Of G UIJNJ. 49 



canals or ditches are fuiEcient to drain the lancl, which is flill 

 perfedtly flat. The trees are here different in fpecies and larger 

 in fize than below, and the woods are much more practicable. 

 As they are drier, the ground has acquired a regular fort of fur- 

 face, and there is neither that plexus of roots, nor the fame 

 number of vines, (the common name in the Weft Indies for 

 all climbing plants), to entangle thofe who choofe to traverfe 

 tliem. The foil here is generally a ftiff, cold, reddiih clay, 

 mixed a-top with a portion of vegetable mould. 



The fand-hills prefent to the admiring eye a fcene very dif- 

 ferent from what it had been accuftomed to Below. The firft 

 you meet with upon the Demerary, is upwards of thirty miles 

 from the mouth of the river, and on the right hand afcending, 

 or on its weftern fliore. There are of them further down in 

 the country, but not clofe by the river-fide. This one is the 

 extremity of a ridge which extends to the weftward feverai 

 miles. As you afcend the river, you meet with naany more of 

 the fame kind on both fides, whofe diredtion feems likewife to 

 be eaft and weft, or nearly at right-angles with the average 

 courfe of the ftream. They vary from 50 to 100, 150, or 200 

 feet of perpendiciilar height above the level of the river and tlae 

 intervening flat country. Their breadth and extent varies 

 fometimes only a few hundred paces, fometimes many miles. 

 Their length is great ; witla fome interruptions, I have i-eafon 

 to believe they are generally continued from one fide of the 

 colony to the other, only interfedled in different places by the 

 rivers and their branches. They confift of a pvire filiceous 

 fand, fo white that it dazzles the eyes, commonly fine grained 

 and loofe, but not unfrequehtly mixed with little ftrata of 

 coarfer pebbles, moftly quartz, and fometimes concreted into 

 a proper fand-ftone. In the laft cafe, a black or reddifli tinge 

 is in many cafes communicated to it, from clay, decayed vege- 

 tables, or other extraneoxis matter. There is no regular ftratifi- 

 cation to be found in it, more than what is common to all 



Vol. IV. G fands. 



