120 TlMEHRI. 
Charity, it is said, ought to begin at home. Why not 
experiment on the people who are buying land of their 
own accord and settling quietly and contentedly, each 
man under his own banana ? In the Corentyne district, 
for example, there is a succession of villages from Benab 
to Skeldon, peopled by East Indian immigrants, Chinese, 
Negroes and Portuguese, unequalled probably in any 
other part of the colony. Yet nothing has been done 
to encourage the inhabitants of the district. 
Having had the houses and population between 
' Skeldon' and ' Benab' counted, I find that, excluding the 
two estates 'Eliza and Mary' and 'Skeldon,' the case is 
as follows : — 
Houses. 
Inhabi- 
tants. 
In 79 Village there are... 112 454 
78 „ „ ... 101 489 
75 „ or 'Spring Garden'... „ ... 14 64 
74 „ or 'Balaam' „ ... 29 98 
73 „ or ' Clonbrook' ... „ ... 23 78 
72 'New Ground' or 'Hong Kong' „ ... 30 112 
71 'Little Massiah' „ ... 25 90 
70 and 69 ' Big Massiah' , ... 62 234 
68 „ 67 'Carnarvon' „ ... 38 150 
65 „ 64 'New Market' „ ... 33 122 
Total 467 1,891 
This population consists of 1,161 free East Indian im- 
migrants, 499 Negroes, 163 Chinese, and 78 Portuguese. 
Around and behind most, in fact I may say all, of these 
houses the land is planted with rice, plantains, cassava 
and other provisions, and industry, thrift, and tidiness 
are everywhere to be seen, and yet with all this land to 
cultivate and look after the people still have time to be 
of considerable service to the adjacent sugar estates. 
