CHAPTER XVII.

EVENTS IN GUIANA FROM 1814 TO 1850.

It has been already stated, in reference to the date as of which the boundary is to be ascertained, that acts occurring since the acquisition of British Guiana by Great Britain in 1814 cannot be considered under any aspect as establishing title in Great Britain. It is nevertheless necessary, in view of the position advanced in the British Case, to take a brief review of these acts to show that there was neither British settlement nor control in the territory in dispute during this period, and that consequently, even under the construction of the Treaty for which the British Case contends, the events of this period do not affect the question of boundary.

In considering the events in Guiana subsequent to the Treaty of 1814, a division must be made at the year 1850, because of the agreement concluded in that year between Great Britain and Venezuela that neither party would occupy or encroach upon the territory in dispute.

The examination of the evidence, from 1814 to 1850, which is of course entirely to be found in the British Case, shows no advance from the position of 1814, in so far as the disputed territory west of the Moruca and Cuyuni falls is concerned.

The geographical divisions will be considered as before in the following order:

(1) Essequibo.

(2) Pomeroon.

(3) Interior.
(4) Coast.

1. ESSEQUIBO.

Development occurred during this period in the Essequibo settlements, chiefly on the coast. The trend of this development was largely to the eastwards towards Demerara, and culminated

in the establishment of the capital at Georgetown, on that river. A considerable movement was also noticeable on the western bank of the Essequibo.

The mouth of the Essequibo has a peculiar conformation. The line of the left bank of the river is continued far out to sea beyond the line of the right bank, so that the mouth of the river is, properly speaking, a line drawn not at right angles to the river's course, but running diagonally across from the eastern headland to a point where the shore-line begins to trend to the west. This shore-line on the west, where the bank of the river at its mouth merges in the sea-coast, was known as the Arabian (or Arabisi) Coast, and contains the mouths of several creeks, such as Capoey and Oene.

Under the influence of the removal of the capital, the relative positions of the Demerara and Essequibo settlements became reversed, and whereas in the eighteenth century Demerara had been subordinate to Essequibo, in the nineteenth Essequibo became a mere dependency of the other. This effect was most noticeable, as might be expected, in the upper settlements.

In 1816 the boundaries of control were still the falls of the Mazaruni and Cuyuni, and they are mentioned as the limits up to which the militia were mustered, in the letter of Lanfferman, Captain of Militia, May 22, 1816 (B. C. VI, 6).

Even as late as 1831, it appears from the testimony of Quartermaster General Hilhouse in the trial of Billy William (B. C. VI, 41), that there were hardly any settlers in the neighborhood of the junction of the three rivers, and that there were none beyond the falls. He said.

"There is a white settler at the Falls, another at the junction, but grants have been made of the lands on both sides up to the Falls of the three branches of the Essequibo, viz., the Essequibo, the Mazarony, and Cayone."

Superintendent King, in his report of September 20, 1841, (B. C. VI, 115), stated:

"There are no new settlers on any of the Crown lands, or, indeed, on any of the private lands up these rivers."

The Crown lands and private lands referred to are those below the falls.

This desolation extended as low as Fort Island, in the Essequibo. Superintendent Baird remarks, March 30, 1844 (B. C. VI, 131), that "Fort Island, the former seat of Government, is now fast merging into the primitive state of bush." During the early part of the period, a post was maintained at the mouth of the Massaruni, but this was abolished some time before 1839 (B. C. VI, 87).

In 1841, Horan, Keeper of the Colonial Jail, made investigation of various points for a penal settlement, and decided on the site of this abandoned post, at the mouth of the combined rivers, on the northern bank, nearly in the angle formed by the Essequibo and Mazaruni, where there was a quarry. He stated that there was no settlement above the post on the same side, except those of a few scattered Indians. The nearest settlement on the same side below the post was the Tiger Creek, in the Essequibo, a distance of twelve miles. (B. C., VI., 110). Here the penal settlement was established, and still remains.

