34 NARRATIVE OF AN 



CHAP, immcnfe forefts, rocks, and mountains; feme of the 

 ^ , latter enriched with a great variety of mineral fub- 

 ftances ; and the whole country is interfe6ted by very 

 deep marfhes or fwamps, and by extenfive heaths or fa- 

 vannas. The ftream along the coaft flows continually 

 towards the north-weft; and the whole fliore is rendered 

 almoft inacceffible from its being covered with danger- 

 ous banks, quickfands, bogs, and rocks, with prodigious 

 bufhes, and a large quantity of bruihwood, which are fo 

 clofely interwoven as to be impenetrable. 



The Spanifli, Portugueze, and Dutch, are the only 

 nations which poflefs fettlements in this part of Terra 

 Firma, excepting the fmall colony of Cayenne, belong- 

 ing to the French, which is lituated between the river 

 Marawina and Cape Orange. The dominions in Guiana, 

 fubje6t to Spain, are fituated on the banks of the 

 Oronoque, and thofe of Portugal extend along the fhores 

 of the river Amazon. The Dutch fettlements, which 

 fpread along the coafts of the Atlantic ocean, and reach 

 from Cape Naffau to the river Marawina, are Eflequiba^ 

 Demerary, Berbice, and Surinam * ; the laft of which is 

 the moft extenfive and valuable, and that portion of the 

 Dutch polTeffions to which the fucceeding account will 

 be chiefly confined. This induftrious nation endeavour- 

 ed, in the year 1657, to eftablilli a fmall colony on the 

 banks of the river Poumeron, but in 1666 this fettiement 



* See the Map prefixed to this work. 



was 



# 



