SETTLEMENTS ON THE DEMERARY, &C. 283 



rary, but extended to Essequebo. The emoluments arising 

 from these appointments are always considerable, the commis- 

 sion allowed by law being ten per cent on the gross produce 

 of the estate; therefore, if a crop amounts to a hundred thou- 

 sand weight of coffee, the attorney gets one thousand of it for 

 his trouble. But this is not the only advantage arising to these 

 offices. Mr. Meertens had an opportunity of purchasing an 

 estate, very cheap, of the heirs of one of his constituents, who 

 resided in Holland. The plantation Rome, situated on the 

 same side of the river as Stabroek, and about three miles dis- 

 tant, is said to have been obtained for thirty thousand guilders, 

 viz. two thousand five hundred pounds sterling. This estate 

 he still possesses; it is valued at upwards of one hundred 

 thousand. On his arrival in the colony, as governor, he 

 erected a splendid government house there, which build- 

 ing was computed to cost ten thousand pounds. The frame 

 was made and imported from Holland, and some busy people 

 no doubt unfoundedly reported, that it was intended to have 

 been erected in Stabroek, on public ground, as an official re- 

 sidence for the governor, and not upon any private property. 

 Mr. Meertens next undertook the inside furnishing. A 

 young lady, of Indian extraction, and but twice removed, 

 had taken possession of his heart. After the usual form of 

 courtship, contrary however to the established custom of the 

 colony, he took unto himself a tawney wife. It is not the 

 first time that money has reconciled such a procedure. ' : ' 



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