—and these are intensely cold—would be very 
beneficial in bracing the nerves of an invalid. 

A few miles higher up is Eberoabo, also a cold creek. 
It was here that PETER CAMPBELL resided, conduéting 
a large woodcutting establishment, and loaded ships 
with greenheart timber for export. Up to this point the 
Berbice is navigable for large vessels, drawing 13 to 
14 feet of water, but beyond this the river is much filled 
up with sand brought into it from the hilly country 
around, and in dry seasons there is sometimes scarcely 
water enough to float a tent-boat, though during the 
rains there is a depth of eight or ten feet all the way 
up to the falls.* 

In 1839 a steamer called the Lerdice was built at the 
Canje saw-mill, and her first trip was up the river to 
Eberoabo with Sheriff WHINFIELD and a large party 
from New Amsterdam. They were back within three 
days. 

Travellers wishing to visit the falls should leave the 
steamer at Eberoabo and proceed in a light tent boat, 
accompanied by Indians in wood-skins, which may be 
required if the river is low, as it very often is in dry 


* The steamer Guiana with a Government party on board, went 
about five miles beyond Eberoabo creek and there was then a 
depth of thirty feet of water there; but that was in September 1883, and 
the rains having continued later than usual the river had not run so 


low as it often does. 


THE BERBICE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 205 


seasons. From Eberoabo it takes about five days to 
reach the falls of Itabroo, and half that time to return. 
A little above Eberoabo, on the left, is Cariaqua creek, 
with blueish water and remarkable for having no fish in 
it. The White Hill, on the right, rises straight up from 
the river’s edge, a perpendicular cliff of white sand 
nearly 100 feet high, from the top of which there is an 
extensive panoramic view. Close by, near the foot of 
the hill, is the Youa-coory creek, a fine stream naviga- 


ble for two days, forming a path to the Demerara. 


The Berbice from here varies very much; in some 
places it is narrow, winding in short turns, and deep; 
in others it spreads out to a great width with only 
a few inches of water over the sandy bottom. Again, 
near Mappa Lake it forms numerous false passages or 
culs de sac, which have been former channels, now 
deserted. The country around is hilly and the first signs 
of rocks are now seen; just a little above Boura-hara these 
form a ledge across the river, causing a small rapid, 
leaving, however, a narrow passage near the east bank. 
The banks are now steep and rocky and very picturesque; 
at one place, looking up a long reach with high land, 
the distance well wooded, the scenery is not unlike the 
passage of the Trossachs near Loch Katrine. A similar 
resemblance was noticed in the Cuyooni by Mr. CAMp- 
BELL. 

Yariki creek has steep banks on both sides, looks 
like a Scotch burn, and appears to run with considerable 
force when full, as it has brought a quantity of sand 
into the river; its waters, however, are quite clear and not 
ochreous as stated by SCHOMBURGK. The river here is 
very shallow, being much filled up with sand, so much so 


296 TIMEHRI. 


that many travellers have had to turn back at this spot ; 
which is the more disappointing as immediately beyond 
are the falls of Idure Wadde, which are very interesting. 
They are in a small creek which enters the Berbice from 
the east bank. The following is from the diary of a 


recent traveller written on the spot :— 

““We have succeeded in passing the flats and are at Idure Wadde ! 
We were soon ashore and wading (barefoot) up this beautiful glen. 
The excitement is increased by spying a fine haimara apparently 
asleep in the clear stream. The Indian was sent back to the boat for 
his bow and arrows, and he soon shot the fish, but it struggled so 
violently that the buck, for fear of breaking his arrow, let it go, when 
the fish sped away up the creek with the arrow sticking in him, and it was 
only by means of a pointed stick cut on the spot that he was got 
ashore and landed. He measured 2 feet 6 inches. The falls are very 
‘beautiful and this would be a charming spot for a pic-nic. The creek 
at the top issues from the bush, the trees on each side nearly meet 
overhead, and the stream, which is about twenty feet wide, roars down 
Over a succession of rocks which divide it into several channels at first, 
but which unite again below, and brawls along over a rocky and sandy 
bed tillit reaches the river. The total descent we estimated at thirty feet, 
perhaps over-estimated it, but it certainly appears more than twelve 
feet, which Schomburgk calls it; the first leap alone is that. Probably 
the river was higher when Schomburgk was here. The water is very 
cold and the bathing delicious.” 


There is, near the mouth of this creek, one of those 
curious Indian rock carvings, of the deeply cut kind. 

At Marlissa, an hour’s pull above Idure Wadde, is a 
range of granite rocks stretching across the river and 
covered with Indian hieroglyphics of the shallow kind. 
Copies of several of these figure on the cover of 
Timehri.t 


+ For an account of these rock carvings by the present writer 
see a pamphlet published by Judd & Co., Doctors Common, London, 
entitled ‘Indian Pictured Rocks of Guiana,” 


THE BERBICE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 297 


It is at Marlissa that the rapids commence, and the 
boat has to be hauled up by ropes. There are eight 
rapids in succession, and it takes about four hours to 
surmount them. After passing the last and most formi- 
dable, the river forms a small lake, almost circular, the 
entrance to which is through a narrow passage about ten 
yards wide, with rocks on both sides. At the head of 
this lake the river turns sharply to the left and the falls 
of Itabroo are seen and heard. 

There is a picture of these falls in SCHOMBURGK'’S 
“twelve views”. The scenery is picturesque and interest- 
ing ; and a cool breeze blows over the surface of the lake. 
The pretty lake with its sandy shores is surrounded by 
high wooded hills, which in the distance rise to a height 
of eight hundred or a thousand feet. A naturalist might 
spend a week here to great advantage. The flora is 
peculiar, and there is a great variety of choice ferns on 
the hill-sides. The glossy ibis, the sunbird, and other 
rare birds are to be met with; and otters abound in the 
river. 

Itabroo is in latitude 4° 49 N., longitude 57° 19 W; 
its level is 130 feet above that of the sea. 

Few amateur travellers have gone higher up the Ber- 
bice than the falls of Itabroo. The explorers Sir ROBERT 
SCHOMBURGK and BARRINGTON BROWN have done 
so, and toiled away for several weeks, but making very 
slow progress. They had to ascend numerous rapids 
and cataraéts and to cut their way through overhanging 
woods and fallen trees, and to contend against difficul- 
ties of various kinds, until by dint of perseverance they 
reached a spot where an Indian path from Corentyn 
crosses the river and leads on to Essequibo. Both these 


298 TIMEHRI. 


travellers explored this path and found the distance 
between the Essequibo and the Berbice only ten miles, 
and no sign of the Demerara River. 

The Berbice is navigable for some fifty miles beyond 
this path, but no European has ever visited its source, 
which is said to be in latitude 3° 14’ N. 


The large extent of country watered by the river Ber- 
bice and its tributaries, is but thinly inhabited. The 
aboriginal Indians, once numerous, are now but few in 
number. Some families of Arawaaks still remain and 
some Ackawois, but no true Caribs. 

The creole blacks are mostly confined to the Lana 
distriét of Berbice and the upper Canje. These are all 
natives of the place, to which they are much attached, 
having lived there all their lives. The mode of life in 
the upper distriéts suits their tastes and constitutions ; 
and they are very healthy and not subjeét to fevers. 

Of the class of bovianders and small farmers there 
are several families, living on their farms, with all the 
comforts of life about them. This is a class that might 
be increased with advantage to the colony, particularly 
now that steamers are running on the river and 
communication with town is easy and_ frequent. 
There must be many industriously inclined people in the 
towns, leading a very poor, and perhaps disreputable life, 
who, up the river, would greatly improve their condition 
and become respectable colonists, contributing to the 
general prosperity of the colony, instead of being a drag» 
upon it. People up the river can work with their own 
hands in a way they can never do in town. The 
necessaries of life are easily attained; food and shelter 


THE BERBICE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 299 


are remarkably cheap. Small farms are soon established. 
The grazing is excellent and extensive, perhaps too 
extensive, for many cattle have been lost to their owners 
by straying away in the savannahs, where they are now 
running wild; but that is the fault of their owners, for 
the cattle, if brought home regularly, become very tame. 
The milk of the cows is very rich, and the butter from it 
excellent. New Amsterdam was once supplied with 
fresh butter of the best description from the small farm 
of Ma chaumiére. Poultry thrives remarkably well and 
increases rapidly, and a ready market for it is always 
to be had on board the steamers. 

The land, when once cleared of the bush, is easily 
cultivated and gives excellent crops for two or three 
seasons; it has natural drainage and no kokers are 
required. The cultivation of arrowroot has been com- 
menced and seems well suited to the soil, and likely to 
be profitable. For such trades as boat-building, the 
river district affords great facilities. 

If facilities were afforded to persons of small means 
for settling in these upper districts, it would be a great 
boon to the colony at large, and would help to diminish 
the pauperism which exists to a far greater extent than 
it ought, in a country like this possessing such great 
natural advantages. The best way to assist the poor 
is to put them in a way to support themselves. 

As to “developing the resources of the country’, the 
more important object is to enable a certain class, that 
now finds it very difficult to do so, to earn a decent live- 
lihood. 

But then the present crown-land regulations must be 
altered and their stringency relaxed. These regulations 

oOo 


300 TIMEHRI. 


have been framed, not so much with a view to protecting 
the crown-lands, as to repelling any attempt at the 
colonisation of the interior of the country, and so con- 
fining all population to the coast and the neighbourhood 
of the sugar-estates. This may have been a necessary 
policy at one time, but is scarcely so now. The sugar- 
estate will always be the best market for the iabour of the 
strong and able-bodied agricultural labourer; and the 
danger of his being drawn away from his proper sphere 
is a good deal exaggerated. Besides, other classes are 
entitled to some consideration; and there are many 
who are quite unsuited for the work of a sugar-estate 
who yet are industriously inclined and would earn a 
comfortable livelihood for themselves and their aged 
relatives in the upper districts, if facilities were afforded 
them. We hear a good deal about the conservancy 
of the forests; one would like to hear something of 
their being made of some use. Instead of the present 
elaborate and costly system of surveys and diagrams, 
a much more simple system might be adopted. 

A certain distri€t might be selected for the purpose, 
and intending settlers might apply to the river magis- 
trate, who would allot them a piece a land for building 
a house, and a few acres for making a field, according 
to the size of the family. He would see the paals plant- 
ed and take care that the limits were not exceeded. A 
moderate rental should be paid, and the tenant have a 
right of renewal of his occupancy on payment of a fee. 

It is quite possible, if something of this kind were 
once established, that colonists from the West Indian 
islands might come and settle here, and so increase the 
population, which isso much wanted. The facility af- 


THE BERBICE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 301 


forded by our rivers for conveying produce to a market 
gives this colony an advantage over more mountainous 
countries. 

There is another class which might be benefited by 
an occasional resort to the upper distri€t, and that is 
the residents in town who are closely confined to one 
spot by their business or official duties, but who would 
gladly avail themselves of a change of scene for the 
benefit of their health, could it be had without inconve- 
nience. Something in the nature of a “ watering place” 
is much wanted in this colony, and might save many an 
invalid from falling into serious illness, requiring an ex- 
pensive change to Barbados or to England. The steam- 
ers now plying on our rivers would reach a suitable spot 
for such an establishment in five or six hours. The Dutch 
used to go periodically to the “cold creeks”’ ; but these are 
very far up, and the sand-flies on the dry savannahs are al- 
most unbearable. Somewhere in the neighbourhood of the 
old town would suit very well; the locality is healthy and 
there are objects of interest within the reach of a short 
excursion. A few cheap houses might be put up for the 
accommodation of visitors, who would go up by one 
steamer and return by the next, and thus get a few days’ 
recreation with very little trouble.* Expensive town- 
built houses would not be required; such as the 
bovianders live in would answer the purpose very well 
and are very cheap. A house fifty feet by twenty, 
built in the usual style, wattled with manicoles, thatched 
with dallabana leaves, with sleeping rooms upstairs, could 


* The steamer, having a handsome subsidy, should take passengers at 
a minimum rate of fare. 


00 2 


302 TIMEHRI. 


be built for fifty dollars, materials and labour included. 
The bathing in the river is good; but for the accommo- 
dation of ladies and children, or for those who are not 
good swimmers, floating baths could be arranged some- 
what similar to those on the Rhine, which rise and fall 
with the tide, so that the water is always at the same 
level. This could be easily effected by means of two 
rafts of light wood, eight or ten feet asunder, supporting 
a platform suspended between them under water, at the 
required depth, over which the river would constantly 
flow. As the river is deep close to the bank a short stage 
from the shore would reach the raft, and the bath be 
accessible at any hour or at any state of the tide. 

Besides these minor objects, there afe two indus- 
tries which might be conducted with advantage in the 
upper distri€t of Berbice, on a scale that would probably 
be profitable, and would rescue this fine country from 
the reproach of being desolate and unproduétive. These 
are cattle-farming and wood-cutting ; but both should be 
carried on upon a scale far greater than has been 
hitherto attempted. 

As to the raising of cattle, it would not be difficult to 
stock these downs with cattle, by importing several 
hundred cows and heifers from Venezuela. They could 
be brought by sea in schooners direét and landed on the 
spot. The voyage is not long, and if steamers were 
used would only be a few days. In this way the raising 
of horned castle could be commenced on a footing sim- 
ilar to the ‘‘ gigantic cattle-farms established by the 
“ Brazilian government” as described by Mr. IM ‘THURN 
in his paper on ‘‘Opening up the Country,” prefixed to 
the catalogue of the Exhibition of 1879. In that paper 


—. 


THE BERBICE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 303 


Mr. iM THURN proposed establishing cattle-farms on a 
large scale on the Roopoonooni and Takootoo savannahs. 
But surely it would be better to make use of the country 
nearer home, within a few hours of a market. And 
as to labourers, probably some of our own Indians might 
be trained to the work, and make as good cow-herds 
as the peons of the Spanish Main. Why should not 
Berbice have an export trade in cattle as well as 
Venezuela or Porto Rico? 

As regards woodcutting ; there is a forest of green- 
heart growing on a high plateau of level land, lying 
between the right bank of the river Berbice and the left 
bank of the Wikky creek, which has attracted the atten- 
tion of several woodcutters from time to time, but which 
has always been given up on account of the distance 
from the water. The supply of timber was ample, 
but the expense of hauling too great for small gangs. 
It might be worth while to have this traét examined, and 
if it is found to be extensive and likely to furnish em- 
ployment for a large gang for several years, an en- 
terprising woodcutter, with sufficient capital, might 
possibly make terms with government for a grant of 
the traét for a long period, paying instead of a 
rent per acre, a royalty on the amount of timber 
shipped, in consideration of his laying down a temporary 
railway or, by means of timber carts or other me- 
chanical aids, reducing the cost of hauling so as to leave 
a profit on the business. The surface of the land is 
perfectly level and hard and very suitable. There are 
Indians living in Wikky and also in Etoony who are 
used to wood-cutting; and additional hands could be 
brought up by the steamers. The creek is deep and 


304 TIMEHRI. 


navigable, and opposite its mouth is a beach where 
Maccallum & Co., formerly loaded their ships. 


Our Colonial Currency. 


By Ff. B. Linne. 


‘a! exist in the minds of the public on this subjeét ; 


and, without wishing to display a polemic spirit, 
it may be of interest to your readers elsewhere if I 
attempt to give them a brief summary of the views 
which one believes to be held in this colony on this ques- 
tion. Money in British Guiana is of four species; first, 
the money af account, which is composed of dollars and 
cents, and the convenience of which for its specific pur- 
pose no one here will deny ; it has the further advantage 
of being identical in name and fractional parts with the 
money of account in the United States, Mexico, St. 
Helena, and most of the States of Southern America, while 
it is similar to, or readily convertible with, the French, 
Dutch, Italian and many other continental monies. The 
American, Spanish and Mexican dollar is readily procur- 
able in the London bullion market at its intrinsic value, 
which fluctuates with the supply from this side of the 
Atlantic and the demand for China, Japan, Central Africa 
and other parts of the world; the cost of purchase and 
transmission from London to Demerara exceeds 2 per 
cent., and until a few years ago it was a legal tender 
here at 4s. 2d. English to the dollar. My own firm 
imported some two hundred thousand Mexican dol- 
lars at that time; the coins were readily absorbed 
into circulation, and in due course excessive imports 
would have been checked by the rise in exchange, our 


306 TIMEHRI. 


financial pulse would have vibrated in consonance with 
those of other countries, and we should have had a cur- 
rency suitable to our accounts, of an intrinsic though 
variable value, and therefore suitable for remittance to 
any part of the world at the rate of quotations ruling 
for silver in the London money market. 

The colonial government of the day however were 
alarmed, while the local banks were disgusted, partly 
at a private firm profiting by an operation which the 
banks themselves should have undertaken, but chiefly 
because they saw their control over the island exchanges 
imperilled and. greater facilities given to remittances 
in specie. Instead of the colony welcoming the useful 
coin and the banks meeting the emergency by raising 
their rate for bills on England, the legislature first im- 
posed a duty on the dollars and soon afterwards demon- 
etised them. The Secretary of State, when he sanctioned 
this latter step lost the chance of enforcing his views as 
to the adoption of a gold currency and the limitation of 
silver tender in the West Indies; and, instead of 
making his sanction of the ordinance dependent on our 
adopting his views of a proper currency, he deprived us 
of the next best one, which would be a silver coinage 
of marketable value, and left us with our present most 
unsatisfactory money of legal currency, which consists 
mainly of British silver, which is in England purely a 
token currency, the tender of which is limited there to 
forty shillings, but which if you sent it to your banker 
in England and he was willing to take it, would cost you 
not only the 2 per cent freight and other charges, but 4 
per cent additional commission, in consideration of which 
he would receive it from his customers; elsewhere than 


OUR COLONIAL CURRENCY. 307 


England the British silver would be practically almost 
valueless. The whole expenses of the British mint are 
paid from the profits of coining these tokens of silver 
and copper, which bear a face value in relation to the 
pound sterling considerably beyond their intrinsic value. 
Mr. YOUNG, our Government Secretary, has suggested 
that we might absorb that profit ourselves by issuing 
our own silver tokens; but as the British Govern- 
ment sensibly limits its own production of these tokens, 
it would naturally object to our multiplying them, 
whilst if we have a debased silver token currency solely 
current in Demerara and coined specially for us, it would 
isolate us more than ever from the world and place us 
more entirely in the hands of the banks than before. If 
we are to have a Demerara dollar currency, there was 
little reason for demonetizing dollars of other countries 
of equal intrinsic value; but in that event, we shall 
suffer as individuals, whilst the general revenue benefits. 

Thirdly, there is the money of colloquial parlance ; the 
bit equal 4d., 3 bit equal 2d., gill equal 1d., stampee, 4d. 
As the old Dutch guilders are rapidly becoming fewer, 
and as we have recently heard that the English fourpenny 
bit or “joey” (no relation to our extinct “joe” notes in 
this colony) is being called in, we may expect that even 
our country people will have to succomb to the inevita- 
ble and alter their money nomenclature. With the 
change we may perhaps see an agitation for some small 
coin more suitable to our climate than the bronze penny 
and halfpenny, which for offensiveness, though not in 
amount, rivals the five dollar note of fashionable life 
after a few weeks’ handling. 

Lastly, we have the real bones and sinews of the 

EE 


308 TIMEHRI. 


country, paper-money. Do we all not know the man 
who to satisfy some creditor slaps his name to the 
end of a promissory note equal in amount to half 
his annual salary and then says ‘‘Thank God, that’s 
paid for’? Do we not most of us see ‘‘goods”’ or ‘‘I O Us” 
for considerable amounts in the cash boxes of the 
merchants from their clerks or customers? Do we not 
know what large sums have appeared at the credit of 
certain funds in the colony books, before we mended 
our way and wrote off the balances as bad debts? And 
lastly do we net know the colour of a three months’ 
bill on London drawn by our two banks on their home 
agents, or by some of our leading firms on a solvent ab- 
sentee proprietor ; and when we have that in our hand, 
what after all do we really care whether the small change 
in our pockets for daily wants is composed of guilders, 
shillings, or even of Mexican dollars ? 


A Chapter in the Life-History of a Plant. 


