2 



WANDERINGS IX SOUTH AMERICA. 



After passing tlie third island in the river Demerara, 

 Face of the there are few plantations to be seen, and 

 country. 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 has 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 of every 

 shade, from the lightest to the darkest green and 

 purple. The tops of some are crowned with bloom of 

 the loveliest hue, while the boughs of others bend with 

 a profusion of seeds and fruits. 



Those whose heads have been bared by time, or 

 blasted by the thunder-storm, strike the eye as a 



