50 A NATIMIALIST IN THE GUIANAS 



times such as the present, the disease becomes epidemic 

 and is the cause of many deaths. 



At four in the afternoon we anchored off San Fehx, 

 also called Las Tablas. Like most of the towns on the 

 Orinoco this is a straggling ill-kept place. One looks in 

 vain for some vestige of the wealth which passed through 

 it during those prosperous days when the Callao yielded 

 its millions, and when it was believed that the numerous 

 mines in the interior would produce even vaster quantities 

 of the metal we adore than had ever been obtained from 

 the goldfields of California and Australia. With the 

 exception of the Callao none of the mines of the Yuruari 

 district has verified those expectations of great mineral 

 wealth attributed to the region, although it would be 

 quite possible, under a different government and with 

 cheaper means of transport, to work many of these 

 abandoned mines profitably. The history of the Callao 

 is the history of many a mining enterprise of the kind. 

 So far back as 1860 some adventurous Americans suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining gold in paying quantities by washing 

 the alluvial gravels of the streams of what was then 

 known as the Caratal district. It was not until early in 

 the seventies, however, that any attempt at quartz-mining 

 was made, when a small company formed for that pur- 

 pose started operations in the development of what 

 subsequently became the famous Callao mine. As 

 frequently happens in such enterprises, the men who 

 made the biggest fortunes out of the mine did so in 

 spite of themselves. Three of these men whom I knew 

 personally admitted to me that they became holders of 

 shares by force of circumstances, and kept them because 

 it was impossible to get rid of them at any sacrifice. 

 They were small shopkeepers whose sole ambition in life 



