124 INTRODUCTION. 



obtained for internal consumption and occasional 

 traffic with the coast regions. The lau-lau reaches 

 nearly the size of the arapaima, and as it belongs to 

 a division of fishes, the air-bladder of which is used 

 with the same advantage as that of the sturgeon, in 

 lieu of isinglass, it might be collected in sufficient 

 abundance ; besides that, its flesh is considered ex- 

 cellent, and its lard, like that of its congener in 

 Europe {Siluris glanis)^ might be employed as that 

 of the hog, or w^ould yield a considerable quantity 

 of oil. If we consider that pilchards alone are ex- 

 ported from Great Britain to the annual amount of 

 £ 50,000, principally to the West Indies, along 

 •with herrings and mackerels to a much larger 

 amount, for the use of the labouring population, it 

 forms rather an important point to one of those 

 colonies which contribute to the consumption of that 

 kind of nourishment, that its own rivers abound, if 

 not in the same, at least in similar articles of food. 



There are many other species of fish which are 

 highly esteemed for their flavour, and vie in deli- 

 cacy with our most esteemed European fish ; I 

 name only the delicious lucunani, the haimura, the 

 cartabac, the bashaw, paiara, and numerous others 

 w^hich are described more in detail in the following 

 pages. Indeed, in whatever view we may regard 

 Guiana, the first description which Sir Walter Ra- 

 leigh gave of that fertile province, if we except his 

 bestowing wrong names on such animals as he com- 

 pared with those of the old world, it is still stamped 

 with truth. " There is no country," he saith. 



