Venezuelan International Law. 53 



lator of Homer, in lines of greeting to Sir Walter, 

 sings of Guiana as standing 



" On her tiptoe at fair England looking," 

 andj of 



" Where, New Britannia humbly kneels to Heaven," 

 Shakespeare did not admit that Guiana belonged to 

 Spain. He makes OTHELLO speak of the Spaniards' 

 deadly enemies, ' 



" The canibals that each other eat ;" 

 and, Falstaff refers to 



" A region in Guiana, all gold and bounty." 



The poets had probably talked with the traveller, at 

 the Mermaid tavern, over his voyage to Guiana. 



It is asserted by the Venezuelan Foreign Office, 

 (p. 171) that the learned Dutchman JUAN DE Laet, 

 " agrees with Sir WALTER Raleigh, that the Orinoco, 

 " the Moroco, and the Pumaron, belonged to the 

 " Spaniards, who occupied them at the time." To this 

 it must be objected, that DE Laet must have misquoted 

 Sir Walter Raleigh, or must himself be misquoted in 

 Venezuelan International Law : for, as shown above, 

 Sir Walter did not say that the Orinoco, the Moroco, 

 or the Pomaroon, belonged to the Spaniards. On the 

 other hand, Lord Aberdeen, in his communication with 

 Senor FoRTlQUE, relied upon DE LAET, for support of 

 the Dutch rights, (p. 188.) 



Three charts are quoted in support of Venezuelan 

 claims, in which Cape Nassau^ and the river Pomaroon, 

 are variously given as the Boundary. Then J. W. 

 NORIE, the English hydrograpber is quoted as saying, in 

 1828, that " British Guiana extends from the Corentin 

 " to the Essequibo; the latter belonged also to the Dutch, 

 " but was ceded to Great Britain by the Sovereign 



