Gold in British Guiana. 267 
to the locality, but strange to relate, although Mr. 
BARNARD had undoubtedly secured possession of a large 
number of immensely valuable claims, the new field was 
of so inconsiderable extent, that without exception the 
whole army of prospectors who followed him were un- 
successful in finding a single payable creek, beyond 
those already taken up. It has been estimated that 
upwards of eighty thousand dollars were spent in fruitless 
prospe6lion in this district. 
Following close upon this came the rush to the Barima 
River, which though regarded as highly promising in the 
first flush of excitement has hardly borne out the character 
of extraordinary productiveness generally given to it. 
An explanation of this may be found in the character of 
the formation. The North-western portion of the colony 
consists for the most part of slightly undulating country 
with ridges and detached hills of moderate proportions, 
except in the vicinity of the Imataca range, which attains 
at some points an elevation of close upon 2,000 feet, and 
appears to consist largely of igneous rocks. There seem 
grounds for believing that this part of the country is of 
more recent origin than other portions of the Colony 
further inland, inasmuch as it appears to have been sub- 
jected to a much smaller degree of subaerial denudation, 
while the character of the vegetation seems also to point 
towards that conclusion. Many of the trees found in the 
valley of the Barima are identical with those growing 
on the low lying lands of the seaboard, while the general 
characteristics of the forests present on the whole a 
marked difference to those of the interior and presumably 
older portions of the colony. The nature of the alluvial 
formations also favours this supposition. There is no 
