DEMERARA, or Demerary, a colony belonging to Great Britain, in the northern part of South America. It is now composed of what formerly constituted the two governments of Demerara and Essequibo, both of which having been permanently secured to Great Britain by the peace of 1814, have been formed into one settlement, and now constitute but one province. Stabroek, the principal city, and the seat of the government, is in latitude 6° 46' north, and 57° 45' west longitude from London. It is bounded on the east by a line drawn from the mouth of Albany Creek, which divides it from the British colony of Berbice, and on the western side by the river Pomaron, which divides it from Spanish Guyana. Its northern boundary is the Atlantic Ocean, and its southern is undetermined.

On this coast the tides rise to the height of from sixteen to twenty-four feet. The river Demerara has a bar across its mouth, which prevents ships of large burden from entering it. Vessels not drawing more than fourteen feet may be loaded in the river, but those of greater draught must complete their loading without the bar. At Stabroek there are convenient wharfs towards the river, but they are only safe for small craft to lie alongside them, on account of the withdrawing of the tide and the declivity of the bank. Vessels, therefore, are compelled to load and discharge their cargoes in the middle of a rapid stream. The other river, the Essequibo, has no bar, and is easily entered by the largest merchant ships, but they must also be loaded and unloaded in the stream. Although the cultivation in Demerara at present exceeds that on the Essequibo, yet the greater depth of water in the latter river, and the absence of a bar at its entrance, will, at no distant period, raise this settlement above that on the former river.

The river Demerara is navigable for ships about fifty miles above Stabroek, and perhaps even higher; but as there are no plantations at a greater distance, no accurate survey of it has been taken. At 130 miles from its mouth are considerable cataracts, beyond which the Europeans have not explored its course; but the Arrowauk Indians, who descend in large canoes, represent it as accessible above the cataracts to a much greater distance than the latter are from the sea. Information respecting the river Essequibo is equally obscure. About sixty miles from its mouth it is divided into three branches, the easternmost of which proceeds from the supposed lake Parima, on which [7:7:705] the imaginary city of El Dorado was expected to be found. Another branch, called the Cayonny, is supposed to be occasionally connected with the river Orinoco; but the woods are so difficult of access, the swamps so extensive, the country so unhealthy, and the inhabitants so irritable, that probably many years must elapse before our geographers can become acquainted with the origin and courses of the vast rivers which water the whole of Guyana.

The first settlements on the river Essequibo were made by the Dutch in 1706, and those on the Demerara in 1746. But the colonies made very slow progress in cultivation for a long period after their first establishment, and even in their origin a considerable portion of the largest capitals was furnished by British subjects. They continued to languish during the first few years after their settlement, solely from the want of capital, since the fertility of the soil seems to have been known from the commencement. In the year 1781 they surrendered to a small British squadron, but at the conclusion of the peace in 1783 they were given back to the Dutch. In 1796 they were again taken, and at the peace of Amiens again given up. During this latter period very considerable British capitals had been embarked in the cultivation of the colony, the proprietors of which became much embarrassed by its cession; but the progress of improvement was scarcely arrested when, the war again breaking out, it was surrendered to a British armament, which, though incompetent to take forcible possession, was sufficient to justify the surrender of its willing inhabitants. As the progress of the settlement had been principally owing to British capital, it seemed but just that it should be permanently ceded to the nation with which it was most intimately connected, and from which its prosperity had arisen; and accordingly it was given up permanently to Great Britain.

Though all the tropical productions are raised in Demerara with great facility, the principal articles, sugar, coffee, and cotton, seem to be more exclusively produced than in our other colonies. Of late the improvements made in their sugars have been considerable, and the cultivation of this article at present predominates over that of any other.

Provisions for the maintenance of the negro population are wholly raised within the colony; a circumstance which, combined with the great fertility of the soil, gives such a superiority over the islands which have been long cultivated, that if the removal of the slaves from one colony to another were allowed, now that Demerara is become permanently British, a very large proportion of the negroes from the islands would be immediately transferred by their masters to form new plantations on the banks of the Berbice, the Demerara, and the Essequibo.

Demerara enjoys, in common with the rest of the colonies in Guyana, another advantage over the islands, in the abundance of timber furnished by its forests. The trees on the low grounds, near the settled parts, are, indeed, of such hard wood, as to be worked with difficulty; but they supply all the staves necessary for sugar casks. Other kinds of timber for rum puncheons and for buildings are at present imported from North America; but by ascending to a higher level of country, a sufficiency of proper trees might be cut down, and conveyed by the river, in order to supersede the necessity of depending on importation.

