Chapter XI: Act 1856: , is mainly declaratory of the English common law, as embodied (4)

GUERRAZZI, FRANCESCO DOMENICO (1804-1873), Italian publicist, born at Leghorn, was educated for the law at Pisa, and began to practise in his native place. But he soon took to politics and literature, under the influence of Byron, and his novel, the _Battagli di Benevento_ (1827), brought him into notice. Mazzini made his acquaintance, and with Carlo Bini they started a paper, the _Indicatore_, at Leghorn in 1829, which was quickly suppressed. Guerrazzi himself had to endure several terms of imprisonment for his activity in the cause of Young Italy, and it was in Portoferrato in 1834 that he wrote his most famous novel _Assidio di Firenze_. He was the most powerful Liberal leader at Leghorn, and in 1848 became a minister, with some idea of exercising a moderating influence in the difficulties with the grand-duke of Tuscany. In 1849, when the latter fled, he was first one of the triumvirate with Mazzini and Montanelli, and then dictator, but on the restoration he was arrested and imprisoned for three years. His _Apologia_ was published in 1852. Released from prison, he was exiled to Corsica, but subsequently was restored and was for some time a deputy at Turin (1862-1870), dying of apoplexy at Leghorn on the 25th of September 1873. He wrote a number of other works besides the novels already mentioned, notably _Isabella Orsini_ (1845) and _Beatrice Cenci_ (1854), and his _Opere_ were collected at Milan (1868).

See the _Life and Works_ by Bosio (1877), and Carducci's edition of
his letters (1880).

GUERRERO, a Pacific coast state of Mexico, bounded N.W. by Michoacan, N. by Mexico (state) and Morelos, N.E. and E. by Puebla and Oaxaca, and S. and W. by the Pacific. Area, 24,996 sq. m. Pop., largely composed of Indians and mestizos (1895), 417,886; (1900) 479,205. The state is roughly broken by the Sierra Madre and its spurs, which cover its entire surface with the exception of the low coastal plain (averaging about 20 m. in width) on the Pacific. The valleys are usually narrow, fertile and heavily forested, but difficult of access. The state is divided into two distinct zones--the _tierras calientes_ of the coast and lower river courses where tropical conditions prevail, and the _tierras templadas_ of the mountain region where the conditions are subtropical. The latter is celebrated for its agreeable and healthy climate, and for the variety and character of its products. The principal river of the state is the Rio de las Balsas or Mescala, which, having its source in Tlaxcala, flows entirely across the state from W. to E., and then southward to the Pacific on the frontier of Michoacan. This river is 429 m. long and receives many affluents from the mountainous region through which it passes, but its course is very precipitous and its mouth obstructed by sand bars. The agricultural products include cotton, coffee, tobacco and cereals, and the forests produce rubber, vanilla and various textile fibres. Mining is undeveloped, although the mineral resources of the state include silver, gold, mercury, lead, iron, coal, sulphur and precious stones. The capital, Chilpancingo, or Chilpancingo de los Bravos (pop. 7497 in 1900), is a small town in the Sierra Madre about 110 m. from the coast and 200 m. S. of the Federal capital. It is a healthy well-built town on the old Acapulco road, is lighted by electricity and is temporarily the western terminus of the Interoceanic railway from Vera Cruz. It is celebrated in the history of Mexico as the meeting-place of the revolutionary congress of 1813, which issued a declaration of independence. Chilpancingo was badly damaged by an earthquake in January 1902, and again on the 16th of April 1907. Other important towns of the state are Tixtla, or Tixtla de Guerrero, formerly the capital (pop. 6316 in 1900), 3 m. N.E. of Chilpancingo; Chilapa (8256 in 1895), the most populous town of the state, partially destroyed by a hurricane in 1889, and again by the earthquake of 1907; Iguala (6631 in 1895); and Acapulco. Guerrero was organized as a state in 1849, its territory being taken from the states of Mexico, Michoacan and Puebla.

GUERRILLA (erroneously written "guerilla," being the diminutive of the Span. _guerra_, war), a term currently used to denote war carried on by bands in any irregular and unorganized manner. At the Hague Conference of 1899 the position of irregular combatants was one of the subjects dealt with, and the rules there adopted were reaffirmed at the Conference of 1907. They provide that irregular bands in order to enjoy recognition as belligerent forces shall (a) have at their head a person responsible for his subordinates, (b) wear some fixed distinctive badge recognizable at a distance, (c) carry arms openly, and (d) conform in their operations to the laws and customs of war. The rules, however, also provide that in case of invasion the inhabitants of a territory who on the approach of the invading enemy spontaneously take up arms to resist it, shall be regarded as belligerent troops if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war, although they may not have had time to become organized in accordance with the above provisions. These rules were borrowed almost word for word from the project drawn up at the Brussels international conference of 1874, which, though never ratified, was practically incorporated in the army regulations issued by the Russian government in connexion with the war of 1877-78. (T. Ba.)

GUERRINI, OLINDO (1845- ), Italian poet, was born at Sant' Alberto, Ravenna, and after studying law took to a life of letters, becoming eventually librarian at Bologna University. In 1877 he published _Postuma_, a volume of _canzoniere_, under the name of Lorenzo Stechetti, following this with _Polemica_ (1878), _Canti popolari romagnoli_ (1880) and other poetical works, and becoming known as the leader of the "verist" school among Italian lyrical writers.

