SETTLEMENTS ON THE DEMERARY, &C. 201 



constant shooting upwards of the land, which is so sensible in 

 the West Indies, has been little heeded by European mine- 

 ralogists. 



The mineralogy of Guyana is a subject still less investigated. 

 It cannot be doubted that, within water-carriage of our settle- 

 ments, there must be lime-stone rocks : lime, or rather its ma- 

 terial, has been so profusely scattered by nature, that it forms 

 the basis of the exterior hills in almost all ridges of mountains. 

 Yet we import, from Europe, the lime, which we use in the 

 sugar manufactory. How vast an economy would result from 

 providing and burning it at home. The very shells on our 

 coast would supply the requisite quantity of lime, if it were 

 thought worth while to collect and to burn them. But it 

 seems to be the intention of nature that every people should 

 have something to fetch from a distance, in order to unite, by 

 the ties of commerce, the distant quarters of the world. 

 Agriculture still offers a boundless and a profitable field of em- 

 ployment ; the other arts are seldom domesticated, until a su- 

 perfluous population begins to become inquisitive for the means 

 of earning a subsistence. 



The high price of land on the east coast of Demerary had 

 advanced so much, as soon induced adventurers, with a small 

 capital, to seek for other lands at a distance from Stabrock, 

 which from that circumstance could be purchased at a much 



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