80 GUI 
tions of Chriftianity. If miffianaries were honeft, we 
fliould probably be prefented with' many accounts of 
this kind. In exploring the neighbouring villages of the 
Indians, M. Malouet met with an occurrence Which he 
thus relates : “ On a fmall ifland in the middle of the 
Oyapock, where the torrent forms a molt magnificent 
cafcade, I found an old foldier, who had ferved under 
Louis XIV. and had obtained a penfion in confequence 
of a wound which he received at the battle of Mal- 
plaquet. He was one hundred and ten years old in the 
year 1777, and had lived forty years in this folitude. 
He was blind, naked, very much wrinkled, and decre¬ 
pitude was expreffed in his figure, though not in his 
actions; his manner of walking, and 1 the found of his 
voice, were thofe of a robuft man ; and a long white 
beard hung down to his middle. His fociety confifted 
of two old negroe women, who maintained him by the 
produce of their fifhery, and of a fmall garden which 
they cultivated on the bank of the river. He fpoke of 
the black wig of Louis XIV. whom he called a handfome 
and great prince (un beau & grand prince), of the warlike 
appearance of marflial Villars, of the modeft countenance 
of marflial Catinat, and of the goodnefs of Fenelon, at 
whofe door he had flood fentinel at Cambray. He had 
arrived at Cayenne in 1730, where he had been employed 
as economise (fteward) by the Jefiiits, who were at that 
time the only opulent proprietors, and he himfelf was 
then in very eafy circumflances. I offered to convey 
him to the fort, but he objected, fayin'g that the noife 
of the cafcade was to him.a fource of enjoyment, that 
the abundance of fifli was a great comfort, and that, as 
I had promifed him a ration of bread, wine, and fait 
meat, he could wifh for nothing more. He had received 
me with the greateft demonflrations of joy : but, when 
I was about to depart, his venerable countenance was 
bathed with tears. He had, notwithilanding his blind- 
nefs, difcovered my emotion ; he laid hold of my coat, 
and with that dignified deportment, fo becoming in old 
age, he bade me fiop ; after which he knelt down in 
prayer, laid his hands upon the top of my head, and 
gave me his blefling.” 
This author appears to have been afliduous in pro¬ 
moting the happinefs of the French colony at Guiana; 
in alleviating, as far as circumflances would admit, the 
fufferings of the flav-es; and in rectifying abufes which 
had been fuffered to fpring up from the want of integrity 
or vigilance in the members of the government, and 
other officers. The ftruggles which he was forced to 
encounter in eftabliffiing the laws, in reforming the riian- 
ners, and in improving the eftates, of the inhabitants, are 
fully enumerated in his letters to M. de Sartine and the 
governors of the French company of Guiana. Wretched 
indeed mult have been the flate of the colony on the 
author’s arrival, which knew neither judges nor lawyers 
who could refleCl the leaft honour on their profeffion, 
and where juftice was either wholly negleCted, or admi- 
niftered with a moft partial hand. 
In Guiana, though fituated'in the burning zone, the 
Cheat is feldom fo infupportable and oppreilive as might 
naturally be imagined,; the trade-winds by day, the land- 
breezes in the evening, and the invariable length of the 
nights, with gentle dews, refrefh the air, and render it 
comparatively temperate and falubrious. There are two 
wet feafons and two dry, of three months each, in every 
year; and, during more, than a month in each wet fea- 
foil, the rain is inceffant. The dry feafons cpmmence fix 
weeks before the equinoxes, and continue fix we.eks af¬ 
ter. The wet feafons are more healthful than the dry, 
becaufe the rains keep the waters that cover the low 
lands, next the fea, frefh and in motion; but during, the 
dry feafon.it ftagnates, and, as it waftes, becomes putrid, 
fending up very unwholefome exhalations. BlofToms, 
green and ripe fruit, are to be found upon the fame tree 
in every part of the year. M. Malouet adds, “ that to 
an European, Guiana feems like a new world; the qua- 
A N A. 