By G. S. Fenman, F. L. S., Government Botanist of British Guiana, 


vi (JOST West Indians who have lived for any length 
4) of time a country life, and possess an observant 


taste for nature, are familiar by sight, though 
possibly not by name, with the common large-leaved 
shield-fern (Aspidium macrophyllum, Sw.), with its am- 
ple leafy fronds, and their serried dot-lines of clustering 
spore-cases, capped (as the groups are up to maturity) 
by the little membranous circular shields. Here and 
there in favourable situations, in districts of low altitude, 
it is a common wood and wayside plant on, probably, all 
the West Indian islands ; and here in British Guiana, it is 
still more plentiful, but because of the different conditions 
of the country, not so often seen by us in its native haunts 
as by our island neighbours. Everywhere, whether on the 
islands or the mainland, it is found under much the 
same conditions of soil and shade,—the former fairly dry 
and the latter rather light, such as open forest or low bush 
might best afford. Those who have observed it in differ- 
ent countries and are familiar with its appearance, know 
that it is a plant that presents hardly any variation of 
character: it seems to be the same in all its features 
wherever found under the forementioned conditions of 
growth. 

Constant and true in its characters as the type plant 
generally is, there is, however, a specialised form of it, 
which I have taken as the subject of these remarks, that 
PP 


310 TIMEHRI. 


I have recently become acquainted with, which does not 
occupy the terra firma of its prototype, but lives an aqua- 
tic life and has developed a very striking and peculiar 
aspect, picturesque in itself and full of interest to the en- 
quiring naturalist. On numerous creeks of the Pomeroon 
River, and less abundantly on the main river itself, this 
special form is found plentifully in the water, clustering 
on stumps, logs of wood, and even the branches of trees 
that hang down far enough to be washed by the stream. 
It presents a most gay and fantastic appearance ; for, 
like sailors aloft in a ship’s rigging, in the axil 
of every leaflet, and sometimes on the ribs and 
surface as well, are perched infantile plants, fully equip- 
ped with leaves and roots of their own for a separate 
and independent career, but temporarily attached to the 
parent plant by the bud from which they have developed. 
Through the overhanging branches, that in those still 
solitudes a passing breath of wind occasionally stirs into 
indolent motion, the sunlight gleams and plays on their 
pale incipient foliage, distinguishing them with magic 
contrast against the dark sombre green of the old plants 
which support them. So far in their evolution they have 
lived a dependent—one might say parasitic, but that they 
are true, though abnormal, vegetative developments 
from the parent—and eerial life. Their birth and 
brief period of dependence, till they reach as it 
were their majority and become in turn the pro- 
genitors through many years of generation after gene- 
ration of fertile successors, may be told in few words. 
First, through the slightly ruptured epidermis, the embry- 
onic bud appears, a mere gland, barely visible at first to 
unaided sight. When a little more advanced, this is 


THE LIFE HISTORY OF A PLANT. 311 


seen to be composed of a minute fleshy nucleus, coated 
by a few germinal scales. Then, by degrees, rudimen- 
tary fronds arise and active rootlets are thrown out, 
and the bud becomes a young plant complete in all 
its parts. After a time, borne down by their increasing 
size and weight, the parent fronds reach the water, 
when, if the plantlets reach a suitable surface, they 
root into it and begin their independent existence ; or, 
if not, they are carried away, by the drag of the stream 
or by the friction of floating material, to make a home on 
any favourable spot they may chance to drift to. There 
can be no reasonable doubt that this aquatic form was 
originally derived from the plentiful, widely-spread terres- 
trial form. Both are strictly identical in all but the 
viviparous character I have described, and the different 
habitats they occupy. When the buds are removed, 
there remains no feature to distinguish a frond of one 
form from a frond of the other. Now, this being 
established, it will be interesting to inquire how this 
aquatic form originated, and why has it, living in water, 
acquired a bud-bearing faculty to such a conspicuous 
degree, to which the type on land shows no disposition : 
and what purpose, if any, in the economy of its life does 
this power serve? How the conditions (the physical 
causation of the resuit) came about which changed this 
plant over a large area of the country from a terrestrial 
into an aquatic subjeét can only be inferred with more 
or less of probability. The nature of the conditions can 
however be indicated with more of certainty: their in- 
fluence on the plant can be shown, and the important 
purpose that the adaptation to these (so successfully 
accomplished) serves can be clearly seen. 


312 TIMEHRI. 


It is a matter of common observation how much the 
majority of plants that possess a wide range are affected 
in charaéter under the varying conditions and degrees 
to which they are subje€t of drought or moisture, 
exposure or shade, heat or cold, and difference of eleva- 
tion (which in some particulars are the same) acting con- 
tinuously upon them. The known instances of this 
variation of form under the influence of physical surround- 
ings are innumerable and rapidly increasing. Guided 
by this experience we may look with some confidence to 
the present environment of our subject for an explana- 
tion of the adaptive change it has undergone. Now its 
distinguishing character, viviparousness, is not an unusual 
feature in the fern. family, and it appears to be induced 
and much fostered by an abundant, ever-pervading, 
atmospheric moisture. ‘This inference is justified by the 
faét that most of the plants which exhibit it inhabit wet 
mountain forests, the shady banks of streams, and other 
similar very moist localities; and that among such, it is 
in those which are the most thoroughly and constantly 
pervaded by this dripping atmosphere that it shows its 
fuliest development. To such influence our plant, in its 
river-way habitat, sheltered by the surrounding and over- 
reaching forest from sun and air, is most completely sub- 
ject. As I have intimated, we can only speculate 
(though with certainty as to the essential circumstances) 
from the results which we see have been produced as 
to the history of how the conditions came about 
which produced these results. Not only was water 
the great factor, but, judging from the truly aquatic 
habits of the plant as we see it to-day, water 
must have prevailed in the end, generally and abund- 


THE LIFE HISTORY OF A PLANT. 313 


antly. It is very probable that the region occupied 
originally by the ancestral form was, under physical 
change, invaded by water, becoming gradually, by very 
slow degrees over a long period, quite flooded. This 
result must have occupied a very considerable time, for 
had the change been sudden, it is exceedingly doubtful 
if the vegetation of this type could have survived it. 
Then, as the water slowly and insensibly increased till it 
covered the ground, all such plants as had so far survived 
by the advantage derived from favourable Jocation, or con- 
stitutional fitness, in the same degree adapted themselves 
to the conditions. In course of time, under the prevail- 
ing aqueous influence, some of these—possibly few in its 
earliest stage—evinced a casual tendency to produce buds 
on their fronds. At the same time that they were gradually 
becoming specialised by this character, as the water 
increased, the difficulty of maintaining the succession by 
ordinary generation must have become more operative 
year by year; for the majority of the spores falling 
on the water would perish, and fewer and fewer, as time 
went on, would find places favourable to their successful 
germination. In those rare spots, too, they had to com- 
pete, no doubt, with rival vegetation struggling also 
under the same inimical conditions for security of life. 
Here we see the value of this development, and the 
a€tual necessity that it met, under the precarious condi- 
tions of life which had come to exist at the period it 
originated. The very survival of the plant under such 
circumstances was threatened, and would eventually 
-depend on this viviparous effort becoming established and 
permanent, as the normal method of reproduction, influ- 
enced by thesame cause, was steadily becoming ineffective. 


314 TIMEHRI. 


The young plants thus produced doubtless inherited the 
tendency in an increasing degree, and succession after 
succession perfected it. Then in the course of time 
probably the drift of the water to its points of relief 
formed channels, and, as these became deeper and 
more effective, there was a gradual withdrawal of it from 
the intervening land. The aquatic vegetation followed, 
and was henceforth confined to the banks of streams, as we 
see it at present. Now, like all racial tendencies that have 
existed for long periods, the characteristic is so firmly 
established that apparently if the physical conditions 
which produced it, and under which to-day it flourishes 
so well, were withdrawn, (though much modified under 
the changed circumstances) many generations would 
elapse before it again disappeared, leaving no trace on 
the surviving plants of its having existed and played 
such an important part in a chapter of their life-history. 


& 
G 
BONO Se 


On Lamaha Water and a Process for Purifying it. 


By E. E. H. Francis. 


ITS nature and composttion:—The water of the Lamaha 
canal consists of the surface drainage from savannah 
traéts, the upper soil of which contains much peaty 
matter, or pegass, and decomposing vegetable debris : 
hence the water, like other bush water throughout 
the colony, is deeply coloured and resembles weak 
tea in appearance. The colour is due to the pre- 
sence of humous bodies dissolved in the water— 
principally, a brown acid substance, soluble in alkalies 
and precipitated by acids, resembling humic acid, and a 
small quantity of apocrenic acid. The colouring matter 
cannot be separated from the water by the mere appli- 
cation of heat or by the passage of a galvanic current, 
but it precipitates in brown flocks spontaneously, and 
often completely, when the water is allowed to stand 
for several months in glass vessels exposed to the light. 
Nor can the colouring matter be easily destroyed by 
oxidation ; thus acidified solution of permanganate, or 
Condy’s fluid, aéts but imperfeétly upon it, and it stub- 
bornly resists the a€tion of peroxide of hydrogen, even if 
aided by heat. Filtration through animal charcoal par- 
tially removes the colouring matter; and it can be com- 
pletely separated by means of acetate of lead, hydrate 
of iron or alumina. From a gallon of the water there 
were obtained by precipitation with alumina 4°737 grains 
of colouring matter, and the water then became perfe€tly 
white. Apart from the vegetable matter present, the 
water is fairly pure, as it contains only about 34 grains 


QQ 


316 TIMEHRI. 


per gallon of mineral impurities, consisting of iron, 
alumina, magnesia and a trace of lime and _ potassa, 
together with small quantities of silica, sulphuric acid 
and chlorine—in faét, just the substances that the clay 
soil of the colony might be expeéted to yield to water 
in contaét with it. The constant presence of iron in 
Lamaha water to the extent of about $ of a grain per 
gallon is worthy of note and may be of interest to those 
persons who think that the colour of Lamaha, and other 
bush water is due to the presence of “tannin.” Iron 
in solution in the presence of tannin produces a black 
colour—ink, in fact—but the water does not exhibit an 
inky tint. Owing to its freedom from lime salts and 
mineral matter generally, Lamaha water is almost as soft 
as rain water—tested with an accurately made soap 
solution its hardness was found to be exaétly 4 degrees: 
The following represents a careful analysis of the solid 
residue left after evaporating the Lamaha water, and 
shows the nature and quantity of the impurities contained 


in one gallon :* 


Vegetable and organic matter... ... 4653 grains 
Iron peroxide ... ins ake ee OL Olu 
Alumina not tnd a SA OL28 Olea 
Lime ... ie SH cee POLO SOME 
Magnesia 160 yet 500 SBT COUGH) 
Potassa es wee i 500), OPH) — py 
Soda ... Bap Bee oa Sch OSOO ST ty 
Silica ... = oe ne ONS OO Mua. 
Sulphuric Acid... 350 ‘ine Soa OIG 
Chlorine as oe ae sn O13 (na 
Sass 
Deduct Oxygen at ado CPi? 5, 
7984 


4 All the analytical determinations given in this paper are the result 
of duplicate, frequently of triplicate, closely concordant experiments, 


and may be thoroughly relied on. 


On LAMAHA WATER. 317 


On the best method for decolourizing and purifying 
the water :—The dark unsightly appearance of Lamaha 
water and the large quantity of vegetable matter 
it contains unfit it for many domestic uses. Only 
stern necessity compels persons to bathe in or drink iit, 
and it is shunned by laundresses who have any care for 
the colour of the linen they wash. A cheapandeasy process 
for removing the colour without harm to the water would 
therefore be of great service. The methods chiefly em- 
ployed in purifying coloured or peaty waters are of two 
kinds :—one is by simple filtration through porous and 
absorbent substances such as animal or vegetable char- 
coal, magnetic oxide of iron, spongy iron, silicated car- 
bon, &c.; and the other by precipitating the colouring 
matter chemically, usually by means of alumina added 
to the water in the form of alum. The use of alum for 
this purpose is well known here and in most other 
parts of the world. Early in 1880 the writer com- 
menced to make experiments on the purification of 
Lamaha water and soon found that the method by 
filtration was of no avail for operations dealing with 
the water supply of the town. The decolourizing power 
of charcoal or spongy iron filters is very limited for 
Lamaha water; and the filters are speedily rendered 
inaétive by the large quantity of vegetable matter that 
accumulates in them. This will be evident when it is 
stated that Georgetown requires 300,000 gallons of 
Lamaha water a day ; and that quantity will contain about 
200 pounds of vegetable matter that would have to be 
removed before the water became colourless. Attention 
was therefore dire¢ted to the best way of carrying out 
the method of precipitation ; and it was ascertained that 

. QQ 2 


318 TIMEHRI. 


1°614 grains of alumina was the smallest quantity that - 
would effectually remove the colouring matter from one 
gallon of the water. This quantity of alumina is con- 
tained in 15 grains of alum; but as alum is rather an 
expensive source of alumina, a cheap substitute was 


sought for, and at last found in “ 


alumino-ferric cake,’ 
a neutral sulphate of alumina manufactured by Mr. 
SPENCE of Manchester and, amongst other things, used 
for ‘“‘decolourizing turbid, clayey or peaty water for 
drinking and for manufacturing purposes.”’ The follow- 
ing shows the percentage composition of alum and 


alumino-ferric cake respectively :— 


ALUM. ALUMINO-FERRIC CAKE. 
Sulphate of alumina ... 36:11 Sulphate of alumina ... 46°74 
(equal to 10°81 °/, alumina) (equal to 14:00 °/, alumina) 
Sulphate of potassa Mee 18°36 Sulphate of iron fee 1°82 
Water ae aa fol 45°53 Water ... Be in 51°44 
10000 100°00 


In most cases where alum or alumino-ferric cake is 
employed to purify coloured water, the lime naturally 
present in the water is sufficient to decompose the 
aluminous compound, and set free the alumina, which 
thereupon unites with and carries down the colouring 
matter. But the quantity of lime in Lamaha water 
being too small for this purpose, it is necessary to 
use a certain proportion of lime, or other alkali, in 
addition to the aluminous material. Potash or wood- 
ashes, carbonate of soda, ammonia, or any other alkali 
will answer; but the most economical is lime. For- 
merly, the writer recommended the use of carbonate 
of. soda, or its cheaper form called soda-ash; with 
the obje€t of preventing the water becoming unduly 


ON LAMAHA WATER, 319 


hard from the presence of lime salts. But subsequent ex- 
periments have proved that the slight increase of hard- 
ness (1.7 degrees) is of small account compared with the 
considerable saving in cost of material. Three grains of 
slaked lime, equal to 2.27 grains of Bristol temper lime, 
to the gallon of water have been found to give the best 
results; and it makes no difference whether the lime is 
added before or after the aluminous compound. After 
adding the materials, the water is well agitated and the 
sediment then allowed to settle, which it does com- 
pletely in less than 12 hours, leaving +2 of the water per- 
fectly clear above. To remove the colouring matter 
from one million gallons of water, or sufficient for 3 days’ 
supply, there would be required 16544 pounds of alumi- 
noferric cake and 3244 pounds of Bristol lime. ‘The cost 
of the alumino-ferric cake, including freight to the colony, 
would be about $15.00, and of the lime, about $1.50, or 
together $16.50. This would represent a daily expense 
of 85.£0 for the purifying materials. 

On the composition and wholesomeness of the puri- 
fied water :—The first trial of the above materials for 
the purification of Lamaha water on a large scale was 
made last August at the Georgetown Water Works in 
the presence of Mr. L. M. Hill, Town Superintendent, 
Addee vie) Williams, ECs: Town Councillor ~A 
reservoir holding between 24,000 and 25,000 gallons was 
filled with the water, and 40 pounds of alumino-ferric 
cake and 19 pounds of slaked lime were successively 
dissolved and mixed in this. Twelve hours after, the 
sediment had completely settled, and the bottom of the 
reservoir was clearly visible.’ The water thus purified 
had no unpleasant taste, was clear, and quite white in 


320 TIMEHRI. 


small quantities, but exhibited a slight yellowish-green 
colour when seen in large bulk. Its hardness was 5°7 
degrees; and the solid residue from one gallon had the 
following composition :— 


Vegetable and organic matter... ... 0'558 grains. 
Combined water ae es alm aS TD ie 
Iron peroxide... Hen Bete ... 0'070 BA 
Alumina nos an ihe ... 0'000 Ba 
Lime ... ee Sa US ptacta “ath M 2B G2 ce 
Magnesia Me a si OV 7 Omir, 
Potassa me se we Out O . 
Soda ... th ne nae fei LEQ TUG Ras 
Silica... ae ae sie Se OnnS A 5D 
Sulphuric acid... 48 Nat sog AGEN ’; 
Chlorine uae ae fae BAG MORAY KON. so 
11243 ” 
Deduct Oxygen ... ane Sy kO;20O anna, 
TOF Aa 


* Equal to 3'108 grains of slaked lime. 
Comparing this with the former analysis, it will be seen 


that nearly all the vegetable matter, nearly all the 
iron and all the alumina have been removed by 
the treatment, whilst the lime and _ sulphuric 
acid have been increased,—the former to the extent of 
2.302 grains and the latter of 3.953 grains, together re- 
presenting about 6 grains of sulphate of lime—a perfect- 
ly harmless and constant constituent of potable waters. 
This however cannot be said of the impurities that have 
been removed. The presence of vegetable or organic 
matter of any kind in water is objectionable. However 
harmless it is generally, it may become highly noxious 
under certain conditions, and moreover greatly tends 
to foster infusorial and parasitic animal life.* That 


* According to MALLET (Chem. News 46 p. 63) the injurious effects 
produced by drinking polluted water do not depend on the chemical 


ON LAMAHA WATER. 321 


the brown bush-water of the colony exercises a spe- 
cific effect on the functions of persons drinking it is 
well known; but its action ceases after a time and 
it is said that persons habituated to its use even prefer 
the water to any other. Mere taste however affords 
no criterion of the goodness of a water. Only a few 
years ago nearly every London church possessed its pump 
in connection with a well either in or near the church- 
yard, and several were quite famous in their neighbour- 
hood for the agreeable taste and appearance of the water. 
Persons sent long distances to obtain a supply of the 
cool and sparkling water from particular pumps, even 
after it was proved that it was highly polluted and un- 
doubtedly received the drainage from the adjacent graves. 
It was also shown that the more polluted the water the 
more it was praised and sought after. Subsequently, 
when a violent epidemic of typhoid fever or cholera raged 
in the Metropolis, and it became evident that several of 
the pumps had become centres of the infection, they were 
chained up, preparatory toremoval. Nevertheless, people 
broke the chains to get at the water. Even in this city 
there is but little doubt that if the various water vats 
were overhauled, there would be disclosed the body, not 
of the mythical missing terrier of the last Exhibition, but 
of many a real one, together with other cadaveric abom- 
inations now tempering the rawness of the rain water. 
There is too much iron naturally present in the 
Lamaha water, and it is well got rid of, if the water is to 
be used for drinking. According to the best authorities, 
good potable water should not contain more than 5 to 


constitution of the organic matter, but on the presence and action of 
living organisms. $ouwrn. Chem. Soc. 1883, p. 883. 


322 TIMEHRI, 


yo of a grain of iron per gallon; but Lamaha water con- 
tain nearly } of a grain. It has been suggested that the 
iron would act asa tonic, and therefore might be bene- 
ficial; but tonics should be taken under medical advice 
and not as articles of diet—their constant use would be 
anything but beneficial. 

The complete removal of alumina, not only of the 
portion added in the form of alumino-ferric cake, but also, 
that naturally present in the water, is a point of interest. 
Any objection to the method of purification of Lamaha 
water herein proposed could only be founded on the use of 
an aluminous compound, as the presence of salts of alum- 
ina, owing to their great astringency, is always objection- 
able in food or drink. Now a glance at the analysis 
given on page 316 will show that Lamaha water naturally 
contains 0.230 grain of alumina, as well as 0.432 grain of 
sulphuric acid : just the ingredients that are contained in 
about 14 grains of alumino-ferric cake. But the whole of 
the alumina, both added and natural, is got rid of by the 
purification process—thrown down in combination with 
the colouring matter by the agency of the lime, which 
at the same time unites with the sulphuric acid and 
remains in the water in the form of sulphate of lime or 
gypsum. 

