Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1922-10-27

prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety, Washington D. CO.
What is the biggest real estate
transfer ever recorded In the New
World?
ANY little group of QUESTIONABLE
addicts who encountered that inquiry
probably would begin wondering
whether Muscle Shoals had been sold,
or whether somebody had purchased
the Woodwork building. 1t is re-
called, apropos of the plans being
discussed in Holland to invest new
York once was traded for Paramaribo.
The real estate record of the trans
action Is to be found in the treaty of
Breda, by which, in 1867, the Dutch
gave New Amsterdam to England
and England turned over pretty little
Paramaribo, Dutch Guianas capital,
to Holland.
To put 1t mildly, Paramaribo today
Is not known so widely as 1t might be.
Neither Is SURNAME, which is the
commoner name for Dutch Guiana !;
nor Demarara, which Is locally usec
to designate British Guiana.
And Guiana itself missed a chance
for fame through typographical
error. The humble guinea pig, a ma
tive son, would have carried its home
lands name into popular usage had
not early writer's confused the habi-
tat of the rodent with African Guinea
Ia confusion which is not altogether
overcome to this day.
Almost an Island.
Yet Guiana proper is about third
rs large as the United States and
occupies conspicuous position on
the forehead of a continent Of
American republics which Americans
Of the United States have come to
know so we'll
British Guiana, French Guiana and
Dutch Guiana are not all of Guiana /;
there also is Venezuelan Guiana and
Brazilian Guiana Thus Greater"
Guiana comprises the region between
the OrinOco and the Amazon; in fact,
Guiana is sort Of island, because
these rivers. along with the Rio Negro
and Casiquaire, form it's boundary.
1t is not an inexcusable error to
class Dutch Guiana with the West In
dies, for in respect to communication
and commerce it is all but cut off
from its South American neighbors
and does business with Trinidad and
with Holland direct.
Florida failed to reveal it's fountain
of youth TO Ponce de Leon, but its
Miamis have yielded restorative gifts
to many thousands of midwinter pill
grims. Although the Guianas failed
Sir Walter Raleigh In his quest for a
promised land of gold and gems, that
region may yet become an economic
Ell Dorado by the saner romance Of
modern development.
"Gold-Piated" People.
For getting his lies believed. the
fluent and facile Juan Martinez out
ranks Munchausen or Ananias. His
tales Of Manoa, where the monuments
were marvels of lustrous gold, and
where men were anointed with oil and
then sprinkled with pulverized gold,
captured the imaginations Of many
explorers even before Sir Walter Ra-
leigh penetrated the humid interior
Of Guiana in search Of this Eel Dorado.
SO generally is the term now used in
q figurative sense to denote any fan
cifu1 rainbow's end that 1t is hard to
realize how seriously the tales Of
Martinez and lesser liars were cred
tied. Indeed, Ell Dorado's mythical
court city, the lake on which It was
supposed to be located and the esti-
mated extent of the country itself
appeared on maps until the serious
scrutiny Of Humboldt exploded the
fairy tale.
Dutch Guiana Is about the size Of
Florida. The British first held It:
and the Dutch FIRST held what is now
British Guiana. The westernmost Of
the three foreign holdings French
Guiana, IL used in part az penal
colony. t's's
Along the coast Dutch Guiana is q
strip of transplanted Holland. Back
IN its forests is q bit Of Africa. in
habited by bushmen who live much a.
70 their Dark Continent cousins, The