The Wonderful Demerara River
By Major General (retd) Joseph G Singh MSS, MSc, FRGS
Borsselen Island in the Demerara River
The Demerara River – origin of its name, its profile and its significance
The early Spanish explorers referred to this river as ‘Rio de Mirar’, the wonderful river, but it was the Dutch who christened the river, the Demerara, from the word ‘Demirar’, the wonderful.[1]
The wonderful Demerara River originates from the rugged, rain-fed, forested northern slopes of the Makari Mountains, located slightly right of centre of the narrow waist of Guyana.
In 1956, while prospecting for diamonds at Lindo Creek, Matthew Young, man of many parts – sugar estate overseer, gold panner, diamond prospector and hinterland construction engineer during the 1920s to 1980, received an invitation to visit Mr Bleakey, a Government Geologist who was working in the area towards the source of the Demerara River. Young wrote:
“I dropped downriver to his riverside camp from where Edwards, his boat man carried me to the walking line on which Bleakey and his other geologists were working. The next day, I followed the geologists over laterite rock which was oozing water, in some places a foot deep. We continued walking through this water to climb a sandstone mountain about 1,000 feet high from which two black water tributaries emerged. At the top I found myself on a flat tableland of rock with dwarfed trees and shrubs. There was a grand view all around. From the southern tip I could clearly see the Makari Mountain peak rising above us. This then was the source of the Demerara River’[2].
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[1] Rev. L. Crookhall, British Guiana or Work and Wanderings among the Creoles, the Africans and Indians of the wild country. (London: T. Lester Union Ltd.)
[2] M F Young (1998), Guyana: The Lost El Dorado. Peepal Tree Press, UK
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Comments
A place called home in the valley of the Rio de Mirar…
Thick original lush forest once covered this area with luxuriant botanical wonders and magnificent hardwood trees of greenheart and mora with buttresses that extended 25 feet up the trunk. A river valley created by millions of years of erosion of the Guiana plateau whose water accumulated and deposited rich humus on its journey to the sea…
“I knew this river long before I could hold a pen
A river of life and history way back then
Sweet River of a lot more than tea water
Homes of Greenheart, concrete blocks and mortar
A river that spawn and even took life
Kind River that provided my precious wife
Flow on Demerara and carry on you may
Forevermore where souls gather at dawn of new day”
For centuries the rhythm of life of my family lived and died along the river banks of this wonderful river and article which stirred emotions of the heart…
“Walk along the rivershore of dreams
Reflection of memories drifting upstream
Voyager of time travel to your heart be true
Pleasant smiles paddling gently in canoe
Woodpecker echoes where clumsy Toucan flies
Fluffy clouds sailing across blue Demerara sky
Green world of dancing sun and wild fruitfulness
Laughing children swimming in fresh waters bless
Distant hums of bauxite mines and passing train
Sudden thunder and wet kisses of cleansing rain
Barking dogs of defiance runs along the shores
Box oven fresh bread and fried Lukanani adore
Floating rafts and tug with esteemed hardwood
Guided in the sun by strong arms that could
Resting hammock of future, strong and free
Sweet River of tide runs softly to the sea”
Thank you Sir for a great article!
Dmitri -you have captured in your poem the essence of this wonderful river. I was at the Canister Falls three weeks ago and the artist and poet in us cannot help but be enthralled by the haunting beauty of the falls.
Best for the Season. Joe
Hey …you guys are rewriting the history that Guyana is….
Land of many waters.
I will be on my journey of a lifetime…..
I fly to Lima Peru ….air conditioned recliner coach ride to where the
Mighty Amazon begins.
2 years ago I was in Tingo Maria a township of 4/5000 residents
on the edge of the amazon jungle….
I take a river boat and follow the Amazon river to Manaus living on board sleeping in a hammock …then onto Belem where the Amazon empties into the Atlantic.
At 70 its certainly a journey of a lifetime…….
Have already done the GT LINDEN LETHEM route via Amazon in a mini
van…through jungles of Guyana onto Boa Vista in Brazil by air conditioned
luxury coach £7 2 hours ride….did not have time to carry on to Manaus
hence my next planned journey….Lima Manaus Belem.
Also wish to see ENGLAND ITALY opening world cup football
match in Manaus in June.
Thanks for that bit of nostalgic history of Demerara
When I tell people on my travels in euro land I am from Guyana
I usually have to give a geography lesson on where it is.
But when I say Demerara most associate it with brown sugar…
Amazing how a name changes our perceptions.
OK enough blabbler…
Demitri and Joseph thanks for the enlightenment….
Merry Xmas
Happy 2014
Kamptan
Thank you Kamptan and Merry Christmas and enjoy what would be a magnificent trip All the best for 2014
Salud brother….
For those of us growing up in Georgetown and along the river, the Demerara River was an enduring witness of our day to day lives.
Thanks you Mr. Singh. I never knew that the name “Demerara” meant “wonderful.”
Rosaliene
Yes we never stop learning….the power of love comes from above…song comes to mind…..
our love for knowledge gives us an “insatiable” appetite for it….our brain like sponges….information is power !
Read/write on..
Merry Xmas
Happy 2014
Kamptan
A Merry Xmas to you, too, Kamptan, and lots more adventures in the New Year.
Thanks sister
Salud !
Kamptan