759 



country bounded by the delta of the Oroonoko, 

 the Carony, and the Cuyuni. This part of Guy- 

 ana, from it's proximity to the coasts, will some 

 day offer the greatest attraction to European 

 settlers. 



The whole population of this vast province in 

 it's present state is, with the exception of a few 

 Spanish parishes*, scattered on the banks of 

 the Lower Oroonoko, and subject to two mo- 

 nastic governments. Estimating the number of 

 the inhabitants of Guyana, who do not live in 

 savage independance, at thirty-five thousand, 

 we find nearly twenty-four thousand settled in 

 the missions, and thus withdrawn as it were 

 from the direct influence of the secular arm. 

 At the period of my voyage, the territory of the 

 monks of the Observance of St. Francis con- 

 tained seven thousand three hundred inhabi- 

 tants, and that of the Capuchinos Catalanes seven- 

 teen thousand ; an astonishing disproportion, 

 when we reflect on the smallness of the latter 

 territory compared to the vast banks of the 

 Upper Oroonoko, the Atabapo, the Cassiquiare, 

 and the Rio Negro. It results from these state- 

 ments, that nearly two thirds of the population 

 of a province of sixteen thousand eight hundred 

 square leagues are found concentred between the 

 Rio Imataca and the town of Santo Thome del 

 Angostura, on a space of ground only fifty- 



* Pueblos y villas de Espanoles- 



