SETTLEMENTS ON THE DEMERARY, kc. 31 



The cultivation of sugar and coffee on the banks of the river 

 has a pretty effect. Boats sailing up and down, and windmills 

 at work, gave me a favourable idea of the industry of the in- 

 liabitants. The principal craft used in the river are punts, or 

 flat-bottomed boats, about thirty feet long and eight wide, 

 nearly square at both ends, which, from drawing little water, 

 are well calculated for the trenches, or canals, of an estate. 

 They are generally large enough to stow twenty hogsheads of 

 sugar with facility, and may be compared to the lighters on 

 the Thames. In Stabroek there are people who let them out 

 to discharge or load ships, at the moderate price of from 

 twenty to thirty shillings per day. 



* The estates on the river, I was informed, had greatly in- 

 creased and extended themselves since 1796, as well as those 

 on the coast ; and where there was one sugar-plantation then, 

 there were five now. Three fine new canals are already dug, 

 and carried twenty miles into the interior, and, as the water- 

 carriage extends, fresh lands are gettirig into cultivation, in 

 coffee, sugar, and plantains. 



*. Pinckard has given an erroneous idea to the public ahout these estates 

 being abandoned. On the contrary, they are improved, and increased, as is 

 also the number of negroes. The land on the sea-coast is unfit for the pro- 

 duction of sugar, coffee, and plantains, from the soil being too saline. 



