Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-10-19
Warnings Have Little


Their interest was further aroused
by story ! wrote for the local news
paper. telling of the finding of the big
diamond and the sum paid for it and
painting the adventure of the 10 ne
groes in glowing colors. 1t was glori-
Gus, | declared, to see these men go
into the jungle like true pioneers and
to watch them wrest from it's heart
such magnificent treasure. The edi-
ton carrying this story and an ad
vertisement offering to any man
wishing to go diamond mining a free
passage to the interior il he would
serve as paddler on one of our car
go boats, was sold out imme diately,
and large second edition had to be
printed.
Soon there was an exodus by thou
sands from the plantations to the jun
gle. Within two months $4,000 blacks
lad gone up the river. The banks
of the Mazaruni River echoed with
their happy voices and the primeval
forest reSounded with their glad cries
of discovery.
BY that time we had a fleet of 20
cargo boats and several motor boats.
They went back and forth between
Georgetown and Bartika at the
mouth of the Mazaruni River and
kamakusa the Indian name for
the interior. Flying our house flag,
the boats made a great impression
upon the negroes. There is an innate
longing in the black man for things
ornate, gaudy or pretty, and the fleet
of boats going back and forth. their
pennantS streaming out in the sun
light against the somber shadows of
the jungle, was especially appealing.
shortly after purchasing the dia-
Il 4 =
up the river again, leaving the George
town office in charge of an Ameri-
can manager, and the Bartika depot
under supervisor who was recently
star athlete at Harvard. Two of the
launches and a dozen boats set off
up the river together. The negroes
of the village crowded down to the
rivers edge to watch the power boats
pull the heavy cargo vessels, in
which the paddlers sat temporarily
idle. The blacks were excitedly
screaming: Hot dawg, gasoline boat.
Now we gettin' civilized"
Those who were going up the river
in boats owned by other traders eyed
us unhappily. The bright-colored
flags, the throbbing motors the
glamour of a feet instead of d lonely
trip in single boat. took hold of
their imaginations. Many of them
waiting for our boats, bat | called
to them that we had a very long
waiting list. Yes, the boom was on.
WHEN we at last arrived in a joy
w Gus. yelling fleet at the first
clearing above the rapids, / found
that great progress had been made by
the two college men who had been
left in charge. 1t was a testimonial
to the American spirit. Although
these two young men had never been
outside of cities before in their lives
and one of them had not been trained
in technical subjects. they had taken
hold of their assignments with such
eagerness and vision that when L ar
rived 1 found the jungle cut down
and entirely cleared from 10 acres of
high level ground along the river.
They had supervised the cutting of
timber. the saving of logs into boards
with hand saws, the making Of shin
giles. and the later construction of
temporary dwellings out of tar paper
and poles while the permanent struc-
lures were being prepared. The
native wood-cutters, shingle- makers
carpenters and sawyers all knew
their jobs and worked well, but it
was quite feat for these two Amer
leans to coordinate the work in such
a manner that everything was under
way in so short a time.
Other crews were dispatched to the
upper reaches of the Mazaruni to
build small outpost stations in the
small creeks. The first one was
kurupung, to which seven Chinese
and Portuguese traders had rushed
and set up their fiimsy matched huts.
Our outpost had to be built on the
only remaining parcel of dry land in
the creek. a small slice Of about half
an acre, between the other huts.
Tai Chung. Chinese trader. was
there, and there were six other huts.
Going into the creea and grabbing
this piece of land right sn the center
of this nest of independent traders
was like crawling up on half
awake dog and grabbing his bone.
1t must be remembered that we
had gone into the jungle with only
such tools and equipment as could be
carried in the cargo canoes, padded
up through the rapids. Nothing very
cumbersome or heavy could be
brought in because there were so
many portages. Therefore we had to
get along with such materials as we
could make in the jungle. 1t was
hard work to cut the giant trees and
for the structure, hard work to haul
the boards and beams into the clear
ing and to set them up.
The first clearing had been marked
off in streets, one running along the
river bank and others at right angles
leading into the not far distant
jungle. We plotted the location of
each structure, the main storehouse
first, then the living quarters of the
black miners, then small hospital,