48 AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA. 



about a better commercial status, a more rapid development of its industrial 

 resources, more numerous and more active relations with the outer world. All 

 actual progress acts as a stimulant of further prosperit3\ If British Guiana is no 

 more a colony in the strict sense of the word than are the other two territories 

 under European rule, it has at least become a sphere of spontaneous colonisation 

 for settlers from the West Indies and the Azores. In ordinary language, the 

 English speak of their possessions on the South American mainland as in fact 

 forming part of the West Indies. 



The North-West District. 



Till recently the zone of large agricultural domains was limited in British 

 Guiana to that section of the seaboard which is comprised between the Pomerun 

 and Berbice rivers. The north-western region, the possession of which is con- 

 tested by Venezuela, remained uninhabited. During the early days of colonisa- 

 tion a few Dutch settlers had established themselves on the banks of the Pomerun, 

 the first arrivals dating from the year 1580. But they had never advanced west- 

 wards in the direction of the Orinoco. Their plantations on the Pomerun itself 

 were even abandoned one after the other, and about the middle of the nineteenth 

 century the only inhabitants of this district were some Indians and negro half- 

 breeds encamped in the forest glades. The latter are descendants of runaway 

 slaves who had taken refuge here in 1738, and whom their owners feared to 

 pursue ; but the Maroons on their part did not dare to remain in the vicinity of 

 the whites, and so joined the Indian tribes. 



Regular colonisation in this district was first undertaken by some Portuguese 

 speculators about the year 1 870, and since then agricviltural progress has been 

 continuous and rapid. The chief difficulty was the interruption of the communi- 

 cations during the dry season. The itabho or ditch connecting the Moruka and 

 Waini rivers is completely dry for six months in the year, and even during this 

 period the alluvial lands are not firm enough to afford a footing to wayfarers in 

 the woodlands between the two basins. 



At present the steamers plying between Georgetown and the Orinoco delta 

 have brought the whole of the " north-western district " into easy relations with 

 the rest of the colony. The new domain thus opened up has been occupied at 

 three different points by traders and others engaged especially in the lumber 

 business. One, lying nearest to the plantations on the banks of the Pomerun, 

 stands at the junction of the waters formed by the Baramanni lagonn with the 

 Waini river ; another at the confluence of the Morawhanna, which connects the 

 Barima with the Waini ; the third at the mouth of the Barima in the Orinoco 

 estuary. The natural and administrative centre of the whole district is the 

 3Ioratchanna station, where the British Government has erected a group of public 

 buildings, including a courthouse, police barracks, and hospital. 



This may be taken as a proof of the determination of the Foreign Office 

 absolutely to ignore the pretensions of Venezuela to the north-western district, 

 which has a superficial area of 9,400 square miles. In colonial times the nearest 



