Efforts At SaKitaFioI^. 
■28 
bank as Codazzi mistakenly places it in Ins so important atlas of Colom- 
bia, — and numbers 23,000 inhabitants of whom not less than 19,000 are 
Mulattoes and Negroes. The white population consists for the most part 
of English, because but very few of the Dutch, who were formerly settled 
here prolonged their stay when the Colony was ceded to Great Britain. 
The negroes on the other hand constitute by far the larger number of in- 
habitants, and except for Water (Street which runs directly along the 
bank of the Demerara and is only occupied by merchants whose store- 
houses and wharves reach into (he River, there is not a single thorough- 
fare that is exclusively inhabited by Europeans. From the way that it 
lias been laid out, the city at first, sight shows the regular straightgoing 
Dutchman, because all the older buildings are in alignment, so that the 
streets collectively cross at right angles. The latter are generally wide 
and divided down their centre by canals which communicate with one 
another and with the River: the two sides of each street thus separated 
are joined up with a number of bridges. Owing to the extraordinary 
moisture of the atmosphere, and also on account of the situation of the 
city being on the immediate coast-line and alluvial soil, the two-to- 
three-storeyed houses are almost always raised from off the ground by 3 
to 4-ft. high hard-wood posts; they are lined up to the roof with strong 
boards, and covered with shingles of the same material, the whole being 
painted in darker or lighter oil colour according to the owner’s taste. 
Pretty gardens surround the natty structures, ornamented as they are 
with verandahs and porticoes, and so lend a most pleasing exterior to 
Hie streets which are always being kept sweet and clean by the so-called 
Town Gang, a kind of Sanitary Police. Amongst the sanitary regulations 
is one prohibiting any pig being seen on the streets, when it is outlawed, 
like dogs without the licence-token in our larger cities, and becomes a 
welcome spoil for the Gang. As soon as the negro children, scuffling 
about in front of the door, see the well-known brigands making their ap- 
pearance at the farther end of the street, they will rush into the house 
and warn the mother of her prospective loss : and yet almost daily the 
stiftest skirmishes continue to take place between the owners and the 
“souvenip’-seeking Health Officers, which often give rise to the most 
laughable and ridiculous scenes. If the owner succeeds in dragging the 
squeaking and grunting beast out of the hands of the merciless officers 
over his threshold he saves it and is not punished. Unfortunately, 
such a squabble at which hundreds of other negroes will collect out of the 
sincerest sympathy without daring to lend an active hand under pain of 
severe punishment, mostly ends to the detriment of the unfortunate bone 
of contention, because the Town Gang carry large cutlasses with which, 
directly the victory threatens to incline to the owner’s side, they will 
chop the pig's legs or otherwise hinder its escape. I have been eye- 
witness at scenes that not alone were worth the brush of a Breughel 
twdee or thrice over, but also afforded demonstration of the hardness, 
bordering on the truly marvellous, of a negro skull. 
99. Quite close to the mouth of the Demerara lies Fort William 
Frederick, built of mud and fascines. Although it is of course extremely 
w^eak and could only withstand the fire of an advancing flotilla for a short’ 
while, the landing of one might nevertheless turn out to be difficult, be- 
cause not only the Fort but the whole coast-line in general finds its 
