766 



exist no longer, either in the missions of Caro- 

 ny, or in those of the Oroonoko ; but the inde- 

 pendant Caribbees continue, on account of their 

 connection with the Dutch colonists of Esseque- 

 bo, an object of mistrust and hatred to the 

 government of Guyana. These tribes favor 

 the contraband trade along the coast, and by 

 the channels or estuaries, that join the Rio 

 Barima to the Rio Moroca ; they carry off the 

 cattle belonging to the missionaries, and excite 

 the Indians recently converted, and living within 

 the sound of the bell, to return to the forests. 

 The free hordes have every where a powerful 

 interest in opposing the progress of cultivation, 

 and the encroachments of the Whites. The 

 Caribbees and the Aruacas procure firearms at 

 Essequebo and Demerara ; and, when the traf- 

 fic of American slaves fpoitosj was most active, 

 adventurers of Dutch origin took part in these 

 incursions on the Paragua, the Erevato, and the 

 Ventuario. Men-hunting took place on these 

 banks, as heretofore (and probably still) on 

 those of the Senegal and the Gambia. In both 

 worlds Europeans have employed the same 

 artifices, and committed the same atrocities, 

 to maintain a trade that dishonours humanity. 

 The missionaries of the Carony and the Oroono- 

 ko attribute all the evils they suffer from the 

 independent Caribbees to the hatred of their 

 neighbours, the Calvinist preachers of Esseo^ue- 