GUESDE, JULES BASILE (1845- ), French socialist, was born in Paris on the 11th of November 1845. He had begun his career as a clerk in the French Home Office, but at the outbreak of the Franco-German War he was editing _Les Droits de l'homme_ at Montpellier, and had to take refuge at Geneva in 1871 from a prosecution instituted on account of articles which had appeared in his paper in defence of the Commune. In 1876 he returned to France to become one of the chief French apostles of Marxian collectivism, and was imprisoned for six months in 1878 for taking part in the first Parisian International Congress. He edited at different times _Les Droits de l'homme_, _Le Cri du peuple_, _Le Socialiste_, but his best-known organ was the weekly _Egalite_. He had been in close association with Paul Lafargue, and through him with Karl Marx, whose daughter he married. It was in conjunction with Marx and Lafargue that he drew up the programme accepted by the national congress of the Labour party at Havre in 1880, which laid stress on the formation of an international labour party working by revolutionary methods. Next year at the Reims congress the orthodox Marxian programme of Guesde was opposed by the "possibilists," who rejected the intransigeant attitude of Guesde for the opportunist policy of Benoit Malon. At the congress of St-Etienne the difference developed into separation, those who refused all compromise with a capitalist government following Guesde, while the opportunists formed several groups. Guesde took his full share in the consequent discussion between the Guesdists, the Blanquists, the possibilists, &c. In 1893 he was returned to the Chamber of Deputies for Lille (7th circonscription) with a large majority over the Christian Socialist and Radical candidates. He brought forward various proposals in social legislation forming the programme of the Labour party, without reference to the divisions among the Socialists, and on the 20th of November 1894 succeeded in raising a two days' discussion of the collectivist principle in the Chamber. In 1902 he was not re-elected, but resumed his seat in 1906. In 1903 there was a formal reconciliation at the Reims congress of the sections of the party, which then took the name of the Socialist party of France. Guesde, nevertheless, continued to oppose the opportunist policy of Jaures, whom he denounced for supporting one bourgeois party against another. His defence of the principle of freedom of association led him, incongruously enough, to support the religious Congregations against Emile Combes. Besides his numerous political and socialist pamphlets he published in 1901 two volumes of his speeches in the Chamber of Deputies entitled _Quatre ans de lutte de classe 1893-1898_.

GUEST, EDWIN (1800-1880), English antiquary, was born in 1800. He was educated at King Edward's school, Birmingham, and at Caius College, Cambridge, where he graduated as eleventh wrangler, subsequently becoming a fellow of his college. Called to the bar in 1828, he devoted himself, after some years of legal practice, to antiquarian and literary research. In 1838 he published his exhaustive _History of English Rhythms_. He also wrote a very large number of papers on Roman-British history, which, together with a mass of fresh material for a history of early Britain, were published posthumously under the editorship of Dr Stubbs under the title _Origines Celticae_ (1883). In 1852 Guest was elected master of Caius College, becoming LL.D. in the following year, and in 1854-1855 he was vice-chancellor of Cambridge University. Guest was a fellow of the Royal Society, and an honorary member of the Society of Antiquaries. He died on the 23rd of November 1880.

GUEST (a word common to Teutonic languages; cf. Ger. _Gast_, and Swed. _gast_; cognate with Lat. _hostis_, originally a stranger, hence enemy; cf. "host"), one who receives hospitality in the house of another, his "host"; hence applied to a parasite.

GUETTARD, JEAN ETIENNE (1715-1786), French naturalist and mineralogist, was born at Etampes, on the 22nd of September 1715. In boyhood he gained a knowledge of plants from his grandfather, who was an apothecary, and later he qualified as a doctor in medicine. Pursuing the study of botany in various parts of France and other countries, he began to take notice of the relation between the distribution of plants and the soils and subsoils. In this way his attention came to be directed to minerals and rocks. In 1746 he communicated to the Academy of Sciences in Paris a memoir on the distribution of minerals and rocks, and this was accompanied by a map on which he had recorded his observations. He thus, as remarked by W. D. Conybeare, "first carried into execution the idea, proposed by [Martin] Lister years before, of geological maps." In the course of his journeys he made a large collection of fossils and figured many of them, but he had no clear ideas about the sequence of strata. He made observations also on the degradation of mountains by rain, rivers and sea; and he was the first to ascertain the existence of former volcanoes in the district of Auvergne. He died in Paris on the 7th of January 1786.

His publications include: _Observations sur les plantes_ (2 vols.,
1747); _Histoire de la decouverte faite en France de matieres
semblables a celles dont la porcelaine de la Chine est composee_
(1765); _Memoires sur differentes parties des sciences et arts_ (5
vols., 1768-1783); _Memoire sur la mineralogie du Dauphine_ (2 vols.,
1779). See _The Founders of Geology_, by Sir A. Geikie (1897).

GUEUX, LES, or "THE BEGGARS," a name assumed by the confederacy of nobles and other malcontents, who in 1566 opposed Spanish tyranny in the Netherlands. The leaders of the nobles, who signed a solemn league known as "the Compromise," by which they bound themselves to assist in defending the rights and liberties of the Netherlands against the civil and religious despotism of Philip II., were Louis, count of Nassau, and Henry, count of Brederode. On the 5th of April 1566 permission was obtained for the confederates to present a petition of grievances, called "the Request," to the regent, Margaret, duchess of Parma. About 250 nobles marched to the palace accompanied by Louis of Nassau and Brederode. The regent was at first alarmed at the appearance of so large a body, but one of her councillors, Berlaymont by name, was heard to exclaim, "What, madam, is your highness afraid of these beggars (_ces gueux_)?" The appellation was not forgotten. At a great feast held by some 300 confederates at the Hotel Culemburg three days later, Brederode in a speech declared that if need be they were all ready to become "beggars" in their country's cause. The words caught on, and the hall resounded with loud cries of "_Vivent les gueux!_" The name became henceforward a party appellation. The patriot party adopted the emblems of beggarhood, the wallet and the bowl, as trinkets to be worn on their hats or their girdles, and a medal was struck having on one side the head of Philip II., on the other two clasped hands with the motto "_Fidele au roy, jusques a porter la besace_." The original league of "Beggars" was short-lived, crushed by the iron hand of Alva, but its principles survived and were to be ultimately triumphant.

