324 TlMEHRI. 
doubt when they could get the chance, the old English 
too, who, imbued with the auri sacra fames, spared 
neither sex nor age in extorting the precious metal from 
these simple children of the woods, and in making them 
toil and dig in the fiery heat of the sun to satisfy their 
own lust of riches. 
Stories have often been told me of Indians living in 
the affluents of the Mazaruni having been seen with 
nuggets of gold in their possession, pierced and worn as 
as necklaces ; but it has never been my good fortune to 
see anything of the sort. Before leaving the Grove for 
the Puruni River, I bought there a buck " goglet," or 
water bottle, made apparently out of the usual materials, 
and in the method common among the people at Bartica, 
which showed clearly on its surface, in the mouth where 
it was uncovered, minute spangles of gold, but quite 
large enough to be visible to the naked eye. I failed to 
discover whence the clay composing the vessel had been 
obtained, but certainly do not think the potter had any 
notion of the auriferous nature of the materials he used. 
In the course of my work nearly all the placers in the 
Puruni and its tributaries were visited. Some of them 
were situated at considerable distances from the main 
stream ; and to reach them necessitated long and tiresome 
walking over steep hills, across creeks and swamps, and 
rocks and tree-roots. Once in returning from a claim 
near the Mara-Mara Creek, we found that owing to the 
very heavy rain which had fallen, we had to wade chin 
deep with bundles on our heads through the water; and 
as part of the way led across a creek, also in flood, 
where the water was still deeper, and a fallen tree hid- 
den by the flood the only means of crossing, it was at 
