No. 104. thing possible and reasonable to make it permanent and extend it; however, as all this depends upon the Governor, we can count but little upon the certainty of this business. Extract from letter from West India Company (Zeeland Chamber) to H. Gelskerke, Commandeur, and the Court of Policy in Essequibo, January 20, 1735. ̧ It is for this reason that we have decided hereby to give you express order, that by proclamation, to be read and posted as is customary, you without delay forbid each and every one, whoever he be, to take any hand-arms or material of war from the river to Orinoco, or to any other places not under the jurisdiction of the States General, on penalty, for the first offense, of confiscation of such arms and in addition of a fine to the double value of such arms; and, if any one be found to do it a second time, that he be banished from the river all the days of his life, persons thus banished being sent direct to this country. Extract from letter from H. Gelskerke, Commandeur in Essequibo, to West India Company, June 1, 1735. * [Reprinted from U. S. Commission, Report, Vol. 2, pp. 273-274.] * * * * * The Governor of Orinoco urgently asking me for a good quantity of bread, not only did politeness demand that I send it to him, but there was another important reason in the profits which this colony derives from trade with the people of the Orinoco. As long as peace continues and this trade remains open, such things cannot well be avoided, for, if I should not send anything in your name, the Governor could easily obtain it from the colonists, unless the export of provisions and bread were to be prohibited. However, inasmuch as this matter has greatly changed its aspect, this trade shall for the present not be interrupted except for weighty reasons; and in this matter, as also in all other cases that may present themselves, I shall try to act prudently and cautiously. I hope you will approve of my conduct up to this time, And, to finish this No. 106. subject of Orinoco, I shall inform you briefly that on the 20th January last I sent to Orinoco the necessary rum, wares, etc., to pay for six mules, with a boat to bring them back; but, as none had yet arrived at that time, and as the colonists to whom I had given passes brought back for the same reason only two of these animals, the Governor has kept the wares, sending provisionally three horses on account and answering me by a short complimentary letter, saying moreover to Van der Maale that he would furnish the mules at the earliest opportunity. Extract from letter from H. Gelskerke, Commandeur in Essequibo, to the West India Company, January 12, 1737. [Reprinted from U. S. Commission, Report, Vol. 2, p. 278.] * * f * * The post Wacupo and Moruca, formerly the most important trading place for the Company's annatto trade, has these last few years fallen off in this business. I have taken much pains to ascertain the reason, and it was told me that the postholder Jean Baptist was neglecting his duty; but after careful investigation I have found that, as most of the Indians who live in that neighborhood derive more profit from slave trade with the Surinamers, their wives grow listless about keeping up the heavy work on the dye. While I see no way of changing this, we must, nevertheless, keep up this post, because it was established for the maintenance of your frontiers stretching toward the Orinoco. Extract from letter from the Court of Policy in Essequibo to the West India Company, August 9, 1738. [Reprinted from U. S. Commission, Report, Vol. 2, p. 280.] We have the honor to inform you that three of your soldiers here in service have not hesitated, in the night between the 6th and 7th of last month, to desert from the new fort, where they formed a part of the garrison. But, through the wise direction of the first undersigned, they were speedily pursued and were arrested on the way to Orinoco, near the river Waini, and brought hither as prisoners. * * * * No. 109. Extract from letter from West India Company (Zeeland Chamber) to H. Gelskerke, Commandeur, and the Court of Policy in Essequibo, February 26, 1739. * [Reprinted from U. S. Commission, Report, Vol. 2, pp. 281-282.] * * * * * And our attention has in no less degree been aroused by the Secretary's writing that he is persuaded that minerals are to be found in the mountains up in the river Cuyuni. We know no reasons, moreover, why this should not be so, and have ourselves for many years been persuaded thereof; but the first question is whether he, the Secretary, can find out where work should begin in order to detect them, and what is his impression of those mountains, whether they are of earth or wholly of rock, in order that we may direct the miners, in case we send them, as to the tools they should take along. And, in the second place, we must also know whether, in case this work should be undertaken, you would be in condition to maintain yourself against the natives, if any