Up the Puruni River. 337 
gathered that British Guiana is quite as rich in auriferous 
soil and rock as either its French or Dutch namesakes ; 
and judging by the output of these countries to the East 
of us and the Caratal mines to the West, it seems very 
unlikely that the gold deposits which occur so largely in 
all three localities should, at the period of their genesis, 
have so to speak skipped the territory comprising British 
Guiana. It is only reasonable to suppose that this belt 
of gold bearing strata extends uninterruptedly with 
varying richness through our own territory. 
In the event of the Puruni road from Cartabo in the 
Mazaruni to the Mara Mara Creek in the Puruni, ever 
becoming an accomplished fact, it will form a splendid 
base for prospecting ; and running, as it will do, 
through the heart of the country between the Cuyuni 
and Puruni Rivers, it will place the most paying and 
richest spots within the more or less easy reach of pros- 
pectors. But to encourage the industry, roads must be 
made which can be rendered serviceable for mules or 
cattle, and even for carts ; and inducements given to the 
people to settle in the gold bush, to plant fields 
and provision grounds, and to form small village 
communities, whence the labourers required for digging 
could be recruited, and where they would gradually 
acquire the habits of life necessary to enable them to 
cope successfully with the hardships to be met with in 
mining, and thus in reality become the nucleus of a 
mining population, so urgently needed. 
The capital of the numerous and small companies 
started was, with only one or two exceptions, too small 
to stand any reverses ; and even these exceptions were 
but small ventures compared with similar undertakings 
