38 N A R R A T I V E O F A N 



CHAP, moft injurious to Ihips in thefe rivers is, that their bot-^ 

 ^ toms are often afFedted by a kind of water-worm, the 

 ravages of which are the moft efFedtually prevented by 

 frequently careening the velfels, in order that they may 

 ^ be properly cleaned, fcraped, caulked, and payed. For 

 that purpofe the coal-tar, invented by the Earl of Dun- 

 donald, (for which a patent of twelve years was granted 

 to him) is greatly preferable to any other material which 

 can be applied for this ufe. 



It is high or low water nearly every fix hours and half ; 

 the fpring tides rife regularly twice a month, when the 

 river fwells to a confiderable degree, which, from va- 

 rious circumftances, is often of infinite benefit to the 

 planters. 



It may be perhaps expecSled, in this place, that I fhould 

 add a few words concerning the defence of the above ri- 

 vers, though that is a fubje(5t which I purpofe to treat . 

 more at large on another occafion. On the eaft fide of 

 the mouth of the river Surinam is a fmall promontory,, 

 called Braam's Point, which I think originally had been 

 named Pram's, or Parham's Point, after Francis Lord 

 Willoughby of Parham, to whom this fettlement was 

 granted by King Charles the Second in 1662, and which 

 fpot is fuppofed to be the firft on which Lord Wil- 

 loughby landed in 1652, ten years before he ob^ 

 tained the charter from his fovereign. This point is 

 not fortified; but about eight miles upwards are two 



redoubts. 



