, 1882-08-23
A New Colonial Journal.
From the Grenada ChrOnicle.J

the Royal Agricultural anu O"'iulC1oi"l
Society of British Guiana. The first num-
Der of this publication reached US by the
last southern mail, and, we are happy to
state. is a highly creditable production
both in editorial get-up and in print, in
the latter respect bearing very favourable
comparison with European publications OF
q similar description. The number before
IFS onens with an editorial prologue, III
which the editor (Mr. Everard +. I'm
Thurn NJ. A, a name we'll known IN con
nection with the modern history OF BRUSH
Guiana.) explains the object OF the journal,
and qiyes The following derivation OF
the title of the book :-"Timehri or Time
neeYi is a Carib word, belonging to a Ian
guage which was spoken IN Guiana before
any European tongue ever Wagged here
signifying certain marks or figures winch,
like our letters and words, expressed ideas,
which, to use a long word, were ldeo-gra-
Dhic. On many of the rocks of Guiana
these marks or timehri, which were here
so long before any European pen ever
made marks on paper in Guiana that their
eneravers have been forgotten, still exist.
AS in Egypt the h~iero@lyphics, SO i'll
Guiana these timehri stand as the records
of a forgotten time, and the oldest to be
found within our limits. Perhaps we may
be allowed to digresS for a few minutes to
show that the word timehri has a curious
scientific and chronological interest. Scien-
tifc men, when nothing more than scientific,
are VIGOROUSLY barbarouS linguiStS. To mix
a Greek with q Latin word in a scientific
word is as common a trick with them as it
was with Humpty Dumpty when he
puzzled Alice by using portmanteau words
on the other side OF the looking glass.
And the consequence is that the etymolo'
giSt is often distracted in his endeavours
to trace the history Of some scientific
word. For instance, there is a we'll known
tree in Guiana which scientific people all
overthe world call Pjrdtenerd guldnenSjS; tits
the tree from which our so. caIled Z" letter
wood is obtained. Piratenera is neither
Latin nor Greek, belongs that is to say to
neither of the two languages to which
most scientific words may he traced.
Pira or paira is the Carib name for the
letter wood tree, the heart wood Of which
and the heart. wood only, has those letter
like markings which have given to 1t its
colonial uame. Paira timehri or Paira
timineeri-t that is ''marked paira"-iS the
Carib name for this p%articula: heart-Wood.
Aublet, the botauiSt who found this tree
in Guiana and named it, took its Carib
name, paira timeehri to make the Scien-
tifc word piratenera, which looks eXter-
nally sufficiently like a Latin word to
make etym0logists ponder over its origin.
So this word Iimehrj, the name Of these
old writings which are written on the
rocks Of Guiana, is the name which we
have adopted for the writings which we
propose to mark on the white paper of
this Guiana Journal
The articles contained in this, the first
number are as follow :-''C0c0G cuJtiUGjjoH"
(by Mr.. Alex. H. Henson ''Iame animals
amonq the red men of america" (the Editor;
I.Tndia Rubber and GUtta Percha' Mr. &. >.
Jenman, f. L. s. "Tbe Influence Of boil.
ing on CosSora" (Mr. Z. =. H. Francis,
&c. S. ; Charming end Irrigation" (Hon
VIM. RusselT "The British Guiana Erhj-
bition of 1882 (tbe EditOr); "Enc0m'0ge-
ment of the Lesser Industries" (Nlr. j. V.
Blake); "a Journey up the Cuyuni' Mr..
Michael Nc Turk " Food IN relation
to Work' (Mr. F. l. Scard, FC.S.) Besides
these articles, there are occasional notes"
from the pen of Mr.. G.. II. Hawtayne and
other gentlemen, and the reports of the
Society's meetings from January to June
1882. On the whole we think the publ
cation is a most valuable one, and should
be taken by all who take ar interest In
agricultural pursuits in these colonies.
We recommend the Government to add it
to the list of books received by the Public
Library. 1t is published half yearly, at
12s. cd. per annum.
The Weather and the crop