The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

60 AMAZONLV AND LA PLATA.
Liberian plant, wliich thrives admirably in tbe Surinam territorj', better even
than iu Java itself.
In the north-western districts some attention has been paid to the haluta, a
plant which has been called the gutta-percha of Guiana. Cotton is no longer
grown, being entirely supplanted by cacao, the stajjle product, the cultivation of
which requires little care. Although the cacao tree produces nothing for eight
or ten years, after that it jHields a certain and regular harvest.
As a rule, the large plantations, whose products feed the export trade, enrich
the country less than do the small holdings, in which the negroes and peasantry
of various races raise provisions, vegetables, fruits, and especially bananas. An
experiment in communism has been carried out on the Onvericaeht estate, which is
Cultivated
Lands.
Fig'. 17.—CuLTrTATED Zone, Dutch Guiana.
Virf^
Forests.
Scale 1 : 4,000,000.
West oF Gi-ecnwicK
Lands granted
to Gold Miners.
Sand and
Shell Mounds.
78 Miles.
Sav.Tnnas.
jointly held by a colony of 300 negroes, engaged in husbandry and the lumber
business.
In Dutch, as in British Guiana, the gold industry has lately acquired
some importance. Diggings had already been carried on for some 20 years
in the French territory, when the Dutch Government had the affluents of the
Maroni explored, and here the precious metal was discovered by the prospector,
Alma, in 187-1. Since that time further discoveries have been made in the upper
valleys of all the rivers, and especially on the banhs of the Awa, the tributary of
the Maroni recently awarded to Holland.
The yearly yield of gold has steadily increased without having yet reached
the sum of £160,000. At first the auriferous sands ulouc were washed; but