A Fragment of Berbice History. 63 



expedition being set on foot, to furnish the fixed quota 

 of whites and slaves and to send them to the place of 

 rendezvous appointed, he shall incur for such neglect, a 

 fine of 300 guilders, or even, should circumstances re- 

 quire it, be punished as a perjurer. 



As experience had manifested that there were persons 

 in the colony who, notwithstanding this regulation and 

 the oath they had taken on the same, thought proper 

 not to obey the burgher officers, it was modified and 

 renovated in an extraordinary assembly held at the 

 Court House in New Amsterdam, on June the 6th, 1799. 

 Present: — His Excellency A. J. VAN Imbyze Van Baten- 

 BURG, Governor-General, President, and the Honourable 

 Counsellors I. de Vry Jacobzoon, J. C. W. Herlin, 

 L. C. Abbensets, A. Donzel, L. H. Buse, and J. Tapin. 



Beside these duties mentioned the burgher officer had to 

 keep a return of all the runaway slaves from his district, 

 and to see that the law was administered within its 

 boundaries, which were very well defined. The colony 

 was divided into ten districts, these being: — 



1. — The town district from the west bank of the 

 Canje Creek to Overwinning sideline on the east bank 

 of the Berbice river, and including New Amsterdam and 

 the town estates. 



2. — The Canje Creek district, including all the Canje 

 estates and the creek to its source. 



3. — The east sea coast district from the east banks of 

 the Canje Creek to the west bank of the Devil's Creek, 

 and including Fort St. Andries. 



4. — The Corentyne coast district extending from the 

 east bank of the Devil's Creek to Lot 80 (Skeldon). 

 There could not have been much traffic to Skeldon and 



