Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/263

bella peccatrice, Rinaldo, Artasesse, Didone, and Eneo 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- 1817), a successful imitator of his father’s operatic style,

and Giacomo, an excellent singer.

GUIANA, Guyana, or Guayana, an extensive territory in the north-eastern part of South America, comprehending in its widest acceptation all the extent of country lying between the rivers Amazon and Orinoco from 3° 30'S. to 8° 40' N. lat., and from 50° 22’ to 68° 10’ W. long. It is bounded on the N. by the Orinoco and the Atlantic, E. by the Atlantic, S. by the rivers Negro and Amazon, and W. by the Orinoco and the Cassiquiare, Its greatest length from east to west is about 1200 miles, its greatest breadth, from the mouth of the Orinoco to the confluence of the tio Negro with the Amazon, about 800 miles ; and the estimated area is 690,000 square miles. This vast territory is divided into Brazilian (formerly Portuguese) Guiana, Venezuelan (formerly Spanish) Guiana, and Colonial Guiana. The first two divisions, comprising about five-sixths of the entire region, are claimed by or included in Brazil and Venezuela respectively ; and stretching eastward from the mouth of the Orinoco towards that of the Amazon lie the territorics of British, Dutch, and French Guiana, which are in that order noticed below.

Columbus in 1498 decided that the Orinoco must flow through some vast continent. Vincent Yanez Pinzon, a Spanish navigator, is believed to have first sailed up the Amazon from the coast. Vasco Nuiiez landed on the coast of Guiana in 1504, but the discovery is also claimed for Diego de Ordas, one of the captains of Cortez in the con- quest of Mexico in 1531. Sir Walter Raleigh ascended the Orinoco in 1595 in search of the El Dorado. The first settlement is stated to be that of some Dutch people in 1580 near the river Pomeroon. This possession was contested by the Spaniards, but in 1613 a colony of A2rlanders on the banks of the Essequibo was reported in a flourishing condition. English and subsequently French colonization was attempted up the Surinam river. The English returned in 1652 to Paramaribo, and in 1662 the whole colony was granted by Charles IT. to Lord Wil- loughby. In 1669, however, Dutch Guiana covered all the territory now divided into British, Dutch, and French. In 1712 the French attacked the settlement and exacted a contribution. In 1732 Berbice received a constitution from the states-general, and in 1763 there was a formid- able insurrection of negro slaves who had been introduced from Africa. In 1781 Rodney took possession ; and though the colonies were restored to Hollaud in 1783, they sur- rendered again to the British in 1796. The Dutch resumed authority in 1802, and in 1803 the proper history of British Guiana began.

I. British Guiana, when finally acquired in 1803, and formally ceded in 1814, consisted of the three colonies, Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice, so named after the principal rivers which drain them. These were consolidated into one colony in July 1831. It is bounded on the N. and N.E. by the Atlantic, E. by Dutch Guiana, from which it is separated by the river Corantyn, S. by Brazil, and W. by Venezuela. It lies between 0° 40’ aud 8° 40’ N. lat., and 57° and 61° W. long., and has an estimated area of 76,000 square miles, but the boundaries are still dis- puted by Venezuela and Brazil. An engagement, however, exists between the British and Venezuelan Governments that neither shall occupy territory claimed by both. The colony has now three divisions, called couuties:—Berbice, extending from the Corantyn about 95 miles along the sea-coast ; Demerara, from the Abari about 65 miles, in- cluding Georgetown, the capital ; and Essequibo, from the river of that name abont 120 miles to the Barima near the Orinoco mouth. There is thus a length of coast of 280 miles, with an extent inland varying from 300 to 450 miles.

Surface.—From the coast-line seaward the ocean deepans

very gradually, and at low tide extensive mud-flats and saudbanks are left bare. Traced inland, this fluvio-marine deposit 1s found to rise to 10 or 12 feet above high-water mark, and to end at an older deposit of sand and clay beds, which forms an extensive undulating country, rising to not more than 150 feet above the sea, and stretching back to where the solid rock strata underlying it crop out. Upon the rich alluvial soil of the depressed coast-land, and for a few miles up the rivers, the sugar estates are situated. They are not only protected by dams from the sea, but, as in wet weather water rapidly accunmlates in the savannahs behind, they are similarly defended on that side also. A narrow sand reef, some little distance farther inland, run- ning parallel with the coast-line, marks a previous sea limit, and still farther back a higher range of coarse white sand probably marks a yet earlier coast. The eastern portion of the colony from the sources of the Corantyn and Essequibo is a rough inclined plane, sloping down to the sea-level from a height of about 800 feet, the most elevated part being mountainous and rising to 2000 feet above the sea. This plain extends westward and northward, broken by ranges of mountains, its western portion constituting part of the extensive savannah which stretches eastward from Brazil. Two great parallel mountain systems cross the colony from west to east, the greater being that of the Pacaraima and Merumé mountains, and the lesser including the Canucn, Cumucumu, and Coratamung mountains, while the Sierra Acarai, a densely wooded chain rising to 2500 feet, forms the southern boundary of Guiana and the watershed be- tween the Essequibo and the tributaries of the Amazon. The Pacaraima mountains, a wide extent of rough country traversed by broad valleys, extend from about 4° to 5° 30' N. lat., and rise to 3000 feet between the Potaro and Siparuni rivers, and to 7500 feet at Roraima mountain, which rises, a perpendicular inaccessible wall of red sand- stone, at the extreme western limits of the colony. The southern portion of Pacaraima shows rugged hills and valleys strewn with rocks, but to the north, where the sandstone assumes table-shaped forms, there are dense forests, and the scenery is of extraordinary grandeur.

The Imataca range lies between the Cuyuni and Barima