The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-31
THE GOLD CAMPS IN GUIANA.
FREDERICI1 RUSSELL MAKES 4
TRIP INTO THE FEVER Jun
GILES on THE PORTARO
HIER.

swimming With Ropes From Rock
to RocIs-How the PIacers Are
worked for GoId-Our Correspond
ent Taken for jumbo, the Dead
Iy Ghost of the JungIes.
P0taro Landing. British Guiana. May
T 81 have Just arrived at the place where
the root Of all evii' Is taken out Of the
ground. and where men die % fevers at
all times. Nature has done her best to
keep out man and has been overcome,
but not without a terrible struggle; for
Z 20 reach this place, less than a hundred
I miles from BOrtica, ] have had eight days
/ OF the hardest travelling that has ever
. fallen 10 my lot, or ever VIII come my
way again, / hope. The going down Will
be easy. But so far 1 have escaped any
severe attacks of the fever and have an
idea that 1 am getting used 10 the eli
mate.
After returning to Bortica, from Kyk-
ove-al, / succeeded in getting permission
TO come up TO this place N one Of the
gold bOats-for a consideration. There
We're twenty-three Of US; sixteen black
| men, two Indians. captain and bowman;
| three white managers, myself and an old
I black man who was my personal ser
/ want who, having taken fancy TO me
on my last trip, would not take no as an
! answer TO his offer 10 accompany me-
! He said he wanted TO take care OF me
/ because the trip would be very danger
/ ous-it Was-and that / would give nm
my knife at the end of the journey II we
! got back. 1 had not regretted taxing
/ him.
our boat was about forty-two feet long
/ and was covered with tarpauiin where
! the managers and myself sat we had
| three months provisions on board, con-
sisting of rice, -four corn meal, split
/ peas, corn beef, salt pork, salt nsh, BIS
| cult (as hard as rocks, sugar and pota-
| toes; then there was some canned stun
! for the managers and myself.
We left BOrUca shortly before noon on a
! Thursday. Hot2 Whew! Sitting on top
Of that white tarpaUlin with the sun beat
ing down at the rate of mile "a minute,
was enough TO cook the hair out OF one
head. / had bought a very large pith he'll
met before 1 started, and l was more than
thankful to my old servants enries Is ms
name-for Ii was a his advice that got
10; but even then l had to wet my mead
again and again. Another thing Which l
did a Z his advice was to have my flannel
shirts lined down the back to protect my
spine from the sun. l was the only one
OF the four white men who did not get a
dose Of the fever on the way up. Je1rleS
and the rest of the black men did not
seem to mind the heat in the least, but
worked away at their paddles increasingly
to the songs Of the "shouter man. AS
paddler this man was not worth his salt
but he did earn IT by singing Inc iol-
lowing in his favorite:
POTARO COARSE, COARSE GOLD.
GoF all mazaruni gof an mazaruni,
Berry good gor, but 1t amt Potaro gor
Wen de spademan spade, and de hoeman
An dc daal boy daaI. an de batene tell.
De manager shout: (Spoken).
Potaro goi', Potaro. Potaro. co'se. co'se
gOl.
Oh, oh, blow Potaro blow,
Oh, oh, blow Potaro blow,
Potaro cose, co'se gof-etc.
And that chorus is shouted out of those
leather throats so that II can be heard
A mile up the river, while the men drive
the boat through tRe water up to the last
ounce in them, swinging their heads and
showing the whites of their eyes and
smiling the time, displaying all their white
At 5 o'clock that night we went into
camp on the shore. All along this river,
the Essequebo, and in fact along all the
British Guiana rivers up TO the gold
fields, there are regular camping places;
a small place on the bank with the un-
derbrush cleared away; there are two
feet apart and the posts on each side
about four feet apart. These are for the
hammocks Between the four end
posts are two tall saplings, with another
sapling resting across cHem as a tent
ridge over this the tarpaulin used for
the baggage in the day time, is stretched
completely shelters the hammocks,
though the sides are open; the trees, how
ever, prevent the rain from beating in.
On this night we were amply projected
the men under one tarpaulin and the three
managers and myself under another, with
small fires at both ends of each row OF
things. Ants cannot be kept out and
some of the large black fellows bite from
the word go. Tired? l don't know of any
on the baggage of a gold boat. was SO
tired that l could hardly wait for dinner,
so anxious was to get into my hammock.
TO eat, but 1 think it must have been
pea soup and salt fish. l ate my dinner
TOOK quinine pill and got into my ham
mock. What happened after / don't know
but was told next morning that it mad
Talned, ana that the camp had been start
lea oy the appearance of jaguar %.
After cup of tea and a chunk of bread
we made start at $3.50 and padded stead
lily till 10 O'Clock, at which time we reach
ca the FOOT of the first fall. where there
Is house or two The place is called Beth
eny There we had breakfast and got
tnlngs ready for going up the first rapid
ltaca rams, II IS called. There the river is
apout three miles wide.
Everything being in readiness, we pad
died toward the rapid till our men could
make no more headway against it, and
then the whole lot of blacks went over
| board onto a rock The Indian bowman
led the way with light line attached to
| the main rope. A black man took the
| hght bow line off to the right, and anoth-
er black took a similar line from the
stern. These two men steered the boat
The captain stood a the stern with an
enormous paddle, much larger than HIM
self, while the managers and myself kept
our places on the baggage in charge of
the life line which the law requires in
case any of the pullers get swept down
! From the rock where our men landed. to
| the next was about ten yards Between
! the two the water was sweeping as only
1 the water of rapid can sweep, but there
was about three feet of still
water below the next rock The bowman
| took the light line in his teeth and dove
\ into the water, striking out almost be-
| fore he struck it-swimming hand over
! hand, though, instead of turning on his
| s!de-he kept his breast to the current
4 This was so that his hands would touch
/ any concealed rocks there might be and
/ give MIN chance to save his head For
| the first few strokes he made fine head
! way and covered more than half the dis
lance. Then he began TO so slower and
| slower. I'll he got within about three
/ feet of the still water, when he could
! not gain an inch for five strokes. and I
! thought that he would lie swept down
/ but with final effort, almost jumping
out OF the water, he gained it, ana with
| another stroke was on the rock He
! waited half a minute to regain his breath
and then pulled in the big rope When
/ he got hold Of that our men held fast to
it and were pulled through the current
TO the rock and they pulled up the boat,
ND OH