A few grains more or less of lime salts or other innocu- 
ous mineral compounds make very little difference in the 
potability of a water, and if the total mineral constituents 
do not much exceed 30 to 40 grains per gallon, they 
afford no reason for rejecting the water for domestic 
uses. The water supplied to London, and indeed most 
other places, contain a much larger quantity of lime 
and other salts than the purified Lamaha water. Thus, 


ON LAMAHA WATER. 323 


the Kent Water Company supplies London and parts of 
Kent with more than 6 million gallons daily of deep well 
water that contains 5.37 grains of sulphate of lime, 16.30 
grains of carbonate of lime, and other salts to the extent 
of about 30 grains per gallon. The only objection to the 
Kent water is its great hardness. The water of the 
river Thames, which is supplied to London and its 
suburbs by eight companies at the rate of about 65 
million gallons daily contains 2'4 grains of sulphate 
of lime, 12°9 grains of carbonate of lime, and other 
salts amounting to about 20 grains per gallon. The 
New River Company supplies 26 million gallons of 
water each containing 1°6 grains of sulphate and 127 
grains of carbonate of lime, besides other salts. Many 
similar examples could be given, but these are sufficient 
to show that the purified Lamaha water with its 6 grains 
of sulphate of lime and 3 grains of other salts per gallon 
is much freer from mineral impurity than the average 
potable waters used elsewhere. 

On a simple plan for carrying out the purification 
process :—It was originally proposed to purify the 
water in large reservoirs in which the purifying ma- 
terials could be mixed and from which the clear water 
could be drawn off without filtration after the subsi- 
dence of the impurities. This plan, however, did not 
meet with approval, chiefly in consequence of the cost 
of erecting the necessary reservoirs, and pumps. Ex- 
periments were therefore commenced by the writer, with 
the object of adapting the process to existing arrange- 
ments at the Water Works; and it was found that the 
object could be attained by dispensing with reservoirs 
for subsidence and employing the sand filter-beds, al- 

RR 


324 TIMEHRI. 


ready provided but seldom used at the works, to remove 
the precipitated impurities. The method now proposed 
is almost a self-acting one, and would require but the 
most trifling expense to bring it into operation. It is as 
follows :—The water from the canal is to be conducted 
to the filter-beds by a channel which may have to be 
about too feet long and 6 to 8 feet wide. In the first 
part of this channel an open wooden box, liberally per- 
forated with holes, is to be suspended by a contrivance 
which will admit of its being raised or lowered to any 
required height. A few slabs of alumino-ferric cake* 
being placed in the box, the latter is to be iowered into 
the channel to such an extent that the water passing 
through at uniform velocity will dissolve exactly the pro- 
per quantity of the cake. As the substance dissolves 
slowly and regularly, this can be managed quite easily 
after a few trials. Along the remainder of the channel a 
few hogsheads of Bristollime are to be distributed so as to 
form a bed of slacked lime over which the water flows. 
If the current is not too rapid, no mechanical disturbance 
of the lime will take place; Lut, if the length is properly 
proportioned, the water will take up the exact quantity 
of lime necessary to set free the alumina and colouring 
matter. The water holding these impurities in suspen- 
sion then proceeding to the filter-beds, will pass through 
white and clear, leaving the impurities as a brown sedi- 


* Alumino-ferric cake is exported in the form of convenient slabs 
measuring 20” x 15” x 4”, each weighing 56 pounds, and is manu- 
factured under a patent from the mineral called Bauxite by Mr. PETER 
Spence of the Pendleton Alum Works, Manchester. The cost is 61/ per 
ton free on board at Liverpool, and it is claimed to be the cheapest 
source of soluble alumina extant. 


ON LAMAHA WATER. 325 


ment on the surface of the sand. When this process is 
once set going, it should require but little attention. Fresh 
alumino-ferric cake must of course be placed in the box 
as the other dissolves ; and the bed of lime will occasionally 
require renewal. As the impurities accumulate on the 
filter-beds, the sand will become clogged; but as the 
sediment is very light and remains almost wholly on the 
surface, it can easily be removed. Simple flushing with 
water, which is then allowed to run waste, is sufficient 
for this purpose. As the water-works are already pro- 
vided with two filter-beds, each of adequate dimensions 
to filter the town supply, they can be used and cleaned 
alternately. A piece of ordinary test paper, held in the 
water passing from the purifying channel, serves as a 
useful guide to the proper working of the process. If 
the water is alkaline, too much lime is passing into so- 
lution, and if very acid, too much alumino-ferric cake. 
When the proper quantities are present the water 
_ slightly reddens violet litmus paper after flowing over 
it for a few minutes. 

No opportunity has yet occurred for trying this plan 
on a large scale, but a model apparatus for carrying 
out the process is in frequent and successful operation at 
the Government Laboratory. It consists of a flat 
bottomed wooden gutter 2 feet 6 inches long and 
3 inches wide through which Lamaha water from 
a service pipe passes to a sand filter consisting of a 
wooden box 12 inches square with a perforated false 
bottom, on which rests a layer of coarse sand 3 inches 
deep. A few fragments of alumino-ferric cake being 
placed in the first part of the gutter, and a layer of lime 
along the remainder, the water is turned on, and taking 

RR 2 


326 TIMEHRI. 


up the purifying materials in its passage, it passes through 
the sand filter in a perfectly clear and colourless condi- 
tion at the rate of about 12 gallons an hour. 


Essequibo, Berbice and Demerara under the Dutch. 


PART I. 
By the Editor. 


PATE Organisation of the Colonies by the 
tl Dutch, (A. D. 1667-1796.*) Guiana, from 
Cayenne nearly to the Orinoco, remained 


in the hands of the Dutch, with but brief and important 
intervals, from the time of the peace of Breda till the 
conversion of that part of it which lies north of the Co- 
rentyn River into an English possession in the year 1796. 
It will be best, anticipating history, to tell at once the 
intervals to which allusion has just been made; their oc- 
casions were when the French twice, in 1689 and again in 
1712, captured Berbice, on each occasion almost imme- 
diately taking ransom for it, and when in 1781 the 
English under Lord RODNEY took Essequibo and Deme- 
rara, which colonies were yielded to France in the fol- 
lowing year, to be restored to the Dutch in 1783.+ 


* The “ Calendar of State Papers: Colonial Series,” from which in 
the earlier part of this historical sketch I have been able to draw much 
material, being as yet only published as far as the year 1668, I have 
been obliged, in treating of the period here described, to depend on less 
authentic and less minute authorities. And I must not omit here to 
notice my indebtedness to Dr. H. G. Datton’s ‘History of British 
Guiana’ (London, 1855), a work which, though it cannot, as it seems 
to me, claim entire confidence, is yet useful in indicating the events 
in the history of the colony which have to be verified from other sources. 

+ While this is passing through the press I have received from Mr. 
N. DarneELt Davis a manuscript, apparently original, entitled ‘ Memoire 


328 TIMEHRI. 


These transient, and therefore comparatively unim- 
portant events, having been told, I may turn to the 
general consideration of the period which has now 
to be described, extending from 1667 to 1796. But 
one other point may first be noted; and this is that the 
land to be treated of in this chapter is smaller than that 
dealt with before; for Surinam, unlike the rest of the 
land, never again became English. It 1s somewhat 
curious that the English and the Dutch should thus, as it 
were, have exchanged the colonies which each founded. 

The Guiana which we have now to consider extends, 
therefore, from the Corentyn river, which forms the 
boundary of Dutch Guiana or Surinam, nearly to the 
Orinoco.* It included, in 1667, the two colonies of 
Essequibo (founded 1580) and Berbice (founded 1626) ; 
and to these, in 1765, was added the third colony, of 
Demerara, 

Throughout the period the Dutch were busily en- 
gaged in giving shape and organization to these colo- 
nies. It will be most convenient first to describe the gene- 
ral management of the colonies during the period by 


sur les Colonies de Demerary, Essequebo, Berbiche’. The date is 1752; 
and the contents purport to be ‘an answer to the questions of the Mar- 
quis de Castries as to the state of the colonies of Demerara, Essequibo 
and Berbice, with special reference to the products, population and the 
amount which they might yield to the royal treasury’. The writer’s 
name does not appear. It is apparently a report drawn up for political 
purposes just at the time of the brief occupation of Guiana by the 
French in 1782-1783. I regret that it has come into my hands too late 
to be of much use on this occasion ; but I trust to be able to print it, 
either in full or in abstract, on a future occasion. 

* It is hardly necessary to recall the fact that the exact boundary of 
British Guiana toward the Orinoco has never been satisfactorily settled. 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 329 


their rulers in the Netherlands ; and then, the process of 
internal organization having been very similar in all the 
colonies, it will suffice to take one as an example, and 
to describe the life led, and the nature of the deeds done, 
in that one. The example chosen for this purpose will 
be the colony of Berbice. 

First, as regards the general external management of 
the colonies, the first time any authoritative body had 
been constituted in the Netherlands to care for the scat- 
tered settlements of Dutchmen on the “ Wild Coast” 
had been about 1621, when the first Dutch West 
India Company was established, with sole control over 
all settlers and monopoly of all trade in Essequibo with 
its dependencies, that being then the only Dutch co- 
lony in Guiana. Thus had been inaugurated the system 
according to which the Dutch colonies in Guiana were 
to be governed, not directly by the government of the 
Netherlands, but by a great trading company somewhat 
similar to the famous East India Company. And when, 
five years later, VAN PEERE had been allowed, as has 
been told, to take possession of the banks of the Berbice, 
rights as regards that river similar to those which the West 
Indian Company enjoyed as regards the Essequibo, seem to 
have been given to him, as an individual. Thus two systems 
and two distinét authorities were created in Dutch Guiana. 
But the rights of VAN PEERE seem very soon to have 
lapsed in some unexplained way. On the other hand, 
the rights of the original company, in Essequibo, had con- 
tinued till 1657, when they had been voluntarily relinquish- 
ed to a commission of eight persons, the original company 
extinguishing itself in great disgust at the smallness of 
the profits it had drawn from the colony. It seems not 


330 TIMEHRI. 


improbable that, at first, even the Dutch, though, unlike 
their rival nations, they cultivated the soil, had shared the 
general hope for much gold from Guiana; and that the 
company had dissolved assoon as it learned the deceitfulness 
of this hope. The substituted commissioners had soon 
found, when in 1665 war broke out between Holland and 
England, that they were unable to bear the cost of the 
necessary military defence of their property; and they 
were thus forced to yield both their rights and their cor- 
responding duty of defence to the Government of Zea- 
land, which of all the Netherland provinces was through- 
out the most active in the affairs of Guiana. Thus the 
proprietorship of the settlements rested with the State of 
Zealand at the time when, by the Treaty of Breda, op- 
portunity for peaceful organization under the Dutch was 
almost for the first time allowed. The war over, Zealand 
in 1674 allowed the formation of a ‘‘ New General West 


’ with administrative rights over both 


India Company ’ 
colonies alike, but with provision that the company 
should confine the trade to Zealand. Essequibo long 
remained under the rule of this great trading company 
Berbice, on the other hand, was delivered over in 1678 to 
a second VAN PEERE, the heir of the original founder ; 
and it passed, in 1720, into the possession of a special 
company of proprietors. Thus the management of the 
two existing colonies was in the hands of special trading 
companies, with powers almost absolute. These com- 
panies, which were, of course, ultimately responsible to 
the Government of Zealand, were represented in the 
colonies by officers some of whom were sent out from 
Holland, of whom others were appointed from among the 


settlers. 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 331 


In accordance with the plan already laid down it is 
now necessary to turn from these general external con- 
ditions to the internal condition of the special colony of 
Berbice. 

Just within the mouth of the Berbice River lies Crab Is- 
land. Opposite to this, on the bank of the river stood, 
in the year 1645, Fort St. Andries, built of small Dutch 
bricks, and surrounded by a high wooden stockade, be- 
yond which again was a moat. The size and importance 
of this fort may be realised from the faé that its garrison 
consisted of about twenty-five men and a proper comple- 
ment of officers. Up the river, nearly fifty miles from this 
fort was New Amsterdam, the quarters of the settlers. 
Between, and especially around, these two points the 
forest on the banks of the river was cleared here and 
there, and plantations were gradually made. These 
scattered plantations were conneéted by no roads ; and, 
except in the very few cases in which an Indian path, 
hardly discernible, connected two neighbouring settle- 
ments, there was no communication except by water. 

At this time most of the planters who came tothe colony 
were men of some education and means. They built 
themselves pleasant houses and made gardens; they lived 
luxuriously, working not at all, but enjoying every bar- 
baric luxury with which their crowds of slaves could supply 
them in that rich but rough land. Their only exertion 
was the leisurely daily ride, accompanied by a troop of 
running slaves, round the plantation to mark and order 
the necessary work; the rest of the day was spent in 
eating, drinking, sleeping, and toying with the least un- 
pleasing of their black woman slaves, for there were 
hardly any European women in the colony. The 

SS 


ae TIMEHRI. 


other white men in the colony, the civil and military 
officials, the professional men, and the overseers of 
estates were, some avowedly, all really, dependent on 
the planters for their livelihood and still more for their 
social enjoyment. Of the negro slaves, though they 
formed very far the most numerous element in the 
population, it is unnecessary now to speak; they were 
the absolute property of the planters, who, according 
to their respective natures, and each according to his 
humour at the moment, treated these human chattels 
either with the kindness which a good-natured man 
shows to his dog or with the cruelty, varying more 
or less in degree, which the ill-tempered man always, 
and the hasty tempered man occasionally, treats his 
animal. As some justification of this relation of master 
man to slave man, it must be remembered that the latter 
was a savage, really little better than an animal, but 
recently torn from his African home, and in real need 
of strong restraint ; and that the former lived in an age 
in which the equality in dignity of humanity was not 
generally recognised. 

After all, very little progress was made during the 
first hundred years in the settlement of Berbice. The 
work had been commenced in 1625 ; and, as we have seen, 
in 1657 the original proprietary company had thrown up 
its rights over the colony, in disgust at the little pro- 
gress which had then been made. But from an inven- 
tory of the property of the company in the colony, drawn 
up in 1720, it appears that even then, after more than sixty 
years of the presumably more vigorous administration in- 
augurated by the newcompany, there were only eight plan- 
tations, six growing sugar and twococoa, less thanathous- 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 333 


and slaves, though this estimate probably refers only tothe 
able-bodied agricultural slaves, about a thousand head of 
cattle of all kinds, and two or three small vessels 
for trade. There were, however, probably some inde- 
pendent planters, with some little property, besides those 
forming the company. Moreover in the year of the 
inventory the interest of the company was sold to a new 
body of proprietors, who at once made determined 
efforts to develope it. Eight new sugar-plantations were 
speedily taken into cultivation; large numbers of new 
slaves were imported ; and coffee began to be so far 
successfully cultivated that the growers, in effusive gra- 
titude, sent a riding-horse to the Governor of the neigh- 
bouring colony of Surinam, he having sent them the first 
seed. 

As this was an important period in the history of the 
colony it is fortunate that there exists a letter written in 
1735 by a settler newly arrived in Berbice to his friends 
in Holland, in which the writer gives an instructive 
account of the place as he sawit. * 

The writer reached the mouth of the Berbice River on 
the 3oth of April 1735. His description of the size of 
Crab Island, which blocks the mouth of the river, is only 
explicable on the supposition—yjustified by other evidence 
—that the island as it exists to-day is but a very small 
remnant of that which it was in those days. It was 


* This letter, ‘“edited by G. T. GALBANO-ELEPHANTIUS, Historical 
Writer, Rotterdam,” purports to have been printed in a very odd 
place—on Crab Island in the mouth of the Berbice River—in 1736 
for VAN DE Kock & Son. This letter has recently been translated 
and reprinted in Demerara (W. B. Jamigson, Georgetown, 1877) for 
my friend N. DARNELL Davis, to whom I am indebted for a copy. 


SS 2 


334 TIMEHRI. 


intendea shortly to build a fort on the island, which 
would securely defend the river and the colony within it. 
The guard-house was first passed, where the ship, after 
reporting itself, lay to until the Governor sent permission 
for it to enter the river. Within the river the passengers 
were landed, and were immediately obliged to show their 
letters to the Governor and other members of the Court 
of Policy, which Court was the newly instituted governing 
body of the colony. The members read to the passengers 
a statement of the behaviour they were to observe and 
administered an oath of fidelity to the Court. After 
these ceremonies the writer was taken into the wooden 
gallery of the fort and there entertained unti] dinner was 
ready with a pipe and bowl of paiwari—an Indian drink 
which it would be most astounding to find in the Gov- 
ernor’s house at the present day. At dinner there were 
present the Governor and his wife, the members of the 
Court and some other colonists. There was no accomo- 
dation for visitors in the fort or anywhere in the neigh- 
bourhood ; so that the promise of free quarters for three 
or four weeks which had been made by the colonial offi- 
cials to the emigrant when about to leave Holland 
could not be kept. However, a planter entertained 
the writer very kindly for the first week after his arrival, 
until he found quarters for himself sufficiently near the 
land which was allotted to him to enable him to super- 
intend his slaves in their task of clearing the forest. 

He writes hopefully of his land, and of the zeal 
and willingness of those under him. He lived in a 
temporary hut built of palm-leaves. The river, which is 
there tidal, furnished the only water to be had; the fish 
seemed to him slimy and fullofbones, difficult to catch, and 


rs 


c 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 335 


were generally got by barter from the Indians ; game was not 
abundant nor as good as that in Europe, and was like 
the fish, hard to catch. The principal breadstuff was cas- 
sava, which seemed at first very unpalatable, but became 
more tasty after a time; fruit was to be avoided, as 
apt to give colic. The life of the new comer was, on 
the whole hard. But the writer announces his intention 
of procuring more slaves from the next slave-ship, and 
devoting his attention to being master only, instead of 
master and servant both, as he was at the time. In fact, 
he was going to take to the easy life of the older plant- 
ers. Heasks his correspondent to send him a surgeon, 
a carpenter, and a housekeeper. 

He did not intend to marry in the colony for the only 
white women then were the soldiers’ wives, and they 


were ‘ 


as ugly as sin.’’ Girls of fourteen years old, he 
most ungallantly wrote, “are like thirty, thin, yellow and 
without teeth, so that there is no fight for them, and I 
curse myself three times at sight of them.” 

The colony was rapidly becoming more populous, and 
there were already sixty planters there. (This does not 
seem a large number considering that the colony had 
been in existence more than a century). There was 
great need of doctors, surgeons and apothecaries— 
not quacks, the writer significantly adds, and parsons 
and schoolmasters were most urgently needed, ‘for 
really we shall become uncivilized at last.’ No one, 
however, could come to settle without a recommendation 
from the directors at home and the permission of the 
Governor and Court of Policy in the colony. And, again 
. asregards the new arrivals in the colony, the writer com- 
plains that three Frenchmen arrived to one Dutchman. 


336 TIMEHRI. 


There was great need of communication through the 
colony; the only highway was along the river, and it 
was somewhat difficult to get boat-hands. It had been 
suggested that a towing path should be formed along the 
whole inhabited part of the river, and that boats dragged 
by horses should be provided for the convenience of the 
public; but this scheme was only a suggestion and no 
steps had been taken to carry it into execution. 

To the information gathered from this letter may 
be added from other sources, that the principal 
objects of cultivation at this time were cocoa, cotton, 
tobacco, coffee and sugar, and that the cultivation of this 
last mentioned product was greatly increased about this 
time owing to the discovery that the coast-lands, which 
had not before been much used, were especially apt for 
this sort of crop. 

