The Future Prosperity of the Colony. 365 



" savannah it frequently occurs on the surface in the form 

 " of gravel, with black shining exterior. The cause of 

 " this is explained by the clay and sand beds overlying 

 " the gravel or concretionary iron ore having been 

 '* washed off. 



" It is in these formations the greater portion of the 

 " gold obtained from Caratal in Venezuela is found, 

 " which I suggested as my opinion prior to that fadl 

 " being known to me. (See my report on the Cuyuni 

 « River, 1868.)" 



To return again to the subjeft of possible quartz 

 mining in the savannahs, there is no doubt that if the 

 stone is proved to be sufficiently rich to pay working 

 expenses, many mines will be found and the run of 

 the different veins and lodes easily and rapidly deter- 

 mined owing to the absence of dense forest from the 

 surrounding country. One of the greatest difficulties in 

 the way of finding the dire6lion of quartz veins is the 

 forest, and in fa6l the words of Mr. W. T. Blan- 

 FORD, F.R.S., in the Article " Geology," (Hints to 

 Travellers published by the Geographical Society) may 

 be fitly quoted. " Dense forest," he says, " is perhaps the 

 " worst obstacle to geological exploration." 



Regarding the occurrence of gold in this colony and 

 the many localities where it is found, it may perhaps 

 help to open up distrifts and lead to important discover- 

 ies, to state that the Indian name for gold is caricuri 

 and the prefixes cari^ curiy cura, curuy and cori, to many 

 of the names of places, rivers and streams of the colony 

 which may be noticed on consulting any large map 

 possibly denote the existence, in the vicinity of these 

 different spots, of either auriferous soil or rock. Speak- 



3A 



