the settlement in Pomeroon, the Dutch retained a Post in the district. That Post existed continuously from 1684 to 1858, when the system of Posts was abolished under the British Govern5 ment. It was situated sometimes on the River Pomeroon itself and sometimes on one or other of the neighbouring creeks, Wakepo and Moruka. It commanded the means of access to the Waini and Barima districts, which were commercially 10 and politically controlled by the Postholder.

Besides their enterprise upon the coast, the Dutch had also before the end of the seventeenth century penetrated far into the interior. Negro traders were employed by the Company to travel 15 among the Indians and obtain by barter the products of the country. In 1683 and onwards these traders are mentioned as periodically visiting the Pariacot Savannah, and as using the name of the Dutch Government to put an 20 end to native wars on the Cuyuni, which hindered commerce. The archives of the Dutch West India Company show that in 1703 they had a Post in the savannah up the Cuyuni, at a distance of six weeks' sail from the fort

35

In 1724, however, the Catalonian Capuchias commenced to found Missions in the country to the south of Santo Thomé. In the course of the next seventy years these Missions were extended on to the Pariacot Savannah. They

40 never reached the forest region or the valley of the Cuyuni. In these Missions the Indians were gathered together and employed in cattle farming. Over the forest country and the Indians therein the missionaries exercised no control 45 whatever. On the contrary, the Missions were frequently raided and destroyed by the Carib Indians of that region.

Out of these raids by the Caribs arose an incident of some importance. In 1758 the 50 Spanish authorities, alleging that the Postholder at the Dutch Post in Cuyuni was in league

Spanish Missions.

Dutch Occupation and Control.

The Spaniards never exercised dominion on the Cuyuni; they never utilized the resources nor controlled the inhabitants of its valley in any way. Nor did they exercise any dominion or control in 10 the Massaruni or Essequibo.

Although the Dutch maintained a Post on the Upper Essequibo, called the Post Arinda, from 1737 almost to the end of the century, yet in 1770 the heads of the Spanish Missions stated in 15 a Spanish official inquiry that the Post Arinda had never been heard of by them, and that the Upper Essequibo was far beyond the reach of themselves or their Indians.

In sharp contrast to the policy of the Spaniards, 20 whose influence was not pushed beyond the region actually occupied by the Missions, was the policy of the Dutch of Essequibo. Beyond the lands actually planted by agriculturists, the Dutch were, by their use and enjoyment of its 25 resources, and by their exercise of political control, in possession of all the territory now claimed by Great Britain.

The Dutch Posts were maintained on the Essequibo and Cuyuni, and in the district of 30 the coast rivers, at Pomeroon or Moruka. The timber in the forests of Massaruni, Cuyuni, and Waini was granted out by the Government for felling, and mines were opened and worked in the range called the Blauwenberg, to the north of the 35 Cuyuni.

In addition to these indications of actual possession, the Dutch throughout the period of their occupation were continually increasing their political control.

40

The Indians of the outlying districts were in alliance with them throughout the whole region. from the Essequibo to Barima, and acted under them on many occasions against revolting or absconding negroes. Their Chiefs received badges 45 and insignia as tokens that they were recognized by the Government.

By means of the Post at Moruka, the entry of traders into the Barima and Waini

districts was controlled, and those guilty of outrages upon the Indians, or of slave-trading contrary to the laws of the Company, even though not belonging to the Colony of Essequibo, 5 were arrested and punished.

The Spaniards were well aware of the relations subsisting between the Indians and the Dutch. In 1755 Don Eugenio Alvarado reported that "as a rule the Dutch Colonies have a kind of alliance 10 with the many savage tribes of Indians living in the forests which run from north to south, and separate the Province of Guiana from the Dutch settlements;" and in 1790 Don Antonio Lopez de la Puente reported that any attempt by the 15 Spaniards in the direction of the sources of the Essequibo would be communicated to the Dutch by the Caribs allied to them and so prevented.

In 1764 the settlement of Santo Thomé was moved to Angostura, on the Orinoco, above the 20 mouth of the Caroni. The forts, however, re

mained at the old site, which was treated as the effective frontier of the Spanish possessions.

In 1769 the Government ordered the removal of the four villages Unata, Uyacoa, Tiparua, 25 and Piacoa which were situated below that point, and thereafter followed the policy of leaving that district in a state of abandonment.

