The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-06-05 00:00:00

BRITISH GUIANA

EXTRACTS FROM " A DESCRIPTION OF BRITISH GUIANA,
GEOGRAPHICAL AND STATISTICAL : EXHIBITING ITS
RESOURCES AND CAPABILITIES, TOGETHER WITH THE
PRESENT CONDITION, AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF 'rife
COLONY. By R. H. ScHoMBURGIC, EsQ."
(Continued from our last.)
CLIMATE.
Though Guiana is situated on the torrid zone, it enjoys
comparatively a more temperate climate than other countries
under the same latitude. The mean temperature for the
year is 81°'2, the maximum 90 degrees, the minimum 74 de-
grees. It is generally considered that two wet and two dry
seasons constitute the changes during the year. However
regular the setting in of these periods may have been for-
merly, this has not been the case during later years. The
great dry season commences at the coast regions towards the
end of August, and continues to the end of November, after
which showers of rain follow to the end of January : the short
dry season continues in the middle of February, and continues
to the middle of April. The rains descend afterwards in
torrents, and the rivers commence to inundate their shores.
During that period the wind is frequently from the west and
south-west, and, coming from the land. is thought un-
healthier than the regular sea-breeze, which timing the dry
season begins to set in between ten and eleven A.M., and con-
tinues until sunset, sometimes even through the night. The
months of October and November are the most delightful in
the year; the sky cloudless, the heat moderate, and the
thermometer at noontide scarcely higher than 85 degrees
Fahr. During the rainy season the oppressive weight of the
atmosphere is tempered by northern breezes, and in the
months of September to November the breezes from the east
and south-east, which have passed over a vast extent of the
ocean, are invigorating. and refresh the air to such a degree,
that during the night the thermometer has been known to
fall to 74 degrees Fahr. •
The moisture necessary to maintain vegetation is then re-
placed by dew ; and not only in the interior, where the coun-
try is not extensively, cleared, but likewise in the open savan-
nahs, the trees and plants will be found in the morning
dripping with dew.
The change of the season is marked by severe thunder-
storms ; but however loud the peals of thunder may rever-
berate, and however vivid the flashes of lightning which pre-
cede them. fatal accidents by lightning are unknown in
Guiana. Gales are scarcely known, much less those terrific
pliwnomena of nature—hurricanes, which in the neighbouring
islands destroy in a brief time the fruits of many years' labour,
causing devastation and loss of life to a vast extent.
A few shocks of earthquake are occasionally felt, but they
are so insignificant that the inhabitants scarcely notice them
when they occur.
The temperature of the interior is still more mild, and the
climate healthy. The season in the interior is only marked
by two changes ; from the month of August to the month of
March there are only occasional showers, but from March to
August the rain descen& in torrents, and the rivers com-
mence to swell and overflow their banks, to a greater or less
extent according to their locality.
The night is generally from 8 degrees to 10 degrees cooler
than the day. A greater difference prevails however at the
table land, from which Roraima rises to a height of 7000 feet;
there I have known a difference of 35 degrees in the range of
the thermometer, compared at the hours of five in the morn-
ing and two in the afternoon. At this table-land, which was
only elevated about 3000 feet above the sea, the thermometer
half an hour before sunrise ranged between 59 degrees and
62 degrees, and rose between two and three o'clock in the
afternoon to 95 degress in the shade.
When the heat of the air is greatest, the temperature of the
water in the rivers is at its lowest comparative point; and
during night, but chiefly towards sunrise, the water is about
10 deg. warmer than the air. The Indian takes his custom-
ary bath generally in the morning, when the water is most
congenial to the feelings.
The climate of British Guiana has been described as un-
healthy, and detrimental to European settlers ; consequently.
emigrants have rather preferred encountering the chilly
blasts and severe winters of Canada and the United States,
or to subject themselves to the horrors of a prolonged voyage
to Australia, there to suffer expatriation perhaps for ever
from their native homes and families, than to settle in a
colony where constant summer prevails, and which, with the
nigh establishment of regular steam-boats to those parts,
may be reached in 16 or 17 days from England.
But by a comparison of facts, it may be demonstrated that
the climate of British Guiana ensures as great a duration of
life as that of many European countries. It has been proved
" that the range of mortality even among the labouring
population, is about one in thirty seven to forty, but in Lon-
don and France it is equal as regaris the whole population,
rich and poor, and in other countries it is even more : thus
in Naples one in thirty-four ; Wirtemberg, one in thirty-
three ; Paris, one in thirty-two ; Madrid, one in twenty-
nine ; Rome, one in twenty-five ; Amsterdam, one in twenty-
four ; Vienna, one in twenty-two and a half; and a com-
parison of the mortality in Demerara and the healthy county
of Rutlandshire in England, proves that duration of life is in
favour of the colony."
The fatal cholera which committed such destruction in
Asia, Europe, and America, and which in Quebec carried to
the grave a tenth of its whole population, was never felt in
-Guiana, neither was the influenza or the grippe.
When physicians were unacquainted with the proper method
of treating the yellow fever, many Europeans fell victims to
that disease. Medical men are at present more successful in
its treatment, and for many years it had totally disappeared.
After an interval of fifteen years it showed itself again in
1837, and was evidently to be ascribed to local causes, viz.,
to the neglected state of the sewers and the filth accumulated
between the wharfs. The wharfs,
_which extend along Water-
street or the commercial part of Georgetown, were formerly
erected upon piles, and the tide had full access to carry off
whatever filth had accumulated : at a later period these wharfs
have been erected of masonwork, and as a separate wharf is
generally attached to every lot or building, openings have re-
mained between them which are too narrow to allow the tide
to enter freely and to sweep away the impure matter thrown
there by neglect. The rapid decomposition of animal and
vegetable matter under the tropics created in this instance
an effluvium, which is generally considered by the physicians
in the colony to have been the cause of the late calamity. It
showed itself therefore first in Water-street, and was mostly
restricted to that part of the town: it spread next among the
shipping which were anchored in front of these wharfs, where
it Prevailed with great mortality among the sailors. In the
infected part,, of the town a faint and sickly smell was per-
ceived ; and it haz; been, I believe, generally acknowledged
and proved, that those who were attacked by the disease out
of town or in Berbice, had previously visited Water-street
and breathed the noxious exhalations. Immediate contact
with the sick did not propagate the disease, nor did seclusion
diminish it; and there is no instance known in which it ex-
tended to the more elevated places in the interior.
(To be continued.)

