The Indian Policy of the Dutch. 33 



uncomfortable than we should if forced to do women's 

 work. The only employments suitable are wood-cutting 

 and river navigation, but neither of these is favourable to 

 a fixed mission station or to permanent development. 

 With such a large extent of forest as we have in British 

 Guiana, however, every wood-cutting facility should be 

 given to the original owners, and the laws which hamper 

 them at present should be at least relaxed if not abolished 

 entirely. Some of these, especially those which allow 

 the Government officers to seize timber and punts, are 

 decidedly unjust, for it cannot be expefted that the 

 Indian can be thoroughly acquainted with the law. If 

 the Indian steals timber from so-called Crown Lands he 

 is only taking it from his own territory, while the 

 Government steals the result of his labour of weeks and 

 months. In our journeys on the Demerara river we 

 have heard most shameful stories of this kind of thing ; 

 Government officers charged with going out of their way 

 to interfere with people who are trying to earn a living 

 by hard work, instead of lounging in their hammocks all 

 the day. The sufferers by these raids do not mince 

 matters; they virtually call these seizures thefts, and are 

 they not right? The principle under which many of our 

 laws are administered seems to be that of retaliation, 

 rather than prevention. No official should be interested 

 in a seizure and his obje6l should be to explain the law 

 rather than to pounce down upon an ignorant offender. 



Instead of putting obstac es in the way of the Indian 

 as a wood-cutter the Government should rather encourage 

 him in every possible way by trying to find a market for 

 his collections, whether timber, shingles, firewood or other 

 forest produ6ts such as orchids, tonka beans and locust 



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