293-303. With one exception, all the genera and species comprising our visitors had already given me a contribution for my collection: what I still missed was the glorious flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) which in spite of every trick resorted to, never came within shot. Every recent unsuccessful attempt had made me all the more determined not to rest until I had succeeded in gaining possession of this obstinate bird also. As the boats’ crews were mostly busy in other ways of a morning, it was generally at this time that I used to slink away by myself to one of the trenches, where often waiting in vain for hours at a time my patience would finally give way, and another bird have to do penance. And so today after having lain in ambush for several hours – what with the flood tide soon getting in and not wanting to come back empty-handed – I turned my gun on a red ibis which only being winged, now fluttered along the mud out towards the sea. Heedless, yet anxious to secure my catch, I hurried after it, but with every step sank deeper into the mire, until at last, unable to get forwards or backwards and fatigued with the exertion of trying to extricate myself, my position because still more desperate because it was soon before I could no longer use my arms. With all my remaining strength I shouted for help, a call that was fortunately heard and followed as quickly as possible by one of the boat’s crew, a negro. Directly he recognized my awful plight, he threw himself flat on the mud, and by winding and twisting his body sinuously along he edged himself towards me in a curious fashion without supporting himself on his hands save to a very slight extent. Though my own situation was dangerous enough, my attention and interest was so absorbed in this well-considered manoeuvre that I thought no more about myself until seized by my smart rescuer who, with similar twists and contortions, dragged me out of the mud-bath. On recognizing the cause of my plight and spotting the ibis which, fluttering in the meantime still farther out to sea, had got stuck in similar fashion, my rescuer, tempted by the delicate morsel, proceeded to fetch it: he threw himself on his stomach as before, and with the bird as a reward for his trouble, he returned to his tent, laughing all the way.
294. In addition to the terrible heat of the sun to which we were continually exposed and which so raised the temperature of the sand and shell that we could hardly walk or stand on it until the afternoon, we had been troubled now for some days past with the oppressive want of fresh water. Owing to the action of the washing tide upon the river waters we could only remedy this from a considerable distance: the boat that we had dispatched had but found it first in the Aruka, a tributary of the Barima. The enquiries concerning the navigability of the Waini did not by any means come up to our expectations, because the mouth even at the flood, only shows from 12 to 18 feet, a depth which is of course considerably increased farther up the stream. The sand-bank lay in 8o 24′ 46″ lat. N. and 59o 36′ long. W.
295. Having, for some days past now, made the very most of our little plot of ground from the natural history aspect, and the want of water making it advisable from another point of view to get rid of those of its consumers who were not required, it was arranged that all members of the boats’ crews who were not wanted for the coastal survey, should be dispatched ahead in one of the large corials to Cumaka, a settlement of the Warrau Indians on the bank of the Aruka. Mr King was appointed leader, to make necessary arrangement for setting up the second station there: I gladly joined him for during the last few days I had been walking on pins and needles, and the dark distant forest was temptingly inviting me to come.
296. Thus on the 27th April our small party left the barren shell-bank that now proved of no further use to me, and hastened to the fresh luxuriant green to the forests that were so plenteously and variously tenanted.
297. Owing to the sea-like expanse of the Waini estuary our late residence with its swaying flag-staff remained visible for a long while, until by paddling strongly we reached the spot where on the Western bank of the river, apparently at right angles of it, there branches off one of those curious natural canals which, as I only learnt later, are so peculiarly characteristic of this extensive stretch of coast. The Mora Creek (Marowan of the Indians) as the Colonists call this junction canal, although not quite navigable for sailing vessels, nevertheless offers to smaller sized craft the most convenient waterway between the Barima and the Waini, because at its branching off from the latter it has a depth of 16 feet and a width of 116.