Though situated almost under a vertical sun, the country is more healthy than any of the islands, which probably arises from the greater equality of the temperature. The constant regularity of the trade-winds during the day, and of the land-breezes which succeed them in the evening, joined to the invariable length of the nights, with their refreshing dews, renders the heat far from excessive; and Europeans find it less oppressive than even in Barbadoes, which is accounted the most temperate of all the islands.

The only division of seasons known is the wet and the dry, each of which occurs twice in the year, and continues about three months. In the month of May the showers begin, and gradually increase until the month of June, when the rains become incessant, frequently accompanied with the most violent thunder. In the beginning of July the rain gradually diminishes, and entirely ceases by the commencement of August. The same course is observed as the sun approaches the tropic of Capricon; but the rains are of shorter duration, and of less force, than when the sun advances towards the tropic of Cancer, and are seldom attended with any thunder. From the peculiar character of the seasons, the operations of agriculture proceed with equal steps, and each half of the year is alike favourable for planting and harvesting the produce.

The soil in this colony is perhaps equal in fertility to any in the world. It has a blue marly appearance, mixed in part with the remains of sea-shells, and has been transported as manure for the lands in Barbadoes which had been previously exhausted. It has been known to produce thirty crops of rattoon canes in succession, without replanting, whereas in the islands they seldom calculate on more than two. The cultivators have had recourse to various experiments for diminishing the excessive richness of the soil. This is sometimes effected by cropping it for two or three years with plantains, and afterwards with sugar canes; but the first, second, and sometimes even the third crop of canes are so luxuriant as to be unfit to make sugar, and are therefore used only for rum.

The whole of the cultivated land, extending about fifty miles from the sea-shore inwards, is flat and level, without a single hill, and so low, that during the heavier rainy season it is frequently covered with water to the depth of two feet. This produces an effect similar to the prolific overflowing of the Nile. It deposits a rich muddy clay, which has formed a stratum of twelve or fourteen inches in depth, and is perhaps the cause of the fertility which we have already noticed.

From this low situation of the ground, the planters have been compelled, in bringing the land into cultivation, to surround it on two sides with deep dikes, to convey the water to the river, and to construct sluices, which resist the tides, and prevent the sea-water from flooding their lands. Besides those trenches which convey the backwater from the plantations, each estate is intersected with smaller trenches, by means of which, in small flat-bottomed boats, the whole conveyance of the produce from one part of the estate to another is effected. The canes are thus carried from the field to the sugar-mill and the stillhouse, which much diminishes the labour of horses and mules. The plantations are divided into beds of thirty-two feet in breadth. Between each of these is a small trench or ditch, dug two feet in width and three feet in depth; the mould which is removed in forming these ditches is thrown on the beds, which are thus raised above the natural level of the surface. On these beds the cotton trees are planted in rows six feet distant in the richest soil, and where it is supposed to be less rich at a somewhat greater distance. The coffee-trees are planted in rows from nine to twelve feet asunder, and as they only flourish under the shade, the intermediate spaces are filled either by plantain trees, or the bois immortel, which grows to the height of twelve or fourteen feet.

The aboriginal inhabitants, whether Caribbs or Arro-wauks, have no disposition to labour. They are of feeble frame and indolent disposition; and as they obtain the means of subsistence with little effort, no inducements are [7:7:706]likely to lead them from their accustomed roving and independent life, to those settled and quiet habits which cultivation requires. The present utility of the Indians to the colony arises principally from the aversion and even hatred which subsists between the Indian and negro races. This converts them into useful allies whenever an insurrection of the negroes is contemplated or commenced, and prevents the desertion of the latter, from the knowledge that, if they escape into the woods, they can scarcely avoid being captured by the roving Indians, and conducted back to receive from their masters the assigned punishment. The Indian tribes bordering on this colony have often been described; we shall therefore only say respecting them, that their numbers are small, and gradually diminishing, and that when they visit the Europeans on the coast, they appear mild and gentle towards them, but discover, by every significant symptom, their hatred and contempt for the negroes, with whom nothing can 'induce them to associate, except the thirst for spirituous liquors, to the use of which they are addicted, with all the characteristic greediness common among savages.

