The Republican journal., 1906-03-15
TIE THREE GUIANAS.
BRITISH, DUTCH AND FRENCH.
-.naelal correspondence of The Journal

GEORGETOWN, B. G., Feb. l, 1906
,royrng fallen in with a pleasant party
-oanderng Americans we have been
,,sr.Aded to change our plans little
l5 make flying visit in their com
,.,-y to the three Guianas-which, AS
f'. know. lie u little farther down the
Iug to Venezuela. The English
Steamer "Oroinoco' stops at Port OF
srsin on its regular trips from Liver
n,,o. to this queer but profitable posses
,oa # King Edward The journey is
snort one and almost before we knew
lille coast of Guiana sprang into view
.YH. the apparently unoccupied ocean.
H. we're apprised of its nearness, how
r. uy a decided change in the color
.HP water-the beautiful bright
.,-t marine of mid Atlantic turning
r. t,p dull green of shallower water,
.4r4ting that below are the enormous
nd Eats and sand bars that stretch
many miles from this northeastern
.-r of South America. But nothing
Hp low lying coast is visible until
.... Tie close upon it, and then green
..- of cocoanut trees, overtOpptd by
-mtrable tall red chimneys of sugar
...tuons, springs up AS II by magic.
M..- | went to school the geography
..4. Ire length of the Guiana coast as
niles and its greatest breadth of
1.rr as 800 miles. But that es-
- included also the portion of
Iela formerly known as spanish
...." lying west of the present
IAN possessions, and the small por-
-.. Brazil on the south, then known
.FtugueSe Guiana British, Dutch
French Guiana comprising not
. 1Wo-thirdS of the whole area
revolutions haunted countries of
and Central America change
-. .aapeS and dimensions, even their
... rs. 50 frequently that one needs to
..H chem up every year or two to
.-- Well posted Figures and Stats
h. tanning to this part of the word
a.. rgely based on guess work, for
.- Ufrrior has never been thoroughly
.,r r-i. much less surveyed. The
r lat outsiders are absolutely GER
,.- # is that the interior of all the
Canals is extremely hot and unhealty,
.ry marshes overgrown with eXuber
ALI. yreetation and infested with enor-
a.a> reptiles; its highlands covered
villa magniiicent primeval forests, peo-
- Alth gorgeous birds, wild beasts
AID alder Indians. Those forests are
N aunt of the cannibal CARDS, the
must terrible, though by no means the
..t.st sayageS of the southern CONT
.. who are, fortunately for civliZa-
. asst becoming extinct The few
81. ..r- in the country, whether planters
Traders. keep close to the European
ST.. -uents, which are invariably situat-
81 asar the mouths OF the rivers, on the
.w FERTILE coast land. All the way
oH tne ESquibo River to the, Rio
.a styue is one unbroken level of
.t..a- dis, a large part of it below high
v8t-. mark. extending from the beach
u.Hl ~ to 80 miles There are a great
m4. Islands, too, especially in the
..Hs,n1 of the Essequlbo, some OF them
..u len to fifteen miles long, which
l. rder sugar-cdne cultivation. Up
q, El.8iu few years of the discovery
! in California, Guiana WAS be-
10 be richer in precious metals
.s. ANY other country, and 1t Is here
~r Walter Raleigh located his Ell
a.p. Portraits of that unlucky
5t0f Queen Elizabeth's day abound
- country, III all the glory of
..arc trousers, straight up and down,
.- ftng basque, and lace-trnmed
.- e"oSsed over one shoulder. HIS
...- ,tgs are bare to the knee except
-e silk stockings, his hlgh-heeled
have enormous rOSGtteS upon
and his chapeau is pIumtd like
. -. No wonder that.the Spaniards,
had prior posses of the
~ refused TO let him land when
me to these shores attlTed III
'oLgery, though their own III
. uIy day may have been only
r less absurd 1t was he,
.. MEMBER, who spread his crimson
'., tioak IN the mud for his queen
upon. After Elizabeth's death
me to Guiana a second time On
heiieve), and gained entrance to
Uutry by the back door, so to
r.r III spite OF the SpaniardS, having
r. long way up the Oronoco and
marched overland toward the
.el He was searching for "The
.-u lity of the Great White Lake,
uhabitantS-So tradition said
". othed in gold dust from head to
tg. Mad he did find Indians, as one
9erhaps today, alrlly dressed III
ng that looked enough like gold
o give rise to the story, certain
a. uaving still the custom of be-
-t ~ their warriors from top to
%" turtle fat and then sticking
.sl- on them of gllttering mica.
Walter found no golden city
bat a miserable little Spanish
sich i'll his disappointment he
-ed to destroy, and thereby
H--t MS own undoing. His son,
R eompanied him, was killed in
Fine tcHs and when he returned to
0-- i a heart-broken man, King
'0ae+ sad him executed to avoid a
'@ tIth Spain over the demolished
'.eaa yillage.
.A-fe IS yet some gold found in the
mostly in Venezuelan Guiana,
a III from Cayenne, the French pos
out hardly enough TO pay for
aa ones life in the deadly climate,
]aegt the output is said to have
''1H~l itself each succeeding year
SAGE -oo. Guiana's wealth lies in her
FERTILE soil and boundless capabilities
,at line of tropical products. Eng
5' as usual, has the lions share,
AsE ueug the westward and largest
'nF 'omprising the whole basin of
--llp7 river, besides the basins of
.- hfmelara and Berbice rivers and
bank of the Corentyhe. 1t is
The most prosperous OF all the
u, commercially, agriculturally
'rally with sea front of 300
'1S export trade. The great