are there or are to be looked for. We shall not hesitate to send you two able miners, if you can offer us prospect of success, but without that, the Company cannot afford to lay out needless costs on a shaky foundation, for the reasons adduced by the Secretary for his belief in this matter may be well grounded, and still it might be impossible of execution. In the meantime we earnestly recommend you to lend the Secretary a helping hand as to everything he thinks he can discover and as to what he may need to that end; and we promise him, and you also, that we will show you our appreciation of your success by a grant of a percentage of the profits. If by this ship we could receive some ore, so as to have it assayed here, this, in case of a good result, would stimulate us the more. Extracts from letter from H. Gelskerke, Commandeur in Essequibo, and L. S. van's Gravesande, Secretary, to the West India Company, May 1739. 20, [Reprinted from U. S. Commission, Report, Vol. 2, pp. 282–283.] SIRS: We have the honor to send you by this bottom a case marked with the Company's mark and numbered No. 1, wherein you will find certain ores specified in the inclosed list. No. 110. minutes above the Company's plantation Poelwijk, being a hill of white stone with golden dots, through which run numerons very broad veins westward straight through the river Mazaruni to a small island and eastward through a great hill on which there is a sugar plantation. * * * No. 2. This section contains stones with which a mountain above the plantation de Pelgrim (about 24 hours) is also covered to the depth of three to four feet. * * * Nos. 3, 4 and 12 contain specimens from some veins which run through a hill, just as above Poelwijk, being presumably of the same kind; these lie close by the company's coffee plantation. No. 8. A small piece of ore found up in the mountains of Cuyuni, not quite so high as the coffee plantation, but inland. This seems from outward signs to be copper, but has also auripigment in its veins, which ought to signify gold. No. 9. Also of another from the aforesaid mountains resembling silver. Nos. 10 and 11. Besides a piece of talc and a piece of terra lemnia, or sigillata, here to be had in abundance. No. 111. Extract from letter from H. Gelskerke, Commandeur in Essequibo, and L. S. van's Gravesande, Secretary, to the West India Company, September 15, 1739. * * As the continuous rainy season since the sailing of den jongen Daniel makes the road above the falls very dangerous, it has prevented the making of any further discovery--assuming that there especially something is to be found. Extract from letter from H. Gelskerke, Commandeur in Essequibo, to West India Company, Nov. 23, 1739. [Reprinted from U. S. Commission, Report, Vol. 2, pp. 284-285.] On the 3d of this month of March the surgeon Hortsman' set out Note by Prof Burr.-La Condamine, who later used this man's papers, spells his name Horstman. No. 112. with two of the best soldiers, well provided with arms and everything else necessary for his proposed journey above the falls of Essequibo, furnished with proper instructions and passes in the Latin and Dutch languages, to be used in case of necessity. We have moreover given him four skilled Creoles to serve as interpreters and guides among the Indians whom they shall pass on this journey, and who must be induced by small presents to help facilitate it. Extracts from Report of the Mining Engineer, Thomas Hildebrandt, March 9, 1741.1 [Reprinted from U. S. Commission, Report, Vol. 2, pp. 285–286. ] For the Amsterdam Chamber. I made a beginning of prospecting December 16, 1740, up in the rocks of the Mazaruni. I find there, from one side of the river to the other, rough, hard rock in sight, with wild, uninviting fragments of quartz interspersed; and the rock is of this sort for an hour, from above the plantation Poelwijk all the way to the river Essequibo. But beyond this there is another [sort of] rock, which extends its strata as far as towards the Blaauwenberg. I also prospected in the river Cuyuni--not further than a half-hour above the coffee-plantation-but found the rock w holly different from that in the river Mazaruni. At the [end of the] above-named rock which runs towards the Blaauwenberg from the river Essequibo I struck off across to the other side, to the so-called Blaauwenberg, and by way of this mountain came to the plantation New Walcheren (it is soft red and yellow rock, and has in it spaet trummeren), where I began a shaft, No 1, in order to cut through this spaet trummer, and to see what sort of metals it has along with it. * * * * * * In the rough rock up in Mazaruni, a half-hour above the plantation Poelwijk, I also opened a shaft, No. 2. * * * ** * In the aforementioned river Cuyuni, a half-hour above the coffee-plantation, I opened a shaft, No. 3, beneath a high hill. 1 * * * * 1 Note by Prof. Burr.-Hildebrandt was clearly a German, and his broken Dutch is often very puzzling. |