20 = Preliminary Impressions. 
two divisions of time : Day presses closely onto Night, as Night presses 
into day. 
70. Overwhelmed with all these vivid impressions, it was only late 
in the evening that I turned into my hammock where I nevertheless vainly 
sought repose: the open window allowed thousands of bloodthirsty mos- 
quitoes to sprinkle the first drops of bitterness in my cup that was yet 
bubbling in an ecstacy of delight. 
71. Daybreak at quarter to six, with yesterday’s bustle of blacks and 
half-breeds renewed afresh, already found me at the open casement. 
72. The news of our arrival must have spread quickly over the city 
for the friends coming to greet and welcome my brother soon filled our 
rooms. After introducing me to the Governor and families of his ac- 
quaintance. I became so inundated with invitations that T spent my first 
week in a real whirl of enjoyment when the impressions recently exper- 
ienced were blotted out by new ones, until at last, after settling down 
into our own quarters and unpacking and arranging our effects, the 
Quiet that had been lost sight of, helped somewhat to revive them. 
73. The pretty little house situate in Camp Street, surrounded by 
slender~palms and plenteously-shaded foliage-trees, with its cool anti 
airy gallery and its widely projecting roof w T as satisfactory from every 
point of view. The only thing to worry over was the high rent, that, my 
brother was forced to pay, for although it only contained some small 
rooms, he was nevertheless charged 54 dollars a month : to be added to 
this were the extraordinarily high expenses of living, which made me 
very uneasy concerning my annual travelling allowance of 432 dollars. 
Georgetown is one of those cities of South America where almost every 
hour’s stay has to be weighed against gold. 
74. According to the plans laid down for efficiently carrying out 
my work, I ought now to set down in chronological order all my exper- 
iences in the city proper, as well as its environs, in fact give an account 
of its whole inner and outer activities during the longer or shorter visits 
T paid it at different times. But to avoid repetition T am including my 
subsequent observations with to-day’s and yesterday’s and will attempt 
to sketch so far as it lies in my power, a true picture of the civilised 
portions of This English possession, which bids fair to lie of so much 
promise in the future, as well as of its capital, and propose commencing 
with its historical, statistical and topographical aspects. T leave it to the 
judgment of mv readers whether they approve or reject the method of 
description followed. 
75. Contemporary historians are by no means in agreement as to 
v ho rea 1 1 v was the first to find Guiana, considering that its discovery 
has been ascribed by some to Columbus, by others again to Vasco Nunnez, 
and even in part to Diego de Ordas whoVould only have landed on the 
Guiana coast in 1531. The earliest appreciable attempts at Colonisation 
were at all events established by the Dutch since 1581. but. as they 
themselves found traces of past cultivation of the soil, the Spaniards, in 
times previous to them, must have sporadically occupied the Avliole 
stretch of coast as far as the mouth of the Essequibo * 
* These historical notes, secs, 75 to 79, are unreliable. (J.R.) 
