WEST INDIES.

BOOK I.

BRITISH GUIANA.

CHAPTER I.

GEOGRAPHY, AREA, HISTORY, &c. OF DEMERARA, ESSEQUIBO,

AND BERBICE.

BRITISH GUIANA, embracing the settlements on the rivers Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice, and covering an area of nearly 100,000 square miles,' extends about 200 miles from east to west, along that alluvial portion of the South American Continent termed the 'Main,' which is formed by the deltas of the mighty rivers Amazon and Orinoco, having for its boundaries on the east the mouth of the river Courantyn, in lat. 6° 10′ north, long. 56° 2′ 5′′ west; on the west the

Under the Demerara and Essequibo districts, 70,000 square miles; and within the Berbice territory, 25,000 ditto. WEST INDIES. B

VOL. II.

boundaries of Colombia, between the Baryma and Pomeroon rivers', about lat. 8° north, long. 60° west, and to the southward or inland, about 100 leagues, or perhaps to a mountain range (the Cordilleras) extending on the eastward to within two degrees of the equator 2.

GENERAL HISTORY.-A detail of the early history of this part of the South American Continent would be out of place in a work whose chief object is to enable the British public to form a correct view of the position, magnitude, and importance of our Co

'Some consider the river Baryma in latitude 8° 35' north, longitude 60° 10' west, the western boundary; others the Pomeroon river, latitude 7° 40' north, longitude 58° 50' west; but the limits have never yet been completely settled.

2 The territories on this coast are called, 1st, Spanish; 2nd, British; 3rd, French; and 4th, Portuguese, Guiana. The 1st, lying on both sides of the Orinoco, and extending south and south-west to the Rio Negro, and the Portuguese settlements, is bounded on the east by the river Baryma in 8° 50′ north latitude, 60° 5' west longitude; 2nd, British (formerly Dutch) Guiana described in the text; and 3rd, French Guiana (called Cayenne, from the name of the island on which the chief town stands,) extends from the boundary of British Guiana on the west, to Vincent Pinçon's bay, near Cape North, in latitude 2o 35' north, longitude 51° west; (this bay the Portuguese have confounded with the bay of the great river Oyapoko, which joins the sea in north latitude 4° 35' west, longitude 51° 20' ;) and 4th, Portuguese Guiana, it is alleged, extends from Cape North between the parallel of 1° and 2° 25′ north latitude to the junction of the great river Amazon with the Rio Negro or black river, thus cutting off the southern parts of French, British, and Spanish Guiana, from 51° to nearly 65° west longitude, 800 miles, and having for its south and south-west boundary the great river Amazon.

GENERAL HISTORY.

3

lonies; the leading points of the European settlement and English acquisition will therefore suffice. So early as 1580 the Dutch attempted to form small settlements along this coast on the banks of the Amazon, Orinoco, and Pomeroon rivers (for trading purposes); on the latter named river they had a factory called Nieuw Zealand, and in 1581 the StatesGeneral of Holland privileged certain individuals to trade to the coast. These proceedings were viewed with a jealous eye by the Spaniards, who, aided by the Indians, drove the Zealanders from their station. The persevering character of the Dutch would not allow a first check to daunt their efforts; their commander Joost Van Den Hoog succeeded in gaining possession of a small island at the junction of the Mazerooni and Cayuni, called Kykoveral, and in 1602 Jan Van Peere, a native of Flushing, attempted to open a trade with the Indians of the Orinoco, but was defeated by the Spaniards; the Zealanders, however, about this time effected a settlement on the banks of the Essequibo: in 1613 they reported their colony to be in a flourishing condition, and in 1621, the Dutch Government undertook to supply the colonists with negro slaves from Africa; for the prosecuting of which trade a company was formed and a monopoly granted. Jan Van Peere, with his companions, when driven by the Spaniards from the Orinoco, commenced colonizing on the banks of the Berbice river, and cleared a large extent of territory between the rivers of Berbice and Courantyn. In 1657, the Zealanders colonized on the river Pomeroon, and the creek Morocco, and erected thereon

the towns of New Zealand and New Middleburgh. It is said that, in 1662, after its settlement, the whole coast was ceded by Charles II. to Lord Willoughby, the then Governor of Barbadoes, who named the principal river wherein Paramaribo is situate, and, in fact, the whole colony, Surryham (in honour of the Earl of Surry, the term being afterwards changed into Surinam), and that the colony was purchased from the heirs of Lord Willoughby by the British Crown, and exchanged with the Dutch Government for New Holland, in North America (now New York). Essequibo, in 1665, was taken by the English, and afterwards plundered by the French; but both were expelled from the Dutch settlements, in the following year, by an expedition from Holland. In 1669 the whole of Dutch Guiana was transferred from certain gentlemen in Amsterdam, Flushing, &c., who claimed to be proprietors, to the Dutch West India Company. In 1712 the French took possession of Berbice by force from the Dutch proprietors; but, in 1714, returned it to its former owners, on the payment of a sum of money. At this period the States-General contracted for the supply of negroes to the colony, in the proportion of twothirds male, and one-third female, at the rate of 2501. each.

In 1720 the proprietors of Berbice, not having a capital equal to the cultivation of which the colony was capable, raised a fund of 3,200,000 florins, divided into 1600 shares of 2000 each, to be employed solely in cultivating sugar, cocoa, and indigo; 50 per cent. was to be repaid in 1724, the remainder

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when required by the Directors, who consisted of seven Proprietors (afterwards increased to nine), of 20,000 florins each, residing at Amsterdam: the former Proprietors of Berbice were also to be paid 800,000 florins, or allowed to purchase 400 shares. From this period the Colonies rapidly flourished and extended; coffee cultivation was introduced from Surinam, and a fort built at the junction of the Canje. A passage from the river Amazon to the Essequibo was discovered, in 1735, by a Portuguese named Silva de Rosa, who had been private secretary to the Viceroy of Brazil; but, having killed a nobleman in a duel, he fled with some negroes in a canoe along the Rio Branca, Tacusa, or Tatacotu, Maou, and across the lake Amuca; thence entering the Rippanouny, and finally reaching Essequibo.

In 1741 the planters at Essequibo, thinking the low lands near the sea more productive than the upper country, over which they had previously settled, began emigrating to the former; and, in 1745, the Directors of the Chamber of Zealand gave permission to form plantations on the uninhabited coast of the river Demerara. A most disastrous negro insurrection took place in Berbice in 1763, from which the colony was not relieved until after eleven months' desolation, and only then by the arrival of a strong squadron from Holland. Courts of policy and of civil and criminal justice were established for Demerara 1773, on an island named Borsden, about twenty miles up the river; but, the following year, the seat of Government was removed from thence to the east point of the mouth of the river, and named