In the year 1569 the prince of Orange, who had now openly placed himself at the head of the party of revolt, granted letters of marque to a number of vessels manned by crews of desperadoes drawn from all nationalities. These fierce corsairs under the command of a succession of daring and reckless leaders--the best-known of whom is William de la Marek, lord of Lumey--were called "_Gueux de mer_," or "Sea Beggars." At first they were content with plundering both by sea and land and carrying their booty to the English ports where they were able to refit and replenish their stores. This went on till 1572, when Queen Elizabeth suddenly refused to admit them to her harbours. Having no longer any refuge, the Sea Beggars in desperation made an attack upon Brill, which they seized by surprise in the absence of the Spanish garrison on the 1st of April 1572. Encouraged by their unhoped-for success, they now sailed to Flushing, which was also taken by a _coup de main._ The capture of these two towns gave the signal for a general revolt of the northern Netherlands, and is regarded as the real beginning oi the War of Dutch Independence.

GUEVARA, ANTONIO DE (c. 1490-1544), Spanish chronicler and moralist, was a native of the province of Alava, and passed some of his earlier years at the court of Isabella, queen of Castile. In 1528 he entered the Franciscan order, and afterwards accompanied the emperor Charles V. during his journeys to Italy and other parts of Europe. After having held successively the offices of court preacher, court historiographer, bishop of Guadix and bishop of Mondonedo, he died in 1544. His earliest work, entitled _Reloj de principes_, published at Valladolid in 1529, and, according to its author, the fruit of eleven years' labour, is a didactic novel, designed, after the manner of Xenophon's _Cyropaedia_, to delineate, in a somewhat ideal way for the benefit of modern sovereigns, the life and character of an ancient prince, Marcus Aurelius, distinguished for wisdom and virtue. It was often reprinted in Spanish; and before the close of the century had also been translated into Latin, Italian, French and English, an English translation being by J. Bourchier (London, 1546) and another being by T. North. It is difficult now to account for its extraordinary popularity, its thought being neither just nor profound, while its style is stiff and affected. It gave rise to a literary controversy, however, of great bitterness and violence, the author having ventured without warrant to claim for it an historical character, appealing to an imaginary "manuscript in Florence." Other works of Guevara are the _Decada de los Cesares_ (Valladolid, 1539), or "Lives of the Ten Roman Emperors," in imitation of the manner of Plutarch and Suetonius; and the _Epistolas familiares_ (Valladolid, 1539-1545), sometimes called "The Golden Letters," often printed in Spain, and translated into all the principal languages of Europe. They are in reality a collection of stiff and formal essays which have long ago fallen into merited oblivion. Guevara, whose influence upon the Spanish prose of the 16th century was considerable, also wrote _Libro de los inventores del arte de marear_ (Valladolid, 1539, and Madrid, 1895).

GUEVARA, LUIS VELEZ DE (1579-1644), Spanish dramatist and novelist, was born at Ecija on the 1st of August 1579. After graduating as a sizar at the university of Osuna in 1596, he joined the household of Rodrigo de Castro, cardinal-archbishop of Seville, and celebrated the marriage of Philip II. in a poem signed "Velez de Santander," a name which he continued to use till some years later. He appears to have served as a soldier in Italy and Algiers, returning to Spain in 1602 when he entered the service of the count de Saldana, and dedicated himself to writing for the stage. He died at Madrid on the 10th of November 1644. He was the author of over four hundred plays, of which the best are _Reinar despues de morir_, _Mas pesa el rey que la sangre_, _La Luna de la Sierra_ and _El Diablo esta en Cantillana_; but he is most widely known as the author of _El Diablo cojuelo_ (1641), a fantastic novel which suggested to Le Sage the idea of his _Diable boiteux_.

GUGLIELMI, PIETRO (1727-1804), Italian composer, was born at Massa Carrara in May 1727, and died in Rome on the 19th of November 1804. He received his first musical education from his father, and afterwards studied under Durante at the Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto at Naples. His first operatic work, produced at Turin in 1755, established his reputation, and soon his fame spread beyond the limits of his own country, so that in 1762 he was called to Dresden to conduct the opera there. He remained for some years in Germany, where his works met with much success, but the greatest triumphs were reserved for him in England. He went to London, according to Burney, in 1768, but according to Florimo in 1772, returning to Naples in 1777. He still continued to produce operas at an astounding rate, but was unable to compete successfully with the younger masters of the day. In 1793 he became _maestro di cappella_ at St Peter's, Rome. He was a very prolific composer of Italian comic opera, and there is in most of his scores a vein of humour and natural gaiety not surpassed by Cimarosa himself. In serious opera he was less successful. But here also he shows at least the qualities of a competent musician. Considering the enormous number of his works, his unequal workmanship and the frequent instances of mechanical and slip-shod writing in his music need not surprise us. The following are among the most celebrated of his operas: _I Due Gemelli_, _La Serva inamorata_, _La Pastorella nobile_, _La Bella Peccatrice_, _Rinaldo_, _Artaserse_, _Didone_ and _Enea e Lavinia_. He also wrote oratorios and miscellaneous pieces of orchestral and chamber music. Of his eight sons two at least acquired fame as musicians--Pietro Carlo (1763-1827), a successful imitator of his father's operatic style, and Giacomo, an excellent singer.

