SETTLEMENTS ON THE DEMERARY, &C. 179 



CHAPTER IX. 



BERBICE, A DISTINCT COLONY VAN BATENBURG NOT A 



POPULAR GOVERNOR BOUNDARY OF BERBICE EXTENDED 



IN 1799, BY HIS MANAGEMENT MUTINY OF THE DUTCH 



TROOPS DURING THE AUTHOR'S STAY ARMAMENT OF 



THE INDIANS IN BEHALF OF THE INHABITANTS. 



TThE government of Berbice is separate from that of Esse- 

 quebo and Demerary ; this appeared to be a fact unknown to 

 General Grinfield and Sir Samuel Hood, in September 1803, 

 when they demanded, in their summons to his excellency the 

 governor of Essequebo and Demerary, the surrender of Ber- 

 bice, which he was incapable of granting. In 1796, when 

 the colony capitulated to the British, his excellency Abraham 

 Van Batenburg, was retained in his government, until the co- 

 lony was surrendered to the Batavian troops by the peace of 

 Amiens, when he, as an English governor, of course resigned 

 the reins to a provisional government, consisting of two 

 members of the court of police. The Batavian government 

 not having sent an ostensible governor in the establishment 

 intended for Berbice, report named several persons who were 



A a 2 