Moreover, by this time the internal political organization 
of the colony had taken more or less definite shape, in a 
form which was the germ of its present constitution. 
The exaét nature of the body called the ‘ Proprietors of 
Berbice’ which was formed in 1720, is not quite obvious ; 
but it was in all probability a body of the chief pro- 
prietors, who had bought the proprietary rights of VAN 
PEERE orhis heirs. For twelve years after the formation 
of this body, it held the colony as its property ; and it was 
responsible only to the Government of the Netherlands. 
But in 1732, three years that is before the letter from which 
we have drawn an account of the colony was written, the 
States-General of the Netherlands, at the instigation of 
the proprietary company, decreed that Berbice was to have 
a constitution. Its affairs were to beadministered bya ~ 
governor, appointed from home by the company but with 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 337 


the sanction of the Netherland Government ; andthe gover- 
nor was to be assisted by a Council, or Court of Policy, of 
six members. ‘These members were to be chosen by the 
governor from twelve of the principal settlers nominated 
by the inhabitants with a certain property qualification. 
A Criminal Court of six members was to be established 
by the Court of Policy ; and a Civil Court was to be 
formed, consisting of the governor, as president, and not 
less than six members, of whom some were to be named 
by the Court of Policy, some by the inhabitants generally. 
The lands were to be allotted on suitanle terms, and 
necessary taxes were to be raised. A parson anda school- 
master were to be provided, ard the former, by an odd 
arrangement never carried into effect, was to enjoy, as part 
of his remuneration, a free table at the governor’s house, 
a keg of brandy, and a half a pipe of wine. 

The constitution thus ordered was got into some 
sort of working order in the following year. The first 
governor was one BERNHARD WATERHAM, doubtless 
the same who, two years after his appointment, entertained 
the writer of the letter from Berbice immediately on his 
arrival with a pipe and bowl of paiwari in the wooden 
gallery of the fort opposite Crab Island. The first par- 
son reached the colony in 1735, the very year in which 
the letter was written. 

This new ordering of the colony imparted new life to 
it. Settlers flocked to it in such numbers that, though 
according to their new constitutional powers the com- 
pany began by allotting the land free of charge, it was 
very soon found necessary to charge a certain sum per 
acre; and, as planters became more numerous, slaves 
were imported in largely increased numbers. For thirty 


338 TIMEHRI. 


years the colony on the whole flourished exceedingly ; 
then the long smouldering element of danger which was 
created by the vast numerical disproportion between the 
numbers of the masters and of the slaves broke out in 
fierce flame. 

The sight, common at the present day, of a huge and 
splendid English cart-horse led by a ten-year old boy, 
often small and puny for his age—and obeying the slight- 
est whim of its leader, cannot but give a thoughtful man 
subject for reflection. But infinitely greater must be the 
wonder of the same man if he ever reflects that, in past 
time, vast bodies of men, men who over and above instinét 
as of the horse possessed that mighty power called reason 
have for long periods allowed themselves, body and spirit 
to be altogether and entirely subject to very small bodies 
of other men, individually no whit physically stronger 
than themselves, and often not sostrong. This marvel- 
lous phenomenon, of the strong mastered by the weak, 
prevailed in the colony of Berbice at the time of which we 
are treating in a most dangerous degree. The numerical 
disproportion between masters and slaves in Berbice must 
have been great throughout this period ; but in 1762, a ter- 
rible epidemic having proved fatal to large numbers of the 
white men while it had had little effe€t on the 
black population, this disproportion had become so 
enormous that there were at the time, accord- 
ing to a very competent authority,* three thousand 
slaves and only one hundred white men. That much 
physical cruelty, and—though the sufferers probably 
cared, as they realized, little enough about that—moral 


* Hartsinck Beschryving van Guyana. A.D. 1770. 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 339 


cruelty too, had been and was long afterward practised 
against the slaves may here be taken for granted ; inthe next 
chapter will be produced a most trustworthy wit- 
ness both of the cruelty and of the kindness practised 
by these Dutchmen against their slaves. For the present 
the fact of the cruelty may be assumed. Moreover, 
most of the slaves of those days had been actually torn 
from their African homes, where their lives had been 
probably hard enough, but where at least they had not 
endured that worst form of hardship to the savage, 
constant hard manual labour; and in their new homes 
these people were made to do enormously hard and 
often incessant work in clearing the forest and culti- 
vating the fields. They, especially those of them who 
were either the most savage by nature or had been arti- 
ficially brutalized by unusually hard treatment, were 
ready to take any means of escape from their new 
state. And means were in many cases easily found; 
for often dense forest, through which no white men could 
follow them, came up to the edge of the plantations on 
which they worked and offered them an easily attained 
refuge. Many had taken advantage of this; and thus 
there were large communities of bush-negroes, or, in other 
words, escaped slaves, in the forests round the widely 
scattered homes of the settlers. These bush-negroes were 
not only in themselves very dangerous to the white 
settlers but they also constantly stirred and excited the 
minds of other Africans newly brought to the colony 
against their masters. Before 1763 several more or less 
serious riots had from time to time broken out amongst 
the slaves; but these had been, though often with some 
difficulty, repressed. The great weapon of defence in 
TT 


340 TIMEHRI. 


the hands of the planters to be used against riotous 
slaves had been the soldiers, stationed in the colony 
chiefly for that purpose. But after a time the soldiers 
had objected to the constant use to which they were 
put as chastisers of black fellows; and more than 
once, they had, in consequence, rebelled. But even 
had they been willing agents, the numbers of the gar- 
rison had, by fever and other evils, been reduced to 
about a score. All things, therefore, were favourable 
for a revolt of the slaves; and they took advantage 
of the opportunity. 

The revolt began in the early part of 1763 at Plan- 
tation Magdalenburg on the Canje Creek, which runs 
into the Berbice river near the mouth of the latter. 
Having murdered their manager, the slaves from this 
plantation passed from place to place, burning, ran- 
sacking, murdering; and in almost every place they 
were joined by their countrymen. The governor, 
WOLFORT SIMON VAN HOGANHEIM, behaved splen- 
didly; but he was almost powerless, owing to the fact 
that the few soldiers he had at his command and 
those of the colonists who had managed to escape 
to him were too terrified and too distracted to obey 
any orders. Meanwhile, a large number of planters 
far up the river, who were surrounded before the 
danger was sufficiently evident to induce flight, had, 
as a last resource, gathered together and fortified 
themselves in a dwelling house. By this time the 
slaves had acquired some sort of organization and had 
chosen a leader. Announcing that they meant to 
expel every white man from the colony, they advanced 
against the enclosed planters and induced them to 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 341 


capitulate, by promising to allow them to pass safely 
down in boats. After this capitulation, no sooner had 
the fugitives reached their boats than the negroes fired 
upon them, killing some outright and taking others 
prisoners. The latter were murdered in horrible ways, 
but such as are natural to slaves excited to revenge by 
oppression. Very few of the fugitives escaped; and 
these made their way against terrible difficulties down 
the river. Success almost everywhere crowned the 
efforts of the slaves, and confusion everywhere distracted 
the white man. Before long nearly the whole of the 
banks of the river were in the hands of the insurgents ; 
and the white men, or such of them as had not fled in 
dismay from the colony, were cooped up in the fort or in 
the ships in the river. At the end of March a hun- 
dred soldiers, sent from Surinam, reached the colo- 
ny; and from this time till the end of the year small 
bodies of troops arrived from various quarters. The 
energetic governor made full use of all that he could 
gather under his command. Moreover he summoned to 
his aid the Indians, who, hating black men, were then, as 
always, ready to assist in hunting them down, and 
were thus most useful allies; for they, even far more 
than the negroes, were at home in the forest to which 
the insurgents retreated as to a cover from which they 
could make raids wherever they saw an opportunity. 
Two curious proclamations were issued by the 
governor to encourage his party. One offered a re- 
ward for every rebel captured alive and for every 
right hand of one slain. The other, which promised 
pensions to all such as should be injured on the side 
of the settlers, did this according to a detailed scale 
TT 2 


342 TIMEHRI. 


which is sufficiently curious to merit insertion :— 


For the loss of two eyes, was promised a pension of 1,500 guilders.* 


‘ one eye oy a 5 OMe 
5 both arms Be a HOO) 
ee right arm 5 ” A529) 55 
% left arm : » 359 + 
x! both hands 7 5 1;200) iss 
53 right hand on 3 SOOmms 
55 left hand 99 ” 300 ” 
3 both legs A ae 95 JOO», 
ns one leg 50 ” 359 5, 
is both feet: 9 » 450 5, 
“ one foot 6 " 200) 955 


In May, New Amsterdam and its fortifications having 
been destroyed, the governor had made his head-quarters 
at Plantation Dageraad. This post was now attacked by the 
insurgent negroes, who are said to have numbered at that 
time between two and three thousand ; but the attack was 
repulsed by the Dutch. Fora long time fortune seemed to fa- 
vour each party alternately. At onetime, certaininformation 
was received that there was internal strife in the negro 
camp ; at another time came news that a considerable 
body of Dutch soldiers had joined the insurgents; and, 
again a little later, that of these deserters, they having quar- 
relled with their new allies, many had been shot by the 
negroes while the rest were hardly in a position to do much 
harm to the colonists. Sickness spread among the 
Dutch; and, simultaneously, provisions grew scarce. 
But on the other hand, more and more soldiers, in small de- 
tachments, reached the colony. Thus things wenton with ev- 
er-varying success till the end of the year. Just before the end 
of December it must have been somewhat embarrassing to 
the much-tried governor to learn, as he did, that a slave- 


* The guildere=1/8d. 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 343 


ship having on board 300 new Africans had just arrived in 
the river. However, almost the next news he heard, in 
the beginning of the year, was that an ample body of 
troops, sent from Holland to save the colony, had arrived. 
From this time, of course, success came abundantly to 
the Dutch party. For nearly six months however, the 
work of capturing the fugitives, shooting some, burning 
others alive, hanging, torturing, breaking on the wheel, 
and otherwise punishing others, was continued. Among 
the other fugitives, not a few Dutch deserters were cap- 
tured, and of these the leaders were tortured and exe- 
cuted as the slaves had been. This pacificatory work 
being at last ended, a proclamation offering pardon to 
the few slaves who were still fugitives was issued in 
October ; and then the colonists began the task of repairing 
the damage done, and strengthening themselves against 
any repetition of the recent calamity. That these efforts 
were successful is sufficiently shown by the faét that the 
onward history of Berbice in the thirty years during 
which it still remained Dutch was uneventful, peaceful 
and exceedingly prosperous ; and perhaps, remembering 
its previous history, the most significant faét is that the 
energies of the colony during this last period of Dutch 
rule were chiefly displayed in the importation of largely 
increased numbers of slaves. 

Thus the history of Berbice during this period may be 
summed up as consisting in the extension of cultivation 
and the increase in the number of settlers, these two 
tendencies growing at first slowly but afterwards much 
more rapidly ; in the formation of a constitutional govern- 
ment ; and in the perfecting of the labour system, by slaves. 
A similar course of events, varied only by differences in lo- 


344 TIMEHRI. 


cal conditions, made the history of the other two colonies. 
Even Demerara, though founded so much later, yet by 
the rapidity of its development not only soon raised itself 
to the level of the two sister colonies, but even surpassed 
them. About the time that Berbice was engaged in its 
great servile war, Demerara received its first governor 
(1765), and thus raised the number of colonies in the 
part of Guiana with which we are concerned from two 
to three. 

Yet this three-fold state did not last long. The 
daughter soon swallowed the mother, and Essequibo 
was merged in Demerara. Near the mouths of the two 
rivers, the west bank of the Demerara and the east bank 
of the Essequibo are in places not many miles apart. 
The lands on the coast were by that time greatly in 
demand, and those immediately abutting on each of the 
two rivers and on the sea between the mouths of these 
were soon occupied; for that an estate should have a 
water frontage, rendering the shipment of its produce 
possible in that roadless land, was obviously of very great ad- 
vantage. The land between, but not immediately bordered 
by, the two rivers was therefore brought into cultivation, 
by digging first one and then a second canal from the 
Demerara toward the Essequibo. The line of these canals 
was arranged between the governments of the two rivers ; 
and then the lands along that line were allotted in due se- 
quence to new settlers, on condition that each should dig that 
part of the canal which was to pass through his iand, 
Thus in time were formed two great parallel water-ways, 
along the banks of each of which were houses and plan- 
tations which, if report is to be believed, were, the one 
the most luxurious, the other the most flourishing, in 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 345 


Guiana. In passing, it may here be mentioned that when 
Dutch rule gave place to English these canal lands were 
gradually almost abandoned; but under the Dutch they 
flourished. The bond of union between Essequibo and Deme- 
rara formed by the new means of intercommunication was 
soon followed by a political union. The occasion of the 
change was when these colonies, which had been taken 
and withheld from the Dutch for two years, were restored 
to) them by) the Dreaty of Paris im 1783. Then, in 
restoring order to the two colonies it was arranged that 
in future there should be but one Court of Policy for the 
two colonies—though these were regarded as in some 
sort distinét—and that this should meet at Stabroek in 
Demerara. This arrangement not working well, and the 
importance of Essequibo sinking lower and lower, the 
two colonies were finally united under the title of the 
‘United Colonies of Demerary and Essequebo’ in 1789; 
thus, as sometimes happens in commercial firms, the 
younger but richer partner took precedence of the 
senior. Once more therefore, there were only two 
colonies in this part of Guiana. | 
The tide of prosperity in the colonies was now at 
the highest point which it ever reached under the Dutch. 
Tke colonists of that nationality, amassing money rapidly, 
built themselves substantial houses and adorned them 
with everything pleasing totheir taste ; they made flower- 
gardens and fruit-gardens such as are not dreamed of in 
commercial Guiana of the present day ; and in the places 
which they had thus created they lived easy, almost patri- 
archal lives, supported by the exertions of their slaves. Fear 
of still possible revolt on the part of the slaves was no 
longer so serious a thorn in their flesh; for by that time 


346 TIMEHRI. 


they had learned for the most part to treat these depen- 
dents witha curiousbut substantial kindness which had the 
effeét of attaching the older slaves in a most remarkable 
manner to the persons of their masters. In the next 
chapter I shall have opportunity of describing one or 
two Dutch Guiana houses of this period; and the only 
points that need be emphasized at present are, that these 
places were much more substantial, better equipped and, 
in short, more homelike, than anything now existing in 
Guiana, and that the reason of this is that the Dutch 
colonist settled in Guiana with the purpose of making 
that place his home for life and the home of his chil- 
dren, whilst the English colonists, who arrived in large 
numbers at this time, settled merely temporarily and 
always hoped to return to the old country when they had 
made some sort of fortune. 

These new English settlers exercised a very impor- 
tant influence on the history of the colony. About the 
year 1780 they arrived in large numbers, so large indeed 
that they are said to have formed two-thirds of the white 
population of the town of Stabroek. They brought with 
them considerable capital and a degree of commercial 
energy which was very far beyond that of the older 
Dutch inhabitants. . The consequence was that before 
long much of the trade of Guiana, though still nomi1- 
nally confined to Holland, was secretly, by a species of 
smuggling connived at by the authorities, directed to 
England. Buta yet more important consequence was 
that a strong feeling grew up in the colony in favour of 
a substitution of English for Dutch allegiance. To this 
feeling was largely due the readiness with which the 
colonies yielded themselves in 1781 to English besieg- 


THE THREE COUNTIES UNDER THE DUTCH. 347 


ers; and, though the colony at that time remained but 
a few months in the hand of England and was, after a 
brief time of French rule, eventually restored once more 
to Holland, the attraction to England grew yet stronger. 
When, therefore, war was once more declared in 1796 
between Holland and England, an invitation was, it is 
said on good authority, sent secretly from Demerara to 
the English at Barbados. Whether this invitation was 
sent or not, an English fleet under Major General WHYTE 
appeared at the mouth of the Demerara river on 
the 2oth April in the same year. The united colony of 
Demerara and Essequibo yielded itself at once and with 
the best possible grace ; and this example was soon after 
followed by Berbice. 

With this fleet a certain Doctor GEORGE PINKARD, 
Inspector General of Hospitals to His Majesty’s forces, 
reached Guiana. This man having lived in Guiana dur- 
ing the greater part of that English occupation, and 
having used his unusual advantages to understand the 
colony thoroughly, published a series of letters on the 
subject, from which | propose, in the next chapter, to 
draw a somewhat detailed picture of social life in Guiana 
at that time. 


UU 


Occasional Notes. 


An Accawot Peatman.—Mr. MCCLINTOCK has sent 
me the following interesting note :— 

““T had an Accawoi huntsman who was a sorcerer (peaiman) and 
considered that he had certain birds and animals so completely under 
his control that no inducement would have tempted him to kill any of 
them; among them were powis (Cvax alector) maroodies (Penelope 
marail) and the arua tiger (sp ?). The latter he always told he could 
put his hand upon any time he went out. This Accawoi died about 15 
years ago. I was well acquainted with the whole family, nine in num- 
ber ; they lived on the upper Barama. The father of my huntsman, 
having gone out with his dogs to hunt for tortoises, fell in with an ant- 
eater (Myrmecophaga jubata). As he had no arms with him, except a 
knife, and being weak and aged, the ant-eater threw him down, fixed 
its claws in his shoulders, and would no doubt have killed him but that 
the man got his knife, with some difficulty as it was under him, and 
commenced sawing at the animal’s throat. When the blood ceased to 
flow, the Indian removed the claws from his shoulders and returned to 
his settlement. I saw the wounds in the man’s shoulders and directed 
him as to the treatment, but he preferred his own remedy, decoction of 
mora bark, which possesses wonderful healing property.” 


we ee 


Local Medicinal Barks.—The concluding remark in 
the preceding note recalls a subject often brought for- 
ward in this colony but never pressed to any satisfactory 
conclusion, hardly ever, indeed, seriously examined 
with a view to reaching such a conclusion. I refer, of 
course, to the supposed occurrence among the barks 
and simples so freely used medicinally by the Indians 
of the colony of some at least which might be of great 
curative service if introduced into the pharmacopceia 
of the world and might, consequently, be of great com- 


OCCASIONAL NOTES. 349 


mercial value to the colony, as natural products, easily 
procured in abundance and of value, for export. At 
every local exhibition tables are heaped with bundles of 
barks, named with very few exceptions only by their 
Indian names, and described most unsatisfactorily as to 
their medicinal use by the Indians. And at the close of 
these exhibitions these, in this state most uninteresting, 
objects, are thrown aside to perish. Only once, so far 
as Iam aware, has any attempt been made to cause 
scientific research to be made among these barks to find 
any that may be of value among them. The barks con- 
tributed by this colony to the London International 
Exhibition of 1862 were, at the instigation of Miss, since 
Baroness, BURDETT-COUTTS, practically tested to some 
extent by CHARLES HUNTER, then Surgeon to the Royal 
Pimlico Dispensary. ‘The results, or some of the results 
of his researches Mr. HUNTER published in the form 
of a pamphlet,* which, though apparently little known, 
seems to be the only record of any practical testing 
of the local medicinal barks. It seems, therefore, de- 
sirable to extract from it and re-print here the most im- 
portant of its results, in the hope that these, being known, 
may lead to a further and more full examination of the 
subject. 

Mr. HUNTER explains that his objeét was :— 

“ To ascertain whether among the medicines sent (1) any of them pos- 
sess curative properties not possessed by those of the British Pharmaco- 


poeia ; (2) whether the medicines exhibited from abroad—for given com- 
plaints—are of greater value than those we already possess; and (3), if 


* “ A Report upon some of the Colonial Medicinal Contributions to 
the International Exhibition, A.D. 1862” by CHARLES HunTER. (John 
Churchill & Sons, London, 1863.) 


UU 2 


350 TIMEHRI. 


not of greater but equivalent value, whether they can be obtained more 


easily and cheaply than those now in use.” ‘“‘ Itis hardly to be expected,” 
the writer adds, “ that quinine and cod-liver oil will be superseded by 
other remedies equally effectual, yet cheaper . . .. . but there are many 


other medicines extensively used here which may possibly be replaced 
by cheaper and equally effectual substitutes from abroad. 

Of the English colonies none exhibited a better collection than those 
shown by the Commissioners of British Guiana ; among them, consti- 
tuting the bulk of the collection, was a series of 140 barks collected by 
Mr. W. C. H. F. McClintock, said to be in use among the Accawoi, 
Arawack, and other Indian tribes. Mr. McClintock has appended in 
most cases the use for which these various barks are given. From 
among them I have selected those which were described as ‘very’ or 
‘most efficacious’ in such and such complaints, and have tried their 
therapeutical properties in appropriate cases.” 


