A Journey in Dutch Guiana

THIS paper is the story of a year spent in Dutch Guiana upon a zoological expedition to collect specimens and data for the British Museum (Natural History). It is an account of a sojourn in, rather than an expedition to, the country, and was made possible by the sales of a popular book on the lighter aspects of a previous scientific expedition to the British Cameroons. We also owe a great deal to the Government of Suriname. From the Governor downwards we received such understanding and assistance as can seldom have fallen to the lot of any party of investigators in a foreign country. Through an unfortunate loss of mail, we arrived in the country unheralded and entirely unknown, with a large car and forty cases full of the most suspicious assortment of gear. We came from a small country with emigration laws that are known to be homely, to say the least, via ports where a bad form of smallpox was raging, without return tickets, and with exactly sufficient ready cash to pay landing deposits, which would not have been required if the mails had not gone astray with our official letters of introduction. Every official and department however did everything possible to assist us. The Dutch indeed appreciate very fully the scientific attitude. Nor is it to the Government alone that I want to express our heartfelt thanks, but also to all those business houses, traders, and craftsmen, whether Surinaamers or foreigners to the country, like ourselves, who unceasingly helped us through the many intricate problems which we had to tackle during the year that we spent in Suriname. In addition my thanks are due first to my wife, not only for the more than fair share of all the work which she undertook but more

Geography · Caribbean history, culture, and politics · History