200 



NA TURE 



[January 2, 1896 



THE VENEZUELA AND BRITISH GUIANA 

 BOUNDARY. 



THE sudden accession of an acute phase in the 

 question of the boundary-hne between British 

 Guiana and Venezuela, has attracted the attention of the 

 whole world to a controversy which has been proceeding 

 intermittently for nearly a century. With its political 

 aspect the pages of Nature have no concern ; but from 

 another point of view it affords an opportunity for en- 

 forcing some of those scientific principles of geography, 

 the ignorance or neglect of which has done much to 

 embarrass the relations between neighbouring countries. 



The fundamental error is to suppose that any piece of 

 land on the face of the globe is so worthless that its 

 ownership once claimed may be left undefined. So long 

 as forest or plantation products alone, or mining alone, 

 or any other partial potentiality of land is considered by 

 itself, it is perfectly natural for colonists and governments 

 to postpone expensive surveys of tracts that promise no 

 immediate advantages, or to delay troublesome negotia- 

 tions. In the end more trouble and more expense have 

 to be faced, often in unexpected quarters. 



Political geography is no longer a matter to be treated 

 tentatively by politicians, any more than industrial 

 chemistry is now a matter for the uninstructed experi- 

 ments of tradesmen. It is the highest outcome of geo- 

 graphical theory, a theory which deals without a break 

 with all terrestrial distributions, from the primary 

 elements of geomorphology and climatology, to the 

 adjustment of life to environment in the progressively 

 more complex cases of plant, animal, and man. So little 

 attention has been paid in this country to geography as 

 a science with a definite purpose, and so few explorers 

 have been equipped with even an elementary acquaint- 

 ance with the principles of geography, that we gladly 

 seize this opportunity to urge the importance of geo- 

 graphical theory as a guide to the prevision and prevention 

 of frontier-disputes. 



Two stages are necessary in arranging a frontier — 

 drawing it on a map, and demarcating it on the ground. 

 For the former purpose it is easiest to take a mathematical 

 line, a meridian or parallel ; for the latter some distinct 

 physical feature, and of these there are only two which can 

 be looked on as satisfactory — a watershed or a Thalweg. 

 In practice the Thalweg.^ which is the line along which con- 

 verging slopes meet, as the watershed is the line along 

 which diverging slopes meet, means the central line of a 

 river. The sea counts as neutral territory in all inter- 

 national affairs, and the coast-line requires no definition. 

 The position of a parallel may be determined astronomi- 

 cally with great exactness, and, when marked on the 

 ground by posts within sight of each other, is perfectly 

 explicit ; but it involves highly-skilled work and the 

 agreement of two parties of expert surveyors. The case 

 of a meridian may also be settled, but can rarely be free 

 from the risk of rectifications being demanded, as more 

 exact methods of determining longitude become avail- 

 able. Noteworthy exchanges of territory may thus be 

 necessitated, perhaps involving hardships to individuals. 

 A great mountain seems a peculiarly fitting corner-stone 

 for the meeting of national frontiers, and is so used in 

 the case of Mount Ararat ; but Mount St. Elias has had 

 to change its nationality by the rectification of the meridian 

 of 141° W. Such a boundary-line as that between the 

 southern part of Alaska and British Columbia, a line 

 parallel to the coast, and ten leagues distant from it, 

 represents perhaps the least scientific frontier on the face 

 of the earth. It might be possible, when large scale 

 maps are made of the fjord-riven coast, to draw this line 

 on them ; but only mutual goodwill and concessions 

 could ever have allowed it to be even approximately 

 marked on the ground. 



In the particular instance before us, a map published 

 NO. 1366, VOL. 53] 



by the Venezuelan Government in 1890, which it is im- 

 possible to reproduce on a small scale without the use 

 of colour, shows the ten hypothetical western boundaries 

 of British Guiana which have been put forward by one 

 side or the other in the course of negotiations. Most of 

 these lines are an outrage on geography, and it is 

 difficult to believe that some of them were seriously 

 put forward by the statesmen whose names they bear. 

 We have been unable to find any British map 

 showing these proposed boundaries, and it does not 

 appear that our Foreign Office has published one. The 

 boundaries in many cases cut natural features and mathe- 

 matical lines at all angles and in irregular curves which 

 it would be impossible either to describe verbally or to 

 lay out accurately on the ground without a survey as 

 minute as for a railway. These we do not require to 

 dwell on, except in the way of pointing the moral that 

 the results of geography should be officially recognised 

 by Government departments more fully than has hitherto 

 been the case. The Intelligence Division of the Wat 

 Office is, in a sense, the Government Geographical 

 Department, but it is concerned mainly with the practical 

 work for the Army, and might well be supplemented 

 by a more purely geographical office. It is true that 

 the Royal Geographical Society is always ready to 

 render help when called upon, and does not infrequently 

 answer questions as to matters of fact. What is wanted,, 

 however, is rather an official geographer who may be 

 consulted by the Government on matters of geographical 

 theory as well as of fact, and who might be charged with 

 the duty of preparing and keeping up to date an official 

 geography of the British Empire. 



The geographical conditions of the present boundary 

 difficulty can be stated easily, so far as the main features 

 are concerned ; but the details are many and compli- 

 cated. A boundary dispute in itself is a quite normal 

 condition in South America. The boundaries of every 

 republic in that continent are disputed ; in several cases 

 three neighbouring countries claim the same territory. 

 It is impossible to draw a political map of South 

 America, even on the smallest scale, that would be 

 generally acceptable. In the case of Guiana, it is well to 

 look at the physical condition of the land before tracing 

 the contested boundaries. From the mouth of the 

 Orinoko to the mouth of the Amazon the coast of South 

 America runs nearly south-east, and the distance is 

 1000 miles. A line drawn from river to river, about 500 

 miles inland from the coast and parallel with the coast- 

 line, contains the whole region known as Guiana. It 

 consists of a gently rising plateau of Archaean rocks edged 

 by very low plains of quaternary formation, bordering the 

 Orinoko on the north, the Atlantic on the north-east, the 

 Amazon on the south, and forming the llanos of the Rio 

 Negro and Upper Orinoko on the south-west. The 

 plateau bears a number of low mountain ranges, which 

 have been made familiar by recent explorations ; the 

 Tumak-humak, Akarai, Pacaraima (including Roraima),, 

 Parime and Imataka, amongst others. The trade 

 winds bring a heavy and regular rainfall to the whole 

 eastern slope, causing it to be clothed with perhaps 

 the richest and densest tropical forests of the world. 

 On the top of the plateau, and on the western slopes, 

 there is a reduced rainfall, and in accordance with this 

 savannahs take the place of woods. Many large rivers 

 carry off the surplus rainfall ; of these we may name, on 

 the north-eastern slope, from south to north, the Araguary,, 

 Oyapok, Maroni, Korentin, Essequibo (including the 

 Mazaruni and Kuyuni), and, turning north-westward 

 towards the sea, the Barama (or Guiana), Barima, and 

 Amakuru. Every one of these rivers flows through dense 

 primeval forests for the greater part of its course, and 

 discharges on a muddy coast-line, which is rapidly 

 growing seawards, thanks to the aid of mangroves. 



On the south-western slopes the rivers are much longer., 



