New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-04-21
rnrrITPoR IN BRITISH GUIANA AND
BLRBAD0ES.

....,c., GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH c. o,x,

M tbe British WeFt India coiOh'eF' che sceNe NJ
n. experiment Of the substitute :, Of F,aa for
s,.,e Labor in the productiO Of smear R-ssh
Gv;ana ard Barbados tab tbs lead hoth IN aha
smount and value of tho crovs. and if we except
Jsmaics 10 the Numb sr of their inhabitants.
The circum'tan' "a under which this Free. ,,bor
experiment h'.s been tired in these two colonies
have been ,<1ceediDgly different Barbados has a
narrow CenitOry and very dense population while
BI<fsh Guiana has population altogether made
quate to the extent of its Territory. There are
also very striking diversites in the coil and cl'rse
of the two colonies, ard indeed in the whole sys
tenn according to which the cultivation is carried
On.
We propose in series of articles (eaeea upon
information obtained snd observations maze dutng
a resent visit thither), to faru'sh the readerso
THE TRIBUNE with an account OF the progress
this exuer;ment TINS far in these two colonies, in
.luS,ng an account of the colonies themselves, and
et their present condition as Free communities con
trasted With their former condition.
British Guisna is the least generally known of
AL the British possessions in America Even 10 the
British House Of Commons il is frequently spoken
of a. IN island, whereas, it is part of the main
land of South America. As its inhabited and cult
waited portion IS of very peculiar character, 10
physisal point of view, whereby its agricultural
operations and lite social system generally, are es-
sentially modified, we shall devote ehis article to
description of the colony, considered in that
aspect.
The name of Guiana was early bestowed upon
that portion of South America, eight or nine hun
dred thousand OF perhaps million square miles in
extent, washed on the mo- th-eass by the Atlantic
Ocean, and separated from the rest of the continent
on the south by the river Amazon and its tributary
the Rio Negro, and on the north and west by the
Ori4oeo. Between the OrnccO and the Rio Ne
gre. the CassiquiaIe, bSOad and deep stream,
forms a natural water communication, thus in fact,
apsulstpg Guiana from the rest of the South Ameri
can Continent
The north. western portion of this extensiveregiOn,
bordering on the Orinoco, and known to geOgra-
phers as Spanish Guiana, belongs to the Republic
of Venezuela. TIE south. eastern and southern
portion, washed by the Amazon aud Rio Negro,
and known as Portuguese Guiana, forms part of
the Empire of Brazil. These two divisions en-
brace, terrtorisDy speaking by far the larger pOr-
hon of TIE entire region known as Guiana. Inter
mediate between them, and along the Atlantic
coast he the colonies belonging to the French,
Dutch, and English, known respectively as French
Guiana, or Cayenne, Dutch Guiana, or SGiinAm,
and British Guiana This latter appellston is,
however, of quite recent origin. II was first
brought into use at least officially 80 late as 1884,
81 when that name was given TO a newy-cOns6tuted
Government formed by the union under one admin
isstion of the territory formerly belonging to TIVE
separate colonies, known respectively as Demerara
and Esssquibo, and Berbice.
The colony Of British Guiana, thus const
tuted, extends along the coast of the Atlantic from
the River CoreHtyn, by which it is separated
from Dutch Guiana, and which flows into the At.
lantc in six degrees Of moth latitude and fy-seven
degrees of west longitude to the mouth of the Po-
meroon in seven DE- grees and half of north latitude
and ffy-nine degrees of west longitude dis-
lance, following the ndentstiOn of the coast ofsOme
two hundred miles, This at least lie as far west as
the present settlements extend or any permanent
Judgement has ever been made though claim has
been put forward to extend the British territory
along the coast almost or quite to the southern
embouchure Of the OrnOco, on the strength of Soma
old Dutch settlements those Of Ne,o- Zealand aud
Mto- MiddleJrvg, which still figure on maps and
charts, though they have hardly had any other ex-
istepce for two hundred years past. For il is to be
observed that what is now British Guiana was
originally a Dut,h possession, the colonies of
Berbice and of Essequbo and Demsrara having
been originally established by Dutch merchants and
planters and having only passed ito the hands Of
the British as viii be shown more fully hereafter
towards the close of the last century, pending
the French revolutionary war, and not defnitiyely
until the peace of 1875 At the same time it maybe
noticed as curious coincidence that the portion of
Guiana still remaining in the hands Of the Dutch
and known as Surinam originally settled by
English planters having been yielded up to the
Dutch as a sort of Offset for the seizure by the En-
gIsh of the Dutch North American settlement of
New Netherland.
The interior boundary which separates British
Guiana on the west and north from Venezuela, and
on the south from Brazil, is as yet entirely unset
tied According to a claim which mas been set up
by the EDelsh-based partly on former Dutch
explorations aud occupations, and partly on theO
retical idess-tO go back, at least 10 southern
direction, to the heads of the rivers which flow toto
the Atlantic within the admitted territory of British
Guiana thst province would obtain extent of not
less than "a, 900 square miles, which would give tia
territory exceeding that OF the State Of Virginia.
According 70 the ideas Of the Venezuelsns and Bra
Eilians, it would be curtaIed within the limits of
49,