i62 Notes on Juui^lc and Other Wild Life. 



those planters alnmdaiitly su|)i)licd with slaves — most valuable 

 property. 



Speakint;" of slaves, it will be remembered that it was here 

 in British Guiana that the Anti-Slavery Society (first established 

 in Enj^iand about 1873) found their most effective appeal, in the 

 person of a protagonist of our John Brown. There had already 

 been several uprisings of enslaved Africans in other colonies, 

 and the Guiana whites — few in number — were naturally appre- 

 hensive of another on their own plantations. In the year 1823 

 these fears were realized, for the blacks rose in rebellion against 

 their white owners. Th Rev. John Smith, an English 



missionary, was accused of encouraging the uprising, which was 

 soon suppressed, and a number of the slaves hanged. The 

 charges against Smith were probably not true, although he was 

 opposed to slavery and hoped for its abolition. 



Whatever the technical merits or demerits of the case 

 may have been, he w^as arrested in a most brutal manner and, 

 while ill of a serious disease, was thrown into prison and 

 charged with being a chief cause of the negro insurrection, or 

 that at least he " did promote, as far is in him lay, discontent 

 and dissatisfaction in the minds of the negro-slaves." lie was 

 found guilty of the charge and sentenced to be hanged, but 

 before the order of the Court could be carried out the 

 Demerara Martyr " died in the common iail. Smith's death 

 proved of greater value to the cause of emancipation than all 

 his previous efforts to free the enslaved. The circumstances 

 of his arrest, trial and death were published through England, 

 and the discussion and agitation that followed contributed not a 

 Httle to the passage of an Act (August j8, 1833) abolishing 

 slavery in every British possession. 



Under the caption " The Trail to Kaietur, the Great 

 South American Falls, \^22 feet high, and 400 feet wide," Eleanor 

 Beers Lestrade writes for Scribncrs Magazine, page 562 (about 

 December) 1920, one of the best descriptions of this world- 

 wonder that 1 have read. The article is illustrated by 

 photographs taken by the author which give a better idea of the 

 fall and cataracts than many of the larger pictures that one finds 

 in the shops here. Not that any picture, great or small, can 

 do more than suggest the awful majesty of Kaietur ! 



