THE  GUIANAS

i93

southern  border,  also  forming  the  western
boundary  of  French  Guiana.
The  topography  of  all  of  these  possessions
is  similar.  Toward  the  interior  are  mountains ­
  whose  watershed  forms  many  small  rivers
and  creeks  flowing  toward  the  Atlantic.  Between ­
  the  mountains  and  the  ocean  are  broad
fields  or  savannahs,  millions  of  acres  in  extent,
which  gradually  terminate  in  the  low  lands
near  the  sea.  In  the  highlands  and  toward  the
mountains  of  the  interior  the  climate  is  springlike, ­
  but  it  is  always  very  warm  along  the
coast,  the  temperature  being  about  8o°  Fahrenheit, ­
  the  entire  year.  There  is  much  rainfall
—100  inches  being  the  annual  average.
British  Guiana  covers  an  area  of  90,277
square  miles,  with  a  population  of  about  300,-000,
  composed  of  about  160,000  coolies,  imported ­
  by  contract  from  India  and  under  the
supervision  of  the  British  government,  the  remainder ­
  being  white,  black  and  mixed  breeds.
The  native  Indians  have  never  been  counted
owing  to  the  inaccessible  location  of  their
settlements.  The  East  Indians  were  brought