Anonymous part of long autograph letter regarding the setting up of a syndicate to be named 'Guiana Rivers Ltd', addressed to 'My dear Joan'.

10 pages on 5 8vo leaves. In good condition, but with a few large blots. The first part of a letter by a writer who appears to be English. Straight out of B. Traven. The author wants Joan to join him and Gwen in partnership with Hamerly. 'Hamerly is down here from one of his expeditions & we became friendly through his having lived & travelled widely in the Paraguayan Chaco. He is rather what the Americans call a roughneck but he has a most exhaustive knowledge of South America having done some tremendous journeys right through Brazil has had some extraordinary adventures which he tells amusingly in his broken English [...] He is like a character in an adventure novel [...] has made personal friends of all the big men in the mining fields, the Venezuala Generals & Colonels &c & also of big Govt officials at Caraccas & he has obtained a concession of very rich gold lands immediately the other side of the frontier which he has not yet had time to work. The terms of his concession permit him to shoot anybody who goes on his land. [...]' There is 'a small shop at Five Stars run by a Chinaman Che Fat who could make a profit selling at 5 cents per lb cheaper [...] At Arakaka there is another Chinese store just sold out to Che Fat by Ho Shoo | Hamerly is in partnership with Camizoulia wealthy Portugee of Georgetown who sends up the goods he requires [...] He wants to extend by establishing a permanent store on the frontier & to do that it is necessary to squeeze out the Chinks [...] I have discussed the proposition with two experienced men & they both agree that the only sound way to do gold mining is to establish it on the basis of a bush store which provides cash to carry on prospecting till creeks with rich pay are found. [...] If a bush negro comes in with plenty of gold & buys his provisions dirt cheap he feels he has been well treated & is expansive & wants to buy gaudy useless things that attract him & then does not mind how much he pays for it as he is totally without any standard of comparison on which to form an estimate of it's [sic] value [...]' More in the same vein on such subjects as gold mining 'in the immediate vicinity of Arekaka'.