SOUTH AMERICA. 
35 
Demerara, was made the dupe of a savage, who FIRST 
7 1 ° 7 JOURNEY. 
came down the Essequibo, and gave himself out as 
king of a mighty tribe. This naked wild man of 
the woods seemed to hold the said court in tolerable 
contempt, and demanded immense supplies, all 
which he got; and moreover, some time after, an 
invitation to come down the ensuing year for more, 
which he took care not to forget. 
This noisy chieftain boasted so much of his dynasty 
and domain, that the government was induced to 
send up an expedition into his territories to see if 
he had spoken the truth, and nothing but the truth. 
It appeared, however, that his palace was nothing 
but a hut, the monarch a needy savage, the heir- 
apparent nothing to inherit but his father’s club and 
bow and arrows, and his officers of state wild and un¬ 
cultivated as the forests through which they strayed. 
There was nothing in the hut of this savage, saving 
the presents he had received from government, but 
what was barely sufficient to support existence; 
nothing that indicated a power to collect a hostile 
force; nothing that showed the least progress to¬ 
wards civilization. All was rude and barbarous in 
the extreme, expressive of the utmost poverty, and 
a scanty population. 
You may travel six or seven days without seeing 
a hut, and when you reach a settlement, it seldom 
contains more than ten. 
The further you advance into the interior, the 
more you are convinced that it is thinly inhabited. 
The day after passing the place where the white 
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