SETTLEMENTS ON THE DEMERARY, &C. 307 



subordinate situations. The armed burghers, or inhabitants, 

 joined the rangers with a number of bucks, or Indians. These 

 people are remarkably averse to the negroes, and have ge- 

 nerally stood foremost in case of any disturbance, to quell 

 the blacks, and protect the Europeans ; indeed they have 

 always here, as in Berbice, evinced a strong desire to maintain 

 and aid the white inhabitants in the sovereignty of the country. 



The combined forces took the field in 1795, formed into two 

 divisions, one of which entered the bush on the west coast, 

 and the other fifteen miles up the river, by Ababbour creek, 

 with an intention of taking a complete circuit, and forming a 

 junction. They were provided with several trusty negro 

 guides, one of whom I very well knew, of the name of Gen- 

 tleman : he belonged to an estate up the river, and had been 

 purchased among other negroes out of an African cargo, at 

 Grenada, and brought thence, by his masters, to settle on a 

 sugar estate they possessed. This negro, from his uniform 

 good conduct, soon gained the esteem and confidence of his 

 owners, and from his sincere attachment to them, was looked 

 upon as a favourite, which, however, was shewn in no other 

 way than by trifling presents at a chance time. His house, 

 his way of living, and indeed his employment, seldom dif- 

 fered from that of others, except when any commission re- 

 quired a confidential servant, then Gentleman was generally 

 fixed on. He possesses good plain sense, considering the way 



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