In a scheme of Governor Marmion of 1788 for the settlement and fortification of the frontiers 30 of Guayana, it was proposed to abandon the country on the south bank of the Orinoco for 20 leagues upward from Point Barima, and to commence drawing the line to be effectively held from the Creek of Curucima, or the point of the 35 chain in the great arm of the Imataka Mountains, and thence following those mountains to the Cuyuni.

The Spaniards from time to time conducted raiding expeditions down the coast; on one 40 or two occasions they raided the property of Dutchmen settled in Barima, and Spanish vessels several times arrested Dutch fishingvessels in the Orinoco on charges of smuggling. On another occasion some Spanish 45 priests accompanied by officers came as far as the post of Moruka, and took away Indians alleged to have deserted from the Spanish Missions. But on investigation, in consequence of complaints by the Dutch, it

Spanish Frontier.

British Occupation and Control.

Venezuelan Revolt.

In 1781 the Dutch Colony of Essequibo was occupied by the British, who were, however, expelled by the French in the following year. In 1783 the French restored the Colony to the 10 Dutch.

In 1796 it was again occupied by the British, who restored it at the peace of Amiens. Upon the renewal of the war they at once occupied it again, and it was formally ceded to them after 15 the general pacification in 1814. They have remained in possession of it ever since.

The British from the first maintained possession and control of the country as far as the mouth of the Orinoco. In 1797 it was reported 20 to the Spaniards that they had apportioned all the lands as far as Barima. The land upon the coast was actually under plantation as far as the Moruka, and the policy of maintaining an alliance with the Indians and of protecting them from 25 outrage and wrong either at the hands of Europeans or of one another was continued.

In addition to the Postholders new officers called Protectors of Indians were appointed for this purpose.

30

In 1838 Superintendents of Rivers and Creeks were created. These officers made periodical circuits through the territory as far as and including Barima, and journals are extant, showing that they exercised the functions of 35 Magistrates throughout the whole of this district. The Indians were everywhere under captains appointed or recognized by the Government.

The Spanish Colonists who occupied the territory which is now Venezuela, Equador, and 40 Colombia, declared their independence of Spain in 1810, and the war of independence extended for a time into the Orinoco district. At this time, and up to the year 1816, as may be seen by the Table of Missions in the Appendix, the savannah land 45 between the Orinoco and the Yuruari was still in part occupied by the Capuchin Missions.

10

In May 1817, however, the rebel troops collected the missionaries at Caruachi, and then massacred them. The General in command had intended to take the missionaries to Tupuquen and 5 Tumeremo, which were described as the outermost in the Eastern district.

The natural consequence of this action was the rapid decay of the Mission villages, and the territory relapsed into a state of barbarism.

In 1840 Mr. R. H. Schomburgk was employed by the British Government to survey the boundaries of British Guiana. He laid down a line which commenced at the mouth of the Amakuru, followed that river to its source in the Imataka 15 Mountains, thence followed the crest of that ridge to the sources of the Acarabisi Creek, and descended that creek to the Cuyuni, which it followed to its source in Mount Roraima.

This line, which is clearly defined in his 20 reports and shown on two of the original maps drawn by him, possesses advantages in point of physical features, but would have given to Venezuela a large tract of territory north and west of the Cuyuni which was never occupied 25 by the Spanish Missions, which was, on the other hand, formally claimed by the Dutch, and to which Great Britain is now entitled as part of British Guiana.

In 1841 negotiations were commenced between 30 Great Britain and Venezuela for a settlement of the boundary, and it became evident that a great divergence of views existed as to its proper position. An offer of considerable concessions by Lord Aberdeen received no answer from the 35 Venezuelan Government.

From 1850 to 1886 the British Government, in consequence of an arrangement made with Venezuela in the former year, discouraged settlement in the disputed territory; but, in 1886, the 40 Venezuelan Government having ceased to observe thi arrangement, Her Majesty's Government declared itself no longer bound by it. At the present time the officials of Great Britain and Venezuela respectively occupy stations up to the 45 Schomburgk line on each side.

It will be found that the following conclusions are established by the accompanying Case :1. That prior to 1796 the Dutch, and, since

Schomburgk Line.