54 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 



tation on the Indians, thou mightest hint, that 

 possibly they could be induced to help the new 

 settlers a little ; and that finding their labours well 

 requited, it would be the means of their keeping 

 up a constant communication with us, which prob- 

 ably might be the means of laying the first stone 

 towards their Christianity. They are a poor, 

 harmless, inoffensive set of people, and their 

 wandering and ill-provided way of living seems 

 more to ask for pity from us, than to fill our 

 heads with thoughts that they would be hostile to 

 us. 



What a noble field, kind reader, for thy experi- 

 mental philosophy and speculations, for thy 

 learning, for thy perseverance, for thy kind-heart- 

 edness, for everything that is great and good 

 within thee! 



The accidental traveller who has journeyed on 

 from Stabroek to the rock Saba, and from thence 

 to the banks of the Essequibo, in pursuit of other 

 things, as he told thee at the beginning, with but 

 an indifferent interpreter to talk to, no friend to 

 converse with, and totally unfit for that which he 

 wishes thee to do, can merely mark the outlines 

 of the path he has trodden, or tell thee the sounds 

 he has heard, or faintly describe what he has seen 

 in the environs of his resting-places; but if this 

 be enough to induce thee to undertake the jour- 

 ney, and give the world a description of it, he will 

 be amply satisfied. 



It will be two days and a half from the time of 

 entering the path on the western bank of the Dem- 

 erara till all be ready, and the canoe fairly afloat 

 on the Essequibo. The new rigging it, and put- 



