Industrial and commercial South America

by Annie S. Peck

The Capital of British Guiana, Georgetown, population 54,000, located at the mouth of the Demerara River, is a tropical garden city with broad streets, interesting stores, a club, a museum, a curious market. On account of dampness the houses are all built on pillars. The city has 50 miles of paved streets with good tramways, etc.

Ports and Transportation

The chief ports of the Guianas are the three capitals, which are connected with the outside world by the West Indies Mail Services of the three mother countries, while other steamship lines run regularly to London, Liverpool, and Glasgow. There is mail service with Canada and regular steamers from New York. Coast and river steamers ply regularly along the coast of British Guiana from the northwest extremity to the Berbice River, at the mouth of which is the city of New Amsterdam, called a smaller Georgetown, not very far from the boundary of Dutch Guiana. The country has 95 miles of railway, 450 of navigable rivers, 39 miles of canals, and 322 of good roads.

A railway 60 miles long connects Georgetown with New Amsterdam, i.e., it reaches a point on the Berbice River opposite the latter city. Five miles of this road from Georgetown to Plaisance, completed and opened for traffic in 1848, is actually the oldest railway in South America. Another 19 mile line goes from Vreeden Hook opposite Georgetown on the Demerara River to Greenwich Park on the Atlantic at the mouth of the Essequibo. Another short line running through primeval forest has been laid from Wismar on the Demerara, 65 miles from its mouth, to Rockstone on the Essequibo to give access to the upper part of the latter river above extensive and dangerous rapids, and further to the Potaro and other gold fields. The Road, besides passenger and tourist traffic handles a variety of timber. Its owners, (Sprostons Ltd.), who employ over 1000 men, maintain a coast and river service, and own a foundry, lumber yard, etc. A railway to the Brazil boundary, long planned, would open up the interior and its valuable resources. From Rockstone, launches run 90 miles up the river to Potaro Landing. A service was to be organized to the Kaieteur Falls on the Potaro River.

Ferries cross the mouths of the three principal rivers, the Essequibo, the Demerara, and the Berbice. The estuary of the Essequibo River is 15 miles wide. It contains several large islands, on some of which are plantations. Vessels drawing less than 20 feet can enter the river and go up 50 miles. The mouth of the Demerara River, two miles wide, has a sand bar prohibiting the entrance of vessels drawing more than 19 feet. To such as enter, the river is navigable for 70 miles. The Berbice River, two miles wide at its mouth, is navigable 105 miles for vessels drawing 12 feet and 175 miles for boats drawing 7 feet. The Corentyn River with an estuary 14 miles wide is navigable for 150 miles; this river is the boundary between British and Dutch Guiana. Roads good enough for automobiles and carriages, which use them, extend from the Corentyn River along the coast some miles beyond the mouth of the Essequibo and a few miles up the rivers.

Resources

At present agriculture and mining are the leading industries.

Agriculture

Sugar, the chief source of revenue for the colony, in slavery days brought great wealth to the planters; but after the emancipation some estates were divided, the negroes refused to work steadily if at all, and production greatly declined. At length East Indians who were imported helped to revive the industry. Of 105,000 agricultural laborers 73,000 are East Indians. The plantations are mostly in the coastal lowlands where 77,000 acres are cultivated. Attention to the dams needed to keep out the sea in front and water from the morass at the side, also to the drainage ditches, necessary on account of the sudden rains, occasionally ten inches a day, adds much to the labor, as they demand incessant care. The value of the product in 1916 including sugar and rum was estimated at $15,000,000 or more. Demerara sugar has long been famous; the soil is extremely fertile.

Rice, to which 60,000 acres are devoted, and which the East Indians especially consume, is next to sugar in importance. Formerly 39,000,000 pounds were imported annually, while in 1916, about 70,000,000 pounds were produced and 30,000,000 exported. The largest producer is an American company. The value of the rice exported in 1916 was over $1,000,000. The quality is superior to the East Indian.