264 TlMEHRI. 
Dutch postholder of Arinda, by order of the Governor of 
Essequebo, travelled to the Maho in search of these crystal 
mines. The natives advised him not to cross the river 
on account of the wicked character of the Indians there 
who might murder him. He was told there were six or 
seven hillocks of sand and crystals in that neighbourhood, 
and the natives offered him specimens of each, but would 
not allow him to dig in the ground where they were 
found. 
Coming down to recent times, the discovery of gold 
in Caratal in 1857 excited public feeling in the Colony, 
and exploring parties were sent out in various directions, 
one of which on its return reported the discovery of gold 
•in one of the tributaries of the Cuyuni, at no great dis- 
tance from its confluence with the Massaruni. Little 
appears to have been done until 1864, when a company 
was formed for the purpose of exploring the locality and 
of satisfactorily testing whether mining for gold could be 
profitably carried on. Machinery was erected, and mining 
was carried on for a short time, but the timid and vacil- 
lating policy of the Imperial Government with respect to 
the boundary question with the neighbouring country of 
Venezuela, and the general want of favour with which 
the enterprise was regarded, ultimately led to operations 
being entirely suspended. Still more recently the estab- 
lishment of placer workings in French and Dutch Guiana 
again aroused interest in the question, and I believe that 
it is to Mr. HENRI LEDOUX that the credit is due of being 
the real pioneer of the present flourishing industry. The 
well-known prospector JULES CAMAN and others in Mr. 
LEDOUX'S employment inaugurated the industry at 
Akaiwanna on the Essequebo River, where several pay- 
