198 THE VENEZUELAN BOUNDARY COMMISSION 



Part III comprises 20 maps of an official or semi-official char- 

 acter, of which 12 are from manuscript originals not hitherto 

 published. The origin of these maps, their character and mean- 

 ing are set forth b)^ Professor Burr in a paper in volume 3. 



In describing the atlas, we have in part antici])ated the de- 

 scription of volume 3, which is devoted to geography. It is an 

 octavo volume of 517 pages and contains 6 papers. The first is 

 b}^ the secretary of the commission on the cartographical testi- 

 mony of geographers. In its 80 pages the historical evolution 

 of lines showing territorial division are worked out with great 

 care, and the size of the paper inadequately measures the labor 

 needful to gather and arrange and clearly set forth and discuss 

 the facts therein contained. 



The second paper is by Dr Justin Winsor, librarian of Har- 

 vard College, and it deals with the same topics as the preceding 

 paper, but in a diff'erent manner. This paper was submitted to 

 the commission very early, its date being March 4, 1896, just two 

 months after the commission was appointed. The third and 

 fourth papers are by Professor Burr. 



The fifth paper, entitled Notes on the Geography of the Ori- 

 noco-Essequibo Region, South America, is by the present writer. 

 It consists of a prosaic compilation of statements made by vari- 

 ous travelers and explorers in the r'egion as to its geography, 

 with references, in foot-notes, to the sources of these statements. 

 All the geographic names found applied in the region, whether 

 now in use or not, were recorded in these notes, which are fully 

 indexed. Thus it is possible to proceed quickl}^ by means of 

 the index and foot-notes to the original sources of geographic 

 information touching any part of the country described in these 

 notes. 



The last paper in the volume is a partial list of maps of the 

 region, also prepared by the writer. It was hoped to make an 

 exhaustive list, but time did not suffice for this, nor for the 

 preparation of a bibliography of the region. 



Volume 2 is given mainly to extracts from Dutch archives. 

 There are 353 of these extracts, comprising 662 pages. They 

 are printed in double columns, the original Dutch forming one 

 column and the English translation the parallel column. Some 

 miscellaneous manuscript documents, filed with the commission 

 by the government of Venezuela, close the volume. 



Volume 1, first in order but last to be published, is now in 

 press and will shortly be published. It is to contain the report 



