174 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



Stahroek again by the route here described. The plan was 

 to have ascended the Amazons from Para and got into the 

 Eio Negro, and from thence to have returned towards the 

 source of the Essequibo, in order to examine the crystal 

 mountains, and look once more for Lake Parima, or the 

 White Sea ; but on arriving at Cayenne, the current was 

 running with such amazing rapidity to leeward, that a 

 Portuguese sloop, which had been beating up towards Para 

 for four weeks, was then only half way. Finding, therefore, 

 that a beat to the Amazons would be long, tedious, and 

 even uncertain, and aware that the season for procuring 

 birds in fine plumage had already set in, I left Cayenne in 

 an American ship for Paramaribo, went through the in- 

 terior to the Coryntin, stopped a few days in New Amster- 

 dam, and proceeded to Demerara. If, gentle reader, thy 

 patience be not already worn out, and thy eyes half closed 

 in slumber, by perusing the dull adventures of this second 

 sally, perhaps thou wilt pardon a line or two on Demerara ; 

 and then we will retire to its forests, to collect and examine 

 the economy of its most rare and beautiful birds, and give 

 the world a new mode of preserving them. 



Stabroek, the .capital of Demerara, has been rapidly 

 increasing for some years back ; and if prosperity go hand 

 in hand with the present enterprising spirit, Stabroek, ere 

 long, will be of the first colonial consideration. It stands 

 on the eastern bank at the mouth of the Demerara, and 

 enjoys all the advantages of the refreshing sea-breeze ; the 

 streets are spacious, well bricked, and elevated, the trenches 

 clean, the bridges excellent, and the houses handsome. 

 Almost every commodity and luxury of London may be 

 bought in the shops at Stabroek : its market wants better 

 regulations. The hotels are commodious, clean, and well 

 attended. Demerara boasts as fine and well-disciplined 

 militia as any colony in the western world. 



