Gold in British Guiana. 263 
to the royal family exclusively by right, and that to take 
possession of such was wrong, and would incur punish- 
ment, and bring misfortune on the entire race ; and it is 
therefore interesting to find the Indians of British Guiana, 
whenever met with remote from civilisation, and un- 
sophisticated by contact with explorers or traders, im- 
pressed with a singular and superstitious dread of having 
anything to do with gold, a feeling of which they cannot 
explain the origin further than that it has come down to 
them from their fathers that to take possession of gold, 
or most of all to reveal its existence to Europeans, is 
certain to bring upon them direst misfortunes. The 
Caribs of the Barama and Cuyuni preserve to this day 
the liveliest recollection of the cruelties inflicted upon 
them by the early Spaniards, and while exploring parties 
of African descent are welcomed and hospitably enter- 
tained, the appearance of an European at their settle- 
ments is regarded with aversion and suspicion. The 
last Spanish expedition in search of El Dorado took place 
as late as 1775, and like nearly all the preceding ones 
resulted in the loss of several hundred lives, one man 
only, it is said, having survived to return and relate 
the story of disaster and death. The Dutch appear 
to have given but little attention to the search for 
minerals, although a general impression prevailed that 
gold, silver, copper, etc., existed, and a few isolated 
attempts at mining were made in different places. There 
seems to have been a belief that precious stones were to 
be found in the interior, as it is recorded that NICOLAS 
HORTSMAN while searching for diamonds and emeralds 
in the distrift between the Xurumu and the Rupununi, 
discovered several mines of rock crystal. In 1769 the 
KK2 
