188 Timehri. 



Bartica, situated at the confluence of the Essequibo, Mazaruni and 

 Cuyuni rivers and some forty miles from the sea, looks a better starting 

 point, this is not the case, for the hinterland there runs into mountainous 

 country and an interior line to avoid the mountains would have to cross 

 the lower Essequibo. The Essequibo bar is no deeper than that of the 

 Demerara river and the maximum draught for ships ascending as high as 

 Bartica is 16 feet, the same as for Wismar, while the rocks in the 

 Essequibo render the approach to Bartica less safe, so that ships of this 

 draught sometimes load five miles below Bartica. As a port, therefore, 

 it has no advantages over Wismar and is inferior in every way to George- 

 town. Further, Wismar, 65 miles up the Demerara river, is much nearer 

 the objective. From Georgetown it has now also been ascertained that a 

 line can be built practically due south right to the Brazilian border with- 

 out encountering any difficult country, while the short trace surveyed by 

 Mr. Tew in 1912-13 from opposite Rockstone, on the left bank of the 

 Essequibo above Bartica, passed through by no means easy country and 

 ran into a ad de sac of mountainous country on the Potaro. Moreover, 

 from the route now recommended branch lines can be run westwards 

 from Potaro mouth through mineralised country connecting the water- 

 sheds of the various rivers, from the Essequibo, at Potaro mouth, to the 

 navigable upper Mazaruni, — thence to the Cuyuni, the Barama and the 

 Barima, whenever funds are available and the development of gold and 

 diamond mining enterprises makes financial success probable. At first 

 the various linking up lines could very well be worked by means of 

 ferries, but, from the rocky nature of the river beds and their shallow- 

 ness in the dry season, bridging cost, even of the Essequibo at Potaro 

 mouth, is not likely to be excessive. 



[Note. — The distance from Potaro mouth is from 45 to 50 miles to Turesi 

 on the upper navigable Mazaruni. This line would place Turesi within two 

 days of Georgetown. It is now a dangerous river journey of three weeks. 

 Thence the Mazaruni is navigable safely for boats and small launches for over 

 100 miles and easy access would be given to diamond and gold deposits now 

 unworkable owing to excessive cost of transport. In addition much valuable 

 gold Country situated below Turesi would be brought within reach of cheaper 

 transport, for the boats would descend full and toil up river again empty. On 

 goldfields all the heavy transport is to the fields If this first connection with 

 the upper Mazaruni is made, it will facilitate subsequent extensions from a 

 suitable spot, above or below Turesi, across the Puruni valley to the Cuyuni at 

 or below Pigeon Island landing, the whole of this line also going through highly 

 mineralised country. A further extension to the Barama would pass through 

 the very rich Pigeon Island District from which so much gold has been ex- 

 tracted in 1913. Light lines of decauville type and some 20-inch gauge should 

 not cost more than £1,000 a mile, and will easily carry all the ordinary traffic 

 for some years. With special rolling stock they can be used to transport min- 

 ing machinery in heavier units than is now possible by boat over the cataracts 

 and rapids which abound in our rivers. They can also be built with sharper 

 curves and lighter earthworks through country where it would be difficult and 

 expensive to construct a meter gauge line and the permanent way can be easily 

 taken up and relaid on another trace should occasion require it. Such lines 

 cannot be built now owing to the prohibitive cost of transport to point of 