GUIANA (_Guyana_, _Guayana_[1]), the general name given in its widest acceptation to the part of South America lying to the north-east from 8 deg. 40' N. to 3 deg. 30' S. and from 50 deg. W. to 68 deg. 30' W. Its greatest length, from Cabo do Norte to the confluence of the Rio Xie and Rio Negro, is about 1250 m., its greatest breadth, from Barima Point in the mouth of the Orinoco to the confluence of the Rio Negro and Amazon, 800 m. Its area is roughly 690,000 sq. m. Comprised in this vast territory are Venezuelan (formerly Spanish) Guiana, lying on both sides of the Orinoco and extending S. and S.W. to the Rio Negro and Brazilian settlements; British Guiana, extending from Venezuela to the left bank of the Corentyn river; Dutch Guiana (or Surinam), from the Corentyn to the Maroni river; French Guiana (or Cayenne), from the Maroni to the Oyapock river;[2] Brazilian (formerly Portuguese) Guiana, extending from the southern boundaries of French, Dutch, British and part of Venezuelan Guiana, to the Amazon and the Negro. Of these divisions the first and last are now included in Venezuela and Brazil respectively; British, Dutch and French Guiana are described in order below, and are alone considered here.

[Illiustration: Map of Guiana.]

In their physical geography the three Guianas present certain common characteristics. In each the principal features are the rivers and their branch streams. In each colony the northern portion consists of a fluviomarine deposit extending inland and gradually rising to a height of 10 to 15 ft. above the sea. This alluvial plain varies in width from 50 m. to 18 m. and is traversed by ridges of sand and shells, roughly parallel to what is now the coast, indicating the trend of former shore lines. By the draining and diking of these lands the plantations have been formed along the coast and up the rivers. These low lands are attached to a somewhat higher plateau, which towards the coast is traversed by numerous huge sand-dunes and inland by ranges of hills rising in places to as much as 2000 ft. The greater part of this belt of country, in which the auriferous districts principally occur, is covered with a dense growth of jungle and high forest, but savannahs, growing only a long wiry grass and poor shrubs, intrude here and there, being in the S.E. much nearer to the coast than in the N.W. The hinterlands consist of undulating open savannahs rising into hills and mountains, some grass-covered, some in dense forest.

_Geology_[3].--Guiana is formed almost entirely of gneiss and
crystalline schists penetrated by numerous dikes of diorite, diabase,
&c. The gold of the placer deposits appears to be derived, not from
quartz reefs, but from the schists and intrusive rocks, the selvages
of the diabase dikes sometimes containing as much as 5 oz. of gold to
the ton. In British Guiana a series of conglomerates, red and white
sandstone and red shale, rests upon the gneiss and forms the
remarkable table-topped mountains Roraima, Kukenaam, &c. The beds are
horizontal, and according to Brown and Sawkins, three layers of
greenstone, partly intrusive and partly contemporaneous, are
interstratified with the sedimentary deposits. The age of these beds
is uncertain, but they evidently correspond with the similar series
which occurs in Brazil, partly Palaeozoic and partly Cretaceous. In
Dutch Guiana there are a few small patches supposed to belong to the
Cretaceous period. Along the coast, and in the lower parts of the
river valleys, are deposits which are mainly Quaternary but may also
include beds of Tertiary age.

