tHE Indian Policy of the Dutch. 19 



sertion of slaves was the adoption of a regular system of 

 presents which were given by the postholders. Instruc- 

 tions to postholders were passed by the Court of Policy 

 on the 1 8th of May 1803, during that brief period when 

 the colonies reverted to the Batavian Republic, and 

 these may be considered as embodying the Indian policy 

 of the Dutch, for there appears to havebeen little or 

 no alteration made in them under British rule. There 

 seems to have been at that time two Prote6lors of Indians, 

 one for Demerara and the other for Essequebo ; later there 

 were six for the Demerara river, Pomeroon, Mahaica, 

 Mahaicony, Essequebo river and Boeraserie creek, at each 

 of which places there wasapostholderwhoreceivedasalary 

 of 1,200 guilders (;^ioo) per annum. The Proteflors 

 were not paid and therefore as a rule took little interest 

 in their duties, which included a general supervision of 

 their subordinates, and the auditing of their accounts* 

 The " Instructions" were as follows : — 



" I, The postholder shall keep an accurate journal of 

 his proceedings, and of all the occurrences at the post. 



2. He shall transmit quarterly a copy of his journal to 

 the prote6lor of his distri6l. 



3. In case of any extraordinary occurrence at or near 

 the post, he shall immediately acquaint the proteflor 

 therewith. 



4. He shall take care to keep the post in good order, 

 and he shall use his utmost exertions to attach to it the 

 Indians who call upon him or who live in his vicinity. 



5. He shall endeavour on all occasions to prevent mis- 

 understandings or quarrels between the several Indian 

 tribes, and, where any such exist, he shall exert himself 

 to restore peace* 



ca 



