EXPEDITION TO SURINAM. 123 



fmaller, and their eggs differ in fliape, being more fharp- c H A l\ 

 pointed. A fmaller fpecies of the dunghill kind, with ^ 

 rumpled inverted feathers, feems natural to Guiana, be- 

 ing reared in the inland parts of the country by the 

 Indians or natives. The turkeys are very fine, and fo are 

 the geefe, but the ducks are excellent, being of the large 

 Mufcovy fpecies, with crimfon pearls betwixt the beak 

 and the head : thefe are here juicy, fat, and in great 

 plenty. 



After the various delays we had experienced, the 

 reader will be furprized to learn that the hour of acStion 

 at lafl arrived, and all the officers and men were ordered 

 to be ready at a minute's warning to fet out on actual 

 fervice, though our little corps was already melted down 

 from five hundred and thirty able men to about three- 

 fourths of that number, by death and ficknefs, the hof- 

 pital being crouded by invalids of every kind. The lofs 

 of fo large a proportion of men was fupplied in a man- 

 ner that will appear extraordinary to a European. 



There were two negroes, one called Okeras the other 

 Gowfary^ two defperadoes, who had both been rebel cap- 

 tains in the colony of Berbice, and who, for taking Atta 

 their chief, and delivering him to the governor of that 

 fettlement, had received their pardon. By thefe two 

 men the moll inhuman murders had been committed on 

 the Europeans in the year 1762, when the revolt was in 

 the above colony. Thefe were now admitted as private 



R 2 foldiers 



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