After explaining that of the 140 barks above-mentioned 
many had lost their labels and were therefore useless 
for experiment, that others, being prescribed for com- 
plaints peculiar to South America, therefore admitted 
of no experimental test in England, Mr. HUNTER con- 
tinues :— 


‘‘T have chosen first to examine some of those barks, of which great 
numbers abound in Demerara, said to be valuable from their febrifuge 
properties. . . . The form of administration that I have adopted 
has been, in every case, that of decoction of the bark, taken internally, 
either warm or cold. In most cases it is the inner bark of the tree that 
is prescribed, and that I have employed. . . . It is by decoction 
also that these remedies are given among the Indians of Guiana. No 
account being sent of the strength of the decoctions for internal use, | 
have adopted the same strength as used at the dispensary for the much 
used barks cinchona, cascarilla et ce¢t., thus piacing them upon equal 
grounds as to equal quantities, the same doses being taken as of the 
decoction of ordinary barks, viz., about one ounce and a half, three 
times a day. In the general way, three ounces of the solid bark are 
broken up and boiled in eighty ounces of water for half or three quarters 


of an hour.” 


It should also be remarked that Mr, HUNTER made 


OCCASIONAL NOTES. 351 


use of his official position as surgeon to the dispensary 
to administer his experimental doses to the patients 
under his charge; and he took care to do this without 
aéting upon their zzagination, and so unfairly increasing 
the power of the drug in minor cases, by telling them 
that the medicine was new. 

The barks from British Guiana on which report is 
made in this pamphlet are seventeen in number and as 


follows :— 

Ex-eEK. Used as a febrifuge by the Accawoi. . . . The decoc- 
tion is of a clear red colour, without odour, and it has a warm, barky 
taste, neither particularly bitter nor astringent. . . . . I cannot 
regard the £k-ek as a medicine of great tonic property, but rather one 
that, taken plentifully, in a weak feverish state, acts, by its slightly 
bitter and astringent powers, in restoring tone to the alimentary and 
digestive canal. Moreover, it being taken hot in the country where it 
abounds, it can be made fresh each time, which would render it also 
diaphoretic. 

Bourari and PowgesEma. (Mr. Hunter discovered for himself the 
great similarity, if not identity of these two samples of bark under 
different names. As a matter of fact, powesema is the Accawoi name, 
bouiari is the Arawak ; and most colonists will rightly recognise in this 
bark that of the douiari bush-rope (Mikania amara) of which excellent 
bitters are frequently made.) . . . . The decoction . .. . is 
of a dark brown colour, both the taste and odour being very aromatic 

In cases of sore-throat and fever . . . . the therapeu- 
tical action I cannot consider great. Out of five cases this medicine was 
beneficial in two, in two it did no good, and it was of doubtful effect in 
one . . . . The Jouiari is not a medecine of peculiarly tonic pro- 
perty, but seems, in three or four out of the fourteen cases in which it 
was given (purely as a tonic) to have been very beneficial in removing 
a flatulent state of bowels and in giving tone to the stomach. This ap- 
pears to be due to its aromatic qualities; and I have not a doubt that, 
in certain cases of dyspepsia it is a very valuable medicine, for those 
patients that it has suited (when given by itself) have described them- 
selves as better on this medicine than on any other they have ever 
taken, It is worth observing that bouiavi gives no black or green 


352 TIMEHRI. 


precipitates with a per- or pro-salt of iron, with which it can, there- 
fore, be prescribed. 

KoraBALLI.—The decoction was of a clear, cherry-red colour, warm 
and slightly aromatic to the taste, and but slightly bitter or astringent. 

This is said to be beneficial in fever cases. I have tried it in 
fifteen cases; . . . . ten improved whilst taking it: one, a child, 
very feverish, got well sooner than it had ever done when feverish and 
ill before. I cannot explain its modus operandi, any further than of the 
effects of a decoction of cinchona; of the two, however, koradalli seems 
the lighter and more agreeable, and, being a cooler febrifuge, is admis- 
sible where cinchona may not be. 

SIPIRI AND BIBERINE. (By szfivi Mr. HUNTER seems to mean a 
decoction of the bark of the greenheart tree (Nectandra Rodiai), by 
diberine the well known substance extracted from the seeds of the same 
tree.) The decoction of sifivi is of a light yellow colour, with a naus- 
eating, bitter taste, and a somewhat sickly odour .. . . The 
effects seemed to be to remove feverishness and strengthen both the 
stomach and system generally. The proportion of tonic principle in a 
given amount of this bark is much less than in the case of cinchona. 

. . . Biberine. . . . I have given in three or four cases, two 
being slight fever, with enlargement of the tonsils, in children ; benefit 
followed in each case. . . . . This decoction was much more bit- 
ter than the ordinary decoction of greenheart-bark. 

KIARA-PEPO. . . . seemed rather weak and ineffectual (in two 
or three cases of fever in which Mr. HunrTeErR administered it) and I 
have omitted further trial of it for the present. 

Hiawa, (Hiawa is Icica heptaphylla.) This is one of the barks 
vaguely . . . . described on the label as ‘‘ in bowel complaints” 

A decoction of an ounce to half a pint of water gives a rich 
red-coloured liquid, with a warm odour, and bitter, aromatic taste. 

Hiawa, from what I have observed, seems to be nothing 
more or less than an astringent, acting somewhat like catechu upon 
the bowels . . . . Whether it has tonic properties or not, I cannot 
say ; but if so, they must be very feeble considering the strength of the 
decoction. 

Brack Mora. (Black mora is, I think, merely the older state of the 
well-known Mora excelsa, Ed). This medicine is said in the catalogue 
to be administered as ‘a purgative in belly-ache.’ When decocted (it 
gives) a rich, pink-coloured fluid, with a disagreeable, nauseating 


OCCASIONAL NOTES. 353 


odour and after-taste. It does not fulfil its announced object, in the 
doses I ordered ; it even seems to have had an opposite effect. 

IBARAWACASHIE «© . . . is used . . . . like “black mora’ 
as a purgative in belly-ache; and, as far as I have examined, it 
does so more effectually. The decoction is of a clear-red colour, with 
a warm odour, and an astringent, bitter and sickening taste. 

KuRUBALLI is simply described as an ‘‘emetic” . . . . On 
boiling half an ounce in ten ounces of water till three ounces are 
evaporated, the solution is of a dark clear-red colour, witha warm, 
slightly astringent taste. Being described as an emetic, I ordered the 
decoction of this bark in cases of bronchitis and others, where a preter- 
natural amount of expectoration existed, also in cough. 

Perhaps no remedy yet tried has been accompanied by an effect so 
uniform in each case. 

ASSARA OR ARARA_ . . . is described as an emetic. The strength 
used was four and a half ounces to eighty ounces of boiling water, 
which was then boiled for half an hour ; the result was a liquid of a red- 
dish yellow-colour, free from odour, with a slightly astringent, barky 
taste—perhaps a little sickly. The decoction is free from the warm, 
mucilaginous nature which characterizes the decoction of senega root. 

I gave it in cases of cough with expectoration or of dry 
cough with difficult expectoration and consequent dyspneea. The result 
of my observations is that, first, assava,in the doses above given, is 
not an emetic in the true sense of the word; but in five cases out of six 
the cough was materially lessened . . . . andthe general condition 
of the patient improved. In every respect the medicine seemed to 
act like Kuruballi, and like the decoction of senega root which is so 
well known here, but not so effectual as these medicines. 

Ewonc-EkE. . . . A decoction of four and a half ounces of bark 
to twenty of boiling water, kept in a state of ebullition for thirty min- 
utes, gives a liquid of a pale, turbid, champagne aspect, bitter, but not 
nauseous. The bark is said to be useful ‘‘ in dry belly-ache,” a disease 
like the painters colic. . . . From the result in halfa dozen cases, 
J am at a loss to perceive its value ‘in belly ache or colic,’ as it appears 
to me to have neither purgative nor astringent, anodyne nor anti-spas- 


modic properties, in any marked degree . . . . The effect upon 
the system generally seemed to be beneficial; . . . sothat I look 
on it as a feeble tonic.” 

YARI-YARI . . . - ‘used in all cases of worms.” Whether the 


354 TIMEHRI. 


decoction should have been made stronger, whether drinking the medi- 
cine hot does make a difference, or whether the bark had been wrongly 
labelled, I cannot say; but the medicine appeared to be quite destitute 
of anthelmintic power. 

KomarA . . . is described as one of the chief medicines used in 

intermittent fever . . . The decoction is warm and slightly strin- 
gent to the taste, neither bitter nor disagreeable. I have given this 
bark in several well-marked cases of low fever with coated tongue, rapid 
pulse, headache, deranged bowels &c, with considerable benefit. 
The medicine was given every four or six hours . . , . Ican 
readily understand this medicine being more useful in South America, 
where the decoction can be made fresh and fresh, and drunk freely © 
whilst still hot. 

With a decoction of Komara nitric and sulphuric acids throw down a 
red or yellow precipitate , but the alkalies do not deepen the colour ; a 
proto-salt of iron causes a brown precipitate, but a per-salt none. 

WuitE CEDAR . . . . was contributed as a medicine likely to be 
of great value in the treatment of complaints peculiar to the urinary 
organs. . . . A decoction of about four ounces to twenty ounces of 
water is of a deep-red colour, with a peculiar, rather bitter, and disa- 
greeable taste. Time has only permitted me to try its effects upon two 
patients,—with benefit in both cases.” 

KOBE-REE. This bark I] have tried in several cases of slight fever 

but with very little effect. 

Concluding his remarks, Mr. HUNTER expresses his 
disappointment at not having found among those which 
he examined more medicines of very decided merit ; 
some seemed to him not even to merit mention; others 
seemed to equal in value, but not to surpass, other medi- 
cines already in use and obtainable in any required 
quantity. Yet there are some, he adds, which should 
undoubtedly be added to the pharmacopeeia, and of these 


he makes especial mention of douzarz. 


OCCASIONAL NOTES. 355 


Couvade.—The following additional instances of ‘ cou- 
vade’ were written out for me by their observer, Mr. R. L. 
KINGSTON, who now lives on the Tapacooma Lake, but 
formerly lived at the mouth of the Yowramai Creek of 
the Pomeroon River. 


I. 

“Some years ago the young Indian wife of a couple living on the 
Yowrama Creek brought forth her first child. The father, a civilized 
Indian, to please the old woman in attendance on his young wife, took 
to his hammock; and being in want of a new bow-string, thinking it 
a good opportunity, twisted one. Just as he finished, the child began 
to cry and stream. The midwife made a row, and made the poor fellow 
sit down and undo his whole line, saying that in twisting the line he 
had twisted up the entrails of the child.” 


26 

“Some years ago a young Indian woman from the Akaiweeni Creek 
was employed by an Arawack living on the Tapacooma Creek to weed 
a field of growing cassava. The price agreed upon was four dollars. 
While working the woman became pregnant. As this was not known 
to her employer, she was allowed to eat of the game which was shot 
from time to time. The employer had a fine hunting deg; but one 
morning when he went out with this, the dog would not hunt. The 
man came home, caught hold of the dog and gave the poor brute a 
severe peppering ; but it was of no use, the dog never hunted again. 
However, the woman’s pregnancy was discovered before she finished 
weeding , and not accent did she get. The four dollars were stopped, 
as payment for the dog she had spoiled by eating of its game while 
knowing herself to be pregnant.” 

By 

“ While some (True) Caribs were poisoning the upper Pomeroon with 
haiavi for fish, I saw one of them rub his shins with the beaten and 
washed out haiari. Asking why he did this, he told me his wife was 
with child, and that he could not therefore go into the water without 
first rubbing his legs with haivai, lest all the fish should sink to the 
bottom.” 


VV 


356 TIMEHRI. 


Etymology of the word ‘Grail-stick ’—Referring to a 
previous note on this subject, the correspondent to whom 
I am indebted for the just quoted information about cou- 
vade writes :-— 

“The old Dutch colonists used a turn-out called a curricle. When 
driving a pair, they used a pole with a cross-piece attached having a 


ring at each end, by which the cross-piece was buckled up to the 
collars of the horses. This cross-piece was called a ‘ greel-stoke.’” 


ee Oe 


“ Fascination’ by Snakes.—From time to time some 
little attention has been paid to a power said to be pos- 
sessed by snakes of ‘fascinating,’ and so capturing, their 
prey. In his recent and itself most ‘fascinating’ book 
on “Animal Inteiligence’’*, Mr. ROMANES has very brief- 
ly summed up the evidence for and against the reality 
of this power. He quotes a typical instance, which will 
make the nature of ‘fascination’ plain to readers of 
Limehri:— 

‘““ Mr. Pennant says this snake (rattle-snake) will frequently lie at the 
pottom of a tree on which a squirrel is seated. He fixes his eyes on the 
animal, and from that moment it cannot escape ; it begins a doleful 
outcry, which is so well known that a passer-by, on hearing it, imme- 
diately knows that a snake is present. The squirrel runs up the tree a 
little way, comes down again, then goes up, and afterwards comes 
lower still. The snake continues at the bottom of the tree with its eyes 
fixed on the squirrel, and his attention is so entirely taken up, that a 
person accidentally approaching may make a considerable noise with- 
out somuch asthe snake turning about. The squirrel comes lower, 
and at last leaps down to the snake, whose mouth is already distended 
for its reception.” 


* Animal Intelligence”, by GzorGr J. Romanes, M. A., L. L. D., 
F.R.S. (International Scientific Series,) London, 1882, p. 263. 


OCCASIONAL NOTES. 357 


Here, writing in a Guiana magazine, | may add that a 
similar instance of ‘ fascination’ will be found in our own 
classic, CHARLES WATERTON’S ‘‘ Wanderings in South 
America.’’* 

It is obvious that ‘fascination,’ in the sense of those 
who believe in its exercise by snakes, is something akin 
to mesmerism. But the conclusion indicated by Mr. 
ROMANES is, in words quoted from SIR JOSEPH FAYRER, 
a most excellent authority on snakes, that “fascination is 
only fright.” 

My reason for referring to the subject here is that, in 
reading Mr. ROMANES’ book, it occurred to me that in 
all I have read on the subject under notice I remember 
no allusion to the fact that, as most people have surely 
experienced, we are ourselves not infrequently the sub- 
jects of fascination, in our dreams. Then, some terrific 
object, some terrific danger, appearing to us, we feel, and 
a most terrible sensation it is, absolutely incapable of ac- 
tion, even of the slightest movement out of the way of 
this danger. In fact, alike to us during such dreams and 
to the squirrel of the above-quoted story, fascination is 
simply, and in the most literal sense, Joss of presence of 
mind. 

If this is so, it seems not improbable that the sub- 
ject under fascination, whether it be a man or some 
lower animal, in thus more or less completely losing 
power of volition, simply reverts for the time to a lower 
stage of psychological evolution than that attained by, and 
proper to, its kind when under normal circumstances ; 
that is, supposing the subject under fascination to be a 


* tst Edition, London, 1825. p. 100. 
VV 2 


358 TIMEHRI. 


man, his mental faculties for the time being are not those 
of the human race, but may be those proper, perhaps in 
slighter cases, to the lower mammalia or even to some 
of the yet lower articulates, or, perhaps in extreme cases, 
in which that most dreadful feeling of utter and entire 
incapacity of volition is experienced, his mental faculties 
for the time being may be simply those of the polyp 
attached to its rock. 


The Barbarian view of Guiana.—The barbarian view 
of our colony, the expression of which is met with but too 
often, is really a very serious subject ; for the calumnious 
reputation of Guiana, as nearly the most forlorn, deso- 
late and deadly of the places lighted by the sun, is, despite 
its astounding falseness, a serious hindrance to progress. 
It has, however, also often a very comic side ; and as pro- 
bably the most remarkable existing instance of this, 
the following note, which appears in THOMAS W. FIELD’S 
well known and valuable “ Indian Bibliography,” in allu- 
sion to the Rev. W. H. BRETT’s book on the “Indian 
Tribes of Guiana” (1868) may be given.* 


“ Neither the horrors of a forest savannah stretching hundreds of 
miles without sufficient dry ground to build a camp upon ; the danger 
of receiving a flight of arrows freighted with the deadly ouarri poison, 
from the tameless savages of the hills, or the equally subtle and less 
avoidable pestilence which pervades every breath of the malaria satu- 
rated atmosphere, could appal the missionaries of the Cross to the 
Caribs and other wild savages of Guiana. The forest is twined with 


* An Essay towards an Indian Bibliography, being a Catalogue of 
Books relating to the . . . . American Indians, in the library of 
Tuomas W. Fietp, New York 1873. p. 45. 


OCCASIONAL NOTES. 359 


gigantic serpents above, and roamed by ferocious beasts below, the 
paths are barred by the webs of monstrous and poisonous spiders, and 
every rotten trunk houses a hundred centipedes. On the shores hides 
the loathsome cayman, or basks the rattle-snake ; and in the water 
millions of ferocious little fish, whose mouths are armed with steel 
traps, fasten with resistless voracity on the intruding stranger. A/l 
we know of the aborigines who inhabit these deadly climes is communt- 


cated by such fearless missionaries as Brett and Bernau.” 

To me, living in the very place where Mr. BRETT, a 
few years ago, did his good and really earnest work as a 
missionary, surrounded by no savages, troubled by no 
beasts more fierce than musquitoes, his chief difficulty 
being the exercise of the almost superhuman patience 
needed to overcome the shyness and reserve of the kindly 
gentle Indians, the above extract seems to refer, not to Mr. 
BRETT’S very soberly told story, but rather to some ac- 
count of Guiana which EDGAR ALLEN POE, never having 
been here, might have written in some wilder mood than 
ever even he was in, and which GUSTAVE DORE, inspired 
beyond his wont by the madness of POE, might have il- 
lustrated. 

And, in case this note should be seen by any future 
bibliographer of American Indians, it may be as well to 
add that, valuable as are Mr. BRETT’S, though hardly Mr. 
BERNAU’S, facts about the Indians of Guiana, another 
much more considerable and extremely valuable account 
of our Indians was published twenty years before Mr. 
BRETT wrote, by Dr. RICHARD SCHOMBURGK*. 


sass ee 


New Local Literature.--Two new books on Guiana 


* “ Reisen in Britisch-Guiana, von RICHARD SCHOMBURGK.” Leip- 
zig 1847, 


360 TIMERRI. 


have been published since the last issue of Zimehrr*. 
Mr. BRONKHURST’S book is avowedly a medley of arti- 
cles contributed by the compiler to various newspapers, 
together with many scraps by other writers, from similar 
sources. The subjects dealt with are chiefly those con- 
cerning our very varied labouring population. East 
Indians, Chinese, Portuguese, Negroes are all told of ; and 
a few notes concerning the upper classes during the 
earlier times of the colony are included. The most in- 
teresting portions of the book are the scattered notices of 
the modifications of their national customs, religious and 
other, which the East Indians and Chinese have made in 
consequence of their new surroundings in this new home 
of theirs. No one who is, or has been, in Guiana can 
turn over the pages of this book without finding passages 
both interesting and instructive; but so little care has 
been exercised in the arrangement of the material that 
few will probably attempt to read it through, and still few- 
er will probably succeed in this attempt. 

Of the other book it is, for obvious reasons inexpedient 
to treat here; and it is sufficient to record that it gives: 
some hints of the experience to be expected by a tra- 
veller in this colony ; an account of the Kaieteur Fall, 
one of the two great natural features of the colony ; 
sketches of the plant and animal life; and then an 
elaborate account of the Indians of Guiana, their 
tribes, appearance, habits, dress, religion, folk-lore, 


et. cet.; and finally an account of the stone im- 


* “The Colony of British Guiana and its Labouring Population” by 
the Rev. H. V. P. Bronkuurst, London, 1883. 

“ Among the Indians of British Guiana,” by Everarp F. 1m THuRN, 
M.A., London, 1883. 


OCCASIONAL NOTES. 361 


plements, shell mounds, rock pictures and other antiquities 
discovered in the colony. 