The government of the colony has not been inattentive to that important branch of internal policy which regards roads, bridges, embankments, and sewers for draining. The roads are kept in excellent order, and by the help of a sewer tax the other rural public works are maintained on a respectable and beneficial footing.

By the terms of the capitulation, the Dutch colonial laws are in force in this settlement. At first the Dutch proprietors were the most considerable, and consequently it was but right that they should be ruled by laws with the forms and principles of which they were familiarly acquainted. As the British proprietors have increased, and now far outnumber the Dutch, the same laws have been continued. They are so interwoven with all the institutions and habits of the colonists, and the security of the property so much depends upon them, that no considerable alteration could be made without rendering the right to much of the property unsettled; therefore it is probable they will continue unchanged, especially as it is allowed by all the colonists, that, when honestly and skilfully administered, the laws of Holland are well calculated for the circumstances of the country. When the colony first came into possession of the British, the proceedings in the courts of law were all carried on in the Dutch language; and this created suspicion in the British inhabitants, whether well or ill founded, that no justice could be obtained in the courts between a British and a Dutch litigant. Since the colony has become permanently attached to the British government, the English language has been ordered to be used in all law proceedings, as well as by the advocates in their pleadings; and though this has produced the whimsical exhibition of Dutch lawyers studying the English language, and English lawyers studying Dutch law, yet the practice has succeeded so far as to reconcile the inhabitants to the system, and to inspire them with confidence in its purity.

The governor of Demerara is maintained by a salary drawn from England. The internal government is supported by taxes paid by the inhabitants. Besides that paid for keeping the sewers and dikes in repair, which has been already noticed, an annual tax of about 5s. sterling on each slave is levied. The accounts are kept in Dutch money, and exchanged in their European transactions into sterling money at very variable rates of exchange. A quantity of silver, colonial money, has been coined in England for the use of the province, and this forms the current coin in all small transactions. The value of the pieces are about 3s. and they are found highly convenient in the exchanges of property within the colony.

The free inhabitants of the colony, including whites, mulattoes, and manumitted blacks, scarcely exceed 3000, or not more than one in twenty to the number of slaves, —a larger disproportion than exists in mos,t of our colonial islands. The greater part of these are in Stabroek, the capital, which is the seat of government, and the head-quarters of the armed force. It is a small town, defended by a fort; its inhabitants of all kinds amount to about 5000. The custom-house is established at this place, but the fees, notwithstanding all the care of the commissioners who lately went from England to regulate them, are still enormous.

The slave population of this colony has recently decreased with a rapidity which can only be accounted for on the supposition that sales of slaves have been effected to a considerable extent. In the half year ending the 30th June 1828, the total number of slaves returned amounted to 62,352, of whom 34.106 were males and 28,246 females; but by the 3lst December 1828, the total number returned was only 61,626, thus showing a decrease in six months of 726. Again, by returns reaching to the 15th January 1830, the total number of slaves throughout the colony at that period is stated at 59,492, which number, as compared with that furnished by the returns for the first half of 1828, exhibits a decrease of 2833 slaves in little more than eighteen months. During the same period we also observe a considerable diminution in the number of offences committed by, and punishments inflicted on, the slave population. In 1828, out of 62,352 slaves, 10,054, of whom 6092 were males and 3962 females, underwent punishment for various offences; but, in 1829, out of 59,492 slaves, the number of those who suffered punishment was only 8649, of whom 5682 were males and 2967 females; thus exhibiting a larger proportional diminution in the number of offences and punishment than in that of the total slave population. It appears from the printed returns that the average number of stripes inflicted in cases of punishment by whipping did not exceed twenty.

As no part of this colony has been explored with much attention beyond the limits of the cultivation of sugar, coffee, and cotton, we know but little of the mineral history of the country. Above the cataracts there is abundance of red and white agates, which remain untouched by the natives, from superstitious fears, which represent them as dedicated solely to the service of some magical invocation practised by their priests. There are likewise a variety of stones, which appear to contain valuable ores, and probably gold and silver may be hereafter discovered. It is possible that the stories collected by Sir Walter Raleigh from the concurrent reports of various natives, though greatly exaggerated, may not have been altogether without foundation. We are, however, very ignorant on this subject, and there is no immediate prospect of our ignorance being removed.

