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MAPS AND DIAGRAMS

The Pattern of Land Cultivation (Georgetown area)

Plan of a Typical Sugar Estate

The Coastal Area between Rivers Pomeroon and Courantyne
Location of Minerals

page

64

77

99

163

Black and white maps and diagrams drawn by Reitz, M.S.I.A. Folding map at end of volume by Directorate of Colonial Surveys

ENDPAPERS

Front:

Back:

The theme is the early exploration of the area of South America in which British Guiana is now situated. The map is one of the less inaccurate maps of the region in the seventeenth century. The huge Lake Parima, which dominates the Interior of the country, was the legendary lake on which El Dorado was supposed to be situated. The engraving of Sir Walter Raleigh is taken from a picture in the collection of the Duchess of Dorset. The title page of his book about his explorations of Guiana is taken from a modern reprint of the first edition. The portrait of Robert Harcourt (p. 30), who made an attempt to colonize an area east of British Guiana, is taken from a portrait by Marc Gerard, at Nuneham Hall, Oxford.

The theme is the colonial period of British Guiana's history. The section of the newspaper is taken from The Guiana Chronicle and Demerara Gazette, 1817. The plantation scene is taken from a print, dated 1830, of Plantation Vergenoegen. The manager and his family are setting out for a drive in a barouche. The page from the Estate Inventory, 1817, was kindly lent by Messrs. Booker Bros.

NOTE

All the poems quoted in Chapter 7 appeared in the magazine 'Kyk-over-al' to whose editor, Mr. A. J. Seymour, I am indebted for permission to include them in this book.

M.S.

PREFACE

THIS book is the result of a visit which I made to British Guiana for three and a half months at the beginning of 1955. I went to the Colony at the invitation of the Colonial Office, who wished a book to be written about it by an impartial observer. All expressions of opinion are my own and are not necessarily shared by the Colonial Office or the British Guiana Government. I travelled in most areas of the Colony-by aeroplane, river-steamer, jeep, dug-out canoe and on foot-and shared, if only superficially, in the diverse forms of living which make the country so fascinating; I stayed on sugar estates in the coastal areas, enjoyed the social life of the expatriate English in Georgetown, met Guianese of every race and passed some weeks with primitive Indians in the deep Interior. Although the Interior comprises all the Colony except for the narrow coastal strip, it is on this strip that 95 per cent of the population lives and this book is thus primarily concerned with life on the coast, with its politics, problems, customs and economic formation. The section on the Interior is short and is seen largely from the point of view of its relation to the coastland; this relationship will become increasingly important in the future. I have in preparation a more personal account of travels in the Interior.

So many people gave me help, advice and hospitality in all parts of the Colony during my visit that a list which was not invidious would literally occupy the next three pages, but I should like to express my gratitude for all the kindness I received wherever I went. It would be impossible, all the same, not to mention the names of Mr. A. W. B. Long and Mr. Vincent Roth, O.B.E., who both so patiently answered my questions and gave me so freely the benefit of their great knowledge of British Guiana in all its aspects. I only hope their pupil has learnt a little of the lesson they had to offer.

October, 1955

MICHAEL SWAN

PART ONE

The Coastlands

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