134 Timehri 



there was not a sign of life, only the noise of the falling water was heard. 

 Looking up to the giddy height, the mass of rock before me appeared 

 wild and dreadful ; round about large blocks of rock were scattered in 

 demon-like confusion, which had been precipitated from the summit and 

 steep declivity, the surrounding trees among which they fell being 

 shattered into fragments. The grandeur and the sublimity of the 

 crioantic mass of this marvel of nature, created the continued sensation 

 that the projecting summit would fall suddenly and bury me under its 

 ruins, and called forth a feeling quite heavy and strange to me." 



Captain Alexander visited the colony in 1831 and gave his observa- 

 tions in " Transatlantic Sketches ; " the work is not very reliable but what 

 he actually saw may be taken as correct. His views of slavery were not 

 antagonistic but of course he only saw what was obvious. Here is his 

 account of the slaves in Georgetown : — 



"The men were well clothed and well fed; hats or striped caps they wore 

 on their heads ; and though they prefer carrying their jacket under their 

 arm to wearing it on their shoulders, and strip to their work to the 

 trousers yet they all seemed to be abundantly supplied with clothes. The 

 negresses were decently clad in printed gowns, and were commonly seen 

 walking about huckstering vegetables, carried in a wooden tray on their 

 heads. There were no sounds but those of merriment ; the song and 

 chorus of a group of young negresses, the salutations and jokes of friends 

 meeting, and the incessant gabbling of the old women, who when they 

 can get no one to converse with, carry on a conversation (aloud) with 

 their own sweet selves, like negroes at their balls, sometimes dancing to 

 their own shadow on the wall for want of a partner." 



Lieut. -Col. Capadose in his " Sixteen Years in the West Indies," 

 published 1845, has a chapter on British Guiana from which Utile can 

 be gathered, but it may be interesting to note that the iirst Royal Mail 

 Steamer came on the 12th January, 1842. 



" The twelfth was a day of great excitement in Georgetown, an 

 excitement caused by the arrival, for the first time, of one of the Eoyal ' 

 Mail Steam Company's Packets. The Clyde was crowded with visitors 

 during its stay, amongst whom was the Governor, his lady and 

 family." 



One of the most useful books for any one who wants to study 

 the results of emancipation is " Eight Years in British Guiana by " Barton 

 Premium," 1850. The writer evidently knew a great deal about the 

 labour problem and his views are worthy of careful consideration. Here 

 it a fragment : — 



" Massa," said the youth, "we no want estate to hab caracter?" 

 " Indeed," was my reply ; " I should think it is what you care very little 

 about ; it is notorious that all of you now do the plantation work very 

 badly ; if you wish your own to have a good character, why don't you 

 do it as well as in the old time ? " " O dat is oder ting " " Why ? " He 

 would not answer, but I could do it for him. Individually, they like to 