The cacao, coffee, plantain, banana, and cocoa trees have been so often described, that any extended notice of them would be unnecessary. The trees peculiar to this country deserve to be shortly noticed. The pigeon or Angola pea tree is a branchy shrub, about nine feet high, covered with smooth, long, and narrow-pointed leaves. Its flowers are of the papilionaceous kind, and are succeeded by numerous pods, of a russet colour, shaped like those of the English pea, but rather more flat. These are divided into four or five cells containing the peas, which, though somewhat astringent, are agreeable and nutritious. The Arnotta or Roucou tree is usually about nine feet in height, with long, narrow, green leaves, disposed in alternate order, while the middle and transverse ribs are of a red colour. The flowers are pentapetalous, and of a bluish-yellow colour[7:7:707]. From the middle of the petals rises a style containing the embryo of the pods, which incloses that containing the seeds. These, when ripe, are covered with a beautiful crimson pulp. The seeds macerated in the juice of lemons, in which the gum of the manna tree has been dissolved, yields the celebrated pigment with which the natives decorate their bodies. The vegetable mush plant is about four feet high; it produces a pod whose cavities are filled with small oval seeds of a dark-bròwn colour. These diffuse the smell of musk, and are replete with an oil used as a specific for the bite of the venomous snakes, and for that purpose taken internally, as well as applied externally to the wounded part. The silk cotton tree is about a hundred feet in height and twelve feet in circumference; its trunk continues undivided to seventy or eighty feet from the ground. Within a pod of a conical form, about four inches in length, is contained a short fine silky filament, the crops of which are triennial. The trunks of the trees, hollowed by fire, furnish canoes to the Indians, frequently of seventy or eighty feet in length. Gum Anime is the product of a tree forty feet in height, with few leaves, and these near the top; they are small, of a dark-green colour, and oval. From incisions made in this tree, a whitish resinous gum exudes, with a grateful smell and pleasant taste. It is used by the natives as a remedy for pains in the stomach, rheumatism, and headaches, and in Europe for varnishing carriages. Troolies are perhaps the largest leaves which have been hitherto noticed. Each leaf is supported by a single stem, rising immediately from the root, which runs through the whole of its length. These stems are very strong, being about three inches in circumference at the root, and they gradually taper to the termination of the leaf. The fibres are strong, and closely connected from one end to the other, without any sections or divisions. Ten or twelve of these leaves usually grow in one cluster. They are commonly from twenty to thirty feet in length. The flowers are clusters of a yellowish white, and produce a great number of large globular nuts, covered with a thick, hard, black shell, through which there is a hole to the kernel. It resembles a hand grenade in weight, size, and hardness. As the leaves of this singular plant will last many years, they are used for the covering of the houses, and are found to be a protection against the most violent rain.

The most common animals of Demerara are those the original races of which were imported from the ancient continent; horses, asses, cows, sheep, and hogs. These scarcely differ from the same animals in Europe, excepting that the sheep, as in all the tropical countries, have their wool converted into hair.

The native goat of Guyana is of a much smaller size than the goat of Europe; its hair,is similar, its horns are slender and incurvated downwards, and it is more prolific than the European breed, usually producing from three to five kids at each birth. There arc two kinds of deer, one of the same size as those of Europe, the other about one third less. They feed on the meadows, and approach very near to the plantations, but, being very active and fleet, they can with difficulty be caught, unless they get into the rivers, when they are easily taken by the Indians. The two kinds of wild hogs, the pecary and the warre, are very abundant; the former having on its back a gland, formerly mistaken for its navel, which secretes a milky liquid of a musk-like smell, and which, unless removed the instant it is taken, communicates its flavour to the whole carcass, rendering it disgusting to European palates.

The monkeys of all kinds are very numerous, from the ourang-outang, the largest, to the saccà winkee, which, exclusively of its tail, does not exceed six inches in length; its tail is about nine inches long. The tigers, which are neither so strong nor so fierce as those of Africa, frequently make incursions into the plantations, and carry away hogs, sheep, and other domesticated animals, and sometimes attack, and even destroy men.

The diseases to which the inhabitants are subject differ but little from those experienced in other tropical countries; but the leprosy is much more frequent, and more violent, than it is known to be in any other situation. It is supposed to be highly infectious, and those afflicted with it are carefully sequestered from society in remote situations in the forest. The yellow fever, though it has sometimes visited Demerara, has been less extensive and less fatal than in the more northern parts of America, whether insular or continental.

(Natural History of Guiana, London, 1769; Bolingbroke’s Voyage to Demerary, 1807; Stedman’s Surinam, 1806; Parliamentary Papers, 1830, 1831.)