The Sun.
London, England, 1840-08-14 00:00:00

EVENING EDITION.

CAPABILITIES OF THE WES

INDIES.

I,lw.

The Corentyn coact, the most windward district of
Guiana, was originally divided into eighty lots of five
hundred acres each, with hack lands to any extent re-
quired ; as, however, it is the fashion to deny that good
cotton will grow at any great distance from the sea, I
will confine myself to double depths. Now, at one
period, seventy of these lots were in cotton, and, had
the supply of labour been continued either free or in-
dentLd, each lot would have produced at least three
hundred hales, and a sufficient supply of provisions,
cattle, poultry, &c., both for the planters and labourers.
Thus seventy estates alone would have furnished 21,000
bales of cotton ! But the remaining ten, no doubt,
would, under favourable circumstances, have also been
brought into cultivation, which, at the above average,
would have increased the crop to 24,000 bales ! The
question may here, perhaps, be with propriety asked,
low many labourers would have been required to ef-
fret this ? To which I reply, after deliberate calcula-
tion, and consulting many practical colonists-8,000 ac-
tual working people. The crop thus supposed to he
it may be added, is barely one-half of that which
is generally produced ; but to avoid controversy
throughout this mere matter-of-fact statement, I adopt
the lowest average.
The next part of Guiana to which reference is made,
is the east coast of Berbice. This agaia contains pre-
cisely eighty lots of land, of equal capabilities with the
last, and under similar circumstances would also con-
s:quently produce 24,000 bales of cotton. The west
coast, extending from the Berbice river to the Abary,
consists of fifty-four lots, all at one time, with one excep-
tion, in cotton, and that one solely abandoned for want
of labourers ; making an addition of 16,200 bales. From
the Mary to the Mahaienny. a distance of six miles,
(which, not being able to speak positively as to the ex-
act number of lots, I shall estimate by the usual calcu-
lation of four lots to a mile) there arc twenty-four es-
tates, yielding an additional 7,200 b tiles.
From the Nlahaicony to the nihaica, a distance of
twelve miles, or double the latter, there are, of course,
forty-eight estates, producing 14,400 bales.
From Alahaica to George Town the breadth of the
estates varies very much, but the depth exceeds that of
any other part of the colony. I will, therefore, take the
above moderate calculation of four to a mile, which,
the distance being twenty-five miles, gives 100 estates,
Or 30,000 bales.
j The above is about on ,-half of the acknowledged
cotton-growing portion of Guiana, but is quite sufficient
to answer the object proposed—namely, to prove the
capabilities of the soil to meet the demands of the home
market. The summary is as follows, each bale yielding
3001bs. net :

BALES. LES.
The Corentyn cons!.... 24 000 or 7 200,000
The cast coast of Berb ce ..... 24.000 7.200 000
The we.t coast of eitto
From the Abary to Mahaicony
From the Mahaicony to Ma,laiea 14,400 4,320 000
From Mahaica t 9 Gcorge TO‘N n 30.000 9,000,000

115.800 -34,740,000

This, doubled, amounts to t 231,600 bales! or
69.450,000 'tbs. and, by the previous calculation with
respect to labour, would require a working population
of 77,200—n0t the amount of the annual sacrifice of
human li!e in the Brazilian slave trade alone I—lsaac-
son on the West India Colonies.