CHAPTER XXIX. 



(F. FOWI.ER.) 



HINTS TO MINERS AND PROSPECTORS. 



Miners and prosj^ectors should, on arrival in the colony, before 

 selecting a district in which to prospect, visit the Department of Lands 

 and Mines, and examine the charts of the various districts which can 

 be seen and purchased there. It will be necessary there to obtain a 

 prospecting license, which is issued for Is. The Government Laboratory 

 should next be visited, where an extensive collection of specimens of 

 the various rock-formations in the different districts in which gold and 

 diamonds have been and are now being found can be examined. 



A copy of the laws and regulations relating to mining should be 

 obtained from one of the stationery establishments in Georgetown, and 

 should be carefully studied. 



Having decided on a district in which to commence operations it 

 becomes necessary to make arrangements for stores and other equipment 

 required for the expedition. Valuable assistance in this very important 

 matter can be obtained from the Institute of Mines and Forests, where 

 all the labourers required for the goldfields must be registered, and 

 where contracts as to their terms of engagement, etc., can be drawn up 

 and entered into. The Institute will obtain the labourers recjuired. 

 advance them money for their journey, and see that they leave George- 

 town on the day appointed for their departure. 



The labourers available are ciiiefly black men, natives of the colony, 

 of Dutch and of French Guiana, and of the West Indian Islands, 

 interspersed \vith some East Indians. They are generally engaged for 

 a term of from three to four months, and are paid wages of from Is. Sd. 

 to 2s. 8d. per day, and it costs, in addition, about Is. per day each for 

 their rations. 



There are a number of men in the goldfields who can be engaged 

 as labourers oil the spot ; and as there are registration offices of the 

 Institute of Mines and Forests in each district, the}' can be there 

 registered. 



Boats can be hired at Bartica, Rockstone and Arakaka. The 

 charge for a boat with its tackling, paddles, ropes, tarpaulins, buckets, 

 bailers, etc., is fi-om 5s. to 8s. per day according to the size of the boat. 

 If a large amount of prospecting work is contemplated it will be found 