The catalogue of contributions sent from this colony to 
the Calcutta Exhibition has also been published, in pam- 
phlet form*. From its very nature, the catalogue itself, 
though valuable as a record, can not be very interesting 
reading. But prefixed to it is a brief account of British 
Guiana: an account of our sugar industry, this being we 
believe from the pen of the Hon. W. RUSSELL: anda 
reprinted essay by Mr. HENRY KIRKE on our immigra- 
tion system. ‘The account seems to be founded partly on 
the description published in the directory annually pub- 
lished at the office of the Colonist, which is itself, ap3 
parently founded on various descriptions published in the 
catalogues of previous exhibitions. Mr. KIRKE’S essay, good 
in its original place of publication, among the ‘‘ Russell 
Prize Essays ” of 1877-8, being now attached to a publica- 
tion which will probably have some small circulation in 
India, from which country by far the larger part of our 
labouring population is drawn, loses none of its original 
value. 


Se 


New Plant from Guiana,—The following extraét is 
from “‘ The Gardeners Chronicle ”’ of the 4th of August :— 
ACROSTICHUM (ELAPHOGLOSSUM) MAGNUM. Baker, 1. sp. 

This is a large new Acrostichum of the sub-genus Elaphoglossum, 
which was discovered in 1880 by Mr. G. S. Jenman, on the banks of 
the Mazaruni River, in British Guiana, and of which he has just sent 
living plants to Kew. It is allied to A. perelegans and A. auricomum. 


* Catalogue of the Exhibits sent from British Guiana to the Calcutta 
Exhibition. Demerara, The Argosy Press, 1883. 


362 TIMEHRI. 


Root-stock suberect. Basal paleze small, linear subulate, nearly black. 
Stipes tufted, those of the barren frond 3—4 inches long, clothed with 
small lanceolate adpressed fimbriated membranous palez. Sterile 
lamina 2—3 feet long, 13—2 inches broad at the middle, narrowed 
gradually to the apex and base, membranous in texture, green on both 
sides, the palez of the upper surface numerous but inconspicuous, 
minute, ovate, adpressed, whitish, deeply fimbriated, of the under side 
densest on the midrib, not adpressed, minute, membranous, lanceolate, 
ferruginous, densely fimbriated ; veins slightly ascending, moderately 
close, distinct, simple or forked. Fertile frond not yet seen. . G. 
Baker. 


— 


Dutch Guiana at the Amsterdam Exhibition.—Our 
neighbour-colony has done well at this exhibition. Mr. 
C. J. HERING of Paramaribo has received the following 
honours ; a silver medal for a most elaborate bibliogra- 
phy of Dutch Guiana, a M.S. copy of which he most 
kindly sent me some six months ago, to be used in the 
long, but unavoidably, delayed compilation of a general 
bibliography of Guiana for the pages of Z7mehri; a 
second silver medal for a set of very well kept diagrams 
illustrating the meteorology of Surinam ; and, for other 
contributions, one gold and two bronze medals beside a 
certificate of honourable mention. Mr. M. R. MATTISs, 
also of Paramaribo, received a gold medal for a set of 
fine casts of fishes, similar to the admirable set which he 
made and sold to the Georgetown Museum. 


—— 


The Representation of the Colony at Exhibitions.— 
There are many interested in the colony who regret that 
British Guiana was not represented at.the Amsterdam 


OCCASIONAL NOTES. 363 


Exhibition; many, again, regret that the colony was 
not represented at the recent Fisheries Exhibition ; and 
there are many, on the other hand, who, seeing with 
alarm how frequently we are now-a-days called upon to 
contribute to exhibitions and how considerablean expense 
is unavoidable incurred each time response is made to 
these appeals, regard all such shows with great disfavour. 
Even at this moment appeal is being made to the 
colony to represent itself at a forthcoming Forestry Ex- 
hibition ; and, seeing that next to, but a long way after, 
sugar our forests yield the most important of our produce, 
this appeal seems more than usually pertinent. But, 
even while this matter is still under consideration, it is 
announced that the buildings lately erected for the Fish- 
erles Exhibition are to be utilized for displays, in 1884 
of sanitary appliances, in 1885 of recent inventions, and 
in 1886 of general colonial produce. The thought, 
thereupon, occurs, whether, in place of partial but re- 
peated representation at several of these many successive 
exhibitions, it would not be far better and of much great- 
er advantage to the colony to reserve its strength for 
one very complete and, more or less, final representa- 
tion at the Colonial Exhibition to be held in 1886. With 
nearly three years for preparation, an effort might be 
made, in accordance with some properly organized 
scheme, which would result in the represention of 
the colony, at a comparatively small expense, in 
a way which would be at once unprecedented and 
almost final. And in further recommendation of this 
proposal it may be urged; tst, that by providing 
in the scheme that the collections exhibited should be, 
as far as desirable, the property of our local museum, 
Ww 


364 TIMEHRI. 


in which they should eventually find a permanent place, 
an unprecedented opportunity would be afforded of 
gathering a worthy local collection of colonial produce ; 
2ndly, that by providing that the collections should, as 
far as possible, be in duplicate—especially if other 
colonies would act on a similar scheme—such an 
opportunity as could hardly be resisted would be 
afforded of forming in London the long desired 
permanent colonial museum; and 3rdly, that by taking 
the opportunity of publishing, in connection with this 
Colonial Exhibition of 1886, a very complete catalogue 
not only of the produce of the colony actually exhibited 
but also of such other products as might be absent from 
the collections sent for exhibition, either because they 
were not at the time procurable or because they could 
not easily be shown, a complete and, for a time, final 
report on the products and capacities of the colony 
would be provided. That this journal may further, 
as far as lies in its power, this suggestion, it is 
proposed to include in the next number [June 1884], a 
detailed suggestion of the best mode of effecting this 
thorough representation of British Guiana at the Colonial 
Exhibition to be held in London in 1886. 


————— 


Errata.—On page 66 of the present volume of 
Timehri, the date of ROGER NORTH’S enterprize to 
Guiana is misprinted 1650 for 1620. On page ro4, | 
inserted a note to the effect that the word cabacaburi 
in Arawak means ‘‘silk cotton tree” (Eriodendron 
anfractuosum) ;1 am informed on good authority that 


OCCASIONAL NOTES. 365 


this is a mistake, but the real meaning of the word has 
not been given to me. Again, on page 132, by a slip 
of the pen | wrote that warracada is the Carib, yacoméz 
the Arawak, name for the trumpet bird (Psophia 
crepitans), thus transposing the Arawak and the Carib 
name for this bird. Since the instalment of the ‘ notes’ 
on West Indian Stone Implements included in _ this 
number of the Zzmehrz has been in type, I have become 
aware that the very curious ‘banner-stone’ therein des- 
cribed and figured (p. 255, Pl. 5) is the property, not as I 
supposed of Mr. ROUSELLET, but of Mr. E. L. ATKINSON, 
and came, not from St. Lucia, but from St. Vincent. 


EVERARD F, im THURN. 


AES 


Ww 3 


IN MEMORIAM: William Hunter Campbell, L.L.D. 


Born in Edinburgh, a.p. 1814: Died in London, the 3rd Nov- 
ember, A.D. 1883. 


NOT quite two years ago, when, on the morning after 
the first decisive step toward the establishment of this 
Journal had been taken, there came to me very unex- 
pected and sorrowful news of family bereavement, then 
my most kind friend WILLIAM HUNTER CAMPBELL came 
at once to me, and his first words were, ‘“ Last night 
when I left you all seemed so bright and hopeful; and 
now to day has come this change.”’ These words came 
back to me, on the arrival of the last English mail, 
when, on looking through my letters, I found first, and 
with exceeding pleasure, the earliest copy of a long ex- 
pected new book, and then, to my great sorrow, news of 
Mr. CAMPBELL’S death. Tome, from the day when I 
first came to Guiana to that later day, last June, when I 
visited him to say goodbye, merely as I then thought 
before his visit to England, but really, as it now appears, 
for ever, Mr. CAMPBELL has been the kindest, the most 
sympathetic and the most helpful of friends. It seems 
as though to the friend now lost I owed the opportunity 
of doing such work, very pleasant to me, as I have been 
able to do in Guiana. Thus dwelling for a moment, as 
I perhaps should not, on my private sorrow for a man 
whose death, though it is to me a great calamity, isa 
yet much greater calamity to this colony of his adoption, 
and more especially to the Society of which this Journal 
is the organ, the solemn and touching words of the most 


IN MEMORIAM: W. H. CAMPBELL, L.L.D. 367 
beautiful of all the Horatian odes seem to sound in my 
ear :— 

Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus 
Tam cari capitis ?............... 

Ergo Quinctilium perpetuus sopor 
Urget! cui Pudor, et Justitize soror 
Incorrupta Fides, nudaque Veritas, 

Quando ullum inveniet parem ? 

Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit ; 
Nulli flebilior quam tibi, Virgil. 

All in this land should, and most will, mourn the 
Quinctilius who has gone from us; but it seems as though 
it would be hard to say which among many of us may 
fitly mourn him most, as Virgil for Quinctilius. 

Born in Edinburgh in 1814, and educated, eventually 
as a lawyer, in his native Scotland, where he was the 
fellow collegian, at Glasgow, of his life-long friend Sir 
JOSEPH HOOKER, the widely known and as widely hon- 
oured Direétor of Kew Gardens, Mr. CAMPBELL came 
to this colony about 1840, and has since been more 
rarely an absentee from this land than almost any 
other colonist of equal standing. He himself used to 
say that he allowed himself one visit home at the end of 
every ten years; and in the earlier part of this year, 
though his painful illness seemed sufficient cause, he was 
unwilling to break through his rule by going home, for ad- 
vice, before 1885, by which time he would have completed 
another decade of colonial life. It is sad to think that 
his wish, more than once expressed to me, that he might 
live out his life to the end in the colony which, more 
completely than most of his fellows, he had adopted as 
his home, has not been fulfilled; but, on the other hand, 
it is pleasant to remember that as, on the 7th of last 


368 TIMEHRI. 


month, he was laid in his grave in a London cemetery, 
there stood by more than one of those who had long 
been associated with him, as dear friends, in his distant 
home. 

In the law courts of the colony Mr. CAMPBELL had a 
peculiarly successful career, very soon taking a leading 
position, which he retained, and indeed improved, up to 
the end. The many who know the extreme method and 
care which he used in all that he did, even outside his 
professional business, will understand this. 

But there is one particular feature in his life’s work on 
which it seems more especially right to dwell in these 
pages. He was ever the prime mover in nearly all the more 
purely intelleétual and scientific advances made in the 
colony. One of the chief among the original founders of 
the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society, and its 
honorary secretary from the beginning up to the 
day of his death, a very large number of his 
good works took the form of constantly enlarging 
and improving the functions of that Society; its 
library,. especially during recent years, has been 
guarded and increased chiefly by him; the forma- 
tion of its museum and, though at a considerably later 
period, the appointment of a curator for this museum, 
were largely due to his exertions; every of the many 
exhibitions, local and foreign, in which the Society, 
acting for the colony, has taken part have been fostered 
and cared for chiefly by him; even this very journal in 
which I am writing owes its successful foundation largely 
to his co-operation. And, though not directly connected 
with the Society, yet akin in spirit, the botanical gardens 
now growing with unhoped speed toward complete success 


In MEmMoRIAM: W. H. CAMPBELL, L.L.D. 369 


really owe their initiation almost entirely to Mr. CAMp- 
BELL, who long and earnestly urged their 1ormation, for 
many years vainly, but at last, to his great and just 
delight, with success. 

A lesson may be learned by considering the means by 
which he accomplished these good works. In the first 
place, his character won for him the friendship of all the 
best men in the colony; and the influence he thus gained 
he always conscientiously used to the best advantage. 
His scientific attainments, which have often been mis- 
understood, were considerable; and these were of a nature 
which made them especially valuable to his fellow 
colonists under the circumstances in which he was 
placed. He was never a specialist, unless perhaps to 
some small degree as a botanist. But his mind, naturally 
acute, had been so thoroughly and widely trained that 
he was well able to take an intelligent interest in, and 
speedily to grasp, any special set of scientific facts which 
were brought to his notice; and as soon as these were 
grasped, he almost invariably was able to judge rightly of 
their value. Once convinced of their value, he was ever both 
eager, however much work this might entail upon him, and 
able, owing to his just influence, to advance them. He 
was, as it were, and in this lay his great value to the 
colony, a centre to which all those among his fellow 
colonists who felt any literary or scientific yearnings 
went with full certainty of finding sympathy, and, if this 
was in any way possible, help. 

Of his quaint and charming humour, of his graceful 
courtesy, his geniality, his hospitality, his true kindness 
and of the strength of his friendship, as on things widely 
known, there is no need to write. 


370 TIMEHRI. 


Our loss is great. But, in the closing words of the 
dirge which Horace sang :— 
Quod si Threicio blandius Orpheo 
Auditam moderere arboribus fidem ; 
Non vane redeat sanguis imagini, 
Quam virga semel horrida, 
Non lenis precibus fata recludere, 
Nigro compulerit Mercurius greg1. 
Durum : sed levius fit patientia, 


Quicquid corrigere est nefas. 


E._F..1 T. 


Report of the Meetings of the Society. 


Meeting held rath of Fuly—Mr. F. E. Dampier in 
the chair. 

There were 11 members present. 

Ele€lions—Members: M. Williamson, M.D.; Revd. 

R. H. Williams ; Revd. Ernest Sloman. 
Associate: C. P. Gaskin. 

Treasurer’s Accounts.—The Treasurer stated that he 
had not yet been able to make out the statement of the 
Society’s accounts for the past quarter. 

The Calcutta Exhibition.—Mr. Glaisher said that the 
committee, of which he was a member, appointed by the 
Committee of Correspondence to look after exhibits to 
be sent on to the Calcutta Exhibition, had advertised in 
all the local papers and sent circulars to planters 
and others throughout the colony asking for samples of 
all descriptions, and that he had himself written person- 
ally to many. He thought that the exhibits would be 
few, but fairly representative. The notice being so 
short, they could scarcely expect good exhibits. 
Owing to most of .the estates not grinding at this time, 
good samples of sugar could not be got; those of bush 
produéts would be fair. 

Destruction of Sugar Canes.—Mr. W. H. Nicholson 
of Pln. Harm said he had brought some samples of cane- 
plants to ask for information as to what destroyed them. 
He found them drawn out of the ground and partly 
eaten, and he was of opinion it might have been done by 
a crab dog. 

XX 


372 TIMEHRI. 


Mr. Glaisher said, after examining the specimens, 
that it seemed to have been done by some mammal. 
The specimens were left in his charge for further report. 

The meeting then dispersed. 


Meeting held 9th August—Mr. T. H. Glennie in the 
chair. 

There were 10 members present. 

Eleétions.—Members: D. Callum, M.D.; His Honour 

J. T. Goldney ; Rev. J. G. Pearson. 
Associates: R. B. Greene; Jacob Holtz- 
man; Murdoch McLeod, Jr. 

Treasurer's Accounts.—The Treasurer laid over the 
accounts for the last quarter and stated that the balance 
in favour of the Society was 81,1707. 

Timehri.—Part 1 of the second volume of this journal 
was formally laid on the table. 

The Calcutta Exhibttion—Mr. Glaisher, Curator of 
the Museum, submitted a report on the exhibits to be 
forwarded by this colony to the forthcoming Calcutta 
Exhibition. The report was to the following effeét:— 


In making my report of the progress made in collecting the various 
productions of the colony for the International Exhibition to be held 
at Calcutta, I have much pleasure in saying that the number of general 
exhibits has exceeded my expectations. I think I may say that in all 
classes, with the exception of two, our exhibits will greatly exceed in 
number the exhibits sent to the last International Exhibition held at 
Paris. 

These two classes, unfortunately, are the most important, viz., sugar 
and rum; but even in these classes we shall not be nearly so defective as 
appeared probable, I think we shall have between twenty and thirty 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 373 


——$————— - —_—$—$—$—$—$—$————— 


samples of sugar and about forty samples of rum. The reason of this 
defect is very obvious; the six weeks’ notice of the Exhibition hap- 
pened to fall at a most unfortunate time of the year, when very few 
estates were grinding. 

As regards the other classes, in food products other than sugar we 
are well represented, samples of almost everything grown in the colony 
being already in the possession of the committee. 

The class containing medicinal barks, fibres and roots is very tho- 
roughly represented, owing to the energetic action of Messrs. Seon and 
Couchman, of the Demerara River, in collecting exhibits. 

Of starches we have a fine set to despatch to Calcutta, permission 
having been granted to send the Museum specimens ; and many others 
have also been procured. 

Samples of colonial fruits will be sent in the form of preserves, this 
being the best way in my opinion. 

By permission of the Directors, a foot was cut off each of the sam- 
ples of wood exhibited in the gallery outside the Museum. The pieces 
cut were polished and smoothed, and form a very good collection. 

We have also some beautiful pieces of carved wood made in the 
colony, which will illustrate the splendid nature of the wood for cabinet 
work. 

Ethnographical specimens form, however, our best section. 

Photographic views of different estates will be sent, and also an album 
containing views of the interior of the colony. 

The exhibits will leave here for Calcutta by next mail ; and I think 
the people of Calcutta should be able to form a good idea of the various 
products to be met with in this colony. 


A vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Glaisher for his 
report. 

Presentation of a Tamtl M.S.—A M.S. written in 
Tamil on papyrus leaves was presented by the members 
of the Berbice Reading Society. It was decided to sub- 
mit the M.S. to the Rev. R. H. Moor, for report as to 
its nature and whether it is advisable to translate the 
same for publication in the Society’s Journal. 

Destruction of Sugar-Canes.—Mr. Glaisher said that 
at the last meeting of the society Mr. Nicholson brough 

XX 2 


374 TIMEHRI. 


down several canes which had been torn out of the ground 
and split apparently by some animal, which Mr. Nichol- 
son thought might be a yawarri (Dzdelphys) or a crab 
dog (Canis cancrivorus). Mr. Nicholson had sent him 
down some more canes, similarly destroyed, and he 
had cleaned them and found teeth-marks which cor- 
responded in several instances with the teeth in the 
skull of acrab dog in the Museum. The teeth-marks did 
not all correspond, but it might be that a smaller crab 
dog than the one the skull of which was in the Museum 
had torn the canes. He did not think it had beena yaw- 
arri. Mr. Nicholson had informed him that near where 
these canes were torn were other canes with more sac- 
charine matter in them, and he had come to the conclu- 
sion that the crab dogs had split the cane plants for the 
purpose of getting at the grub or worm in the inside. 


Donations.—Presented by Rev. Thomas Farrar :— 

Pamphlet containing an Ordination Sermon Preached in St. Philip’s 
Church, Georgetown, on the Feast of S. Barnabas by the Rev. Tomas 
FARRAR, B.D. (1883.) ; 

Pamphlet “Res Anglo-Israelitice.” Discussed Scripturally, Ethno- 
logically, Philologically, by the Rev. THomas Farrar, B.D. and the 
Rev. F. P. Luiei Josa, (1882). 


The meeting then dispersed. 


Meeting held 13th September.—Mr. Justice King in 
the chair. 
There were 10 members present. 
Elections.—Associates : Joseph Bayne, Frank S, Sealy, 
J. R, Wickham, W. W, Crail, 


REPORT OF SOCIETY'S MEETINGS. 378 


A Wasted Water-power.—Mr. Luke M. Hill read the 


following note :— 

Having been frequently struck by the great volume of water dischar- 
ged from roofs during heavy tropical rains, it occurred to me that the 
power so wasted might be utilized in some way. With a view of calling 
attention to the matter I have collected together some data relating to 
the subject, and have embodied them in the paper which I have now 
the honour of submitting to this Society. 

Taking the area of the city of Georgetown within its municipal limits 
at 1,000 acres, and assuming that one-fourth of this area is covered with 
roofs of an average height of 20 feet, we have a means of estimating 
the amount of work done by the fall of water discharged from this 
roofed area to the ground. Calculating on an annual rainfall of 100 
inches over the area, I find that the units of work so done amount in the 
year to no less than 3,400,000 horse power, or an average of 9,300 
horse-power per day. This work is of course variable, depending en- 
tirely on the duration and weight of the rainfall, as time has to enter 
largely into our calculations of horse-power. A rainfall of one inch in 
an hour—which is no unusual downpour—would, on the former 
assumption as to area, &c., develop work equal to 566 horse-power in 
a minute. 