298. Our hitherto smoothly-going trip was suddenly upset by the commencing flood, which at first drove its waters with such force up the broad Waini mouth and up the Mora Creek, that the steersman (captain) had to exercise all his powers and attention to avoid being jammed against the huge trees that in certain places rose out of the water in unexpected confusion: dangers that were still further augmented by the winding course of the channel. When the ebb set in the same effects were produced, but in a reverse direction, as the banked-up mass of water receded at a very considerably increased speed. By his skill and care our captain had fortunately evaded the dangers of the flood, but on the other hand it was only with the very greatest exertion that the strong arms of the crew were able to withstand the might of the falling ebb. The best thing always to be done is to wait until the first force of the on-coming ebb has spent itself. Large flocks of young ibis – they had probably been hatched here – were perched upon the shady foliage trees of the bank and induced us, like prudent housekeepers, to select some of them for supper: this nevertheless proved more difficult than we expected, because they always let us come within gun-shot but then flew away to settle again some hundred paces distant. It might have been quite an hour that they had been thus driven ahead before we succeeded in our purpose. At the same time I discovered in the thick leafy canopy of a tree a snake-neck bird (Plotus Anhinga Linn.) which seemed to be taking a comfortable rest, but soon after lay at my feet in the corial.
299. Fortunately and without further hindrance we reached the exit of the channel in the Barima, which proved to be a much considerably larger stream than I had even the remotest idea of, as its breadth amounted to at least 700 feet with a depth of 18 to 24 feet. The effect of the commencing flood-tide upon its dark waves was just as distinctly perceptible as it was on the Mora. The banks are quire as low and swampy as those of the Mora, and we looked in vain for a secure and dry little spot at which to land. But what was there to worry over? In front and close at hand the most luxuriant tropical vegetation was disclosed, and I stood before the portals of a world of wonders, the novelty and wealth of which I had never even dreamed.
300. Though the banks of the Mora had already claimed my entire interest, this was nevertheless very much more increased by those of the Barima. The loveliest palms, Euterpe oleracea Mart., Manicaria saccifera Gaert., stretched their proud fronds up above the dark succulent mass of foliage, and vied with the slender Leopoldinia pulchra Mart., both in beauty of growth and formation of leaf, while the precious Vanilla aromatica Sw. (V.guianensis Splitg.) wound itself in thick garlands up their slim shafts and trunks, and together with the most beautiful Begonias and Passiflora followed the lank columns in a most variously-coloured mixture, until they finally reached the crowns to form fairy-like draperies. Meanwhile the lovely Allamanda Aubletii Pohl. And Ruyschia Surubea Sw., covered the brushwood on the banks with their large yellow and red blossoms, and the pretty Oncidium Baueri Lindl. with yellow stalks, forced by rank growth to a
height of 10 or 12 feet, picked upon the trunks of older trees, out of the thickly-leaved branches of which the scarlet-red flowers of Epidendrum Schomburgkii Lindl. lighted us up on our way. The last mentioned always put in an appearance only when the waters of the stream had lost all traces of salt. The immediate bank enclosed a broad strip of Caladium arborescens Vent, which here and there was interrupted by whole stretches of Crinum the beautiful white and sweet-scented flowers of which, when the flood set in, were strewn over the surface of the water in the loveliest manner possible.
301. The more we widened our distance from the coast, the rarer became the specific coastal, vegetation. The Avicennia, Rhizophora and the Conocarpus had long disappeared when, just above five miles above the exit of the Mora into the Barima, we reached the mouth of the muddy and yellow Aruka: we followed this up to the entrance of its little tributary stream, the Cumaka on the banks of which lay the Warrau Indian settlement of the same name, the temporary object of our journey. We found its mouth, as later on its whole course, to be so overgrown with the rankest vegetation, that only a person who had previously satisfied himself of the fact would ever have thought of looking for a village here. It was for this reason that Mr King had all his work cut out to dispel my persistently recurring doubt in connection which we are a part – a reduction of our diplomatic space for manouevre.
