24 



WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



rock Saba to the great fall ! and what an uninterrupted 

 extent before thee from it to the banks of the Essequibo ! 

 'No doubt, there is many a balsam and many a medicinal 

 root yet to be discovered, and many a resin, gum, and 

 oil yet unnoticed. Thy work would be a pleasing one, 

 and thou mightest make several useful observations 

 in it. 



Would it be thought impertinent in thee to hazard 

 a conjecture, that with the resources the government of 

 Demerara has, stones might be conveyed from the rock 

 Saba to Stabroek, to stem the equinoctial tides, wtich 

 are for ever sweeping away the expensive wooden piles 

 round the mounds of the fort 1 Or would the timbei- 

 merchant point at thee in passing by, and call thee a 

 descendant of La Mancha's knight, because thou main- 

 tainest that the stones which form the rapids might b3 

 removed with little expense, and thus open the navi- 

 gation to the wood-cutter from Stabroek to the greit 

 fall? Or wouldst thou be deemed enthusiastic )r 

 biassed, because thou givest it as thy opinion that tie 

 climate in these high lands is exceedingly wholesome, 

 and the lands themselves capable of nourishing aid 

 maintaining any number of settlers 1 In thy disserla- 

 tion on the Indians, thou mightest hint, that possiHy 

 they could be induced to help the new settlers a littfe ; 

 and that, finding their labours well requited, it woiid 

 be the means of their keeping up a constant commuii- 

 cation with us, which probably might be the means 3f 

 laying the first stone towards their Christianity. Thiy 

 are a poor, harmless, inoffensive set of people, and thdr 

 wandering and ill-provided way of living seems mce 

 to ask for pity from us, than to fill our heads wiji 

 thoughts that they would be hostile to us. 



