“The climate of the State is salubrious, and the communications with the mines good; wagons can pass from the river to them in five days, and steamers run every fortnight from the river to England and France in eighteen days, and monthly to New York in twelve days.
“In a scientific point of view the country is most interesting. It is emphatically an unexplored field; its geology, natural history, and botany, almost unknown; pictorially it is very beautiful; protection to life and property absolutely safe; and though somewhat rough in its accommodations, still most interesting to the traveller.
“With such unbounded sources of wealth within its borders, so accessible to the great centres of commerce, and under such an enlightened administration of public affairs, it requires no gift of prophecy to foresee the rapidity of development now opening for the great and prosperous State of Guayana.
“The scenery throughout the canton of Upata partakes more of the pastoral character, its most marked feature being quiet beauty. There are places, such as the site of the mission of Santa Maria, the approach to the Yuruary from Guacipati, the great palm forests near Palmar, and the mountain range of Nuri, which are grand, even sublime; but generally the scene is more park-like, the mountain forms quiet, the savannas sweeping off in long swells, with trees scattered over them singly, in groups, or groves, seemingly as if planted by man for pictorial effect. The valleys are fertile and luxuriant—all the productions of the tropical zone maturing almost without labor; the savannas furnish rich pasturage for tens of thousands of cattle—the forests are prolific in woods of the greatest value—the streams rapid, and their water good.
“The auriferous deposits beyond the Yuruary have been traced from that river through to the Ventuari, about four hundred miles; not, for all this distance, by continuous exploration, but in detached efforts, penetrating from the Orinoco at various points, and always striking the same general system of veins.”
As I understand that Mr. Austin is engaged in writing a book on this important subject, I abstain from further comments in the matter, convinced as I am, that no one is better calculated than himself to enlighten his countrymen respecting a region eminently adapted to the enterprising energy of the Anglo-Saxon race.
“Son árboles y piedras un tesoro,
Los montes plata y las arenas oro.”
Baralt, Oda á Colon.
In its trees and its stones are treasures untold,
Its mountains are silver, its sands are of gold.
Note.—According to the official returns of the State of Guayana which I have before me, the exports of gold through the Custom-house of Ciudad Bolívar for the months of April and May, 1867, amounted to $158,815.00.