FLOKAL ASPECTS OF BRITISH GUIANA 
By A. S. Hitchcock. 
[With 12 plates.] 
Through the cooperation of the United States Department of 
Agriculture, the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University, and the 
New York Botanical Garden a visit was made to British Guiana for 
the purpose of studying its flora and collecting specimens of the 
flowering plants and ferns. The observations were made between 
October 22, 1919, and February 2, 1920.^ 
British Guiana, a British colony in northern South America, lying 
between Venezuela and Dutch Guiana, and between the Atlantic 
Ocean and Brazil, has an area of 90,277 square miles.- It extends 
along the Atlantic coast about 270 miles and southward 540 miles on 
the western and 300 miles on the eastern side (lat. 1° to 8° N,, long. 
67° to 61° W., approximately). 
There are three important rivers approximately parallel flowing 
northward into the ocean besides the Courantyne which forms the 
eastern boundary. These are, from west to east, the Essequibo, the 
Demerara, and the Berbice. The Essequibo is one of the large rivers 
of the world, receiving two important tributaries from the west, the 
Mazaruni and the Cuyuni. 
The coastal region is a low swampy alluvial belt almost 10 miles 
deep on the western border and about 40 miles deep along the Couran- 
tyne. Much of this is below the level of high tide and the water is 
excluded by dikes and sea walls. In places the land may be as much 
as 10 feet above high water but the general impression to the eye is a 
perfectly level plain. Approaching the coast from the sea one notes 
first the tall chimneys of sugar factories and occasional tall trees 
before any other sign of land is visible. 
Next to this coastal region there is a broad belt of higher somewhat 
undulating land interspersed with sand dunes and clay hills, but of 
scarcely more than 200 feet elevation anywhere. Still farther south 
and west there is a series of plateaus 1,200 to 2,000 feet in altitude. 
When streams descend from one plateau to another there are 
1 An account of the itinerary will be found in the Journal of the New York Botanical 
Garden, July, 1920. 
- Much of the statistical matter is taken from the British Guiana Handbook for 1913, 
the second and last edition. 
12573°— 21 20 293 
