D E M 



606 



DEM 



Bemeraryi From the first of October 1803 to the 10th of Sep- 

 >m TT mm ' tember 1804, in 394 vessels, — 19,638 hogsheads, 213 

 tierces, and 16 1 barrels of sugar; 4887 puncheons of 

 rum; 46,435 bales of cotton ; 9,954,&10 pounds of cof- 

 fee; and 311 casks of molasses. From the 10th of 



September 1804 to the 5th of January 1805, in 71 ves- 

 sels, — 21 61 hogsheads, 78 tierces, and 19 barrels of su- 

 gar; 504 puncheons of rum; 6318 bales of cotton; 

 439; 520 pounds of coffee; and 311 casks of melasses. 

 From the 5th of January 1 805, to the 5th of Ja- 

 nuary 1806, in 200 vessels — 15,839 hogsheads, 213 

 tierces, and 429 barrels of sugar ; 36l 1 puncheons, and 

 17 hogsheads of rum; 21,202 bales, and five bags of 

 cotton; 2,295,701 pounds of coffee; and I69I casks of 



melasses. From the 5th of January 1806, to the 5th 



January 1807, in 221 vessels— 19,337 hogsheads, 474 

 tierces, and 801 barrels of sugar; 4722 puncheons, and 

 17 hogsheads of rum; 23,604 bales, and two bags of 

 cotton; 12,390,102 pounds of coffee; and 1 69 1 casks 

 of melasses. 



While cultivation had yet made but little progress, 

 the district of Demerary was deluged by frequent tor- 

 rents of rain. As the land was cleared, the climate 

 likewise was improved ; and two wet and two dry sea- 

 sons now mark the revolution of the year. Each of 

 these seasons continues for three months. During the 

 rainy seasons, which include the months of December, 

 January, and February, and of June, July, and August, 

 the thermometer is lower than at other times ; the land- 

 winds, which are deemed unhealthy, prevail ; and the 

 swarms of musquitoes are extremely troublesome. The 

 dry season is extremely fine ; the morning twilight com- 

 mencing at four, gradually unveils a clear azure sky, 

 which continues cloudless throughout the day ; at six in 

 the evening the sun sinks at once beneath the horizon, 

 leaving the country in sudden darkness. This length of 

 twilight in the morning, and the total want of it in the 

 evening, may perhaps be occasioned by the sun's rising 

 over the sea, where the atmosphere is very reflective, 

 and setting behind high mountains, whose shadow has 

 definite limits. From seven to ten the heat is almost 

 intolerable ; the sea breeze, then arising, restores nature 

 to animation, and continues to blow with increasing 

 vigour till sunset, but subsides about ten at night. 

 During the months in which the West Indies are rava- 

 ged by hurricanes, Demerary is affected only by heavy 

 squalls of wind, which do no other injury than blow- 

 ing down a few acres of plantain trees. Clouds piled 

 on clouds are now seen moving towards the south ; hol- 

 low peals of thunder are heard in the interior ; and the 

 day generally closes with faint flashes of lightning 

 from the south and south-west. The length of the day 

 varies from thirteen to fourteen hours. The range of 

 the thermometer on the sea coast in the dry season, 

 which is the hottest, is from 84° to 90° ; at the dis- 

 tance of twenty miles in the interior, the degree of heat 

 seldom exceeds 80° in the warmest part of the day ; and 

 dt night is generally as low as 50° or 60°. 



An account of the diseases incident to this climate, 

 and of its animal and mineral productions, will be given, 

 with more propriety, under the article Guiana. 



The towns in Demerary are Stabroek, the capital ; 

 Kingston, an English village, first reared in 1796; La- 

 bourgade, consisting of a range of Avarehouses on the 

 bank of the river ; Cumingsburgh, a regularly built 

 town about two miles in circumference ; Bridge-town, 

 and New-town ; and the village or town of Werk en 

 RiMt. The hwitses in all these towns are generally 



cy, 



Democri- 

 tus. 



built of timber on brick foundations, two stories high, Democra- 

 and painted white. 



Demerary, originally colonized by the Dutch, was 

 wrested from them by the English in 1796; when a 

 number of British adventurers resorted to it. The 

 greatest respect was paid, however, to the existing laws, 

 and to private property ; the persons of individuals were 

 held sacred ; and even the floating property embarked 

 in colonial vessels was secured to its possessors. This 

 colony was rashly ceded at the peace of Amiens, to the 

 serious injury of many British planters and merchants. 

 It was re-taken in 1803 ; and it is to be hoped that no 

 trifling consideration will induce ministers in future to 

 relinquish a possession of such importance. (/■.) 



DEMOCRACY. See Government. 



DEMOCRITUS, a celebrated Grecian philosopher 

 of the Eleatic School, was born at Abdera, a city of 

 Thrace, about five hundred years before the Christian 

 aera. He was one of the earliest propagators of the 

 atomical theory; which was originally invented, it is 

 believed, by his master Leucippus, matured into scien- 

 tific form by the labours of Epicurus, and transmitted 

 to posterity in the ingenious philosophical poems of Lu- 

 cretius. 



The circumstances of the life of Democritus are in- 

 extricably involved in the impenetrable obscurity of 

 ancient fabulous traditions ; indeed, if we except Py- 

 thagoras, there is none among the Grecian philosophers, 

 to whom so many marvellous acts, so many follies, and 

 so many absurd writings are ascribed. Like most of 

 the early sages of Greece, he is said to have travelled, 

 in quest of knowledge, into the remotest regions of 

 Asia and Africa; and having, at length, by means of 

 his extensive travels and observations, acquired a vast 

 accumulation of general and profound science ; he de- 

 termined to fix his abode at Athens. To this city, 

 therefore, he repaired, and voluntarily surrendering all 

 his property to the state, reserved to himself only a 

 small garden, where he devoted himself to privacy and 

 contemplation. The most hidden arcana of nature, it 

 is said, were developed to his penetrating eye, and an- 

 tiquity boasts of the miracles he performed, by means 

 of the powers with which his knowledge supplied him, 

 as well as of the predictions by which he astonish- 

 ed his contemporaries. His whole life, we are told, 

 Avas devoted to the investigation of the properties of 

 herbs, minerals, and other productions of nature ; and 

 with the vieAV of prosecuting his researches undisturb- 

 ed, he is reported to have retired into the dwellings of 

 the dead. At the same time, it is someAvhat incon- 

 sistently related of this indefatigable observer of na- 

 ture, that he was mad enough to tear out his own eyes; 

 and although withdrawn from the society of his fellow- 

 creatures, that he constantly laughed at the follies of 

 mankind. All these absurd stories were faithfully re- 

 corded and implicitly believed by the most eminent 

 Greek and Roman authors ; and in the first ages of 

 Christianity, Democritus Avas generally considered as 

 ene of the earliest professors of the art of magic. The 

 eccentricities of this philosopher, we are informed upon 

 no les3 doubtful authority, induced a belief among the 

 A'ulgar, that he was disordered in his mind ; but Hip- 

 pocrates, the celebrated physician, being sent to cure 

 him, soon discovered the mistake, and found him to be 

 one of the Avisest men of the age. 



Democritus was one of the earliest and most success- 

 ful experimental philosophers ; and to his proficiency in 

 science he was probably indebted for his reputation as 



