The San Francisco call., 1896-03-07

River Orinoco and there are three or
four more settlements which are very
Aourisbing. and from which they derive
much utility and very good profit, with
the mouths of those two rivers, making
themselves masters of the possessions and
fruits of the natives"
These records show that the Dutch had
at this time firmly settled themselves
along the coast as far as the Orinoco. In
1921 q charter of the Dutch West India
Company, granted by the States-General
of Holland and reaffirmed in 1887, gave
the Orinoco as the limit of the company's s
territorial jurisdiction.
From secret reports on the dominions OF
Spain in America, addressed to the Span
ish Government under date of few
wears before the conclusion of the treaty of
Munster, it appears that the Dutch settle
ments extended from close to the Amazons
to the Orinoco. The whole of this is there
fore clear:
That prior to the date of the treaty OF
Munster, the Dutch settlements, to the
knowledge of the Spanish Government,
extended on the coast as far as the Barima
and the River Amacura. The treaty
concluded between Spain and the Neither
lands in January. 164S, confirmed the
Dutch in all the possessions they had ac-
ouired in South America and gave them
the liberty to make fresh acquisitions
wherever the Spaniards were not already
established.
At the date of that treaty Spain had only
the settlement in Guiana San Thome de
GUYANA. After the treaty of Munster
fresh negotiations were again issued by
the States-G General to the Dutch West In
dia Company, in which the Orlnoco was
again treated as the limit of Dutch iuris-
diction. From 164S to 1876 the Dutch col
onies on the Essequibo, Pomeroon and
Morocco were reported as fourishing
greatly and attracting free immigration,
bidding fair to become the most flourish
ing of the tropical plantations in America.
About 1864 Fathers Llauri and Vergara
were sent to explore Guiana with view to
seeing whether Jesuit mission should be
founded. They reported that the province
had been abandoned by the Spaniards.
In 1854 the Dutch commander at Es-
sequibo recommended that strong post
be established at Barima in place of
small watchhouse. By 100 posts were es-
tablished by the Dutch at places along the
coast and in the interior. Three of the
latter posts are named in the records, one
being beyond the Cuyuni. In lila the
provisions of the treaty of Munster ex-
pressly confirmed the treaty of Utrecht.
At that date Spain had no possession of
any territory in Guiana beyond part Of the
right bank of the Orinoco. No Spanish
settlements or missions existed in any
other part of Guiana. The Dutch upon
the coast extended along the Orinoco into
the interior to the watersheds of the Es-
sequibo, Cuyuni, Pomeroon and Amacura.
In 1880 the Dutch West India Company
by public notice prohibited trade on the
Rivers Massaguni and Cuyuni except TO
its own agents. Between 1880 and 1880
number of Capuchin missions, established
by the Spaniards, were entirely confined
to the district between the Orinoco and
Yuruari. From reports made from time
to time by the director-general of the
Dutch colony it appears that about 174S
the Spaniards were attempting to encroach
on the Dutch territory in the neighbor-
hood of the affiuents of the Cuyuni.
Thereupon the director general dispatched
an emissary to demonstrate with the Span
iards, who are reported to have replied
that the whole of America belonged to
Spain.
These attempts OF the Spaniards to ex-
tend their territory were entirely confined
to the Cuyuni adjoining the district al
ready occupied by the Capuchin missions.
A report of the Spanish commandant OF
Guiana states that in 1850 the Dutch were
in the interior on the Cuyuni and at the
mouth os the River Curumo, which flows
into said river.
Between 1850 and 1852 the Capuchin
fathers from the missions applied to the
Dutch Government for permission to trade
in Dutch Cuyuni. They were refused.
In 1855 the Dutch, in order to prevent en-
croachments by the Spaniards on the terri
tory of Yuruay, which they considered in
disputably Dutch territory, established a
post 150 miles higher up the Cuyuni.
The position Of this post is shown on the
the sketch map. The same year the Span
ish commandant on the Orinoco COM
planned to the Dutch of disorders in
Barima, showing that the Dutch then had
jurisdiction there. In 1758, as appears
from Spanish official report, a question
b aving arisen regarding the rights of fish,
ing, the Dutch claimed that their domin-
ion extended from the Ships Mouth, or
grand mouth of the Orinoco, and that they
were entitled to fish in that part of the
river. From report OF Governor Cumana,
in 1761, to the King of Spain, it clearly
appears that, with the exception of the
Fort San Thome de Guayana and the mis-
sions, the Spaniards had occupied terri
ritory on the right bank of the
Orinoco, and that the local Span
ish authorities had been engaged
in Intellectual attempts to induce the
Government to fortify the Orinoco at An
gostura so as to prevent the Dutch and
Caribs from ascending the river. The re-
port gives the names that were then known
OF sixteen villages or missions. Not one
of the missions was extended.
Coming to 1772 Spanish claims to the
greater part OF Guiana are raised IN re-
port from the commandant of the prov
ince. An extract taken from the archives
OF Indias proceeds to state that the boun-
daries of this province and the Guayana
boundaries are: Bounded on the north by
the lower Orinoco; on the east by the At
lantic Ocean; on the south by the Amazon
and on the west by the Rio Negro, etc.