3C)J 



T:tE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



IJlne 1, 1911. 



indeed wc always did, and dressed to the music of the roaring 

 baboons in the nearby forest. We only went a part way down 

 the river this time, getting oflf at Tuschcn about noon. What a 

 long walk that was up the pier and through a mile or more of 

 coolie huts and sugar mills. On all sides were drained lands, 

 the broad canals running as far as the eye could reach, and the 

 noontide sun was hot. 



After this walk, during which the shade from our helmt-ts and 

 umbrellas was most grateful, we reached the railroad and 



out as upon a map. The general planting was sugar cane and 

 next came rice. Coolies were everywhere, working in the fields, 

 grouped before their huts, observing queer festivals that seemed 

 to be half baptismal and half musical, fishing, washing clothes in 

 the sluggish canals, always busy and quietly happy. Their 

 quarters were easily distinguishable even from the distance, as 

 they have many small red flags on bamboo poles, the exact 

 meaning of which I was unable to learn. 

 The sugar lands are not only very flat, but often only permit 



Cleared Laxd ux the Mazarum River. 



The Mazarlni River as It Enters the Essequibo River. 



entered the tiny station reserved for the whites. 1 wanted a time- 

 table and invited the worthy stationmaster to present me with 

 one. He couldn't do that, however, as one comprised his whole 

 stock. I might look at it if I wished and he handed me a 

 pamphlet that I at once coveted. He was very polite, but no 

 amount of persuasion or bribery could induce him to either give 



shallow drainage. In many of the great abandoned sugar 

 estates the drains were choked with masses of water hyacinth in 

 full and gorgeous bloom. Much money must have been spent in 

 reclaiming this vast territory from the sea, and it is to be hoped 

 that something agricultural may be found that will make it as 

 prosperous as it once was. The railroad stations, such as 



Tin: I'enal Settlement. Mazari'.m River. 



VorxG "Hevea I!k Azii.iENsis" AT "The Hills" Estate. 



or sell it to me. He did finally agree to lend it to me until 

 I came back and accepted the shilling that I tendered with 

 much gratitude. When next I go to British Guiana I shall 

 certainly return the pamphlet. 



In order to get a good view of the country we took the 

 up-train to the terminus of the road, which is Greenwich Park. 

 So flat was it that going and coming from Tuschen to Green- 

 wich Park and back to Vreed-en-Koop, everything was spread 



"\'reed-en-Koop'" and the "Hague," reminded one that it was 

 the Dutch who first borrowed this land from the sea even if it 

 is British territory today. 



During our ride we saw considerable herds of water bufifalo, 

 feeding and wallowing in the muddy fields. It is said that only 

 coolies are successful in handling them, as they show a violent 

 antipathy for the whites. Of the birds that we noticed none 

 were so beautiful as the Guiana robin, a scarlet-bodied, quick- 



