Exploration of the Venezuelan Guayana.

Los Angeles: (The Author), 1948. Original typescript. Probably one of two copies. Quarto. 21, [5, bibliography] leaves (rectos only) plus two folding maps ("Map of Venezuelan Guayana" and "Mapa-Croquis Geologico de la Gran Sabana"). Original full black morocco with gilt cover lettering, black endpapers. Spine rubbed and with one-inch pieces missing from top and bottom. Very clean copy in a tight, if a bit abraded, original binding.Although we never learn who commissioned Rene Engel to conduct this survey we can admire it's professionalism. Engel gives in depth information about the geography, geology and mining history of then Venezuelan Guayana. Gauyana achieved statehood in 1966. The area has a long history of gold and diamond mining with the biggest gold mines being near the Calloa lode which he considered a bit played out for methods of the time. Indeed the first map in this book (actually a photograph of a map) has marked on it the various diamond and gold mines and prospects marked on the map. His conclusion is as follows "After summing up the evidence in an objective way, the writer of of the opinion that the project as outline above is fully justified by the probable returns which would accrue from the expansion of the Eastern Venezuelan Guayana mining region into its unknown West." Rene Engel, a French national, received his master of science degree at the University of Paris in 1912. He sserved with distinction in the French Army during WWI and in 1920 emigrated to the U.S. and by 1925 was enrolled as a graduate student at Stanford. Due to his connections he finished his PhD at the California Institute of Technology in 1935. He served his new hoe in WWII in the Philippines and was captured and imprisoned at the infamous Santo Tomas camp. In the late 50s he was employed at the Naval Ordnance Test Station at China Like in California's Mojave Desert. He became interest in small submersibles. He was instrumental in bringing Picard’s deep-diving vehicle Trieste to this country and in bringing Jacques Cousteau’s diving saucer to San Clemente Island and participated personally in several dives.