SETTLEMENTS ON THE DEMERARY, &C. 61 



was entered into for their relief, and nearly five hundred 

 pounds were raised, which enabled them to return to their mother 

 country. An artillery-man belonging to his Majesty's forces, 

 while bringing a vessel to, at Fort William Frederic, by some 

 mismanagement had his arm broken, and so much shat- 

 tered as to cause immediate amputation ; a purse of two 

 hundred and forty or fifty pounds was made up for him just 

 before his leaving the colony. Some Spanish prisoners, taken 

 in one of the piccaroon boats from the Orinoko, were brought 

 into the Demerary last war in a most dreadful situation, being 

 in want of shoes and stockings and cloaths of every descrip- 

 tion. Previously to their being exchanged, a subscription was 

 made among some of the merchants, and fifty Joes, nearly 

 one hundred pounds, were collected and laid out for them. 

 Various other acts of benevolence might be adduced. 



A fund which is daily encreasing called the ** Kirk en arm 

 geldt," or church and poor money, is derived from a per 

 centage duty on all sales by auction. As it has been accumulat- 

 ing for a number of years, there are no means of judging of 

 the probable amount, except by an investigation of the ac- 

 counts of those persons who are the receivers of it. This 

 ought immediately to be done by the court of police, and that 

 amount, joined to the overplus of any other colonial fund, 

 would form a considerable capital, which might be lent to 

 new settlers at six per cent interest per annum, for the ex- 



