202 STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE 



lower price ; an extensive range of sea coast to the westward 

 of Essequebo, called the Arabische Coast, and Pomaroon 

 fiver, and the coast contiguous to it, presented tliemselves as 

 eligible situations for cultivation, and accordingly a number of 

 adventurers found settlements there, which are at this time 

 .held in as high estimation for the production of cotton, as any 

 land in the colonies. The west coast of Pomaroon juts on the 

 boundary of the Orinoko, where there is a military post es- 

 tablished. 



Since the English took possession of the colonies, they have 

 cultivated the whole of that coast, extending upwards of tifty 

 miles, and are now making estates on the banks of the Poma- 

 roon, which river is half a mile broad at its entrance, and is 

 difficult of access, from projecting banks of mud on each side ; 

 and a bar of the same consistency, which runs across, pre- 

 vents any vessels entering drawing more than nine feet water. 



Up the edges of this river, the melancholy traces of ancient 

 cultivation, and abandoned residences, are frequently apparent. 

 Above the fork, formed by the junction of the Harlipyak 

 with the Pomaroon, the Hollanders had formerly three settle- 

 ments of some extent. Fort Zealand, which the English 

 destroyed in 1666; Middleburg, which at the same period 

 was plundered and abandoned ; and Harlipyak, which bor- 

 rowed or lent the name of the contiguous stream. The present 



