62 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 



Demerara was made the dupe of a savage, who 

 came down the Essequibo, and gave himself out 

 as king of a mighty tribe. This naked wild man 

 of the woods seemed to hold the said court in tol- 

 erable contempt, and demanded immense supplies, 

 all which he got ; and moreover, some time after, 

 an invitation to come down the ensuing year for 

 more, which he took care not to forget. 



This noisy chieftain boasted so much of his 

 dynasty and domain, that the government was 

 induced to send up an expedition into his terri- 

 tories to see if he had spoken the truth, and noth- 

 ing but the truth. It appeared, however, that his 

 palace was nothing but a hut, the monarch a 

 needy savage, the heir-apparent nothing to inherit 

 but his father's club, and bow and arrows, and 

 his officers of state wild and uncultivated as the 

 forests through which they strayed. 



There was nothing in the hut of this savage, 

 saving the presents he had received from govern- 

 ment, but what was barely sufficient to support 

 existence; nothing that indicated a power to col- 

 lect a hostile force ; nothing that showed the least 

 progress towards civilization. All was rude and 

 barbarous in the extreme, expressive of the ut- 

 most poverty and a scanty population. 



You may travel six or seven days without see- 

 ing a hut, and when you reach a settlement it 

 seldom contains more than ten. 



The farther you advance into the interior the 

 more you are convinced that it is thinly inhabited. 



The day after passing the place where the white 

 man lived you see a creek on the left hand, and 

 shortly after the path to the open country. Here 