This is partly because:
The priority that the United States has placed on the NAFTA/Mexico definition of an appropriate free trade area mechanism, seems to establish parameters limiting subsequent negotiation for free trade area relationships in the Hemisphere. Yet, as was made clear during the Mexican financial crisis of 1994, the salience which the US places on the “survivability” of Mexico is of an order far beyond that which characterizes its relationship with Caricom;
The alacrity with which the Central American states, and then the Dominican Republic have accepted the model, further legitimates it as an appropriate regional policy in the eyes of the US;
the priorities in international trade negotiation of middle/emerging powers like Brazil, which have placed constraints on our short-term planning/negotiation of revised preferential arrangements (in respect, to take one example, of Guyana’s objectives re a suitable preferential arrangement for its sugar exports);
The effects of the US-DR-CAFTA on the evolution of a successor arrangement to the CBTPA;
the placing of Caricom by the EU, from a long-term perspective, within a framework of its wider relationship with the Caribbean Basin countries as a whole, and, inevitably, its determination to match, from a competitiveness point of view, the US arrangements there;
the, let us call it, indeterminacy, in terms of longer-term diversity, of Cuba’s relationships with other Hemispheric countries, and a still-to-be articulated stance towards that country in terms of CSME integration/development priorities – as distinct form priorities relating to assistance from Cuba in respect of social development;
The emerging role of a Venezuelan government concerned with revising the terms and scope of regional integration, raising contentions within Caricom reminiscent of the period of the mid-1970’s;
The determination of the Dominican Republic to play roles simultaneously in multiple spheres of hemispheric integration appropriate to its own autonomously articulated direction;
The internationalization of the Haitian issue, the positioning of larger hemispheric states in the diplomacy and management of the issues relating to the country’s development, and the lack of a Caricom significant influence on outcomes in a Caricom member-state.
Our stance, from a collective Caricom perspective, a substantial emerging power, China, is hampered by our diverse recognition policies. While China itself is increasingly participating in regional integration activities in its own geo-economic sphere, and inevitably, developing perspectives on the utility of various modes of regional integration
This is a heavy agenda of issue to be simultaneously deliberated on, in respect of policy and strategy. The TWG’s proposals speak to the necessity for institutional continuity for coping with it, and thus with Caricom’s location in the Hemisphere in regard to the elaboration of its stances on the issues;
Our Regional negotiating Machinery was, established, as I have suggested earlier, on an ad hoc basis to deal with the specific emergencies of the REPA and FTAA negotiations, is not constructed to participate in the strategizing and decision-making on these issues.
The TWG, following on earlier proposals, suggests an alternative mode of articulating institutional arrangements that involves incorporation of the RNM, in dealing with this third arena of Caricom’s future preoccupations.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we summarise as follows:
The dynamic character of our contemporary, relevant, international environment is increasingly determining the options available to us. The old relationships that have given us a certain significance and empathy in the North Atlantic political and economic arena have weakened, and, as the recent REPA negotiations, and the US policy of bypassing us in its free trade area pursuits in the Caribbean Basin have shown, are progressively unable/unwilling to support our perspectives;
A determination of certain Hemispheric states to play significant roles in the drawing of new regional diplomatic and economic maps is emerging, a situation complicated for Caricom by the implications of the stances of these states on international trade and other economic issues;
Our institutional presence/visibility in these dynamic environments, including demonstration of our ability to articulate collectively-determined responses based on the assurance of legal capabilities for ensuring implementation- effectiveness, does not yet have the credibility that is required;
A rearrangement of the institutional systems that play diverse role on our behalf, in international negotiations, is now necessary – implying an integrated governance system for effectiveness, as well as from the point of view of parsimony of institutional arrangements in a small region;
The notion of national sovereignty need not impede the development of such a system, once the spheres of its authority and that of its organs, are clearly articulated, and relationships legally circumscribed. The TWG indicates modalities to that end;
All countries and regions, large and small, are currently grappling with this issue. The issues and complexities involved in the Europeans’ response to the change in European continental geopolitics and the relationship between institutional reorganization and enlargement, is a case in point. We are not unique in terms of the institutional demands that regionalization, as an aspect of globalization, is placing on us.