_History._--The coast of Guiana was sighted by Columbus in 1498 when he discovered the island of Trinidad and the peninsula of Paria, and in the following year by Alonzo de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci; and in 1500 Vincente Yanez Pinzon ventured south of the equator, and sailing north-west along the coast discovered the Amazon; he is believed to have also entered some of the other rivers of Guiana, one of which, now called Oyapock, is marked on early maps as Rio Pinzon. Little, however, was known of Guiana until the fame of the fabled golden city Manoa or El Dorado tempted adventurers to explore its rivers and forests. From letters of these explorers found in captured ships, Sir Walter Raleigh was induced to ascend the Orinoco in search of El Dorado in 1595, to send Lawrence Keymis on the same quest in the following year, and in 1617 to try once again, with the same intrepid lieutenant, an expedition fraught with disaster for both of them. As early as 1580 the Dutch had established a systematic trade with the Spanish main, but so far as is known their first voyage to Guiana was in 1598. By 1613 they had three or four settlements on the coast of Demerara and Essequibo, and in about 1616 some Zeelanders settled on a small island, called by them _Kyk ober al_ ("see over all"), in the confluence of the Cuyuni and Mazaruni rivers. While the Dutch traders were struggling for a footing in Essequibo and Demerara, English and French traders were endeavouring to form settlements on the Oyapock river, in Cayenne and in Surinam, and by 1652 the English had large interests in the latter and the French in Cayenne. In 1663 Charles II. issued letters patent to Lord Willoughby of Parham and Lawrence Hyde, second son of the earl of Clarendon, granting them the district between the Copenam and Maroni rivers, a province described as extending from E. to W. some 120 m. This colony was, however, formally ceded to the Netherlands in 1667 by the peace of Breda, Great Britain taking possession of New York. Meanwhile the Dutch West India Company, formed in 1621, had taken possession of Essequibo, over which colony it exercised sovereign rights until 1791. In 1624 a Dutch settlement was effected in the Berbice river, and from this grew Berbice, for a long time a separate and independent colony. In 1657 the Zeelanders firmly established themselves in the Pomeroon, Moruca and Demerara rivers, and by 1674 the Dutch were colonizing all the territory now known as British and Dutch Guiana. The New Dutch West Indian Company, founded in that year to replace the older company which had failed, received Guiana by charter from the states-general in 1682. In the following year the company sold one-third of their territory to the city of Amsterdam, and another third to Cornelis van Aerssens, lord of Sommelsdijk. The new owners and the company incorporated themselves as the Chartered Society of Surinam, and Sommelsdijk agreed to fill the post of governor of the colony at his own expense. The lucrative trade in slaves was retained by the West Indian Company, but the society could import them on its own account by paying a fine to the company. Sommelsdijk's rule was wise and energetic. He repressed and pacified the Indian tribes, erected forts and disciplined the soldiery, constructed the canal which bears his name, established a high court of justice and introduced the valuable cultivation of the cocoa-nut. But on the 17th of June 1688 he was massacred in a mutiny of the soldiers. The "third" which Sommelsdijk possessed was offered by his widow to William III. of England, but it was ultimately purchased by the city of Amsterdam for 700,000 fl. The settlements in Essequibo progressed somewhat slowly, and it was not until immigration was attracted in 1740 by offers to newcomers of free land and immunity for a decade from taxation that anything like a colony could be said to exist there. In 1732 Berbice placed itself under the protection of the states-general of Holland and was granted a constitution, and in 1773 Demerara, till then a dependency of Essequibo, was constituted as a separate colony. In 1781 the three colonies, Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice, were captured by British privateers, and were placed by Rodney under the governor of Barbados, but in 1782 they were taken by France, then an ally of the Netherlands, and retained until the peace of 1783, when they were restored to Holland. In 1784 Essequibo and Demerara were placed under one governor, and Georgetown--then called Stabroek--was fixed on as the seat of government. The next decade saw a series of struggles between the colonies and the Dutch West India company, which ended in the company being wound up and in the three colonies being governed directly by the states-general. In 1796 the British again took possession, and retained the three colonies until the peace of Amiens in 1802, when they were once again restored to Holland, only to be recaptured by Great Britain in 1803, in which year the history proper of British Guiana began.

British Guiana.

I. BRITISH GUIANA, the only British possession in S. America, was formally ceded in 1814-1815. The three colonies were in 1831 consolidated into one colony divided into three counties, Berbice extending from the Corentyn river to the Abary creek, Demerara from the Abary to the Boerasirie creek, Essequibo from the Boerasirie to the Venezuelan frontier. This boundary-line between British Guiana and Venezuela was for many years the subject of dispute. The Dutch, while British Guiana was in their possession, claimed the whole watershed of the Essequibo river, while the Venezuelans asserted that the Spanish province of Guayana had extended up to the left bank of the Essequibo. In 1840 Sir Robert Schomburgk had suggested a demarcation, afterwards known as the "Schomburgk line"; and subsequently, though no agreement was arrived at, certain modifications were made in this British claim. In 1886 the government of Great Britain declared that it would thenceforward exercise jurisdiction up to and within a boundary known as "the modified Schomburgk line." Outposts were located at points on this line, and for some years Guianese police and Venezuelan soldiers faced one another across the Amacura creek in the Orinoco mouth and at Yuruan up the Cuyuni river. In 1897 the dispute formed the subject of a message to congress from the president of the United States, and in consequence of this intervention the matter was submitted to an international commission, whose award was issued at Paris in 1899 (see VENEZUELA). By this decision neither party gained its extreme claim, the line laid down differing but little from the original Schomburgk line. The demarcation was at once undertaken by a joint commission appointed by Venezuela and British Guiana and was completed in 1904. It was not found practicable, owing to the impassable nature of the country, to lay down on earth that part of the boundary fixed by the Paris award between the head of the Wenamu creek and the summit of Mt. Roraima, and the boundary commissioners suggested a deviation to follow the watersheds of the Caroni, Cuyuni and Mazaruni rivers, a suggestion accepted by the two governments. In 1902 the delimitation of the boundary between British Guiana and Brazil was referred to the arbitration of the king of Italy, and by his reward, issued in June 1904, the substantial area in dispute was conceded to British Guiana. The work of demarcation has since been carried out.

_Towns, &c._--The capital of British Guiana is Georgetown, at the mouth of the Demerara river, on its right bank, with a population of about 50,000. New Amsterdam, on the right bank of the Berbice river, has a population of about 7500. Each possesses a mayor and town council, with statutory powers to impose rates. There are nineteen incorporated villages, and ten other locally governed areas known as country districts, the affairs of which are controlled by local authorities, known as village councils and country authorities respectively.

_Population._--The census of 1891 gave the population of British Guiana as 278,328. There was no census taken in 1901. By official estimates the population at the end of 1904 was 301,923. Of these some 120,000 were negroes and 124,000 East Indians; 4300 were Europeans, other than Portuguese, estimated at about 11,600, and some 30,000 of mixed race. The aborigines--Arawaks, Caribs, Wapisianas, Warraws, &c.--who numbered about 10,000 in 1891, are now estimated at about 6500. In 1904 the birth-rate for the whole colony was 30.3 per 1000 and the death-rate 28.8.

