Venezuelan International Law. 73 



had its Headquarters in Essequibo. The same expan- 

 sion of meaning will be found in the names of Deme- 

 rara and Berbice. The principal settlement, which 

 held the seat of Government, gave its name to the 

 distrifts dependent. The operations of the rule may 

 be observed in our own time : the whole colony of 

 British Guiana being frequently spoken of as " Deme- 

 rara,'* merely : the most important portion of it. This 

 usage prevails among people living within the Colony, 

 and among outsiders as well. In the same way, the 

 names of Surinam and Cayenne, are oftentimes used in- 

 stead of Dutch Guiana and French Guiana, the all- 

 embracing terms. Now, what do w« find as regards the 

 expansion of the name of Venezuela itself ? In Lippin- 

 cott's Gazetteer of the [^(9^/^ (Philadelphia : 1857), is 

 the following statement : — 



" When OjEDA and Vesfucci entered the lake of 

 " Maracaybo, in 1499, they were surprised to find there 

 " an Indian village constru6led of piles over the water, 

 " the banks of the lake being thought unhealthy. They 

 " called the insular village Venezuela (the diminutive 

 " of Venezia or Venice), a name subsequently given to 

 " the lake, and ultimately to the surrounding country." 



To the foregoing statement must be added the fa6l that 

 the name of Venezuela was extended further, at a later 

 date, so as to include that part of the mainland on the 

 other side of the Orinoco, that properly formed Spanish 

 Guiana. 



That the Convention of 1814 was understood by the 

 Dutch, and by the English, in a very different manner to 

 that aifefted by the Venezuelans^ will readily be seen. 

 The Convention mentions the "establishment "of Berbice» 



K 



