GUEVARISM 



GUIANA 



449 



terminated in the independence of the NetherlandH 

 in K54S. See HOLLAND. 

 (iicvarlsm. >' Ki i-ii i ISM. 

 See ANTELOPES. 



(.nulirlini. I'M rii", a celebrated musician and 

 composer, was born at Masna di Carrara in May 

 1727. His in -t opera, compnaed at the age of 

 twenty-eight, was greeted with enthusiasm at 

 Turin. He visited the chief cities of Italy, every- 

 where with success. After a residence of some 

 months at Dresden and various other towns, Gug- 

 lielmi passed over to London, where lie remained 

 five years. At the age of fifty he returned to 

 Naples with the double prestige of great fame and 

 wealth, and in 1793 Pope Pius VI. appointed him 

 Maestro di Cappella at St Peter's. He died 19th 

 November 1804. Among his most popular operas 

 were La Didone ; Enea e Lainnia ; l due Gemelli; 

 La Serva Innamorata ; La Pastorella Nobile ; La 

 Bella Pescatrice. 



< iiiaua. in its widest signification, is the region 

 lying between the Orinoco and the Aina/ons in 

 South America, with the Atlantic on the east and 

 no definitive boundaries.on the west. It consists of 

 five divisions, known respectively as Venezuelan, 

 British, Dutch, French, and Brazilian Guiana, the 

 first named situated to the west ot the next three, 

 and the last named to the south of all four. But 

 both Venezuelan and Brazilian Guiana being in- 

 corporated in those states, we have to describe 

 here only British, Dutch, and French Guiana. 



These three colonies abut upon the Atlantic, in 

 the order named, between Venezuela on the north 

 and Brazil on the south. The physical conforma- 

 tion is practically the same in all three. Next the 

 Atlantic is a fringe of alluvial soil, lying in many 

 parts below the sea-level, and generally inundated 

 in the rainy seasons, with mud-fiats skirting the 

 coast and sandbanks jutting out into the ocean ; 

 these last are. generally held together by the roots 

 **f mangrove-trees, though not unfrequently they 

 are of a shifting character, forming temporary 

 islands and moving about under the impulse of 

 wind and tide and river current. This alluvial 

 2one, varying in width from 10 to 40 miles, and 

 consisting principally of blue argillaceous soil, of 

 very great fertility, contains virtually the only 

 cultivated territory in the three colonies. Beyond 

 it the contour rises by a series of short terraces or 

 land waves up to an undulating savannah region 

 of moderate elevation (average 150 feet), which is 

 formed geologically of the accumulated detritus 

 brought down from the primitive mountain masses 

 in the interior. The third and innermost division 

 of colonial Guiana consists of the upland country, 

 a plateau region ridged with mountain-chains 

 (which rise in places to 3000 or 3500 feet), and 

 everywhere covered with a dense primeval forest, 

 exceptionally rich in magnificent timber-trees rich 

 not only in the quality of the timber, but also in 

 the variety of the species. This division is as yet 

 almost wholly unknown, save that the courses of 

 most of the larger rivers have been explored to 

 their sources. 



Rivera. The whole of Guiana is well provided 

 with rivers. Most of them flow north or north- 

 east to the Atlantic, and bring down with them 

 vast quantities of sedimentary matter, which be- 

 comes deposited as the alluvial mud of the coast. 

 These streams, although they are of admirable 

 service for irrigation purposes, are of little use as 

 wat.-rways for navigation, owing to the mudbanks 

 which choke their mouths, the sandbanks which 

 ol>Miuet their channels, and the numerous falls 

 and cataracts by which their waters descend from 

 the highland* and savannah plateaus to the low- 

 lying co;ustal belt. Up to the line of the rapids 

 237 



and falls, however, they are navigable l.y .-mall 

 vessels for distances varying from 10 to 150 mile*. 

 Several of them are connected together in their 

 lower courses by cross-channels and artificial 

 canals. Indeed, communication in the colonies in 

 principally effected by water, not by land. 



