Up the Cuyuni in 1837. 



By William Hilhouse. 



[The following, from MSS. in the Colonial Records, will be found 

 interesting from the light they throw on the work of Mr. Hilhouse. 

 The account of the expedition up the Cuyuni appears to have been 

 published in the Guiana Chronicle of May I2th, 1837, but as we cannot 

 find a copy of that paper we are unable to discover whether what was 

 published was the ^ame as that given here. The first portion is an 

 extraft from an introdu6tion to a more finished account than that of the 

 "Journal," but this MS. does notappear to have been completed. The 

 letters indicate that Mr. Hilhouse was engaged by Mr. Joseph Paxton 

 to coUeft orchids and other plants for Chats worth, and shew that the 

 former was on friendly terms with Sir Robert Schomburgk.— Ed.] 



EXCURSION UP THE CUYUNY RIVER BY WM. HILHOUSE, 

 MARCH, 1837. 

 I HIS river not having been hitherto explored from 

 the Coast, and Mr. SCHOMBURGK having se- 

 le6led the Courantyne and Berbice Rivers on 

 his last expedition, I believe contrary to his own judgment, 

 I, though in a very weak state of health, chose the 

 Cuyuni, the course of which was only known by hearsay. 

 I was well aware that the mountains of the interior could 

 only be approached by the rivers issuing from the primary 

 and central ridge, and having before ascertained from 

 Indian domestics who had for many years resided in the 

 Courantyne and Berbice that this was not the case with 

 either of those streams, which had been repeatedly ex- 

 plored by Europeans as far as navigable, I had not 

 thought them worthy of attention. I believe the French 

 have explored to the eastward of these rivers, but the 

 result of their attempt has not yet reached us. 



