34° TlMEHRI. 
small out-buildings adjacent to the Government Offices, 
Georgetown, whilst the top story of the building now 
occupied as an office by the Chief Commissary, has 
long been used as a place to shoot such " rubbish." 
What the old Records can tell us, will best be learned 
by giving notes of their contents, as these may be 
gathered from Indices in English, made not many years 
ago by two colonists knowing in the Dutch language. 
These experts were employed in the work of indexing 
the old Dutch papers, only so long as a vote of the 
Combined Court for the purpose lasted. When that 
was spent the work was discontinued. The Volumes 
thus indexed are preserved in the Government Secre- 
tary's Office, Georgetown, The Notes following do not 
pretend to give more than a mere idea of what can be 
learned about some of the subjects upon which informa- 
tion is desirable. Documents relating to the question of 
cutting a Canal between the Essequibo and Demerara 
Rivers abound, and would, of themselves, make a book, 
if printed. There is also a copy of the famous Plan 
of Redress. These, and numberless other matters are, 
however, not even mentioned in the following Notes. 
The Supreme Authority in Holland. — On 
January the 7th 1792, the King of Holland assumed the 
direft control over Demerara and Essequibo, on the 
expiration of the Charter of the West India Company, 
and proclamation was made that all officers were to be 
continued in their appointments until further orders. Up 
to that date, the Directors of the Company, the States 
General of the Netherlands, and the Stadtholders, had 
from time to time exercised authority over the colonists. 
The last named issued Instruttions for Governors and 
