Records of- British Guiana. 347 
European farmers is contemplated in a Resolution of the 
15th October following. The Combined Court of Policy 
at Fort Zeelandia, ordered on the 10th of January 1774, that 
there should be one white man over every 30 slaves on an 
estate, in both Rivers. By a Publication of the nth Feb- 
ruary 1 784, all plantations were required to have one white 
man for every 50 slaves. On the 19th October 1 778, a 
Proclamation was issued in relation to white servants 
and slaves. There is mention of a list of inhabitants in 
Essequibo, in the Minutes of the Court of Policy of the 
6th March 1779 (p. 168). 
SLAVES. — The catching of escaped slaves is mentioned 
in the Minutes of the Court of Justice of Essequibo, on 
the 3rd of July 1747, and owners of slaves were for- 
bidden to make them work on Sundays, at a meeting of 
the same Court on the 8th of January 1748. The 
Minutes of that body on the 6th of January 1766 contain a 
request that the sinews of a runaway slave might be cut, 
which application is noted as postponed to next Court. 
The Combined Court of Policy, on the 24th of June, 
1775, decided that slaves were liable to pay taxes, as 
being " private persons." In the Minutes of the Court of 
Policy of Essequibo, held at Fort Zeelandia on the 18th 
of March 1779, there is recorded an account rendered 
for plantains delivered for the use of Galley Slaves. 
So early as the 9th of October 1769 do the Resolutions 
of their High Mightinesses and the Court of Directors, 
tell of correspondence with the Court of Madrid, with 
regard to the desertion of slaves to the Orinoco, which, 
after many years resulted in the Extradition Treaty 
made at Aranjuez, between Spain and the Netherlands 
on the 23rd of June 1 791 . It is somewhere stated 
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