34 
Colonial Imports. 
squamosa Linn.) with which one believes he is enjoying rich cream and 
cinnamon, the Chrysopliullum Cainito Linn., Paw paw ( Carica Papaya 
Linn.), Passion fruit ( Passiflora cdulis, P. quadr angularis, P. lauri- 
folia Linn., all three known under the name of Simitu and Granadilla), 
the Myrtiis Ja mhos Humb. Bonp., Banana (Musa sapientum Linn.), 
Melicocca bijuga Linn., and many others, under whatever name they go 
by. And along with all the squabbling, the pushing, and the yelling of the 
negro women, the racing and the chasing of the busy buyers, fresh col- 
umns of negro and mulatto in all shades of colour with tilled baskets 
on their heads were continually pressing their way in from the river-side, 
striving to avoid coming too late with their loads. Fix all this together 
in a frame, so that the prettily-coloured animated yet unfamiliar picture 
can be surveyed at a glance, and then you will understand why, almost 
every morning T strolled about in the midst of this moving mass of hu- 
manity. But while the eye caught sight of the fruits of Africa and the 
Eastern Indies, it searched in vain for those of Europe: not even a full 
bunch of grapes was to be seen. It is true that many attempts have been 
made to transplant grapes from Madeira, from the Gape, and from the 
Rhine, but as with Prophet Isaiah’s cousin, only sour ones were reaped. 
The same thing happens with apple, pear, peach, and apricot trees, which 
grow to a huge size, but rarely blossom, and never bear fruit. I have seen 
iust as little of figs, strawberries, red currants, gooseberries, and rasp- 
berries. The dried fodder for horses and mules is also imported from 
North America and England, because ihe fodder-grasses of this place are 
not in any sense adapted for hay: the European varieties of corn like- 
wise do not thrive on the fatty soil and hot climate. 
117. If we turn now from the Market to individual streets we find 
here numbers of shops offering for sale everything that a European ac- 
customed to luxury and high living can possibly wish for, because all 
parts of the world vie in sending to Guiana what it lacks. North Amer- 
ica furnishes flour, potatoes, salt fish, salted and smoked beef, and pork, 
peas, biscuits, cheese, butter, herrings, horses, pigs, ducks- etc.» rice, 
onions, dried apples and pears, leather, furniture, iron ware, and the 
chief article of import, ice, which has become a most valuable staple pro- 
duct. especiallv in Massachusetts whence it is exported to Bombay, Can- 
ton, Madras, Calcutta, Mauritius, and the whole West Indian group of 
Islands as far as Guiana. Tn Boston alone there are at present 10 com- 
panies which ship ice to the East and West Indies, to New Orleans and 
other southern ports. By means of a machine, Ihe ice is sawn into quad- 
rangular blocks, at least 12 inches thick, and packed on board Ihe vessel 
with straw and hay in thin air-tight wooden boxes. These ice-ships are 
utilised at the same time for the transport of fresh meat, butter, etc. 
England on the other hand supplies Guiana with its manufactured arti- 
cles, linen and cotton fabrics, silk-stuffs, jewellery goods, sails, towels, 
soaps, tar, bricks, and tiles: in addition to these, with iron-, glass-, and 
■*hina-ware, musical instruments, paper, gunpowder. lead, copper, tin and 
zinc, silver-, and gold-ware, medicines, distilled waters and a number of 
delicacies in hermetically sealed tins, beer and porter in bottles and bar- 
rels, France, Sonin, and Portugal send wine e.a. champagne, bordeaux, 
burgundy, madeira, claret and sherry, while Father Rhine even des- 
patches his precious grape juice to the tables of the wealthier Colonists 
