Of G UIANA 57 



impreflion on any place. The difcharge from the ditches at 

 low water cut out channels in. the mud, and left the fides of 

 thefe channels more expofed to the returning waves, which here 

 beat continually upon a lee-fhore. We find therefore on the 

 coaft, that the fea has made here and there confiderable en- 

 croachments, which generally begin on the weft fide of the 

 canals or ditches, as being the moft adled upon by the waves. 

 The mouth of the Demerary itfelf furnifhes us with a ftrong 

 inftance. That river is now nearly twice as wide as it was 

 when the country firft began to be cleared ; the fea and the 

 ftream together having fince that fwept away a large portion of 

 land from the weftern fhore. 



Creeks. — A Number of creeks fall into the Demerary on 

 both fides, but fo fmall that they bear no proportion to the 

 lize of the river. You can hardly diftinguifh their mouths in 

 the woods which overhang the banks. They are fo narrow 

 that it is difficult to run a fmall boat in them ; yet you will 

 find in them throughout from two and a half to four fathom, 

 water, and they run winding fo far back that it will take five, fix, 

 eight hours, or more, to carry you up to their heads, where 

 they terminate in fmall ftreams from among the fand-hills. 

 The banks of the creeks at their mouths are of the fame height 

 as thofe of the river clofe by, from five perhaps to twelve feet 

 above the water in the dry feafon. As you afcend the creek, 

 you might naturally expedl to find them rife. It is however 

 the very reverfe ; they become gradually lower and lower, till 

 at laft all round them is a fwamp ; and the trees on each fide 

 in like manner become fmaller and fmaller, and of different 

 fpecies from what they were. It is now in fliort exadly a 

 mangrove fwamp, with this difference, that the water is quite 

 frefh, the vegetables are not the fame, and there are abundance 

 of arunis and other low herbaceous plants. A little higher up, 



Vol. IV. H you 



