Crown Lands. 285 
time after; and the daughter of the attorney claims the 
island as her own, and exercises all the rights of owner- 
ship by cutting wood and renting a part of the land. 
Other instances are numerous ; but, as examples, those 
mentioned are sufficient. 
Formerly when timber was of little value — that is, 
until greenheart was brought into notice in England, 
principally I believe by the late Dr. Rody,— very little 
attention was paid to these lands by any one who had a 
claim or supposed claim to them. Afterwards, as these 
lands were still in their original state, and were covered 
with forest, their value came to be recognised ; and, 
ignoring the conditions under which they were granted, 
the descendants of the original grantees commenced 
woodcutting operations unopposed — operations that were 
carried on until the lands were stripped of their best 
timber, when, with this exception, the places were left 
as they had been before timber-cutting began. 
It is a well known fa6l that the interior lands of the 
colony are not very fertile, and this interior land extends 
to within a comparatively short distance of the sea coast ; 
and until the population of the colony becomes compa- 
ratively dense, this land will never be cultivated in any 
other than the present imperfe6l and intermittent mode 
by the squatters and Indians. 
The squatters on the Essequebo are comparatively few 
at present, and are nearly all illegitimate descendants of 
the early European settlers by Indian or negro women ; 
and however energetic and industrious their forefathers 
may have been, their descendants by the further admix- 
ture of principally African and Indian blood, have 
succeeded in entirely obliterating all traces to such 
00 
