' 



650 



. CAYENNE. 



Cayenne, this entcrprize ; and that prejudice which ought to 

 have attached to the manner of conducting the af- 

 fair having been transferred to the country, go- 

 vernment was prevented for a time from paying the 

 least attention to it, and a number of Europeans and 

 inhabitants of the West Indian islands, who might 

 otherwise have thought of doing so, were deterred 

 from settling in Guiana. The force of the mischie- 

 vous prejudice alluded to, has however subsided by 

 degrees j and, from the peace of 1783 to the Revo- 

 lution, the French government was meritoriously at- 

 tentive, by the introduction of new articles of culti- 

 vation, and by other means, to the improvement of 

 this valuable district. 



The coast of Cayenne is generally low and marshy, 

 and subject to inundations, from the number of rivers 

 which rush down the mountains with great impetuo- 

 sity. The soil is in many parts uncommonly fertile, 

 though in others it is dry, sandy, and soon exhausted. 

 The productions are on the whole of an excellent qua- 

 lity ; and it is easy here to gain a subsistence. The 

 Cayenne pepper is a noted article of the produce. This 

 is the fruit of the capsicum baccatum, gathered when 

 ripe, dried in the sun, then pounded and mixed with 

 salt. It is sometimes baked with a small addition of 

 flour; and the biscuit rasped into powder, is sent to 

 Europe. Owing, at the same time, to the disposition 

 of the inhabitants to indulge to excess in the use of 

 this article, a considerable quantity of it is even al- 

 ways imported from Peru. The subject to which 

 the. colonists first directed their attention in this quar- 

 ter, with a view to profit, was the arnotto. Thence, 

 they proceeded to the culture of cotton, indigo, and 

 sugar. The coffee tree was brought from Surinam 

 in 1721, by some deserters, who thus purchased their 

 pardon. Cocoa was planted ten or twelve years after. 

 Maize, cassia, and vanilla, have also succeeded, though 

 not very conspicuously, at Cayenne. Several kinds 

 of .grapes have been lately introduced ; and a wine 

 is made there, said to be peculiarly medicinal in fe- 

 vers. The state of the population, and production 

 of this colony, stood thus in 1753 : The number of 

 whites were 500, who employed 1500 negroes and 

 1200 native Indians, and raised about 260,000 Ibs. 

 of arnotto, 80,000 Ibs. of sugar, 18,000 Ibs. of cot- 

 ton, 27,000 Ibs. of coffee, 92,000 Ibs. of cocoa. 

 They exported also upwards of 600 trees for timber, 

 and 104- planks. The same was still nearly the state 

 of things in 1763. The cultivation of indigo, which 

 at one time was carried on very successfully here, af- 

 terwards sustained a considerable diminution. 



The island of Cayenne, or Cayanno, which, as it 

 forms but an inconsiderable part of the whole pro- 

 vince, though it has been frequently, yet has errone- 

 ously and improperly been confounded with it, is se- 

 parated from the continent only by two arms of a ri- 

 ver of the same name. Northwards it is formed by 

 the sea, in other directions by the river mentioned, 

 together with the Ouya and the Orayu. It is about 

 18 miles long, and eight or ten broad. The situa- 

 tion of this island makes it a most unfit place for a 

 settlement ; and it would probably have fared much 

 better with the colonists, had they, instead of taking 

 up their residence in it, in the first instance, commen- 

 ced their operations on the mainland. The part of 

 the land here adjacent to the sea is hilly and moun- 



tainous, in which respect it is distinguished from the Cayenne. 

 generality of the coast of Guiana, that is for the l *~~~-v~~~ / 

 most part low, and covered with swamp-pines, a spe- 

 cies of large trees which grow even in the sea, and 

 form forests at a considerable distance from the shore. 

 The central parts are low and swamp;, , subject to 

 continual inundations ; the necessary means for the 

 prevention of which, it is much doubted whether the 

 soil be good enough to justify putting in practice. 

 All the productions of the neighbouring continent 

 are supplied also by the island ; but with this differ- 

 ence, that the latter is as it were exhausted, and does 

 not equally indemnify the planter for his trouble and 

 expence. The number of the inhabitants, exclusive- 

 ly of the garrison, amounts to .about 1000 or 1200 

 whites, persons commonly of the lowest class, who 

 are chained down as it were to the glebe of the co- 

 lony, because their means will not allow them to emi- 

 grate to other parts. They cultivate merely as much 

 land as is requisite for their subsistence, obtaining 

 from Europe in return for the part of their scanty 

 produce which they can spare, wine, flour, clothing, 

 and some other things of which chiefly they stand-in 

 need. The remoter continental lands are often fruit- 

 ful in a very astonishing degree ; yet as the produce 

 of the soil, which is a kind of black sand, covering 

 a loamy clay, and fit for making bricks, is not to be 

 obtained without labour and expence, the culture of 

 it has been much neglected. Several of the settlers, 

 thinly scattered over vast deserts, and separated by 

 impervious brakes and brambles, and, at the same 

 time, surrounded by negroes, who threatened to en- 

 danger their safety and peace, have relinquished cul- 

 tivation altogether, confining themselves to the rear- 

 .ing of cattle, which could be kept without care or 

 trouble, in the immense pavannas or natural meadows 

 of the country. In these interior parts, little as the 

 improvement of them has been attended to, and 

 though, consequently, they remain obstructed by 

 thick forests and underwood, and almost in all re- 

 spects quite in a state of nature, there is fed a great 

 number of horses, sheep, goats, and cattle, which 

 roam in them at pleasure ; and the beef and mutton 

 obtained in this mode of rearing and pasturing the 

 animals are reckoned excellent. 



The climate of Cayenne is much more salubrious 

 than that of any of the Antilles. There are here 

 properly only two different seasons, the dry and the 

 rainy seasons. The former generally continues from 

 the beginning of June until the end of September, 

 during which time the heat is commonly very op- 

 pressive, the air is almost always serene, and scarcely 

 a few drops of rain descend to purify and cool the at- 

 mosphere. The heavy falls of rain begin in the month 

 of October, and are very frequent in December, Ja- 

 nuary, February, and March, at which time they be- 

 gin gradually to decrease, until the dry season again 

 sets in. During the rainy season, that is for 7 or 8 

 months, the heat is very moderate for a place so near 

 to the equator. Nay, the negroes sometimes com- 

 plain of cold ; and, upon the whole, the state of 

 health is as good there as in Europe. However, at the 

 time when stagnant waters are dried up and corrupt- 

 ed by the heat, fevers prevail for about two months, 

 which, though not contagious, prove very destructive. 



This town, the capital not only of the island of the 



