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Cayenne, same name but of the colony at large, the seat ol 

 S *Y"** / vernmcnt, and of the courts of justice and of the mili- 

 tary, is situated close to the sea on the right bank, and 

 r to the mouth of a river also of the same name, 

 which is there about a league in width. It is of 

 small dimensions, the houses arc badly constructed 

 of wood, and it is surrounded by a swampy moat and 

 wretched walla, which form a sort of irregular hex- 

 agon. The fort that commands the town is built of 

 earth, and is tolerably strong towards the sea, espe- 

 cially for this reason, that, from the want of depth 

 of water, ships of a large size cannot approach it 

 within gun-shot. The navigation moreover on this 

 coast is generally dangerous, being impeded by banks 

 of sand and mud-flats of considerable extent, which 

 frequently shift. There is besides not even any har- 

 bour of consequence in these parts, except that which 

 the island affords, nor scarcely a place indeed where 

 a boat may land with safety, particularly during the 

 prevalence of the heavy rollers and breakers in the 

 times of the spring tides. The palace of the govern- 

 ment, and the ancient mansion of the Jesuits, are the 

 only buildings in this city deserving of particular no- 

 tice. They form two large facades fronting the 

 place of parade, which presents a pleasing prospect, 

 being bordered with two rows of orange trees of the 

 largest size, that exhale an exquisite fragrance, and 

 are crowded with colibris skipping from branch to 

 branch. The population of this town having of late 

 years increased, and its circuit not admitting of a 

 proportionate enlargement, a new town has been 

 built on the neighbouring savanna, separated from 

 the ancient one merely by a ditch. This, which is 

 already the more considerable of the two, and is daily 

 increasing, is constructed on a regular plan ; the 

 streets are wide, admitting the free access and circu- 

 lation of air, and contain some elegant houses, the 

 beautiful appearance of which becomes more striking, 

 from the obvious marks of poverty and wretched- 

 ness exhibited by every thing about them. 



The inhabitants of French Guiana have within 

 their reach an abundant supply of all the requisites 

 for a good table, but they generally prefer salt meat 

 and fish to fresh provisions. From their relish also 

 for high-seasoned foods, they cultivate for culinary 

 purposes, besides the pepper called by the name of 

 the province, several other sorts, the sharpest and 

 most pungent they can procure. The Creoles pre- 

 fer the cassava, which is a large round cake, about 

 three lines thick, made of course flour of manioc and 

 slightly baked on a tin-plate, to the best and finest 

 sorts of bread. Besides the other articles of .-tubsist- 

 ,^|' ence common to Guiana and other colonies, there is 

 in frequent use here a dish called culaloll, which is 

 prepared of the fruit of a plant known by the name 

 of comlua. At every meal a negro, when the first 

 course is removed, presents the guests with a glass 

 ofratifia. This liquor is as transparent at Cayenne 

 as the purest spring-water : it is very wholesome, and 

 acquires a more pleasant flavour the older it grows, 

 especially since the practice has been introduced of 

 dibtilling it over newly gathered cinnamon. The same 

 liquor, which is prepared here, and indeed forms a 

 considerable article of the commerce of the province, 

 is in great request on the tables of the luxurious at 

 Paramaribo, and throughout these colonies. 



The dress of the male sex in Cayenne consists in 

 -3 



white pantaloons, and a linen jacket. The women 

 spend most of their time in hammock*, a piece of 

 furniture which is much valued in Guiana, and which 

 svrves at once for ornament and convenience, 'l 

 hammocks are made of cotton. They are in general 

 from six to seven feet in length and nearly < 

 same breadth, and are fastened on both ends by a 

 number of small cotton strings, which join to large 

 ropes of the same stuff. By these ropes, which arc 

 attached to the walls of the room with large hooks, 

 the whole burden of the hammocks it supported. 

 It is in the corners of the room commonly that thee 

 hammocks are thus suspended, where they hang like 

 swings, and in a garland like form. Very fine spc* 

 cimens of such hammocks are made at Cayenne, but 

 the most beautiful are imported from Peru in Brasil 

 on the right bank of the river Amazon. Those lat- 

 ter hammocks are made of variegated cotton after 

 various designs, and ornamented with borders, tassel*, 

 and fringes. They cost about 50 dollars. See Bo- 

 ingbroke's Foyage to the Demerary, SfC. (K) 

 1 CEANOTHUS,agenusof plants of theclass Pen- 

 tandria, and order Monogynia. See BOTANY, p. 152. 

 CECIL, WILLIAM, Lord Burleigh, the famous 

 minister of Queen Elizabeth, was born at Bourn in 

 Lincolnshire, in 1520, of an ancient and respectable fa- 

 mily, his father, Richard Cecil, being master of the 

 robes to Henry VIII. After receiving the rudi- 

 ments of education at the schools of Grantham and 

 Stamford, he was sent, in his fifteenth year, to St 

 John's college, Cambridge, where he distinguished 

 himself by the regularity of his .habits, and unwearied 

 assiduity. It is recorded, that he made an agree- 

 ment with the bell ringer, to be called every morning 

 so early as four o'clock. Logic and Greek were his 

 chief, but not his only studies, for he soon discovered 

 a wish to take in a comprehensive range of informa- 

 tion. In 1541 he was removed to Gray's Inn to 

 study law, where he displayed the same indefatigable 

 application, making it a rule to commit to writing 

 every thing worth notice in the course of his reading, 

 and taking the pains to arrange his information in the 

 clearest order. Many of his manuscripts are still pre- 

 served, in private and public libraries. The intimacy 

 of his father at court, having procured his introduc- 

 tion at an early age to Henry, who piqued himself 

 both on his learning and his discernment of learned 

 men, Cecil was soon induced to prefer a political to 

 a legal career. In this determination he was con- 

 firmed by matrimonial connections, the friends of his 

 first wife, whom he married when he was only twenty- 

 one, having introduced him to the protector Somer- 

 set. This introduction was afterwards strengthened 

 by the king's preceptor, Sir Anthony Cook, whose 

 daughter Cecil married some time after he had had 

 the misfortune of being deprived of his first wife. 

 Zealous like Somerset in promoting the Reformation, 

 Cecil received from that nobleman the respectable 

 appointment of master of the requests, and con- 

 tinued to discover so much assiduity and ability, as 

 to be thought worthy of the station of secretary of 

 state, at the early age of twenty-eight. The pro- 

 tector being soon after overpowered by the intrigues 

 of the Earl of Warwick and his party, Cecil flrd with 

 his patron ; but, after a confinement of three month* 

 in the Tower, the joint effect of the young king's fa- 

 vour, and of his own aptitude for business, was his 



