Jottings from the British Guiana Gold Diggings. 



By E. G. Eraser Luckie. 



jrafroaORK in the British Guiana Gold Bush affords 

 gwy^ an excellent opportunity for observing the 

 fe^Aa^^B manner of all the people engaged in the gold 

 industry. To begin with, all concerned must live in 

 common, and frequently a stranger can hardly distin- 

 guish the manager of a placer from the labourers. This 

 community of living allows us to see much more of 

 the habits of those engaged in the work than is possible 

 in the comparatively civilised portions of British Guiana 

 where artificial boundaries and distin6lions of classes 

 exist. In many respe6ls, speaking of gold diggers as a 

 class, we may use the words of the proverbial midshipman : 

 " Customs beastly, manners none ;" but in one respe6l, 

 as regards personal cleanliness, they set an excellent 

 example. As a rule, they wash whenever possible, and 

 when a dirty member falls among clean ones, I have 

 known him to be held down after the day's work and 

 vigorously scrubbed over with the brush used to clean 

 down the sluice or tom. This treatment generally con- 

 vinces such an one that cleanliness is indeed next to 

 godliness, and he a6ls accordingly. 



In describing the habits of our subje6ls, we begin at 

 the head and commence with the most curious of head- 

 men, the "pyjama manager." He carefully avoids over- 

 exertion, and indeed, exertion of any sort, when travelling 

 up the rivers. He generally requires an umbrella to 

 proteft his complexion from the sun. He is afili6\ed 



