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THE EARLY YEARS OF THE LAMAHA CANAL. 285 
tried and failed, but the streams which were pouring into 
the Mahaica obstinately refused to come down the Canal, 
and any prolonged drought found both estates and town 
suffering from a water famine. 
Now that we can look back and calmly consider the 
whole matter there can be no doubt that for years we 
were working on false data or rather false premisses. 
The area to be operated on consisted of a re€tangular 
portion of land, bounded on the north by the Atlantic 
Ocean, on the East by the Mahaica Creek on the south 
by the Madiwini Creek and its tributaries, and on the 
west by the Demerara River. Looking at the distriét 
on an unshaded map, it seemed at first sight probable 
that the watershed of the distriét would be somewhere in 
the centre, and that the eastern part would drain into the 
Mahaica Creek, and the western into the Demerara 
River, either dire€tly or through the Madiwini Creek. It 
was with this idea that the late Mr. ROBERT SMITH of 
Ogle persuaded the Government to let him cut a trench 
from Annandale to the Lamaha Canal to bring down 
water to Georgetown, but when the cut was madeall the 
water ran in the opposite dire€tion. 
According to the old maps there were at one time two or 
three small creeks, of which the Courabanna was the 
“most important, between the Demerara and Mahaica 
Rivers, which drained the E. Coast direétly into the 
Atlantic ; but these creeks have long ago been stopped up 
and their streams diverted into water paths which supplied 
for some time the E. Coast estates with fresh water. The 
old surveys made by CHALMERS, SHANKS, and ALCORN 
were unreliable, as they were never carried far enough 
aback and their levels appear not to have been quite 
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