88 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



The road for horses runs parallel to the river, but it 

 extends a very little way, and even ends before the 

 cultivation of the plantation ceases. 



The only mode then that remains is to proceed by 

 water ; and when you come to the high lands, you may 

 make your .way through the forest on foot, or continue 

 your route on the river. 



After passing the third island in the river Demerara, 

 there are few plantations to be seen, and those not joining 

 on to one another, but separated by large tracts of wood. 



The Loo is the last where the Sugar-cane is growing. 

 The greater part of its negroes have just been ordered to 

 another estate ; and ere a few months shall have elapsed 

 all signs of cultivation will be lost in underwood. 



Higher up stand the sugar-works of Amelia's Waard, 

 solitary and abandoned ! and after passing these there is 

 not a ruin to inform the traveller that either coffee or 

 sugar have ever been cultivated. 



From Amelia's Waard an unbroken range of forest 

 covers each bank of the river, saving here and there 

 where a hut discovers itself, inhabited by free people of 

 colour, with a rood or two of bared ground about it ; or 

 where the wood-cutter has erected himself a dwelling, and 

 cleared a few acres for pasturage. Sometimes you see 

 level ground on each side of you for two or three hours 

 at a stretch ; at other times a gently sloping hill presents 

 itself; and often, on turning a point, the eye is pleased 

 with the contrast of an almost perpendicular height jutting 

 into the water. The trees put you in mind of an eternal 

 spring, with summer and autumn kindly blended into it. 



Here you may see a sloping extent of noble trees, whose 

 foliage displays a charming variety af every shade, from 

 the lightest to the darkest green and purple. The tops of 

 some are crowned with bloom of the loveliest hue ; while 



