I] E 11 



4G2 



B E R 



' return three- fourths of the settlement. The new 

 proprietors of this colony were permitted, by the 

 Dutch East India Company, to import 40 negroes 

 annually from Africa, at the rate of 165 florins a head ; 

 and the Company became bound to furnish them with 

 a greater number, if it were necessary, at the rate of 

 250 florins each. They were also allowed to dispose 

 of their lands and slaves, and to levy a duty of 300 

 florins from every vessel that came to the colony. By 

 these means, the cultivation of sugar, cocoa, and in- 

 digo was greatly extended ; many fruitless searches 

 were made after mines ; and settlers were invited to 

 the infant colony. v 



The revenues of the colony arise from a capitation 

 lax on the inhabitants ; an excise on every fifty 

 pounds of sugar that is made ; a weighage toll of two 

 per cent, on all exports and imports ; and a duty of 

 three florin* per la9t on the tonnage of ships. The 

 imported goods are the same as those carried to the 

 other parts of the West Indies ; and the exports are 

 cotton, coffee, cocoa, tobacco, a dyeing stuff called 

 rokou, but chiefly sugar, all of which are obtained 

 from nearly an hundred plantations, formed on the 

 banks of the river. 



In consequence of the dampness and marshiness of 

 the coast, the early settlers built a town and fortress, 

 called Zealandica, fifty miles up the river. The in- 

 crease of the colony, however, and the difficulty of 

 navigating the river, induced the settlers to build the 

 town of New Amsterdam on the south side of the 

 river Canje, or Conya, where it discharges itself into 

 the mouth of the Berbice. The houses extend up 

 the banks of the latter river about a mile and a half. 

 Each house, with a quarter of an acre of land annex- 

 ed to it, is surrounded by a trench, which is filled 

 and emptied at every tide. The houses are a story 

 high, and are very long and narrow, with galleries 

 on both sides to afford a shelter from the sun. They 

 are generally thatched with troolie and plantain 

 leaves for the sake of coolness, but the quantity 

 of vermin which is harboured in this kind of thatch, 

 has induced the English settlers to employ shin- 

 gles. The government-house and the buildings an- 

 nexed to it are of brick, and are remarkable for 

 their splendour and magnificence. The entrance of 

 the river is guarded on the east side by fort St An- 

 drew and a small battery, while the York redoubt 

 defends it from the opposite bank. The colonial go- 

 vernment propose to fortify Crab Island ; but this is a 

 matter of no importance, as Berbice must always fall 

 along with the contiguous colony of Demarary. The 

 west banks of the river were first cultivated ; but, in 

 1 799, the country, as far to the east of the river as 

 the Devil's Creek, was rapidly cleared of its wood, 

 and became an extensive cotton plantation. The 

 lands on the banks of the river Canje have also been 

 put into a state of cultivation, and produce sugar, 

 coffee, and plantains. This river is navigable for co- 

 lony schooners for about .50 miles from its embouch- 

 ure, and is remarkable for immense falls and cata- 

 racts near its source. About 40 miles below its head, 

 there is a creek connected with the river Courantine, 

 by which overland dispatches have been brought from 

 Surinam by the Indians. 



In the yer.r 1796, Berbice capitulated to the Eng- 

 lish, who reinstated in his office the former governor 

 Van Batenburg. In 1799, when Surinam surrender- 

 ed to the British arm6, the governor of Berbice en- 

 tered into a negociation with Governor Frederici, by 

 which Surinam ceded to Berbice the tract of land 

 between the Courantine and the Devil':; C>-"ek, which 

 was speedily put into a state of cultivation. At the 

 peace of Amiens, Berbice, along with Demarary, was 

 restored to the Dutch government. The troops 

 which were sent to protect the colony suffered great 

 distress from the want of proper food and accommo- 

 dation, and all their applications for redress were dis- 

 regarded. A mutiny was thus occasioned, which 

 could not be quelled without the assistance of troops 

 from Demerary and Surinam. After the mutineers 

 had surrendered themselves to the government, Ber- 

 bice surrendered to the British under General Grin- 

 field and Sir Samuel Hood, in September 1803, s 

 which time it has continued in our possession. 



The population of Berbice amounts at present to 

 t3,500; of whom 1000 are free people of colour, 

 2500 are whites, and the rest are negroes, the number 

 of whom is doubled within the last ten years, "i lie 

 colony of Berbice was bounded on the east by the 

 Devil's Creek till the year 1799, when its eastern li- 

 mits were extended to the river Courantine. It i I 

 separated, on the west, from the colony of Demerary 

 by Abarry creek. The breadth of the settlement, 

 from the mouth of the river Courantine, is about A.'i 

 geographical miles ; its former breadth being only 

 about 30. New Am6terdam is about 52 miles to the 

 south-east by east of Stabroek, the capital of Deme- 

 rary. West Long. 57 '20', North Lat. 6 20'. (ii) 



BERCHTOLSGADEN, Bekchte.sc,adkx, or 

 Beugtolsgaden, a town in the principality of the 

 same name in the Austrian empire, containing a po- 

 pulation of 3000. The inhabitants are chiefly em- 

 ployed in the manufacture of ivory, bone, and wooden 

 toys, which they sell to the merchants of Nuremberg, 

 and in the retail of salt to the surrounding country. 

 The principality of Berchtolsgaden, along with that 

 of Salzbourg, form a separate province ot the Aus- 

 trian empire, which lies between the parallels of lon- 

 gitude 32 20" 15" and 33 50' 15" cast, and between 

 the parallels of latitude 46 55' and 47 50' north. 

 It contains a superficies of 181 geographical square 

 miles, and supports a population ot 216,000, or 

 210,018 according to Hassel. The salt produced in 

 Berchtolsgaden alone amounts, in one year, to 87, (XX) 

 quintals. There are in this province six towns and 

 twenty-five villages, of which Salzbourg, Hallein, and ( 

 Berchtolsgaden, are the chief. The statistical ac- 

 count of the province of Salzbourg and Berchtolsga- 

 den, comprehending an account of the salt mines with 

 which it is enriched, will be given with more proprie- 

 ty under the article Salzbouko. See Tableau Sin- 

 tistique de la Monarchic AidrichieHne, par M. Ray- 

 mond et Roth, Paris, 1809 ; Geographic et Statistique 

 de toutc la Monarchic Auirichienne, par K. Ham- 

 merdoerfer, Leipz. 1793 ; and Hist, et Mem. tie la 

 Societe des Sciences Physiques de Lausanne, 1787, 

 1788, torn. iii. (w) 



BEHDOA, an extensive province of Africa, com- 



Berdoa. 



