THE ABORIGINES OF GUIANA. 
37 
they have been treated, seems almost unaccountable, and I must ascribe it to ignorance, for it is hardly possible that the religious 
portion of Great Britain should be aware that a I’ace of men exists, who have not only been dispossessed of their territory by Europeans, 
but have been wholly neglected, and are without provision for their moral or civil advancement, although their lands are now occupied 
by British subjects who have never made them any compensation, and export to the mother country to the annual amount of three 
millions ; and import, in British manufactures, upwards of two millions sterling. 
The present history of these Aborigines appears to be the finale of a tragical drama, for a whole race of men is wasting away 
under adverse circumstances. Heartless however is the assertion, unworthy of our enlightened age, that the indigenous race of the 
New World is incapable of elevation, and that no power, whether emanating from Christians, princes, or philosophers, can arrest its 
gloomy progress towards certain destruction. Such an unfeeling and impious idea could not have originated with any one who had 
lived among them, or who had studied their character. I speak from experience when I assert, that the Indian is capable of progressive 
improvement, and that the establishment of social order, European arts, and Christian morals among them is possible. It is unreasonable 
to expect that men, accustomed to a roving and unfettered life, and unacquainted with our artificial wants, should at once abandon their 
wandering habits, and adopt a mode of living diametrically opposite to their long established customs, and who but too frequently, where 
they have been brought in contact with civilization, have not partaken of its blessings, but merely felt its curse. 
The obligations of moral duty, and for obvious reasons, sound policy, ought to direct those who profit by the soil to which the 
Indians have an indisputable right, to contribute in some degree to their religious and moral instruction. But if it be attempted to 
palliate the neglect which they have received, by the assertion — that the capacities and capabilities of the Aborigines render them 
insensible to improvement, I at once, as a contradiction to this error, adduce the example of the three natives who accompanied me 
in 1839 to England, and after a sojourn of nine months returned last July to their homes. They had formed part of my boat’s 
crew during my late exploring tours in Guiana, and anxious to judge themselves of “ the white man’s land,” on my departure 
from Demerara, offered to accompany me to England. It was gratifying to watch their progressive advancement in civilization, and 
elementary instruction in the English language. They were all three of different tribes. The eldest, Sororeng, was a Paravilhana, 
whose once powerful tribe inhabited the banks of the Rio Branco and its tributaries ; I believe him to have been about thirty-five 
years old. The second in age, was Saramang, a Macusi from Pirara, the village where the first germs of Christianity were sown, 
as described elsewhere. I think he was about twenty-five years old, and he was decidedly the most intelligent of the three. The 
Warraus, to which nation Corrienau, the youngest belonged, inhabit the coast regions, along the rivers Orinoco, Pomeroon, and 
Corentyn. After their arrival, an intelligent master was engaged to give them instruction in the English language and our Christian 
religion, and every opportunity was taken to show them such of our different institutions and inventions, as would convey to them 
a favourable idea of the superiority of civilized arts and manners. 
SARAMANG. SORORENG. CORRIENAI'. 
To any one who was unacquainted with their manners, their apparently apathetic look, at what to them must have appeared most 
wonderful and surprising, must have been discouraging; but it did not have that effect upon me. I was prepared for it, and persuaded 
that it resulted from that command which they possess over their feelings, and the tuition which they receive from their youth not to 
