NoTES—CuYuUNI GOLD MINING DISTRICT. 83 
the white headed maroudi (Penelope pipile) and wint 
or uni, water. 
The Cuyuni has several large tributaries on both 
banks, with courses of several miles. Their mouths are 
hardly discernible to the ordinary traveller, as they are 
mostly choked by fallen trees matted over by a dense 
growth of creepers; none of them so far as I am aware 
has been ascended, nor is any use made of them to 
communicate with the placers far from the riverside. 
In one or two cases this might be done, and notably in 
the case of a creek near the Pap Island landing and of 
the Waiamu Creek. The carriage of provisions to 
tbe placers from the river is always a very large item 
of expense in gold mining at present, and might be 
materially lessened if water carriage were adopted for 
the greater part of the way. Most of the people objeét 
to doing anything for themselves in this way, as they 
state that they can get no one to assist them in clearing 
a creek, and if they do it for themselves, there is nothing 
to prevent other people from using the creek, and thus 
benefiting at a cost of neither labour nor money. The 
same lack of combination is noticeable also in the con- 
stru€tion of the bush roads; and where these exist it 
retards their improvement more than any other faétor at 
the present day. It is indeed almost a pity that the 
consensus of opinion among the placer owners of one 
locality for the adoption of one particular line of road (to 
be maintained in proportion to the use made of it by 
each set of claims owned by a distinét company or 
individual) is not made compulsory, for were one such 
toad established it might be gradually improved until 
the less swampy parts were thoroughly drained and 
L2 
