258 Timehri 



accidental meeting depended Charles Waterton's visits to the colony and 

 the publication of the " Wanderings." The hrst result of the marriage 

 was, however, the departure from England of Christopher Waterton. 



Demerara was not then so healthy as it is now. for the empoldering 

 of the coastlands generally caused much sickness. It followed that many 

 a planter died, some of whom left widows who tried to carry on the 

 estates. Among these widows was Mrs. Anne Waddell, whose first 

 husband had been Edward Birmingham, a well-known planter, and her 

 second Dr. John Waddell. She owned the plantations La Jalousie and 

 Fellowship. Christopher Waterton probably met her at one of the houses 

 of the Dalys. with the result that they were married and he carried on 

 the plantations. We may suppose that the widow was by no means an 

 old woman notwithstanding her two previous marriages, for she bore five 

 children to her third husband. These were Robert, who lived here and 

 died in 1837. George, an officer in the Austrian service, Henry, Matilda 

 and Agnes. 



To act as q.q. or attorney for his uncle Charles Waterton came out 

 in 1805. While in that opacity he got a fair knowledge of the colony 

 and was able to indulge his taste for the study of birds. We may 

 consider that he was in a way a born naturalist, only wanting oppor- 

 tunities for developing his faculty. These he got in Demerara, with the 

 result that his whole after-life was devoted to a grand scheme by which 

 a bird paradise was established at Walton Hall. 



To study the birds of the interior was his aim, but he could not do 

 this properly as long as he managed the estates. However, he became 

 acquainted with the greatest friend of his life, Charles Edmonstone. the 

 mighty hunter of runaway slaves. 



Charles Edmonstone came from an old Scotch family which numbered 

 among its ancestors Princesses of the Royal blood of Scotland and even 

 the mythical Lady Godiva of Coventry. He came to the colony about 

 1781, probably during the short British occupation. The old Scottish 

 estates had been lost and we may suppose that he was, like many other 

 young fellows, in search of a fortune. When we say that he went back 

 and bought Cardross Park, an old family possession in Dumbartonshire, 

 we may assume that he was successful. 



At that time there lived up the Camouni ('reek another Scotchman 

 named William Reid. Like many colonists of that time he found it 

 desirable to be on friendly terms with the Arawaks in his neighbourhood. 

 The result was that he married the daughter of one of the Captains or 

 -'Owls,*' who was called Princess Mind a : her daughter became Mrs. 

 Edmonstone. 



Some people may be inclined to sneer at the idea of an :: Inaian 

 Princess/' and even a century ago the more conventional settlers looked 

 Upon an Indian marriage with contempt. Such a view is shov^by 



