320 STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE 



nated sea-ports of the colonies, the grand staple of exertion and 

 thrift. A demand for produce instantaneous and uninterrupted, 

 and long credits, to any extent which can be usuriously paid 

 for, are essential in all new countries. 



Soon after the peace of 1763, the court of Versailles, in- 

 fluenced by the Duke of Choiseul, made vigorous efforts to 

 give importance to Cayenne. Twelve thousand men, en- 

 gaged in France as labourers, were landed, some in the isle 

 du Salset, and some on the banks of the Kourou ; but alas 

 no habitation or proper provision had been made for them. 

 To add to their calamities, they arrived at the commence- 

 ment of a rainy season. Situated thus, without fit food and 

 shelter, without employ from the heaviness of the rains, 

 weary of existence from their deplorable situation, they aban- 

 doned themselves to shocking irregularities, which brought 

 on contagious distempers, and soon terminated their wretched 

 fate. Fifteen hundred men, who had escaped the mortality 

 of disease, were washed away by the floods which assailed their 

 ill-chosen settlement. Two thousand demanded to return to 

 Europe and were unwillingly brought back. About a mil- 

 lion sterling was uselessly expended on the enterprize. 



During the American war, the victory achieved by Ad- 

 miral Rodney, in April 1780, offered to our ministry a fa- 

 vourable opportunity for ordering Cayenne and Paramaribo 