This work is necessarily distributed over a large area, but confining 
our calculations to Water Street alone, where the roofed area is pro- 
portionately greater than any other parts of the city, and assuming the 
length of the street to be 5,000 feet, with a 200 feet width of roofing, 
of an average height of 20 feet, I find the units of work developed by 
a 100 inches rainfall to be 320,000 horse-power per annum, and by one 
inch of rain falling in an hour equal to 54 horse-power per minute. 

From the roof of the Stabroek Market alone the annual developement 
of work is equal to 28,000 horse-power. 

Having pointed out that the power so wasted over the city is no small 
quantity, I will now endeavour to suggest a means by which it might 
be utilized by converting it into electricity. 

The rainfall from each roof might be conducted into one main down 
pipe, in which would work a small turbine wheel driving a dynamo- 
electric machine, the electricity so developed by every passing shower 
to be stored in accumulators of the type of Faure's secondary batteries. 
These as they become charged, in variable time depending on the rain- 
fall, could be collected and stored at central depots, whence the power 


376 TIMEHRI. 


could afterwards be distributed uniformly, either by electro-dynamic 
engines or utilized directly for electric lighting. 

The practical application of my ideas, which I fear I have put before 
you in a very crude form, I must leave to others ; my object has sim- 
ply been to ventilate the subject, leaving the inventive genius of the 
age to develop something useful out of it if the matter is thought 
worthy of further consideration. 


The Cultivation of India-Rubber Trees in the Colony. 
Mr. R. W. Imlach, Acting Secretary, stated that he had 
received a letter, dated on the 17th July, 1883, on this 
subje€t from Mr. J. A. Robinson, of Mount Street 
House, Wrexham, North Wales ; he added, with refer- 
ence to the previous letter to which Mr. Robinson made 
reference, that, in the absence in England of Mr. W. H. 
Campbell, the Secretary, to whom the missing letter must 
have been addressed, there was no record of its receipt.* 


The letter was as follows :— 

Sir,—Some time ago I ventured to trouble you respecting a project 
for cultivating trees of the india-rubber species, the chief feature—a 
most valuable one—being the propagation of these from adult stems, 
thus very materially hastening the period of yielding. The method is 
very simple when known: it is successful, and it is known only to my- 
self and another. For reasons given in my former letter, we are desir- 
ous, if possible, of carrying out the project in British Guiana. My 
former letter on the subject may not have come to your hands, and I 
now beg to ask the favour of a reply from you, as to whether it is likely 
either your society, or any one member of it, would take an interest in 
the undertaking ? We ourselves know the practicability of the business, 
and the great prospects it affords in the future, if properly started, and 
are ready to throw ourselves into it to the extent of our means, relying 
entirely upon vesults, of which we are confident. 


* The missing letter from Mr. Robinson was handed by Mr. Camp- 
bell, before his departure to England, to the Editor of Timehri, with a 
request, subsequently fulfilled, that it should be answered. As Mr. 
Robinson requested strict privacy in his letter, it was dealt with without 
reference to the Society. Ep. 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 377 


We do not wish to lose another season. We wish to establish the 
business in a British colony as a matter of preference, and as we are 
unacquainted, personally, with any one in the colony, may I beg the 
great favour of areply, with, possibly, if you do not care to enter into 
the matter on behalf of Society, a list of names of the members, as we 
should like to communicate with one or more of them onthe subject. 
They will, we presume, be probably well acquainted with the trees and 
their produce, and it is only such gentlemen we would wish to broach 
our scheme to. 


Apologising for the trouble we have given,—I am, Sir, Yours &c. 

J. A. ROBINSON. 

Mount Street House, Wrexham, 

17th July, 1883. 

It was ordered that the letter should be referred to Mr. 
Jenman for report. 

Lhe Cost of “ Timehri”.—The Acting Secretary laid 
on the table a statement of the account for publishing 
Timehri as it stood at the end of June 1883, at which 
time 52 subscribers were in arrears; and he added, in 
answer to a question, that the Journal did not at present 
pay the entire cost of its production. 

It was ordered that circulars should be issued to those 
in arrears. 

The Calcutta Exhibition.—The Acting Secretary read 
a letter from the Government Secretary, in reply to a 
communication from the Society, intimating that the 
$2,000 already voted by the Court of Policy to defray 
the expenses of the representation of the colony at the 
Calcutta Exhibition was the total amount available for 
that purpose. The Acting Secretary stating that the 
amount mentioned would not cover all the expenditure 
which would probably be incurred in Calcutta, the mat- 
ter was referred for the consideration of the Committee 
of Correspondence, 


378 TIMEHRI. 


The Curator of the Museum stated that now that 
the Calcutta exhibits had been sent away, he wished 
to draw a short comparison between the exhibits for- 
warded to this Exhibition and those which had been 
sent to the Paris Exhibition. + To the Paris Exhibition 
there were sent away altogether 74 samples of sugar, and 
to Calcutta, 35 samples ; of coloured rum there were sent 
to Paris 34 samples, and of uncoloured rum 27, while to 
Calcutta there were sent only 15 samples of the former 
and 12 of the latter. With respect to other articles ; of 
coffee, cocoa, rice, &c., altogether 48 samples had been 
sent to Calcutta, and only 12 samples of this division 
went to Paris. There had also been sent to Calcutta, 
26 samples of fruits preserved in bottles, peppers and 
pickles, whereas none of these were sent to Paris; of 
chemical and pharmaceutical products, there were sent 
to Calcutta 26 samples, while only 17 had been sent to 
Paris ; portions of all the specimens of woods sent to the 
Paris Exhibition had now been forwarded to Calcutta, 
accompanied by wallaba wood made up into shingles and 
palings, dressed and undressed ; together with this last 
collection was sent to Calcutta the descriptive account by 
Mr. McTurk, who was no doubt the best authority on this 


+ It should be observed that when the subject of the representation 
of the colony at the last Paris Exhibition was utider consideration, it 
was detefmined by the Exhibition Committee that, in place of the 
miscellaneous odds and ends usually sent to such Exhibitions, only 
articles belonging to several selected classes should be sent. For 
instance, of ethnological objects only hammocks, pottery and basket 
work were selected for exhibition, thus representing the three industries, 
of those proper to our aborigines, which might possibly, might at any 
rate most easily, be encouraged among these people and be developed 
into commercial industries, Ep. 


REPORT OF SOCIETY'S MEETINGS. 379 


subject in the whole colony. Sixty one specimens of 
medicinal barks were forwarded to Calcutta, none to Paris. 
It was hoped that some one would take the trouble of 
inquiring into the properties of these barks, as some of 
them might be found to be valuable remedies. In the 
section of fibres, fifteen specimens were sent to Calcutta, 
and to Paris only seven. Three of the specimens now 
sent were perfectly new—Mr. Jenman said he had never 
heard of them before. In the ethnological department, 
61 specimens had been sent, against 18 to Paris. Of 
miscellaneous articles, which could not be conveniently 
classed under any other section (such as painted cala- 
bashes, colony wood walking sticks, &c.), there were 6 
exhibits. To the Paris Exhibition the whole of the 
views in the Museum were sent; and the best of these 
had been sent to Calcutta. A perfectly novel feature in 
connection with the present Exhibition consisted in 
the photographs, of which there were altogether 35 
representing different estates, 7 of Georgetown, and 
an album which contained scenes from the interior, 
as well as pictures of estates, and machinery ; amounting 
in the whole to 64. So that in every department, with 
the exception of sugar and rum, the staple products of 
the colony, more was sent to Calcutta than to Paris. A 
catalogue of the exhibits forwarded would be ready by 
next mail. The Curator wished to acknowledge the ser- 
vices of Mr. Fresson, whom he always found extremely 
willing to give him assistance. 
The meeting then dispersed. 


ee 


YY 


380 TIMEHRI. 


Meeting held r1th of Octobery—The Hon. William 
Russell in the chair. 

There were 10 members present. 

Elections.—Meméer : R. M. Clegg. 

Assoctates: R. Duff, E. Cross, 

Treasurer's Accounts——The accounts to the 3oth of 
September, being laid on the table, showed a balance of 
$5,052.88 in favour of the Society. The Treasurer 
explained that of this sum $3,283.21 had been realized 
by the sale of scrip, to raise funds for the new roof of the 
museum buildings. 

The Calcutta Exhibition.—Mr. Glaisher, secretary to 
the Committee of Correspondence, reported to the effeé 
that that Committee was of opinion that, as the Society 
merely acted as agent of the Government of the 
colony in the matter of the Calcutta Exhibition, and 
as it was for the interest of the colony that it should 
be represented at Calcutta, especially as itis to India 
that the colony looks for labour, the whole cost incurred 
for the representation of the colony at this exhibition 
should be defrayed by the Government from the general 
revenue of the colony. 

It was ordered that an account of the whole expendi- 
ture under this head up to date should be sent to the 
Government, with a suggestion that such further arrange- 
ments as might seem proper to the Government should 
be made as to any further expenditure. 

It was also ordered that the surplus copies of the 
printed catalogue of exhibits sent from this colony should 
be sold, at the price of 1/. 

The Cultivation of India-rubber Trees in the Colony. 
—Mr, JENMAN reported on the letter of Mr. ROBINSON 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 381 


laid before last month’s meeting on this subject as fol- 


lows :— 

The only action the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society could 
take in this project would be to afford Mr. Robinson any information 
that may be in its possession as to the adaptability of land in this colony 
for the cultivation of rubber yielding trees, and how it could be acquired 
from Government for such a purpose. My papers on the India-rubber 
trees of Guiana shew what is known regarding them, and, as well, the 
abundance of the land on our rivers adapted to their cultivation. In 
addition to these papers, the report published by the Government on 
the samples of rubber from the Pomeroon River, and my letter thereon 
to the Secretary of the Society would be of service to Mr. Robinson. 
The names of members acquainted with the subject might also be com- 
municated as requested. The conditions under which land might be 
acquired could be obtained from the Crown Lands Department. It 
appears to me that this information is nearly all the Society can 
give Mr. Robinson, and it is all that he requires to favourably start 
his scheme. 


It was ordered that a copy of this report should be 
sent to Mr. ROBINSON. 


Sugar-Cane Mills.—The following notes by the Hon. 
WILLIAM RUSSELL were read :— 


Since Mr. Mann read his paper on the very important question of 
sugar mills and their efficiency under various circumstances, my atten- 
tion has been more forcibly drawn to the study of our mills at works 
to note both their efficiency and defects. 

There can be no doubt that the vertical mill, driven by either wind 
or animal power, was the first type of mill used for crushing the 
cane, the transmission of power from the vertical shaft of the wind-mil) 
being the most simple. Mills of this type are still to be found at work 
in Barbados, on small estates, and it will, no doubt, astonish many to 
know that these pigmy mills give a higher percentage of juice than can 
be extracted with our largest mills ; and this is achieved without grinding 
the megass to the consistency of cotton waste, a state which contributes 
to the absorption of a very large percentage of the juice while this loose 
mass is passing between the back and top rolls. 

It may not be out of place for me to explain the mode by which 


YY 2 


382 TIMEHRI. 


canes are passed through these vertical mills. There is first the 
labourer who feeds the canes between the primary crushing rolls, which 
are set so as to embrace the canes readily. Canes are inserted up and 
down the length of the rolls in such a way that by the time the top cane 
is inserted the one at the bottom has passed through, giving room for 
afresh cane, and in this way the feeder keeps up a steady supply of 
canes always, a single cane being in contact with the rolls. A large 
stream of juice results from this first operation. 


The returner stands on the opposite side; and as the canes are rolled 
through, he seizes them and passes them between the next pair of rolls, 
which are close set, and the megass is delivered alongside of the cane 
feeder ; the cane having in the last roll been deprived of the remainder 
of its juice by the simple process of rolling, the megass is simply the 
cane flattened without being gvownd into powder. The percentage of 
crushing by this simple operation runs as high as 62 to 64 per cent. 
and it is self-evident that 'as all the power has been used in rolling 
through the canes it must amount to the minimum. ‘The great success 
attending this mode of extracting the juice lies in the freedom with 
which the juice parts from the cane without any absorption. 

The necessity for getting through large quantities of work no doubt 
suggested the horizontal 3 roll mills, by which the canes were drawn in 
by the top and front rolls, and passed over a dumb returner, to be laid 
hold of between the top and back rolls. In the early days of 3 roll mills, 
the megass used to pass the last pair of rolls in much the same consis- 
tency as was the case with the vertical mills, the whole being handled 
by tying into bundles for carriage on the head; little was thought of 
the percentage of juice from the cane. A large quantity was got 
through, which was the main point aimed at, and the megass when 
sun-dried made excellent fuel,—so much so that I can well remember 
some old planters refusing to have their mills braced up, because of the 
injury to the megass as fuel. 

With emancipation, and the necessity of economy in every depart. 
ment, and especially with that formidable opponent, beet, gaining ground 
in Europe, and the patent fact that from a vegetable containing 5 per 
cent. cellulose the manufacturer had succeeded by superior manipulation 
in extracting 90 per cent of the juice, much was written as to the 
wasteful extravagance of the sugar planters ; and after a time, some of 
the most advanced made an attempt to discover what they really were 
getting from the sugar cane, I can well remember when 48 to 56 per 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 383 


cent. of juice from the weight of the cane was considered good work. 

With closer screwing up of mills, the megass became more broken 
up, and 58 to 60 per cent. of juice was the result; but then commenced 
the real era of breakages. Cheeks, gudgeons, pinions, trash-turners, all 
came in for a fair share of breakages. The engineers met all these ac- 
cidents by introducing more strength where parts had given way, with. 
out turning their attention to the seat of the disease which gave rise to 
all these accidents. 

The attention of engineers being called to strengthening parts, Mr, 
Drury, the chief draughtsman at Vauxhall Foundry, early in the fifties 
designed a very ingenious mill, by which all the strains were met by 
heavy malleable iron bolts in the direction of the strains. Why this 
design was set aside I know not, as I feel certain that, with all the im- 
provements made in the designs of mills, there are none that come up 
to that of Mr Drury. Rousollet, a French engineer, of considerable co- 
lonial experience, who finding the necessity to strap broken cheeks under 
various circumstances, set himself to work; and the present mills on his 
patent are constructed so as to throw the latter strain entirely on mal- 
leable iron bolts. This is a decided step in the right direction, and no 
three roiler mills give better results than those of Rousollet’s type; but 
while strength is thus giventc thecheeks warranting the users in screwing 
up the back rolls metal to metal, there is an inordinate pressure thrown 
on the ‘‘trash turner”; to such an extent does this exist, that I have 
seen several bars of malleable iron, 9 inches deep by 7 inches in width, 
with a set bend given equal to an inch and a half in the length of 6 feet 
between supports. Mr. Shields at a previous meeting mentioned a case 
in which it indicated a pressure equal to 300 tons to effect such a set. 
That this abnormal strain thrown upon the mills is exerted without 
adding to the efficiency of the crushing is beyond a doubt, and I un- 
hesitatingly assert, that 90 per cent of all mill and gearing accidents are 
due to this strain. 

Let any one stand by and see a mill working to its maximum power, 
and he will see a steady feed of canes being drawn into the jaws of top 
and front rolls, probably set an inch apart :—this half-crushed megass 
passes, or is drawn ana partly pushed, over the trash turner until it is 
embraced between top and back rollers with a set of 3-16th open only; 
the megass is delivered on to the elevator like a rough blanket reduced 
to a rough powder, seemingly dry, but as we shall see later on this is 
only in appearance, This goes on for a time until the material being 


384 TIMEHRI, 


shoved forward by the feeding rolls is more than the back pair can 
deliver, hence a friction brake is created, against which the top roll is 
made to rub, until the entire power of the machine is brought up by 
such pressure ; meantime, the back roll has ceased to roll through any 
megass, the whole mass being held as firmly as a block of wood between 
the trash turner and top roll; even the front roll is brought up, there 
being no further space into which canes can be pressed. 

The mill being now reversed, the gorged mass is quietly ejected 
on to the feed-board in a consistency as if operated upon by alarge 
crimping machine. This is taking an exaggerated view of the final 
bringing up of the machine; but to a limited extent, this abrading 
power is going on constantly and so to say, cramming the half crushed 
megass so tightly up between trash turner, top roll, and the feed 
rolling through, that a large quantity of the juice which might flow 
away from the last grip of back roll has no means of escape, and is 
forced away with the megass. 

The question for engineers to decide is, how to construct a mill so as 
to get relief from this unnecessary waste of power, and the fertile 
means of break down which the trash turner entails. 

My attention was called by Mr. Chapman of Fawcetts to the advisa- 
bility of using a two roll mill as the second mill connected with macera- 
tion. I did not see the force of his advice at the time, wedded as I was 
to the three roll mill; but I have seen cause to change my mind since, 
and I believe the finishing mill of the future will be either an ordinary 
two roll mill or a De Morney mill, in which, when the final grip is given to 
the megass, there isa clear space for the juice to fallaway, whilethe me~ 
gass is delivered in an almost perpendicular direction, as was shown in 
this room by the toy two-roll mill which I use for laboratory pur-poses, 

I regret exceedingly the cause of the absence of my much respected 
and valued friend Mr. Mann at this time, because I could wish to 
thank him in person for stirring me up to make further experiments 
in this all-important subject, and I now trust that others better qualified 
will give the subject their attention. 


A vote of thanks to the President for the above inter- 
esting paper was passed. 

A Cacao-pest—Mr. Mewburn Garnett stated that Mr. 
Bosh Reitz, a proprietor in Surinam, had asked him to 
lay before the meeting specimens of two kinds of beetles 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 385 


which were destroying the cacao trees. In Surinam the 
greatest amount of destruction is caused by these inseéts, 
which seem to enter the outer bark of the tree, making 
holes the size of a pea, and there depositing eggs. The 
hole is then closed up with a fine dust which the inseét ga- 
thers from the outer bark of the tree, and then the top is 
covered with glutinous matter, to prevent ants from at- 
tacking the young. Mr. Nelson, manager of a cacao 
estate on the Demerara River, reported that he had seen 
the inseéts on that river. 

The Curator of the Museum said that the insects be- 
longed to the numerous class of woodborers. He, himself, 
could not at present give any advice as to how they could 
exterminate these insets, except that each branch 
should be carefully examined and the eggs taken out. He 
thought that Mr. Bates might be able and willing to 
name them, aman who had been on the banks of the 
Amazon for nearly 11 years, and added that he would 
gladly senda specimen to Mr. Bates. 

Mr. Shields thought that if a lantern were carried 
about the trees at night, the light would attraét the in- 
seéts. He had succeeded on several occasions in catch- 
ing them in that way. 

The Tamil MS. in the Museum.—The Rev. R. H. Moor 
reported upon the old Tamil manuscript sent to him by 
the Society to ascertain its value. He said it was an in- 
teresting series of love tales, which probably are already 
translated into English, but which, in its manuscript form, 
would interest the many East Indian visitors to the 
Museum. 

The meeting then separated. 

cieminnient racemes 


ZZ 


386 TIMEHRI. 


Meeting held 8th November.—Mr. G. L. Davyson in 
the chair. 


There were 8 members present. 


Eleétions— Members: Thomas Grogin; C. A. Mat- 
they ; J. Andrews; J. Russell. 
Associate: A. Long. 

Cane-mills.—W ith reference to the notes by the Hon. 
W. Russell on this subjeét read at the previous meeting, 
Mr. Shields read the following :— 

If anything could be added to what Mr. Russell has laid before us, to 
show the importance of good cane-crushing it might be done by calling 
attention to the actual loss in dollars which this colony sustains by im- 
perfect crushing. 

The total produce of sugar in the colony may be taken in round 
numbers at 130,000 tons per annum. And JI think it would be a fair 
estimate to assume that the juice expressed, taking the mills collectively 
throughout the colony, equals 62 per cent of the weight of canes; but as 
we would rather be over than under the mark, let us assume that 63 per 
cent is obtained. 

