FEENCH GUIANA. 



63 



succumbed at last to their hopeless plight " Feeling themselves forsaken by the 

 whole world, they died through lack of will to live." * 



All essays at compulsory colonisation having failed, it seemed natural to 

 make choice of Guiana as a proper field of transportation for political enemies 

 and as a convenient settlement for ofPenders against the common law. More 



Fig. 18. — Penal Settlements on the Maeoni. 

 Scale 1 : 45t),000. 



West or ureenwicli 



53°50' 



Depths. 



0tol6 



Feet. 



16 Feet 

 and upwards. 



9 miles. 



than once notoriously unhealthy districts were assigned to the exiles ; tribunal 

 which shirked the responsibility of pronouncing sentence of death were thus none 

 the less able to call in its aid, and "the dry guillotine" became the popular 

 name of Cayenne. 



* Jules Itier, Notes statistiques sur la Guyane française. 



