KINDRED PRODUCTS TO RUBBER 45 



balata-bleeders leave Gcorgeto\^Ti, the capital of British 

 Guiana, in the early morning, and go by steamer up 

 the Demerara River. By midday they have passed 

 the bounds of cultivated country ; the Demerara 

 sugar-cane lands have given place to virgin forest. 

 By about five in the afternoon they reach Wismar, 

 where they leave the steamer. Here, thanks again 

 to Sprostons' determined efforts to open up the Colony, 

 there is a train awaiting them. Right through the 

 heart of the forest runs the only bit of railway-line in 

 the whole interior of British Guiana, connecting Wismar 

 on the Demerara River, with Rockstone on the 

 Essequibo. 



Why, as they want to get on the Essequibo, do they 

 not go by boat direct through its mouth, and upstream 

 to Rockstone by its course ? 



Time was when the balata-bleeders bound for 

 Essequibo grants were obliged to follow this route ; 

 but many were the lives that were lost in the dangerous 

 falls that block the lower part of the river. The railway 

 was built to complete a safe passage round to Rock- 

 stone, above these falls, via the Demerara River and 

 a cross-country cut. 



The run from Wismar to Rockstone, which takes 

 about a couple of hours, completes the first day's 

 stage of the journe3^ After a night's rest in a wooden 

 shanty, the travellers must follow one of two methods 

 for proceeding on their way. They can at once take 

 to small boats, or they can go on by launch for a 

 couple of days before being actually compelled to adopt 

 the slowest and most laborious means of river- transit. 



The visitor to Rockstone is sure to see some open 

 boats tied up to the landing-stage. On first making the 

 acquaintance of these rough-looking little craft, he 



