72 STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OP THE 



The laws oblige every man from the age of sixteen to fifty, 

 to enrol himself in the burgher militia ; they are liable to be 

 called out when the governor thinks proper ; the officers are 

 appointed by the court of police, they are commanded by a 

 lieutenant-colonel ; their service extends no farther than pre- 

 serving the internal tranquillity of the country, but in the last 

 war, a number of British subjects volunteered their services, 

 and were inrolled to act under the military commandant. On 

 the British taking possession of the colonies this present war, 

 a company of volunteer riflemen were formed, and on the 

 arrival, in 1805, of the combined fleets in the West Indies, be- 

 tween three and four hundred of the burgher militia stepped 

 forward, and offered their services to defend the colony against 

 any attacks of the enemy. Every body now in town and 

 country armed ; every estate on the sea coast provided a 

 trusty negro, who was armed with a pike and cutlas ; a troop 

 of cavalry was formed, and a company of volunteer artillery 

 was also added to the military force. The garrison is gene- 

 rally one thousand or twelve hundred strong. Four hundred 

 seamen can always be had from the merchant ships in the 

 river, by whom, with about six hundred volunteers, and 

 one hundred pioneers, a good defence might be sustained. 

 But the greatest bulwark lies in the shallowness of the en- 

 trances into the river, and the numerous mud banks and 

 flats which run along the coast; and as there are signal staffs 

 from the Berbice to theDemerary (which ought to be continued 



