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2 
NoTES—CUYUNI GOLD MINING DISTRICT. 79 
_ viduals and companies, and that wherever this is taken 
advantage of, the owners of the claims will insist upon 
the land in the vicinity of their camps being planted-. 
up; for a good supply of fresh vegetable food will not 
only maintain the labourers in better health than they 
enjoy at present; but the improved health of the men 
will ensure better and more remunerative work on the 
_ placers. 
The land is not rich, and not many crops can be ex- 
pected from the greater part of it. From what I have 
seen of it myself, it seems richer on the flats and valley 
bottoms, and if kept well drained will prove more pro- 
duétive than that on the hill sides, where plants are 
mostly placed in order to avoid the trouble of making 
drains. Crickets, of which there are millions, are a 
serious obstacle to agriculture in the Cuyuni, and so far 
as I have observed, throughout the diggings generally. 
They love to feast on the tender shoots of the young 
plants ; and as they are noéturnal in their habits, it is 
not easy to keepthem away. Many a digger knows to his 
cost too, that they do not disdain to eat clothing of all 
kinds, and at night, when they sally forth from the 
chinks and crevices of the houses, it is imperative to 
secure all clothes not in use against their attacks. Asa 
recompense however for the annoyancce they cause the 
digger, they furnish excellent food for the fowls (which 
perhaps are kept on the claim) and along with other 
inseét food are no doubt the cause why poultry in 
the diggings thrive so well and are second to none 
in the colony. 
The Cuyuni camps are nearly all situated on hill slopes 
in the neighbourhood of the claims worked by their 
