“Oh, I didn’t say that. Between harvest time and planting time, we dig shafts in the hills. But we don’t yet know where to dig in this land.”
“Until then, look for falling water when the water is low,” Kojo said suddenly. Questioned further, Kojo and Antoa explained that when a gold-bearing river reached a waterfall, the gold was deposited at its base, underwater, but the base might be more or less exposed at the height of the dry season. It wasn’t likely to be as productive as the lode gold mined by shafts, but it was better than nothing.
* * *
“I think I can depend on my fellow colonists to honor the agreement with the Ashanti.” said Heinrich. “The most experienced miners among us are those, like me, who worked alongside the Ashanti at the bauxite pits, and we became friends. Most of us, at any rate. But what about the sailors from the Patientia? Or your sailors? Or the treasure-seekers who’ll come from Europe, next year or the year after? Who’s going to keep the law after you sail off?”
“I’ve thought about that,” said David. He raised his voice. “By the powers vested in me as governor of the USE Territory of the Wild Coast, I hereby appoint you president of the Marowijne Mining District, including the bed and banks of the Marowijne River, and of all waters tributary thereon.
“There. You’ll keep them honest.”
“But I have no experience—”
“You’re one of the original colonists. You’re a miner. You’re a friend of the Ashanti. You can make it work. We’re going to build a fort right above Maria Falls, and I will leave my cousin Heyndrick there as militia commander of a mixed militia, composed of white colonists and Ashanti. I persuaded the Ashanti to settle here, so they don’t have to travel as much to reach the gold field each year. We’ll find other people to dig for bauxite back in Paranam.”
Low Water Time, Central Amazon (August–September 1636)
Coqui smacked his lips. “Any moment now.”
He and Tetube stood on a beach, their back to one of the creeks feeding into the Rio Negro, holding spears and improvised nets. Moonlight glinted off the sand and water.
“Here they come!”
The young river turtles, hatching in synchrony, made a mad dash for the water. Birds dive-bombed them, and caimans, dolphins and fish waited for them to take the plunge.
Coqui and Tetube became separated as they chased first one, then another hatchling.
Suddenly, Tetube found herself face to face with a jaguar. It snarled. She back-pedaled, and found her feet squishing into wet sand.
Agony! Her right leg cramped and collapsed under her.
She looked about fearfully for the jaguar but it was already trotting off with a turtle in its mouth.
“Coqui! Help!” she screamed.
He came running, and lifted her up. Once they were on higher ground, he inspected her foot.
The moonlight was bright enough to reveal the characteristic wound left by an angry stingray. Coqui winced in sympathy. Many fishermen bore stingray scars, on foot, ankle or calf.
The sting was serrated as well as venomous, and the pain was intense.
He hugged her. “I am here. It will be all right.”
In the morning, when there was light enough to gather the right plants, he made a poultice for her.
Even so, it was two weeks before the pain went away.
Lawa River region, Inland Eastern Guiana, September 1636
David had noted, with some curiosity, that the rains came and left at different times here, on the upper Maroni, than they had back in Gustavus. By the time the dry season began on the Lawa, in September, the colonists, and the crew of Patientia, had left the gold fields. David wondered whether they would make it back safely. And whether the Patientia would cause any problems for the Gustavans. Its cannon had been confiscated before David left Gustavus, but the crew could still be dangerous. David had to hope that Dirck and Carsten had taken the necessary precautions—they could call on Maurício for assistance—and of course as the colonists returned home the colony’s defenses would be stiffened. In any event, it was out of his hands.
David’s larger worry was the temper of his men. Initially, they had sought gold in high spirits, constructing wooden dams and chutes to control the high waters. However, the rainy season of the Guianas was at quite a different scale than anything the Forty-Niners of the American history books had to put up with. The waterworks had to be given up as a lost cause. Perhaps some other year, with better tools and more men, and begun sooner, it would work.
Then his men had dug shallow pits in the riverbanks and higher lands, wherever some peculiarity of vegetation or earth color led them to fancy that gold might be present.