SETTLEMENTS ON THE DEMERARY, &C. 171 



Tlic tbitllications are of no great import ; fort St. Andrew 

 and a small battery, guard the entrance of the river on tlic 

 east side; and York redoubt on the opposite or west bank. 

 There are two entrances into the river, one on each side 

 of Crab Island, which is reserved by the colonial government 

 for erecting a fort, that will completely command the pas- 

 sage into the river, and from being an island, will be easier 

 and much better defended than the present fort. Crab Island 

 is about two miles in circumference, and might be made a 

 very defensible post ; but that would not avail much, as what- 

 ever the fate of Demerary is, that of Berbice must be the 

 same, from their being so contiguous; the former once in pos- 

 session of any power, would soon over-run the latter by troops, 

 which could march overland ; the convenient ferries stationed 

 at all the creeks and rivers for the passage of horses and car- 

 riages, would afford a (Conveyance to any force sent for that 

 purpose, and although the sovereignty of the colony might 

 be for a while contested in the strong holds and fortresses, It 

 could not last long, the very nature of the situation would 

 oblige the garrison to surrender, or be starved out. For these 

 and other obvious reasons, Berbice has regularly capitulated to 

 the British, after Demerary had surrendered. 



The same field for speculators and adventurers presented 

 Itself here as in the other colonies. The west coast was first 

 put in cultivation, and in 1799 that to the eastward of the 



z 2 