Standard Office, Three o'clock.

We have obtained the following latest intelligence
from China, through favour of Mr. Court, of the Un-
derwriters' Rooms, by the arrival of the ship Tapley in
the Downs.

Tongkoo Bay, sth Jan. 1840.
Up to this date the shipping remain unmolested by the
Chinese Government. But the Imperial Commissioner has
issued an edict prohibiting the importation into Canton of
all British manufactures or pi °duce after the 18th ult., un-
der the penalty of confiscation of both ship and cargo, whe-
ther in American bottoms or not; the shipping are, in conse-
quence, preparing to proceed to Manilla, to land their car-
goes there.
Accounts have just been received from Manilla of the loss
of the Marquis of Camden on the 11th nit., on a new reef in
Mindore Sea, two days sail from Manilla. The captain,
crew, and 250 chests of opium, were picked up, and
taken to that port by the French ship L'Asie, who claims,
it is reported, a third salvage. Hull sold for 1002 dollars,
and cargo.for 4502 dollars, purchasers taking all risks.

LIVERPOOL CORN EXCHANGE,—Tms DAY.
Although the wind has been favourable for arrivals, the
receipts of English and Irish produce have been altogether
small; and 2005 quarters of Wheat, 949 quarters Indian
Corn, and 3734 barrels of Flour from the American States,
with 482 quarters of Wheat from Europe, comprehend the
whole of the supplies into this port from abroad since
Tuesday.
The only alteration in the duties this week, is an advance
upon Barley, Indian Corn, and Buck Wheat to 4s. 10d. per
quarter. Upon Foreign Wheat and Flour duties are being
gradually, but not freely, paid ; whilst of Barley and Indian
Corn, the remnant lying here in bond has been nearly, if not
wholly, entered for consumption. . .

In any department of the corn trade, from the early part
of the week until to-day, the proceedings have been of such
trivial import as to preclude the necessity of any particular
remarks.

At the commencement of the market this morning, good
fresh Wheats were mostly held at our last quotations, but
having few buyers in attendance, and no extensive business
being practicable, the trade exhibited a languid appearance,
and, in partial instances, a decline of ld. to 2d. per 701bs.
was conceded.

Flour, duty paid, finds a moderate demand from consum-
ers on the terms last noted ; and in bonded samples, which
continue at late prices, no sales of moment have been report-
ed to-day.
Malting Barley is now offering for grinding, and 40s. per
quarter may be deemed its utmost value ; Foreign, however,
in consequence of the rise in duty, moves off rather freely, at
the full rates of Tuesday.
Malt, Beans, and Pease, remain steady.—Oats continued
to meet a very limited inquiry, but from the small supply at
hand prices remain unvaried.
Oatmeal was somewhat more saleable to country dealers
to-day, and, with a further demand for reshipment to Ire-
land, the current rates of Tuesday were maintained.

ARRIVALS OF CORN,
From the 2nd to the 4th June, 1840, inclusive.