2. POMEROON.

While the plantations in Essequibo receded rather than advanced from the falls of Cuyuni, they showed a growth in the Pomeroon. Twenty years after the British acquisition there were perhaps half a dozen in the latter river.

Singleton, the Postholder in Pomeroon, writing in 1836, enumerates (B. C., VI, 61) five plantations above the Post on the Pomeroon as follows, namely:

Dumbarton Castle, raising cotton, coffee and plantains; Caledonia, in the same cultivation; Chapel; Phoenix Park, for plantains, and Land of Promise, where the cultivation consisted of

coffee and plantains. There were no other settlements except a boat-building establishment, eight hours from the Post, and some wood-cutters above.

The Pomeroon River was now connected with the Arabian Coast at the extreme point of the mouth of the Essequibo by a canal, known as Tapakuma, which was considerably used, after the British acquisition of the Colony, as a route to the Pomeroon. In a return made in 1848 by the Superintendent in Pomeroon (B. C. VI, 168-9) of inhabitants (other than Indians) on the Pomeroon, its tributaries, and Moruca, extending to Tapakuma Lake, the total number of inhabitants, men, women and children, is given as 356.

The Post during this period was on the Pomeroon, Moruca having apparently been abandoned. It was at the mouth of the river (B. C., VI, 88). Its condition seems to have been deplorable. Hilhouse, Quartermaster-General of Indians, in November, 1823 (B. C. VI, 24), said:

"The Post of Pomeroon, in every point of view, is of more consequence than all the other Posts together. Under protectors of Indians it has been miserably neglected, and the only way to restore it to its proper state of consequence and utility is for his Excellency to take it under his own immediate charge and responsibility.

For three years there has not been a cartridge at the Post, and a piratical canoe with fifteen or twenty men could, without resistance, attack and lay it in ruins. The Indians employed have had their payment withheld till they are exceedingly dissatisfied, and the faith of government sacrificed to the inactivity of individuals."

Superintendent King reported in 1839 (B. C. VI, 88):

"The Post-house is in a most miserable state, scarcely habitable. Unless something is forthwith done to this Post, it will not be habitable. * * * There are no Indians at the Post, but many are contiguous thereto, viz., in the nearest creeks, Wacapouw and Morocco."

And again, January 18, 1841 (B. C. VI, 101):

"Relative to the Post-house in Pomeroon, it is not possible for the Postholder to reside in it. There is no person there at present."

And yet again, in his report of September 20, 1841 (B. C. VI, 114):

"Your reporter visited the district of Pomeroon on the 1st July, and on arriving at the Post was sorry to find that the Postholder, Mr. McClintock, was labouring under severe inflammation of the eyes and cold, which your reporter attributes in a great measure to the wretched state of the Post-house and Post.

"The back gallery has fallen down, and the Postholder fell through the front gallery and hurt himself a good deal.

"The koker has been washed away; in consequence thereof the whole place is under water every tide, and by reason of which the sills of the house are quite rotten.

"The Post has become so infested with mosquitoes from the tide. washing over the land that it is not hardly possible for any person to reside there, and the Indians will not, almost on any terms, call there."

On August 15, 1843, the Postholder, McClintock, again reports the deplorable condition of the post at Pomeroon, which, unless money is expended on it, is in danger of tumbling down upon himself and family; and in 1847, after referring (B. C. VI, 166) to the ill-health of his family at the post, he says that "to preserve their lives he was compelled to remove them from the post to a dry spot up the Pomeroon, which from the post is distant about 53 miles."

3. INTERIOR.

So far as the British were concerned, the evidence as to the interior territory west of the falls of Cuyuni from 1814 to 1850 is an absolute blank. The authorities of British Guiana seem to have had no interest in it and to have made no reference to it. There is no record that anybody ever visited it or ever referred to it. When Georgetown became the capital, it was remote from the centre of authority.

Certain establishments were placed near the mouth of the Cuyuni and Mazaruni, such as the penal settlement and the English mission in 1831 at Bartica Point (B. C. VI, 46), and some interest was taken in the upper Essequibo; but that was all.