Clinuite. The climate, as beseems a region lying 

 between 1 and 8 N. lat. , is hot and moist, but on 

 the whole tolerably uniform. Generally speaking, 

 the thermometer ranges from a maximum : 

 to a minimum of 70' F. ; the average, however, 

 deviates but little from 80 to 84 F. The heat 

 is tempered by sea-breezes during greater part of 

 the year. The rainfall is heavy ; the average for 

 British and Dutch Guiana is 75 to 100 inches 

 annually, and in French Guiana it is still heavier, 

 sometimes reaching 140 inches in the year. The 

 precipitation is, however, greatest in the interior ; 

 nence the great number of rivers fed from the 

 wooded mountain-slopes inland. Two rainv and 

 two dry seasons are distinguished : the former 

 last as a rule from December to February and 

 from April to August. Hurricanes are extremely 

 rare. 



Flora. As would be expected from the nature 

 of the country, vegetation is of extraordinary rich- 

 ness and luxuriance. Many of the numerous timber- 

 trees are valuable for shipbuilding, house-building, 

 roofing, cabinetmaking, &c. Several useful gums 

 are yielded, and also balsams, wax, bark, fibre, oil, 

 nuts, juices, medicinal preparations, &c., caout- 

 chouc, balata gum, copaiba balsam, carapa-seed oil, 

 sarsaparilla, cinchona, laurel oil, calabashes, silk 

 cotton, tonqua beans, arnotto, Bromelia flax, 

 angelica, cotton, tobacco, &c. The best-known food- 

 plants comprise the cassava, sweet potato, arrow- 

 root, capsicum or Spanish pepper, tomato, guava, 

 cherry, avogato, bread-fruit, melon, granadilla, 

 banana, pine-apple, earth-nut, yam, rice, and 

 maize. Besides these there is a prodigious 

 quantity of creepers, ferns, tree-ferns, and flowers ; 

 amongst these last must be specially named the 

 orchids, which often form a continuous carpet 

 along the tops of the forest trees, and the magni- 

 ficent Victoria regia lily. 



Fauna. The most conspicuous branch of the 

 fauna is the birds, the most characteristic forms 

 being the stink-bird (a vulture), eagles, owls, 

 nightjars, humming-birds, the bell-bird, several 

 passerine species, orioles, a wren, toucans, jaca- 

 mars, trogons, puff-birds, kingfishers, anis, parrots, 

 the cock of the wood, curassows, tinamous, 

 trumpeters, the jacana, the horned screamer, sand- 

 pipers, the sun-bittern, herons, ducks, and divers. 

 Mammals are not so plentiful as the extensive un- 

 inhabited forests might perhaps suggest. They 

 are represented by jaguars, tiger cats, peccaries, 

 tapirs, deer, sloths, armadillos, ant-eaters, agoutis, 

 capybaras, opossums, raccoons, coatis, porcupines, 

 squirrels, monkeys, martens, fish-otters, and man- 

 atees. Other I'm in- of animal life are swarms of 

 insects, including butterflies, crickets, mosquitoes, 

 sandilies, and jiggers ; turtles and tortoises, croco- 

 diles, iguanas, frogs, snakes, including the ana- 

 conda and whip snakes ; several Siluroid fishes, 

 the electric eel, rays, sharks, and the sawfish. 



Indians. The native Indians, who still for the 

 most part lead a ' wild ' life in the forests, constitute 

 several different tribes, and seem to belong to what 

 were probably two distinct stocks, the indigenes 

 and their original conquerors, the Caribs. In 

 many parts of Guiana rude attempts at picture- 

 writing exist on the rocks and faces of the hills. 

 Two varieties have been discriminated one deeply 

 incised, the other merely scratched. Who the 

 authors were is not known with certainty ; they 

 are generally believed to have been the ancestors 

 of the existing Indians, who, however, have 