The difference between this and what might be obtained may be 
fairly considered as the loss which the planters sustain through imper- 
fect crushing. But, as it is stillan open question how much juice may 
be profitably expressed by crushing, we will take a low figure, and 
assume that 70 per cent. only could be expressed. The difference then be- 
tween 63 and 70 may fairly be taken as the loss in cane juice; and by 
turning this into figures I find that it represents a loss of 111 on every 
1,000 tons, and that on the whole colony crop of 130,000 it represents a 
loss of no less than 14,430 tons of sugar. If we estimate this with its 
offal at $120 per ton, it presents us with the large sum of $1,731,600 as 
the amount which we are carelessly throwing away; and after allowing 
one-third of this sum for the extra cost of manufacture, we have still 
more than $1,000,000 of actual loss due to imperfect crushing. 

The most important question in connection with this important sub« 
fect is, I think, the practical one, how to arrest thisimmense waste. I 
am sorry that inthe paper before us no hint is given how this is to be 
done, 

We ate promised further experiments in connection with this question; 


\ 


REPORT OF SOCIETY'S MEETINGS. 387 


and itis to be hoped that further experiments will throw more light on 
the subject; but we, as practical men, should not forget that while 
we are waiting and experimenting, more than a million dollars are slip- 
ping through our fingers every year. The question for each of us should 
be, what are we to do with the mills we have got, and how are we to 
make the most of them. 

And second, what is to be the mill of the future. 

Mr. Russell treats us to a very graphic account of the working of the 
old vertical mill, and its change into one of the horizontal type, with its 
accompanying evil the trash-turner, which he believes to be the root of 
all evil; but he does not give us a hint how this is to be put right. Now I 
admit at once that the trash-turner is at best but a necessary evil ; but as 
long asit is necessary, it is our duty as practical men to try to reduce 
that evil to aminimum. Certainly screwing up the back roll, metal 
to metal, is not the way to accomplish this result; indeed I am sur- 
prised that a practical man like Mr. Russell should use this expression, 
far less tolerate the practice, let the mill be ever so strong. What does 
it mean ? Does it mean that two teet thickness of canes on the feed-board 
is to be annihilated before passing between the back rolls. If 
not that, then it must mean that the mill is to be twisted and dis- 
torted to an enormous extent to allow that thickness of canes to pass 
through; and one or other, or the whole, of the evils complained of must 
of necessity take place. But if the mill is properly set and judiciously 
worked, good crushing will be obtained and the evils complained of if 
not entirely eliminated, will be reduced to a minimum. 

From my own experience and observations, extending over the last 
three years, I find the best results are obtained when an opening of one 
quarter of an inch is allowed between the front rolls for every six cane 
throwers. The back roll should be screwed up until the engine is just 
able to drive through the average feed with the average steam pressure. 
If this rule is adhered to, the best results will be obtained that it is poss- 
ible for the engine to give; for, after all, the actual power of the mill to 
express juice is limited by the mechanical energy or power which the 
engine is capable of developing ; and, as far as my experience goes, this 
is in almost every case very much too small. 

Take up the catalogue of any maker of sugar mills you choose, for they 
follow one another like a drove of sheep, and you will find that the 
engines classed along with the mill are invariably much too small ; eg. 

a 32” x 72" mill is expected to be driven by a 20” x 48” cylinder. Now 


ZZ 


388 TIMEHRI. 


we know from experience that this is very much too small and, as 
usually geared, is not capable of expressing more than 62-63 per cent 
of the weight of the canes, while expressing 1800 galls. of juice per hour, 
with a boiler pressure of 60 lbs. per 0”. 

With a 26” cylinder engine, other things being equal, 66-68 per cent 
of the weight of the canes might be obtained, which on a crop of 1,006 
hhds. would increase the output by 80 hhds. of sugar, or, in money 
value, of nearly 10,000 dollars. ‘This increase in the crop could be 
obtained in many instances, I have no doubt, simply by increasing the 
power of the engine and running a very little extra risk in the matter 
of breakages. 

I know that the makers of our sugar mills think that they have the 
power nicely adjusted to the work to be done, and that to increase the 
size of the engine would be to introduce the elements of destruction into 
the system. This may be theory, but here again experience comes to 
our aid and teaches us that as a rule it is the mills most deficient in en- 
gine power that give out most, and that breakages very seldom occur 
through the engine being too powerful, but because it is too weak to 
drive the feed of canes through the mill. Backing is then resorted too 
‘and a breakage occurs, through a spasmodic effort being made to over- 
come its own weakness. If the engine had been sufficiently powerful 
to drive through the feed of canes in the first instance backing would 
Fave been unnecessary, the risk of breakages reduced, and much better 
crushing obtained. 

Mr. Russell recommends a two roller mill for second crushing, and I 
find on looking back over my correspondence that in a letter dated 4th 
November, 1880, I have recommended an exactly similar arrangement ; 
‘ and if double squeezing is necessary I am still at one with Mr. Russell 
as to the value of a mill of this description, Further experience however 
as to the possibility of obtaining really good results from single crushing 
has convinced me that second crushing is unnecessary, and that a good 
mill fitted with hydraulic adjustment and backed up by asufficiently pow- 
erful engine will at one operation extract all the available juice from 
the cane. 

Another important question of this subject, and Mr. Russell has left 
it altogether untouched, is the bearing that it has on the question of 
burning megass direct from the mill; for, notwithstanding the enthusi« 
asm of furnace patentees as to the value of their inventions, and the 
puffs of newspaper editors and correspondents, I hold that the question 


REPORT OF SocIETY’S MEETINGS. 389 


of burning wet megass economically has not yet been solved, and if it is 
to be solved the solution must be looked for from the millrather than 
from the furnace. Given a mill that will express 75 per cent of the 
weight of the canes, in juice, and the question of burning the megass 
direct is solved independently of the furnace ; whereas with the ordinary 
type of mill as it exists all over this colony, expressing only 60-63 per 
cent of the weight of the canes in juice, xo furnace yet invented will 
burn the megass to advantage. It may be burnt certainly, but it would 
be just about as economical to burn it in a heap in the yard asin any 
furnace that has been brought to our notice. 


Mr. Russell said they were all indebted to Mr. 
Shields for the very valuable and practical paper 
which he hadread. Mr. Shields had very properly taken 
him to task on one or two points. While he used the 
local expression of metal to metal of course he did not 
mean absolutely that the surfaces were touching; there is 
always a considerable give in parts even when the rollers 
appear touching when screwed up. He quite agreed 
with Mr. Shields that under certain conditions the trash 
turner was not such an evil as many made it out to be. 
He held in his hand a return of the results of some mills, 
which he had intended to embrace in another paper ; but 
it might be just as well to refer to them now, to show 
what was being done. ‘Take, in the first instance, Dia- 
mond, with a single-crushing mill with respeét to which 
everyone who saw it allowed that the work done was 
superior to anything in single-crushing anywhere else in 
the colony. There was 13.48 fibre in the canes put 
through. It was an important element, the fibre of the 
canes they had to deal with, because some canes had 
only io per cent of woody fibre. The experiments had 
been made by Mr. Alexander, the analyst at Tuschen, 
and the results had been taken very correétly. With 


ZZ 2 


390 TIMEHRI. 


canes of 13.48 per cent fibre, at the Diamond, the ex- 
pression was 66.98, or nearly 67 per cent. Coming down 
to Providence, where they had immensely powerful 
double-crushing machinery, the canes contained only 
11.40 per cent of fibre, and the expression of juice was 
77.07. At Uztvlugt, where they had a very fine, power- 
ful second mill, the first one being more like a defibreur, 
opening up its canes for the steam to play upon them, 
and where they had canes witha fibre of 12.80 per cent, the 
expression fell downto68.75 percent. At Providencethey 
were working. very powerful double machines, with which 
they were satisfied to make 100 hhds.a week. At Uztvlugt, 
with a less powerful plant, they were trying to make alittle 
more, and consequently they were putting more canes 
through, in proportion than at Providence, and with so 
much worse results. At Zuschen de Vrienden, witha 
small mill running at a terrific speed, 25 feet per minute, 
and 13.10 per cent woody fibre in the canes, they got 
62.56 per cent expression, or, by single-crushing exactly 
what Mr. Shields had taken as the average of the colony. 
In fact he (Mr. Russell) had often taken Zuschen de 
Vrienden as a co-efficient for the whole colony, 
as an average, and his results in this case came very 
near Mr. Shields’ average of 63 per cent, or 62 per cent. 
which he considered the ordinary average. At Leonora 
they had two single mills breaking the canes, which 
were passed through a third mill. The canes contained 
11 per cent of fiore, and the expression was 74 per cent 
of cane juice. Mr. Russell went on to say that without 
a powerful engine and gearing to transmit the motion 
to the rollers they could not expect to get through 


a large quantity of work. As Mr, Shields had said, the 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 301 
power of the machinery depended entirely upon the 
engine power. He held that at Providence, with double 
mills 72 x 32 making a too hhds. a week, they could en- 
sure perfect crushing, and there was no question about the 
burning of the megass, which was fit to burn in 
almost any furnace. He did not enter into the question 
about the burning of megass in his paper, the latter being 
more to draw out discussion than to finish it. He wanted 
to have an opportunity of picking other people’s brains, 
and to reply afterwards. Just now, however, he had 
the pleasure of complimenting Mr. Shields upon the 
very excellent paper he had read that day. He (Mr. 
Russsell) should be prepared to read a paper at the next 
meeting on ‘The sugar cane as fuel” (Hear, hear), and 
he would then go into the whole question. Patentees 
of furnace feeders would then have an opportunity of 
publicly combating the question instead of taking up the 
time of the newspaper compositors in setting up long- 
winded articles which amount to nothing. 

Mr. Shields hoped Mr. Russell would do this, and he 
would also do a great service if he embodied in his paper 
the statistics which he had just laid before the meeting ; 
these statistics were most important. If Mr. Russell 
would allow him to offer a suggestion, he would like the 
statistics to include the size of the cylinders to compare 
with the power of the mills. In almost every case the 
cylinders were too small to drive the mill, and they would 
get better results by increasing the size of the cylinders. 
This would not, he thought, increase the risk of breakages, 
in almost any degree whatever. It was when “ backing ”’ 
that the breakages take place; and when the cylinder 
was large enough to drive through anything there was 


392 TIMEHRI. 


little danger. He thought it was important that planters 
should consider whether it was not possible, by in- 
creasing the size of the cylinders, to increase the per- 
centage of juice obtained by two or three per cent. 

Mr. Russell said he would have great pleasure in giving, 
in his next paper, the pressure of steam, the size of the 
cylinders, the proportion of gearing, and the size of the 
mills—in fact information upon every part of this ques- 
tion, which was one in which he was deeply interested. 
He came before the Society with his paper to gain infor- 
mation, and so far as his specialists and himself could 
investigate the question he should give every information 
which lay in his power. 

The Calcutta Exhibition—The Acting Secretary 
stated that, according to instructions, he had written to 
the Government Secretary with reference to the expenses 
yet to be paid in conneétion with this Exhibition, and 
that he was informed that the Government had made all 
necessary arrangement with Mr. Kirke, the Commissioner 
at Calcutta for the British Guiana Exhibition. 

The meeting then dispersed. 


Meeting held 13th December.—The Honourable W. 
Russell, President, in the chair. 

There were 16 members present. 

The late William Hunter Campbell, L.L.D.,—The 
President said :—‘‘ Gentlemen,—Before proceeding with 
the order of the day, I wish to refer to the melancholy 
intelligence, which has reached us since our last 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 393 


meeting, of the death of our late Secretary, Mr. W. H. 
Campbell, LL.D. I am sure ail will agree with me that 
in the death of Mr. Campbell the colony has lost one of 
its most useful citizens; and this Society in particular 
has to lament the loss of one who might be justly styled 
the father of the Society ; for I have no hesitation in as- 
serting that but for the untiring zeal of our late Secre- 
tary, at times when he was almost left alone to battle 
against lukewarmness, the Society must have come to 
grief. All who came in contact with Mr. Campbell in 
ordinary business could not but be struck with the gen- 
tlemanly, quiet, and sound way in which he conducted 
his extensive legal practice; the wonder being how he 
grasped and got through so much. ‘Those who met him 
in his capacity as an honorary member of almost every 
Committee connected with the advancement and the 
material welfare of the colony in general, and of scienti- 
fic research in particular, could not but feel that when 
the day came for Mr. Campbell to cease his busy and 
useful life it would be a misfortune. That day has un- 
fortunately arrived sooner than could have been expected; 
for until the day he left these shores he punctually at- 
tended our meetings, and! am certain none of us who saw 
him present at the meeting held on the 14th of June last 
imagined that it was for the last time. It has been usual 
in all times for Societies like our own to mark the appre- 
ciation of such untiring zeal as characterized the services 
of him whose loss we have now to mourn. The late Dr. 
Blair, whose bust graces our rooms, was in his time a 
warm supporter of the Society; and that bust hands 
down to posterity how much Dr. Blair was valued by 
those with whom he came in contact in his day. I 


304 TIMEHRI. 


have in like manner now to propose that a resolution be 
placed on the minutes recording our unanimous feeling 
of regret at the loss of one who held for the long term of 
39 years the honorary, onerous office of Secretary to this 
Society, and that abustor portrait be procured and placed 
in our rooms, with a tablet; that the name of William 
Hunter Campbell may be prominently handed down to 
posterity as one to whom the Society owes it very 
existence.—“ Be it resolved, that this Society in record- 
ing the melancholy intelligence of the demise of our late 
honorary Secretary—Dr. William Hunter Campbell, 
L.L.D., testifies to the untiring zeal with which he con- 
ducted the onerous duties for the space of 39 years, 
thereby encouraging others to follow his example, and 
that it is due to the fostering care of the Secretary that 
this Society can now boast of a roll of over 400 members, 
with a library and a Museum that colonists can point to 
with pride and satisfaction ; and that, with a view to more 
prominently testifying our value of his service, a bust 
or portrait with a suitable record of such service be 
placed in a niche of these rooms.”’ 

The motion was seconded by Mr. Fleming and was 
unanimously approved. At the suggestion of the Presi- 
dent it was also agreed that a copy of this resolution 
should be forwarded to the widow of the late Mr: Camp- 
bell, with an expression of the sincere sympathy of the 
members of the Society in her bereavement. 

Mr. William Walker, the resident director of the So- 
ciety in London, in a letter expressed his confidence of 
the deep concern of the members of the Society general- 
ly in the announcement of the death of their much 
valued honorary Secretary, whose protracted connection 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 395 


with the Society, not less than his many estimable quali- 
ties, must have endeared him to all and must make his 
loss deeply and permanently felt. 

A letter from Mr. Charles Crumpton, the assistant 
Secretary of the Society expressing his sincere sorrow 
for the death of Mr. Campbell was also read. 

The Edinburgh Forestry Exhibition.—The President 
stated that the members of the Society were doubtless 
aware that a communication from the Secretary of State 
for the Colonies had reached this colony suggesting that 
British Guiana should be represented at the Forestry Ex- 
hibition to be held in Edinburgh in the winter of 1884. The 
President added that he had brought to the notice of his 
Excellency the Governor that a local Exhibition would 
be held here next year and that this would afford an ex- 
cellent opportunity to gather a collection to be forward- 
ed to the Edinburgh Exhibition. It had been decided 
by the government to communicate with this Society as 
to the arrangements to be made to secure adequate rep- 
resentation at Edinburgh. 

Elections of Office-bearers for 1884.—The following 
were elected :— 


Patroness: 


Pee Ow EaGN:. 


Viee-Patron: 


HIS EXCELLENCY SIR HENRY TURNER IRVING, K.C.M.G. 
GOVERNOR AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, &c., &c., &c. 


President : 
Hon. B. HOWELL JONES. 


Vice-President: 
Hon, ARTHUR BRAUD, 


396 


TIMEHRI. 


Managing Directors: 


G. L. DAVSON 
M. GARNETT 
E. H. G. DALTON. 


Ordinary Directors: 


Hon. WILLIAM RUSSELL 

His Honor J. HAMPDEN KING, Bea. 
R. J. KELLY 

Hon. THOMAS MULLIGAN 

B. J. GODFREY 

G. H. HAWTAYNE. 


Exehange Room Ditrectors : 


JOHN J. DARE 
ARTHUR WEBER 
EDWARD STEPHENS. 


Treasurer: 
ROBERT WIGHT IMLACH. 


Secretary. 
F. A. CONYERS. 


Agricultural Committee: 
Hon, WILLIAM RUSSELL, Chairman. 
A. J. PITMAN, Vice-Chairman. 
R. T. A. DALY, Hon. Secretary. 


W. S. ARNOLD 

C. L. BASCOM 

S. M. BELLAIRS. 

Hon. ARTHUR BRAUD 
D. C. CAMERON 
WILLIAM CRAIGEN 
M. GARNETT 

A. R. GILZEAN 

T. H. GLENNIE 

R. W. IMLACH 


How. B. HOWELL JONES 


R. J. KELLY 

HY. KIRKE, m.a. 

A. C. McCALMAN 

E. A. MANGET, m.p. 
JOHN MENZIES 

JOHN MINTY 

Hon. THOS. MULLIGAN 
P. H. NIND 

G. R. SANDBACH, mM. a, 
HENRY T. STOKES 
W. A. WOLSELEY, 


REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 397 


Committee of Correspondence: 
Hon. WILLIAM RUSSELL, Chairman. 
His Hon. J. H. KING, B. a., Vice-Chairman 
R. W. IMLACH, Treasurer. 
EVERARD F.1m THURN, m.a., Secretary. 


N. ATKINSON JOHN S. HILL 

Rev. W. G. G. AUSTIN, m. a. G. S. JENMAN 

Reale DAILY 1S Wo USIRILIUNG 

E. H. G. DALTON HENRY KIRKE, m. a. 

E. E. H. FRANCIS GEORGE LITTLE, Jr. 
WILLIAM FRESSON A. C. McCALMAN 

C. H. GILBERT P. H. NIND 

qT. H. GLENNIE Hon. W. F. H. SMITH 

B. J. GODFREY Hon. W. A. G. YOUNG, c. Ma. 


G. H. HAWTAYNE 
Curator of Museum: E. H. GLASHIER, s. a. 


Book Committee: | 


N. ATKINSON JOHN S. HILL 

Rev. W. G. G. AUSTIN, m.a. R. W. IMLACH 

A. G. M. CAMERON, m.p. His Hon. J. H. KING, B. a. 
His Hon. Str D. P. CHALMERS HENRY KIRKE, m. A. 

F. A. CONYERS Rev. T. J. MOULDER 

N. DARNELL DAVIS P. H. NIND 

E. H. G. DALTON W. H. SHERLOCK 

Cc. H. GILBERT EXLEY PERCIVAL, B. A. 
E. H. GLAISHER, B. a. F. A. R. WINTER 

T. H. GLENNIE Ven. ArcHpn. WYATT 

B. J. GODFREY Hon. W. A. G. YOUNG, ¢. M. G. 
G. H. HAWTAYNE 


Librarian: CHARLES CRUMPTON. 


Resident Director in London: 


WILLIAM WALKER, 48 Hilldrop Road, Tufnell Park, N. 
Agents in London : 
Messts. RIDGWAY & SONS, 2 Waterloo, Place, S. W. 
Attendance at Committees:.—Some conversation took 
place on the subject of the customary lax attendance of 


308 TIMEHRI, 


members at committee meetings, and a desire was ex- 
pressed that attendance might be more regular in future. 

Tne President’s paper on Sugar-Cane Mills.—The 
reading of the promised supplementary paper on this 
subject by the President was deferred, on account of the 
pressure of the business, to the January meeting ; but it 
was arranged that the paper should at once be printed, 
in order that members might come to the next meeting 
prepared to discuss its suggestions. 

Donations.—The following donations presented to the 


Society were announced :— 

History of The Duchess of Cerifalco, by BENJAMIN Murray.—By 
W. Yellery, Esq. 

Picture entitled ‘Fact and Fancy.’—By R. W. Imlach, Esq. 

The meeting then dispersed. 


SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION LIBRARIES 


iii 


93 57