84 
Botmiical Reminiscences. 
Waini, Pomeroon, Essequibo, Demerara, Perbice, and 
Corentyn. The whole tract consist "of low alluvial land, 
which extends in some parts ten or twelve miles ; of other 
parts even further inland. The formation is a bluish, stiff, 
rich, clayey marsh land, which is frequently mixed with 
saline and vegetable substances. 
The proper vegetation near the coast stretches only so far 
inland as the salt water is driven upwards by the flood, which 
in some rivers extends to the distance of ten or twelve miles. 
The greatest part of this region is in a state of culture — 
sugar, coffee, cotton, &c., fruit trees, ornamental shrubs, 
perennials and annuals have been introduced from other parts 
of the world, as Asia, Africa, Europe, and a great many of 
them have increased in their new home, and become almost 
indigenous. But the tracts not cultivated retain their original 
vegetation of the coast, viz. :~Avieennta, Bhizophora, Com- 
carpus, Laguncularia, and Ficus, which in such places form 
dense forests. About two to three miles from the coast, and 
such parts of it as are not intercepted by the mouths of rivers, 
the vegetation assumes a different character. Leguminosce, 
Laurincece, Melastomacece, and Balms appear in the place of the 
plants just mentioned. The medium temperature is 8F 
Eahr. This region is specially characterized by having two 
rainy seasons in the year, the rainfall being 80*90 inches. 
The Primitive Forest Region. 
Immediately joining the region of the coast extends that 
of the Primitive Forest, and includes the before-mentioned 
large rivers of the Coast Eegion, except that between the 
Corentyn and Demerara it is interrupted b}^ a tract of savanna. 
The forest extends along the course of the Essequibo, 
Demerara, Berbice, and Corentyn, as far as their sources. The 
elevations of this extensive region, which stretches between 
the bT and 59° W. longitude, and from the equator to the 7° N. 
latitude, does not rise in any way abruptly from the coast to 
the mountains, but gradually by ranges of hills, reaching at 
last in the Canuku, Carawaimi and Acarai Mountains to an 
absolute height of 4,000 feet. Dp to this elevation the 
mountains are luxuriantly wooded, the same as the low land 
near the coast. In its geological character the area of the 
forest belongs almost entirely, in its different modifications, 
to the primary formation*^ — granite predominating. 
Between the 4th and 5th degrees of latitude the flora 
