PKEFACE. 
IT is needless for me here to repeat how I have become acquainted with much that is sublime and beautiful in the 
interior of Guiana, and how I have delighted in the opportunities afforded me of studying the character of that 
untutored being, the Indian, who is known to the inhabitants of the Coast, from the examples there seen, only as a 
miserable and depraved being, just civilized enough to adopt European vices, and not her virtues. All I have now 
done, has been to select some of the most striking scenes from the numerous sketches made during my travels in 
the interior of Guiana. These travels were directed by the Royal Geographical Society of London, aided by Her 
Majesty ""s Government, and had for their object a more extended knowledge of the geography and natural productions 
of hitherto unvisited regions. 
In justice to Mr. John Morrison I must here observe, that the sketches, which depict localities visited by us 
during the last expedition, have been taken under my direction by that gentleman, who accompanied me in the 
capacity of draughtsman. The artist’s finish, the effect of colouring, light and shade, were communicated to these 
sketches by Mr. Charles Bentley, whose drawings in water colours have been long esteemed; and the talents of 
Messrs. Barnard, Gauci, and Coke Smyth, have also been engaged to draw them on stone. The woodcuts which 
illustrate the letter-press have been drawn by Mr. Charles Blunt on wood, and engraved by Mr. G. P. Nicholls. 
The number of Subscribers who have come forward in so short a period in British Guiana, after the work 
was announced for publication, proves the interest which it has excited, and I feel truly grateful for this additional 
testimony of the good will, which the inhabitants of that colony have evinced towards me. As an humble proof 
of my gratitude, and that no expense has been spared in its execution, I have attempted to impart additional 
interest to this work ; the Subscribers will therefore find, besides that which I promised in the Prospectus, a Frontispiece, 
equal in beauty and execution to any of the plates, and possessing still more attraction from being the representation 
of that wonderful flower, which was discovered in one of the rivers of the colony, and dedicated to Her Gracious 
Majesty, the Queen. By permission of the Council of the Royal Geographical Society, I have also been enabled 
to add the Map, which delineates the countries visited during my expeditions, and which will assist better than any 
description in pointing out those spots which have been depicted in the accompanying plates and woodcuts. 
I trust that this publication, and these faithful delineations, may tend to create further attention towards a 
Colony comparatively so little known in Great Britain ; and which by many is still considered as one of the islands 
which form the West Indian Archipelago, or at best to be merely a flat, traversed by dykes, and devoid of 
picturesque effects. They are little aware how Nature, with bountiful liberality, has clothed it in the richest garments 
of tropical vegetation, and with a mighty hand has stamped it with a portion of her sublimest features. 
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