EXPEDITION TO SURINAM. 



can be imagined to thofe who travel by water, the uni- 

 verfal mode of journeying in this country, as the foil 

 is in general ill adapted for the conftruci^ion of roads; 

 and in fome places the woods, &c. are abfolutely impe- 

 netrable, a fmall path of communication between Para- 

 maribo and the river Seramica being the only palfable 

 road that I know of in the fettlement. The rivers 

 whofe banks are uncultivated, fuch as the Corantine, 

 Copename, Seramica, and Marawina, afford but little 

 matter for defcription : it is therefore only necelTary to 

 remark, that they are generally from two to four miles in 

 breadth, exceedingly fhallow, and crowded with quick- 

 fands, fmall iflands, and rocks, which form a number of 

 beautiful cafcades. In the river Marawina is frequently 

 found a curious flone or pebble, which is known by the 

 name of the Marawina diamond, and which being po- 

 lilhed, bears a very near refemblance to that moft valu- 

 able gem, and is confequently often fet in rings, &c. Sec. 

 In all the above rivers, without exception, the water rifes 

 and falls for more than fixty miles from the mouth, oc- 

 cafioned by the ftoppage of the frefhes by the tide ; yet 

 frefh water may generally be met with about twenty- 

 four or thirty miles from the mouths of thefe rivers for 

 watering the fhips. The water of the river Surinam is ac- 

 counted the moft excellent, and is brought by the failors 

 from as far as the Jew Savannah, which is above forty 

 miles from the town of Paramaribo. The circumftance 

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