Our Railroad Age; or, South American 

 Development 



By T. P. Porter. 



5"^1HE praftically isolated position of the Guianas, 

 C 7F^ hemmed in as they are by the impenetrable 

 ^t^ill and unexplored wildernesses that stretch away 

 westward to the Cordilleras and southward to the 

 Amazon, effe6lually separates those European colonies 

 from the great and progressive centres of civilisation of 

 this continent. It is therefore not to be wondered at 

 that in the British. French and Dutch Colonies, sympathy 

 in the progress and development of the neighbouring 

 States is at zero. Even the geography of the continent 

 is taught in a very cursory sort of manner here, and 

 whilst it is probable that any of the school pupils 

 know equally well that the Amazon is the largest river 

 in the world and the Danube is the greatest in Europe, 

 it is a question whether they could rattle off the bounda- 

 ries and name the capitals of the South American 

 Republics, as easily as they could those of the Balkan 

 States. And how many people in British Guiana, whether 

 school children or adults, are aware that with the 

 exception of the catarafts and a single land portage of 

 two hours, there is a free water communication between 

 the Essequibo River and Para on the Brazilian Coast, 

 Angostura in Venezuela, and innumerable interior ports 

 of Brazil and Peru? At present this communication is 

 valueless, not only because the Guianas have no interest 

 in or conneftion with their neighbours, but also because 



