84 TlMEHRI. 
Among the people that took part in the first rush to 
Tupuquen were several persons from Demerara. In 
returning by way of the Cuyuni a party gathered some of 
the sand of that river, thinking it looked like that of the 
Yuruari. On its being examined in Georgetown it was 
found to be decidedly auriferous. This discovery having 
been made public, several gentlemen from Georgetown 
made up a prospecting party for the Cuyuni where they 
found auriferous quartz. On their report a Gold Mining 
Company was formed, machinery imported, and con- 
siderable expense incurred in cutting a path alongside 
the river, to avoid the cataracts. Before the "Company]" 
had started, the proprietors applied to the Colonial 
Government for a grant of land, which they obtained. 
On account of the Boundary Dispute, however, the grant 
was revoked, the shareholders became dissatisfied, and 
as the quantity of gold obtained was hardly an ounce to 
the ton, the proje6l was abandoned, and the machinery 
allowed to go to ruin. 
Nothing more was heard of gold-digging in British 
Guiana until about 1882, when it was rumoured that 
prospering was being carried on in several rivers of the 
colony. Since that time the precious metal has been 
found in nearly all the great rivers of British Guiana, 
seeming to indicate that there is an auriferous belt ex- 
tending across the country, into Dutch Guiana, where 
gold was found in the Surinam River in 1876-78, and in the 
Saramacca in 1879. As long ago as 1864, gold- washing 
commenced in French Guiana, on the River Mana, and 
last year (1886) two companies commenced quartz- 
crushing in that distri6t. 
The question is being continually asked in Demerara ; 
