THE AXGLO- VENEZUELAN BO UNDAR Y DISPUTE 135 



by such act she waived none of her rights. . This survey of 1841 and 

 the resulting correspondence may be regarded as the beginning of 

 the controvers3^ 



In 1841 Schomburgk submitted to Sir Henry Light, the governor 

 of British Guiana, a report setting forth the grounds upon which he 

 hxid claim to the Aniacura and Barima for Great Britain. This was 

 an official report intended for the public, and was given to the public 

 in a parliamentary paper. On the same day, however, he wrote to 

 Governor Light a confidential letter, pointing out the importance to 

 Great Britain of the possession of Point Barima as a point com- 

 manding the entrance to the Orinoco River. In this letter he dwelt 

 at length upon the fact that the occupation of Barima meant the 

 commercial and militar}^ control of the entire Orinoco region. He 

 also furnished a map showing the line claimed by him for Great 

 Britain. What the Foreign Office thought of Schomburgk's claim I 

 do not know. Certain it is, however, that this map was not made 

 public for many years. The line shown thereon, says Great Britain 

 at the arl^itration, is the only Schomburgk line — /. <?., the only line 

 Schomlnirgk ever drew. Without assenting to or denying this, it 

 may be remarked that the phrase The Schomburgk Line had come to 

 mean, both in popular and official usage, something different from 

 the line on Schomburgk's map that was sleeping, unknown to the 

 public and unknown to some of the officials, in the government 

 archives. 



There was published early in 1877, in London, a large, fine map of 

 British Guiana, which has been often referred to as the Great Colonial 

 Map or Great Map of the Colony. The map was engraved and printed 

 by Stanford, of London. It is dated 1875. Its long title indicates 

 that it was compiled from surveys by Schomburgk and corrected 

 to date from surveys by the crown surveyor of the colonies and by 

 the government geologists. Brown and Sawkins. The map bears 

 this note : 



The boundaries indicated in this map are those laid down by the 

 late Sir Robert Schom))urgk, who was engaged in ex})loring the 

 colony during the years 1835 to 1839 under the direction of the Royal 

 Geographical Society ; but the boundaries laid down between Brazil 

 on the one side and Venezuela on the other and the colony of 

 British Guiana must not be taken as authoritative, as thej' have 

 never been adjusted by the respective governments ; and an engage- 

 ment subsists between tiie governments of Great Britain and Vene- 



