48 NATURAL HIStORT 



whether the rain that accompanies the norths among the iflands, 

 efpecially thofe moft remote from the Hne, be not generally in 

 a greater proportion than is commonly fnppofed. 



Country. — I will now endeavour to give you fome idea of 



the face of the country. Though, as is well known, Guiana 



is flat and fvvampy, yet it affords to the attentive eye an in- 



terefling variety. The fea-coaft is little, if at all, raifed above 



the level of high water, and it continues at this level for many 



miles inland. It is properly an immenfe woody fwamp, never 



dry in the driefl feafon, covered with feveral feet of water in 



the wet. Next the fhore, as far as the brackifh water extends, it 



is covered with mangroves, which grow to a confiderable height, 



and form a thick fhade. They are elevated on their branchy 



intermingled roots from the bare v/et clay or mud, on which 



there is fcarcely one herb or plant, but which feems to be all in 



motion, from the prodigious number of crabs which make- 



their holes in it. Further on, when the under-water is frefh, 



you meet with a new fet of vegetables, principally fmall 



trees, which, from their fituation, are obliged to adopt the 



habits of mangroves, having the bottom of their trunks fup- 



ported three or four feet above ground by their ramified 



roots. Several climbing plants are . mixed with them. Arunis, 



in great variety and profulion, emerge from the water, or 



embrace the ftems of the trees ; and feveral broad-leafed plants 



of the hexandria and triandria claiTes, afTift the Arunis in 



forming an herbage. In all this low part of Demerary, there 



is not one tree of a large fize, nor 'among them all above 



two or three fpecies which can be applied to ufe as timber. 



Proceeding flill up the river, its banks are found generally to 



raife thernfelves above the level of the water ; and when you 



have gone up one tide, (betwixt twenty and thirty miles), they 



are fo high, that there is no farther occafion for dams to keep 



the plantations from being overflowed at high water, as below ; 



* canals. 