_Physical Geography._--The surface features of British Guiana may be
divided roughly into four regions: first, the alluvial seaboard, flat
and below the level of high-water; secondly, the forest belt, swampy
along the rivers but rising into undulating lands and hills between
them; thirdly, the savannahs in and inland of the forest belt,
elevated table-lands, grass-covered and practically treeless; and
fourthly, the mountain ranges. The eastern portion of the colony, from
the source of its two largest rivers, the Corentyn and Essequibo, is a
rough inclined plain, starting at some 900 ft. above sea-level at the
source of the Takutu in the west, but only some 400 at that of the
Corentyn in the west, and sloping down gradually to the low alluvial
flats about 3 ft. below high-water line. The eastern part is generally
forested; the western is an almost level savannah, with woodlands
along the rivers. The northern portion of British Guiana, the
alluvial flats alluded to already, consists of a fluviomarine deposit
extending inland from 25 m. to 30 m., gradually rising to about 12 ft.
above high-water mark and ending against beds of sandy clay, the
residua of igneous rocks decomposed _in situ_, which form an extensive
undulating region rising to 150 ft. above the sea and stretching back
to the forest-covered hills. Roughly parallel to the existing
coast-line are narrow reefs of sand and sea-shells, which are dunes
indicating the trend of former limits of the sea, and still farther
back are the higher "sand hills," hills of granite or diabase with a
thick stratum of coarse white sand superimposed. From the coast-line
seawards the ocean deepens very gradually, and at low tide extensive
flats of sand and of mixed clay and sand (called locally "caddy") are
left bare, these flats being at times covered with a deposit of thin
drift mud.

Two great parallel mountain systems cross the colony from W. to E.,
the greater being that of the Pacaraima and Merume Mts., and the
lesser including the Kanuku Mts. (2000 ft.), while the Acarai Mts., a
densely-wooded range rising to 2500 ft., form the southern boundary of
British Guiana and the watershed between the Essequibo and the Amazon.
These mountains rise generally in a succession of terraces and broad
plateaus, with steep or even sheer sandstone escarpments. They are
mostly flat-topped, and their average height is about 3500 ft. The
Pacaraima Mts., however, reach 8635 ft. at Roraima, and the latter
remarkable mountain rises as a perpendicular wall of red rock 1500 ft.
in height springing out of the forest-clad slopes below the summit,
and was considered inaccessible until in December 1884 Messrs im Thurn
and Perkins found a ledge by which the top could be reached. The
summit is a table-land some 12 sq. m. in area. Mt. Kukenaam is of
similar structure and also rises above 8500 ft. Other conspicuous
summits (about 7000 ft.) are Iwalkarima, Eluwarima, Ilutipu and
Waiakapiapu. The southern portion of the Pacaraima range comprises
rugged hills and rock-strewn valleys, but to the N., where the
sandstone assumes the table-shaped form, there are dense forests, and
the scenery is of extraordinary grandeur. Waterfalls frequently
descend the cliffs from a great height (nearly 2000 ft. sheer at
Roraima and Kukenaam). The sandstone formation can be traced from the
northern Pacaraima range on the N.W. to the Corentyn in the S.E. It is
traversed in places by dikes and sills of diabase or dolerite, while
bosses of more or less altered gabbro rise through it. The surface of
a large part of the colony is composed of gneiss, and of gneissose
granite, which is seen in large water-worn bosses in the river beds.
Intrusive granite is of somewhat rare occurrence; where found, it
gives rise to long low rolls of hilly country and to cataracts in the
rivers. Extensive areas of the country consist of quartz-porphyry,
porphyrites and felstone, and of more or less schistose rocks derived
from them. These rocks are closely connected with the gneissose
granites and gneiss, and there are reasons for believing that the
latter are the deep-seated portions of them and are only visible where
they have been exposed by denudation. Long ranges of hills, varying in
elevation from a few hundreds to from 2000 ft. to 3000 ft., traverse
the plains of the gneissose districts. These are caused either by old
intrusions of diabase and gabbro which have undergone modifications,
or by later ones of dolerite. These ranges are of high importance, as
the rocks comprising them are the main source of gold in British
Guiana.

