SETTLEMENTS ON THE DEMERARY, &C. 375 



progress is still more sensible ; and but for the perpetual impor- 

 tation of Europeans at the sea-ports, the very memory of the 

 refinement and civilization of their ancestors might die away 

 among the land-owners of the interior. 



In order to resist the perpetual tendency of the settled and 

 native population to diverge and to degenerate, pretences for 

 frequent assemblages of the people should be contrived. To 

 the fairs instituted by the Dutch, and to the religious pageants 

 founded by the Spanish, might perhaps be added the attrac- 

 tion of public games and manly exercises, in which the sa- 

 vages could be induced to become competitors as well as spec- 

 tators. When they visit our towns they bring some singula- 

 rities from the interior, they learn to know what we prize, and 

 they carry back several of our instruments and utensils, which 

 will eventually become permanent articles of demand. A still 

 more important cause of regular assemblage and reciprocal in- 

 fluence is the representative character of those administrative 

 bodies, to which the provincial police of all colonies may 

 most expediently be intrusted. The honor of a power freely 

 conferred by the choice of the proprietors, serves to stimulate 

 and to recompense education throughout the whole body. 



Not mere extent of dominion, but populous extent is the 

 cause of every improvement. The roads of intercourse, the 

 canals of irrigation and traffic, nay the very structure of every 



