WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 53 



demned to die, still never failing to keep up their 

 species till time shall be no more. 



Eeader, canst thou not be induced to dedicate 

 a few months to the good of the public, and exam- 

 ine with thy scientific eye the productions which 

 the vast and well-stored colony of Demerara pre- 

 sents to thee? 



What an immense range of forest is there from 

 the rock Saba to the great fall ! and what an un- 

 interrupted extent before thee from it to the banks 

 of the Essequibo ! No doubt, there is many a bal- 

 sam and many a medicinal root yet to be discov- 

 ered, and many a resin, gum, and oil yet un- 

 noticed. Thy work would be a pleasing one, and 

 thou mightest make several useful observations 

 in it. 



Would it be thought impertinent in thee to 

 hazard a conjecture, that with the resources the 

 government of Demerara has, stones might be 

 conveyed from the rock Saba to Stabroek, to stem 

 the equinoctial tides, which are for ever sweeping 

 away the expensive wooden piles round the 

 mounds of the fort? Or would the timber-mer- 

 chant point at thee in passing by, and call thee a 

 descendant of La Mancha's knight, because thou 

 maintainest that the stones which form the rapids 

 might be removed with little expense, and thus 

 open the navigation to the wood-cutter from Sta- 

 broek to the great fall? Or wouldst thou be 

 deemed enthusiastic or biassed, because thou 

 givest it as thy opinion that the climate in these 

 high lands is exceedingly wholesome, and the 

 lands themselves capable of nourishing and main- 

 taining any number of settlers? In thy disser- 



