Pe ee 2 ee eT E N ee PN 
II.—BRITISH GUIANA. 
15. The Colony pa British Guiana comprises the old Dutch 
settlements of Demerara, Essequebo, and Berbice, finally ceded a 
Great Britain in 1815. The total area is estimated at 109,000 squar 
miles. 
r 
Co cae and its capabilities of development are practic 
oe ted. 
"The surface of British Guians may ity described as a gentle 
on from the frontier of Brazil down to the coa 
h ; 
primeval forest region, with outcro m of primary and metamorphic 
rocks forming i in the river beds formidable me which impede 
the navigation. Above the rapids iho vast extent of forest and 
savannah lands are enlisasty untraversed except by a few een 
or here and there by scattered parties of gold-seekers. ong the 
remote Brazilian frontier are long ranges of picturesque and 
fantastic mountains, for the most part covered with grass and 
se 
and in others as lowas 70inches. Vegetation seldom suffers from 
prolonged drought. Unlike the Wes t India Islands, no hurricanes 
are experience ed and floods are seldom injurious to life and 
property. 
17. The settled portion of the Colony extends along the sea 
coast from the east bank of the Corentyne River to the west bank 
of the River Essequebo, a distance of 200 miles. Besides this 
he 
mouih of the Essequebo river, while a few sugar estates and some 
scattered villages and single houses are found on the banks of the 
river some distance inland. 
