SETTLEMENTS ON THE DEMERARY, ^C. 73 



across tlie Essequebo to the Pomaroon) the garrison is soon 

 apprized of an enemy being off the coast. It may be fairly 

 asserted that with the natural and acquired strength of the 

 country, and while the colonists are so favourable to Great 

 Britain, an effectual defence may be made against six or eight 

 thousand men. Such is the advantage possessed by the inha- 

 bitants when they wish to preserve the colony to its possessors. 



In the country, every officer of militia is a justice of the 

 peace, and has under his jurisdiction, a certain division of the 

 country to which he is attached ; these divisions are known 

 and distinguished by different coloured banners under which 

 they are arranged. They are termed burgher officers, 

 issue proclamations, receive depositions on tax schedules, 

 and are the active men in quelling disturbances, for which 

 purpose they have a disposable force in the embodied militia 

 of inhabitants. 



Since the introduction of volunteering, military funerals 

 have usually been allotted to the whites : but the respect and 

 attention paid at funerals of free people, and even of negroes, 

 is very considerable. Not only all their relatives, but strangers 

 feel it an incumbent duty to go. If a coloured free person 

 dies in Stabroek, the remains are followed to the grave by 

 every one in town. I have seen upwards of two hundred 

 people of color followers. They are either in white muslin. 



