Birmingham state herald., 1895-12-27
SIR ROBERT sCHoMBURGK.

The gentleman who defined the line be- tween Venezuela and British Guiana was something of an adventurer. It is said that at one time he was clerk in a to- bacco house at Richmond, Va. He was native of Prussia, and we'll versed in scientific matters He was fond of nat ural history and was quite botanist His history, as it creeps out by piece meal is as follows
 Robert Herman Schomburgk the au- thor of the line between Venezuela and British Guiana, which is now the subject of so much controversy. was a Prus- sian scientist, who wandered a great deal over the world, and lived almost every where. He was born in 1894, and died in 1S65. In his youth he was a clerk in mercantile house in New York and in that capacity drifted to South America and finally settled in the island of Bar badoS, West Indies, as the representative of an English mercantile establishment. He had penchant for botany and the kindred sciences, and a rowing dsposi- tisn and a taste for adventure, which led him to make a geographical and botani- cal exploration through the colony of British Guiana and the eastern provinces of Venezuela. He spent six years, be- tween 1883 and 1889, in this work
 Tt was he who discovered the remark able photographs that appear upon the rocks of the Essequibo river and it's branches, which were executed by a race that at one time extended over the greater part of North and South Amrica but are not regarded with much veneration by the present inhabitants of the wild re- gions on the later continent Similar photographs exist in St. Thomas, St Vim cent and Dominique, and other of the Windward islands. Schomburgk also dis covered that famous lily known as the Victoria Regia. He found it in the la goons along the banks of the Essequibo, where there were frequent ponds, cover ing hundreds of acres The leaves of the lily were so large and covered so much water that the light-footed Indians used to stand upon them.
 "Schomburgk returned to Georgetown. British Guiana, and there wrote a book. which was published in German. by his brother. in 1S40. This was accompanied by rough map of the country he had ex- plored. About the same time he wrote a pamphlet in English upon it's natural features, and gave his theory as to where the boundary line between Guiana and Venezuela ought to be drawn It was an arbitrary line. traced upon a map with out any reference to the territory over which Holland had claimed Jurisdiction. or the terms of the treaties by which she transferred it to Great Britain. He only expressed his opinion as to where nature intended a. division to be, and suggested that Great Britain should have the entire watershed of the Essequibo river, which had. been recognized as the dividing line by the Spaniards and the Dutch.
 Schomburgk was afterwards en- ployed by the British government to eIab- crate his map and boundary line, and for his services was made a baronet He was also appointed to the consular corps of Great Britain, and served in Santo Domingo and Siam. where he died. He wrote a history of the colony of Barba- 6sNe vol 4l.x tions to geographical and historical lit erature
 Tt Is an interesting and important fact. inst discovered,- that the States mans Year Book for 1885. which is an eminent British authority on geography and statistics and has been so recog- nized for thirty-two years gives the area of British Guiana as 76.0o0 square miles. while the same authority for 1895 gives the area at 109, GOO square miles in that British colony within ten years, which is unaccOunted for by treaty or xa1