The Three Counties under the Dutch. 19 
their houses. This was PlNCKARD'S personal experience 
of his treatment on the first day by the enemy : — 
Among the happy events of the day, fortune threw me in the path of 
another gentleman residing in the town, who, upon observing me 
scrambling through the mud and clay, insisted upon my taking his boat 
and slaves to convey me to the fort by way of the river, assuring me 
that to walk it might be a dangerous excess of fatigue ; and further, 
directing his negroes to wait and bring me back to his house to dinner. 
Perhaps I was a little induced to refuse, but it had been difficult to 
resist the pressing civility with which the accommodation was offered ; 
accordingly I accepted the boat, and, afterwards, returned and eat of 
broiled fowl and a roasted kid. During dinner the friendly invitation 
was extended to a request, almost amounting to a demand, that I would 
make that house my home so long as the service should require my 
continuance at Stabroek. Thus has fortune at once established me in 
good quarters in the enemy : s country, without a billet, and even with- 
out the trouble of seeking one. 
Nor were the country people behind hand in their 
hospitality ; almost every planter cordially invited 
the strangers to his estate and, when he had secured 
the attendance of the latter, treated them with lavish 
kindness. In fact, throughout the colony the English 
occupation was the signal for a universal jubilee. 
Perhaps the most curious feature in this business is 
the way in which the two nations, though at war in the 
outside world, yet in Guiana, if I may be allowed to use 
a chemical simile, mixed but did not amalgamate. Two 
systems existed side by side in the land, closely mingled, 
yet without exercising either mutual attraction or re- 
pulsion. For example, when the Stadtholder's birthday 
came round, the Dutch observed it with festivities in 
which the English, being cordially invited, shared ; and 
when the birthday of His Majesty of England occurred, 
there were again joyous festivities, but with the parts of 
hosts and guests interchanged. 
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