_Rivers._--The principal physical features of British Guiana are its
rivers and their branches, which form one vast network of waterways
all over it, and are the principal, indeed practically the only,
highways inland from the coast. Chief among them are the Waini, the
Essequibo, and its tributaries the Mazaruni and Cuyuni, the Demerara,
the Berbice and the Corentyn. The Essequibo rises in the Acarai Mts.,
in 0 deg. 41' N. and about 850 ft. above the sea, and flows northwards
for about 600 m. until it discharges itself into the ocean by an
estuary nearly 15 m. in width. In this estuary are several large and
fertile islands, on four of which sugar used to be grown. Now but one,
Wakenaam, can boast of a factory. The Essequibo can be entered only by
craft drawing less than 20 ft. and is navigable for these vessels for
not more than 50 m., its subsequent course upwards being frequently
broken by cataracts and rapids. Some 7 m. below the first series of
rapids it is joined by the Mazaruni, itself joined by the Cuyuni some
4 m. farther up. It has a remarkable course from its source in the
Merume Mountains, about 2400 ft. above the sea. It flows first south,
then west, north-west, north, and finally south-east to within 20 m.
of its own source, forming many fine falls, and its course thereafter
is still very tortuous. In 4 deg. N. and 58 deg. W., the Essequibo is
joined by the Rupununi, which, rising in a savannah at the foot of the
Karawaimento Mts., has a northerly and easterly course of fully 200 m.
In 3 deg. 37' N. the Awaricura joins the Rupununi, and by this
tributary the Pirara, a tributary of the Amazon, may be reached,--an
example of the interesting series of _itabos_ connecting nearly all S.
American rivers with one another. Another large tributary of the
Essequibo is the Potaro, on which, at 1130 ft. above sea-level and in
5 deg. 8' N. and 59 deg. 19' W., is the celebrated Kaieteur fall,
discovered in 1870 by Mr C. Barrington Brown while engaged on a
geological survey. This fall is produced by the river flowing from a
tableland of sandstone and conglomerate into a deep valley 822 ft.
below. For the first 741 ft. the water falls as a perpendicular
column, thence as a sloping cataract to the still reach below. The
river 200 yds. above the fall is about 400 ft. wide, while the actual
waterway of the fall itself varies from 120 ft. in dry weather to
nearly 400 ft. in rainy seasons. The Kaieteur, which it took Mr Brown
a fortnight to reach from the coast, can now be reached on the fifth
day from Georgetown. Among other considerable tributaries of the
Essequibo are the Siparuni, Burro-Burro, Rewa, Kuyuwini and
Kassi-Kudji. The Demerara river, the head-waters of which are known
only to Indians, rises probably near 5 deg. N., and after a winding
northerly course of some 200 m. enters the ocean in 6 deg. 50' N. and
58 deg. 20' W. A bar of mud and sand prevents the entrance of vessels
drawing more than 19 ft. The river is from its mouth, which is nearly
2 m. wide, navigable for 70 m. to all vessels which can enter. The
Berbice river rises in about 3 deg. 40' N., and in 3 deg. 53' N. is
within 9 m. of the Essequibo. At its mouth it is about 2-1/2 m. wide,
and is navigable for vessels drawing not more than 12 ft. for about
105 m. and for vessels drawing not more than 7 ft. for fully 175 m.
Thence upwards it is broken by great cataracts. The Canje creek joins
the Berbice river close to the sea. The Corentyn river rises in 1 deg.
48' 30" N., about 140 m. E. of the Essequibo, and flowing northwards
enters the Atlantic by an estuary some 14 m. wide. The divide between
its head-waters and those of streams belonging to the Amazon system is
only some 400 ft. in elevation. It is navigable for about 150 m., some
of the reaches being of great width and beauty. The upper reaches are
broken by a series of great cataracts, some of which, until the
discovery of Kaieteur, were believed to be the grandest in British
Guiana. Among other rivers are the Pomeroon, Moruca and Barima, while
several large streams or creeks fall directly into the Atlantic, the
largest being the Abary, Mahaicony and Mahaica, between Berbice and
Demerara, and the Boerasirie between Demerara and Essequibo. The
colour of the water of the rivers and creeks is in general a dark
brown, caused by the infusion of vegetable matter, but where the
streams run for a long distance through savannahs they are of a milky
colour.

_Climate._--The climate is, as tropical countries go, not unhealthy.
Malarial fevers are common but preventible; and phthisis is prevalent,
not because the climate is unsuitable to sufferers from pulmonary
complaints, but because of the ignorance of the common people of the
elementary principles of hygiene, an ignorance which the state is
endeavouring to lessen by including the teaching of hygiene in the
syllabus of the primary schools. The temperature is uniform on the
coast for the ten months from October to July, the regular N.E. trade
winds keeping it down to an average of 80 deg. F. In August and
September the trades die away and the heat becomes oppressive. In the
interior the nights are cold and damp. Hurricanes, indeed even strong
gales, are unknown; a tidal wave is an impossibility; and the nature
of the soil of the coast lands renders earthquakes practically
harmless. Occasionally there are severe droughts, and the rains are
sometimes unduly prolonged, but usually the year is clearly divided
into two wet and two dry seasons. The long wet season begins in
mid-April and lasts until mid-August. The long dry season is from
September to the last week in November. December and January
constitute the short rainy season, and February and March the short
dry season. The rainfall varies greatly in different parts of the
colony; on the coast it averages about 80 in. annually.

_Flora._--The vegetation is most luxuriant and its growth perpetual.
Indigenous trees and plants abound in the utmost variety, while many
exotics have readily adapted themselves to local conditions. Along the
coast is a belt of courida and mangrove--the bark of the latter being
used for tanning--forming a natural barrier to the inroads of the sea,
but one which--very unwisely--has been in parts almost ruined to allow
of direct drainage. The vast forests afford an almost inexhaustible
supply of valuable timbers; greenheart and mora, largely used in
shipbuilding and for wharves and dock and lock gates; silverbally,
yielding magnificent planks for all kinds of boats; and cabinet woods,
such as cedar and crabwood. There may be seen great trees, struggling
for life one with the other, covered with orchids--some of great
beauty and value--and draped with falling _lianas_ and vines. Giant
palms fringe the river-banks and break the monotony of the mass of
smaller foliage. Many of the trees yield gums, oils and febrifuges,
the bullet tree being bled extensively for _balata_, a gum used
largely in the manufacture of belting. Valuable varieties of rubber
have also been found in several districts, and since early in 1905
have attracted the attention of experts from abroad. On the coast
plantains, bananas and mangoes grow readily and are largely used for
food, while several districts are admirably adapted to the growth of
limes. Oranges, pineapples, star-apples, granadillas, guavas are among
the fruits; Indian corn, cassava, yams, eddoes, tannias, sweet
potatoes and ochroes are among the vegetables, while innumerable
varieties of peppers are grown and used in large quantities by all
classes. The dainty avocado pear, purple and green, grows readily. In
the lagoons and trenches many varieties of water-lilies grow wild, the
largest being the famous _Victoria regia_.

