There are still some thousands of lone prospectors in the Colony, known as 'pork-knockers', and they form a remarkable class. Nobody knows the exact etymology of the word 'porkknocker' but one explanation which was given me struck me as most likely; in the old days the prospectors were given Government rations of rice and pork-tails, and when they ate the pork-tails they would talk of 'knocking the pork'. They are always Africans, tough men who for weeks on end lead hard lives in the bush with their battells and "Toms', sluices for washing the deposits of the creeks. They are invariably 'grubstaked' by Chinese shop-owners at points on the river highways, and when they have found enough gold they take it to the shops where they are given its worth in money, less the cost of the 'grub'. With his money the pork-knocker loses no time in getting back to Georgetown where he enjoys himself until the money is finished. Then he goes up once more to the gold or diamond fields. I was told one charming story of a pork-knocker who, with a small bonanza, arrived at Bartica Grove. At Bartica he sent a telegram 'from B.G. to B.G.'-from 'Bartica Grove to Bookers' Garage.' The telegram read, 'Have motor waiting at stelling, chauffeur well adorned.' He arrived at Georgetown stelling, stepped into the motor-car and told the chauffeur to drive forwards. He stopped him and said, ‘Now make he go backwards.' The car went backwards. Once more he stopped him, and with delight in his voice said, 'Now, make he go sideways.'

At Tumatumari, superbly situated with jungle-clad hills all round and distant views of plateau mountains, gold is extracted with unromantic efficiency by a dredger which, day and night, sucks the auriferous earth from the river bank and bed. Nearby, at the falls themselves, a small hydro-electric plant is being slowly constructed, the first experiment in hydro-electric power to be made in a country where water is rushing everywhere and vast reserves of power are waiting for the harnessing. The great falls of Kaieteur, 741 feet high, the falls of Kurupung and Peaima have been examined as sources of power. If they could be harnessed and their power distributed, British Guiana would have one of the cheapest sources of power in the world. A hydro-electric engineer talked to me about its possibilities and great difficulties-for some hours, but I could see