26 
WANDERINGS IN 
FIRST 
JOURNEY 
few months to the good of the public, and examine 
' with thy scientific eye the productions which the vast 
and well-stored colony of Demerara presents to thee ? 
What an immense range of forest is there from 
the rock Saba to the great fall! and what an unin¬ 
terrupted extent before thee from it to the banks of 
the Essequibo ! No doubt, there is many a balsam 
and many a medicinal root yet to be discovered, and 
many a resin, gum, and oil yet unnoticed. Thy 
work would be a pleasing one, and thou mightest 
make several useful observations in it. 
Would it be thought impertinent in thee to hazard 
a conjecture, that with the resources the govern¬ 
ment of Demerara has, stones might be conveyed 
from the rock Saba to Stabroek, to stem the equi¬ 
noctial tides, which are for ever sweeping away the 
expensive wooden piles round the mounds of the 
fort ? Or would the timber-merchant point at thee 
in passing by, and call thee a descendant of La 
Mancha’s knight, because thou maintainest that the 
stones which form the rapids might be removed with 
little expense, and thus open the navigation to the 
wood-cutter from Stabroek to the great fall? Or 
wnuldst thou be deemed enthusiastic or biassed, 
because thou givest it as thy opinion that the climate 
in these high lands is exceedingly wholesome, and 
the lands themselves capable of nourishing and 
maintaining any number of settlers? In thy dis¬ 
sertation on the Indians, thou mightest hint, that 
possibly they could be induced to help the new 
settlers a little$ and that finding their labours well 
