Читать книгу Through British Guiana to the summit of Roraima онлайн

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Such an experience naturally prompts the question: Is there no better way of getting from Georgetown to the Potaro? Cannot this section also of the Essequebo be circumvented? Yes, a better way has been found, but it has not yet been made available for public use. There already exist eighteen and a half miles of railway from Vreed-en-hoop, on the Demerara River, opposite Georgetown, to Parika, on the Essequebo estuary. There also exists a much-neglected road, 67 miles long, built years ago by prison labour, from Bartika to the Kaburi gold-fields. It is now proposed to extend the railway for a distance of some thirty-four miles from Parika to a point opposite Bartika; and the trace has also been cut of a road extension from Kaburi to a place known as Garraway’s Landing, on the Potaro. The total distance from Bartika to Garraway’s Landing would be about a hundred miles; and, if this route were made available for motor traffic, it would be possible with suitable arrangements to make the journey by train from Georgetown to Bartika and onwards by motor-car from Bartika to the Potaro River in a single day between sunrise and sunset. Such a line of communication would be a boon to the colonists both at Bartika and on the Potaro River, besides being a great step towards bringing the Kaietuk plateau within reach; and I hope the day may not be far distant when its construction will be taken in hand.