SOUTH AMERICA. 
279 
If I have effected this, we can now give to one fourth 
side of the skin of a man’s face the appearance of- : 
eighty years, and to the other side that of blooming 
seventeen. We could make the forehead and eyes 
serene in youthful beauty, and shape the mouth and 
jaws to the features of a malicious old ape. Here 
is a new field opened to the adventurous and ex¬ 
perimental naturalist: I have trodden it up and 
down till I am almost weary. To get at it myself 
I have groped through an alley, which may be 
styled, in the words of Ovid,— 
“ Arduus, obliquus, caligine densus opaca.” 
I pray thee, gentle reader, let me out awhile. 
Time passes on apace; and I want to take thee to 
have a peep at the spots where mines are supposed 
to exist in Guiana. As the storv of this singular 
head has, probably, not been made out to thy satis¬ 
faction, perhaps, (I may say it nearly in Corporal 
Trim’s words,) on some long and dismal winter’s 
evening, but not now, I may tell thee more about it; 
together with that of another head, which is equally 
striking. 
It is commonly reported, and I think there is no 
reason to doubt the fact, that when Demerara and 
Essequibo were under the Dutch flag, there were 
mines of gold and silver opened near to the river 
Essequibo. The miners were not successful in their 
undertaking, and it is generally conjectured, that 
their failure proceeded from inexperience. 
Now, when you ascend the Essequibo, some 
