DEMERARA SUGAR AT HOME 27 



coast traffic consists largely of barges devoted to the 

 sugar industry, which, manned by a darkie crew, ply 

 between the plantations and Georgetown, the capital 

 of British Guiana and central distributing port of the 

 Colony. But the most fascinating part of the whole 

 exterior setting is the background of forests. On 

 this present expedition of ours, I should be leading 

 you astray if I took you for the ideal trip which it was 

 my own good fortune to make into the wilds of British 

 Guiana ; still, I feel justified in giving you a peep at 

 those forests, for a mere glance will help you to under- 

 stand how much hard work and enterprise have gone 

 to the redemption of a homeland for the Demerara 

 sugar industry in this gorgeous wilderness of a country. 

 Three broad rivers penetrate the wilderness, but their 

 course is frequently blocked by turbulent rapids and 

 unnavigable falls. Here and there paths have been 

 cleared in the jungle by cutlass and axe ; but, for the 

 most part, the forests are a seemingly boundless, im- 

 penetrable expanse of giant trees, which rise from a 

 dense tangle of undergrowth, only to be knotted to- 

 gether again by thick masses of creepers, and by stout 

 Bush-cables and ropes. These background wilds of 

 sugar-land are the home of orchids, of other delicately 

 wrought blooms which are equally fantastic in shape, 

 of a wealth of vivid-hued flowers, of birds of brilliant 

 plumage, such as parrots and macaws, and of aboriginal 

 Indians. In a word, they are closely akin to the world- 

 famous forests of the Amazon, to which they are near 

 neighbours ; and there is little doubt that when they 

 are better known they will be equally renowned for 

 their wealth and beauty. 

 I hope you have been able to picture the surroundings 



