A FEW JOTTINGS OF MEMORIES EXTENDING 

 OVER 41 YEARS IN BRITISH GUIANA. 



By Ulric R. White. 



My home was in London, but having been taken seriously ill in 

 Liverpool, on regaining health my father said he would rather that I 

 should not be so far away. I was destined to go still farther. 

 On looking for something to do in the Great City, a friend of 

 my fathers asked if I would care to go abroad. Without hesita- 

 ting at all, I said yes. I left London in a severe snowstorm in 

 the good barque u Crystal," commanded by Captain Scott, a typical 

 oldtime Scotsman, on March 20th, 1872, my fellow passenger being 

 the late Mr. C. P. Barnes, who for many years and up to the time 

 of his death was employed by Messrs. Booker Bros. Sz Co. We were 

 coming out together to the late Mrs. Margaret Burns, a worthy lady 

 merchant of the ancient town of New Amsterdam, Berbice, and mother- 

 in-law of Mr. Justice Atkinson Passing through the Bay of Biscay on 

 Good Friday we had a very narrow escape of being wrecked. Owing to 

 the vessel being new (it being her maiden trip) the strain on the rigging 

 was so great, it became badly loosened so that the masts were very 

 nearly unshipped. Not until the storm was passed though did we know of 

 the greatness of our danger. In making taut all the shrouds, 4 or 5 feet 

 of the slack had to be taken in — " All's well that ends well." The balance 

 of the voyage was very enjoyable with the exception of a few days calm. 

 After a run of 44 days, when we were just beginning to get short of food 

 and water, we ran up the Berbice River under full sail, at mid-day on what 

 appeared to us one of the most beautiful days possible, it being typically 

 tropical. The view of New Amsterdam from the river certainly is far 

 more beautiful than that of Georgetown. After landing, the comparison 

 would be invidious. 



After coming to anchor, good old Captain Scott took us ashore to 

 what was to be our abode for a time. The cordial and hearty welcome 

 given us by Mrs. Burns made us feel at home at once, giving us the 

 assurance that it would be our own fault if we missed too much our over 

 seas home. The results fully carried this out for in Mrs. Burns we 

 found a warmhearted, motherly woman. 



Just before arrival there had been a very severe drought, drinking 

 water having to be brought from up the river. Our first evening 

 indicated that it was coming to an end for on that occasion there was a 

 deluge of hardbacks, that made it very difficult to take our dinner. We 

 should have been very much alarmed but for the assurance of Mrs. Burns 

 that they were harmless ; all the same they were a very great nuisance. 

 I have never seen them so numerous since, and in Georgetown they are 

 by no means such a nuisance as in Berbice. Monday the rains set in, 



