Coffee Cultivation in Berbice. 273 
day, who negotiated loans for Governments, and had ad- 
vanced large sums to the French Government in the time 
of the Bourbons. When France became a Republic 
after the revolution of '92, these claims were repudiated ; 
and PAUL BENFIELD is said to have died a pauper ! At 
the restoration of the Monarchy however, after the battle 
of Waterloo, Benfield'S claim was acknowledged and 
honestly paid with interest, and his family then became 
very wealthy. Two of the heiresses married members of the 
Berkeley family, who thus became connected with this co- 
lony as owners of what were called, the 'Benfield estates.' 
These consisted of Plantations Edinburgh, Glasgow, 
Welgelegen, Herstelling, New Welgelegen, Belmont, 
Union, Monchoisi, Zeelught and Edderton, — in all 6,655 
acres. They were not very thriving estates, and Grantley 
Berkeley, one of the parties interested, used sometimes 
to get up in Parliament and ask the Colonial Minister 
how it was, " that he got such small returns from his es- 
tates in the West Indies." These estates have all now 
been out of cultivation for many years ; and the land has 
been sold to villagers ! 
What were called the ' Dutch estates' were mostly in the 
possession of large mercantile houses in Amsterdam, 
such as Westerloo and Co., Charbon and Zoon, and 
Westerick and Poole, who held the titles of the 
estates in their own names and administered them 
through the agency of their attorneys in the colony. 
They also shipped all the stores and supplies 
for the estates in their own vessels, which also 
carried home the crops, which were kept on hand 
till one of the Dutch ships arrived ; for the crops were 
