32 



TlMEHRI. 



produce its own requirements instead of sending to 

 India over £100,000 per annum for an inferior article 

 and paying freight to bring it here. Cocoa cultivation is 

 steadily gaining ground ; and it is said by some that in 

 the " wild cocoa" (a totally different plant) which thrives 

 on the banks of all our rivers, we have a stimulant 

 beverage from the parched beans as good as cocoa proper. 



Efforts to establish a fruit export trade are being made 

 by Capt. White, and his friends in the United States. 

 No country can grow better bananas, oranges, and limes ; 

 nowhere are mangoes so cheap ; and placed within reach 

 of the buyer, a market may be developed which 

 would in a short time bring employment to many a man 

 of small means in the colony. 



This leads one on to speak of internal means of com- 

 munication by road, river, and sea ; and here it is 

 necessary to a6l with caution and yet with liberality. 

 The available land for settlement is already large but 

 access to it is uncertain ; and nowhere in the world is 

 combined a6lion more necessary or more difficult for small 

 settlers, as regards drainage, water-supply, and sea 

 defences, than in this extensive mud-flat of British 

 Guiana, with its land four feet below high spring tides, 

 its very capricious rainfall of 70 to 100 inches, and its 

 lazy but pleasant climate. 



No man in his sober senses would seek de novo to 

 construe! the present railway from Georgetown to 

 Mahaica, where a steam canal would so much better 

 have fulfilled all the requirements of the situation ; yet 

 whilst twenty years ago Mr. CATHER, an Engi- 

 neer, was blamed for his extravagance in proposing 

 to continue the line to Berbice, with its existing gauge 



