CHAPTER XXVIII. 



(C. WILGRESS ANDERSON, F.G.S., F.R.G.S.) 



TRANSPORT FACILITIES IN BLIITISH GUIANA. 



For the purpose of the Mining Regulations the Colony has been 

 divided into five districts, viz. : — 



No. 1. — The Courantyne, Berbice and Demerara Rivers. 



No. 2. — The Essequibo River and its tributaries south of Bartica. 



No. 3. — The Mazaruni River and its tributaries. 



No. 4. — The Essequibo River north of Bartica and the Cuyuni 



River. 

 ]Sfo. 5. — The North- Western district through which the Barima, 



Waini, and Barama Rivers flow. 



There is no regular steam communication with the Courantyne 

 River, but it can be reached from Georgetown, or from New Amster- 

 dam, by transient cattle-steamers and by local sailing-craft trading 

 between these ports and the river. The Courantyne is navigable for 

 such craft for over one hundred miles upwards from its mouth, beyond 

 which smaller boats must be used. 



New Amsterdam, a town situated on the east bank of the Berbice 

 River, about five miles from its mouth, is in daily communication witli 

 Georgetown by railway, and there is a bi-weekly steamer-service 

 between the two towns. From New Amsterdam a steamer leaves 

 twice each week for Kumaka, an old Indian settlement oj^posite the 

 mouth of the Wironi Creek, about eighty-five miles up the Berl)ice 

 River ; whilst beyond Kumaka the Bei'bice River is navigable for small 

 boats only. 



Georgetown is in daily communication by steamer with Wismar, 

 sixty-five miles up the Demerara River, whence a railway runs to Rock- 

 stone on the Essequibo River. From Wismar a steam-launch runs twice 

 each week to Malali, at the foot of the first rapids in the Demerara 

 River. 



Shortly after the arrival of the steamer from Georgetown at 

 Wismar, passengers and freight are conveyed tu Rockstone by train, 

 a distance of about nineteen miles. From Rockstone, for the journeys 

 up and down the Essequibo and the lower Potaro Rivers to Tumatumari 

 Cataracts, the site of the gold station for the district, there is a service 

 of steam-launches which call at Omai, Kumaka and Potaro Mouth. 