_Fauna._--Guiana is full of wild animals, birds, insects and reptiles.
Among the wild animals, one and all nocturnal, are the mipourrie or
tapir, manatee, acouri and labba (both excellent eating), sloth,
ant-eater, armadillo, several kinds of deer, baboons, monkeys and the
puma and jaguar. The last is seen frequently down on the coast,
attracted from the forest by the cattle grazing on the front and back
pasture lands of the estates. Among the birds may be mentioned the
carrion crow (an invaluable scavenger), vicissi and muscovy ducks,
snipe, teal, plover, pigeon, the ubiquitous kiskadee or _qu'est que
dit_, a species of shrike--his name derived from his shrill call--the
canary and the twa-twa, both charming whistlers. These are all found
on the coast. In the forest are maam (partridge), maroudi (wild
turkey), the beautiful bell-bird with note like a silver gong, the
quadrille bird with its tuneful oft-repeated bar, great flocks of
macaws and parrots, and other birds of plumage of almost indescribable
richness and variety. On the coast the trenches and canals are full of
alligators, but the great cayman is found only in the rivers of the
interior. Among the many varieties of snakes are huge constricting
camoudies, deadly bushmasters, labarrias and rattlesnakes. Among other
reptiles are the two large lizards, the salumpenta (an active enemy of
the barn-door fowl), and the iguana, whose flesh when cooked resembles
tender chicken. The rivers, streams and trenches abound with fishes,
crabs and shrimps, the amount of the latter consumed being enormous,
running into tons weekly as the coolies use them in their curries and
the blacks in their foo-foo.

_Government and Administration._--Executive power is vested in a governor, who is advised in all administrative matters by an executive council, consisting of five official and three unofficial members nominated by the crown. Legislative authority is vested in the Court of Policy, consisting of the governor, who presides and without whose permission no legislation can be initiated, seven other official members and eight elected members. This body has, however, no financial authority, all taxation and expenditure being dealt with by the Combined Court, consisting of the Court of Policy combined with six financial representatives. The elected members of the Court of Policy and the financial representatives are elected by their several constituencies for five years. Qualification for the Court of Policy is the ownership, or possession under lease for a term of twenty-one years, of eighty acres of land, of which at least forty acres are under cultivation, or of house property to the value of $7500. A financial representative must be similarly qualified or be in receipt of a clear income of not less than L300 per annum. Every male is entitled to be registered as a voter who (in addition to the usual formal qualifications) owns (during six months prior to registration) three acres of land in cultivation or a house of the annual rental or value of L20; or is a secured tenant for not less than three years of six acres of land in cultivation or for one year of a house of L40 rental; or has an income of not less than L100 per annum; or has during the previous twelve months paid L4, 3s. 4d. in direct taxation. Residence in the electoral district for six months prior to registration is coupled with the last two alternative qualifications. Plural voting is legal but no plumping is allowed. The combined court is by this constitution, which was granted in 1891, allowed the use of all revenues due to the crown in return for a civil list voted for a term now fixed at three years. English is the official and common language. The Roman-Dutch law, modified by orders-in-council and local statutes, governs actions in the civil courts, but the criminal law is founded on that of England. Magistrates have in civil cases jurisdiction up to L20, while an appeal lies from their decisions in any criminal or civil case. The supreme court consists of a chief justice and two puisne judges, and has various jurisdictions. The full court, consisting of the three judges or any two of them, has jurisdiction over all civil matters, but an appeal lies to His Majesty in privy council in cases involving L500 and upwards. A single judge sits in insolvency, in actions involving not over L520, and in appeals from magistrates' decisions. The appeal full court, consisting of three judges, sits to hear appeals from decisions of a single judge in the limited civil, appellate and insolvency courts. Criminal courts are held four times a year in each county, a single judge presiding in each court. A court of crown cases reserved is formed by the three judges, of whom two form a quorum provided the chief-justice is one of the two. There are no imperial troops now stationed in British Guiana, but there is a semi-military police force, a small militia and two companies of volunteers. The Church of England and the Church of Scotland are both established, and grants-in-aid are also given to the Roman Catholic and Wesleyan churches and to several other denominations.

The revenue and expenditure now each amount annually to an average of
a little over L500,000. About one-half of the revenue is produced by
import duties, and about L90,000 by excise. The public debt on the
31st of March 1905 stood at L989,620.

The system of primary education is denominational and is mainly
supported from the general revenue. During 1904-1905, 213 schools
received grants-in-aid amounting to L23,500, the average cost per
scholar being a little over L1. These grants are calculated on the
results of examinations held annually, an allowance varying from 4s.
4-1/2d. to 1s. 0-1/2d. being made for each pass in reading, writing,
arithmetic, school-garden work, nature study, singing and drill,
English, geography, elementary hygiene and sewing. Secondary education
is provided in Georgetown at some private establishments, and for boys
at Queen's College, an undenominational government institution where
the course of instruction is the same as at a public school in
England, and the boys are prepared for the Cambridge local
examinations, on the result of which annually depend the Guiana
scholarship--open to boys and girls, and carrying a university or
professional training in England--and two scholarships at Queen's
College.