dr.upeds, the reptiles, the birds, and the infe&s, differ 
in fhape and fize from thofe of Europe: the animals in 
general are weaker, the plants confiderably morerobuff, 
and the reptiles enormous. The woods have a more 
majeftic appearance; they reprefent, in their different 
ages, the fucceflion of centuries ; and a new foil is formed 
by the exuviae of thefe impenetrable forefts.”—With re- 
fpeCt to the reptiles, M. Suard defcribes them as equally 
dangerous and deftruCtive. He mentions a moft fright¬ 
ful duller of ferpents, which, after a violent tempeft, 
he found moft Angularly contorted and twifted together. 
When it was approached, it was all in motion, aecorn-. 
panied with moft dreadful hifljng, and with innumerable 
heads ftretched out darting flings from their mouths, 
and flafties from their eyes. “ As they were only pre¬ 
paring fdr defence, and meditated no attack, we flopped 
to furvey them. We drove round the terrific aflem- 
blage, and found it equally defended on all fides; a po- 
fition naturally formed, in order to refill the attack of 
animals of fuperior ftrength.” M. Suard fuppofes that, 
in thefe eternal folitudes, far from the haunts of men, 
the faculties of animals attain to higher perfection than 
in more frequented regions ; and it is probable that from 
Lome fucb contorted mafsof vipers, the idea of an hydra 
was firft promulgated. See the article Hydra. 
Captain Stedman, who was employed in reducing the 
revolted negroes in 1774, has added very confiderably to 
our ftock of information concerning Guiana. No mines 
had been opened or even difcovered by the Dutch, the 
French, or the Portuguefe ; yet from the river Effe- 
quibo there is no difficult accefs to the lake of Parima,- 
the fatal objeCl of the purfuit of fir Walter Raleigh. 
He attempted to penetrate by the river Caroni, which 
rifes north of the lake, and flows into the Oroonoko. 
The fands of this lake were fuppofed to be of gold, and 
in the vicinity was the fabulous golden city, Manoa del 
Dorado. Such fables dilplay the credulity of the early 
Spanilh writers, the natives of Guiana being mere fa- 
vages who never faw a village, and even the fcite of the 
fuppofed city is totally unknown to La Cruz. Near 
the lake of Parima are the high mountains of Mei. 
Bouguer mentions that the rocks in this part of South 
America often wear the afpeCt of towers and towns ; and 
fome fuch rocks of talc-or micaceous fchiftus moft pro¬ 
bably otcafioned this romance, at which the fate of 
Raleigh’s expedition, and of that learned commander, 
forbids us even to fmile. 
Of the natural hiftory of the interior of this exten- 
five region, we have as yet been able to obtain but 
fcanty notices; however, as the colonies are nowin the 
hands of the Engliffi, there is no doubt but the country 
will in due time be more minutely explored. The in¬ 
formation hitherto obtained is more confiderable than 
that of any other part of South America, and is both 
interefting and curious. The filk cotton-tree is often 
twelve feet in circumference ; which the natives hollow 
into canoes of confiderable burden. The lauba is a pe¬ 
culiar amphibious animal, but of fmall fize ; and what 
is called the tiger, is of a greyifli-brown, variegated with 
black longitudinal ftripes from head to tail: they are 
fomewhat lefs than thofe of Africa ; and the courfe of 
the ftripes indicates a different fpecies. The boa fnake 
is defcribed to be thirty-three feet in length, and three 
feet in circumference. See the article Boa, vol. iii. 
p. 135. The Caribbees who were called in as auxiliaries 
to fupprefs the negro revolt, not only cut up and feaft 
upon thefe immenfe ferpents, but devoured, with equal 
avidity, the dead bodies of the flain. 
In confequence of the fwampy foil and moift atmo- 
fphere of this region, it prefents a vigour and exube¬ 
rance of vegetation almoft without parallel. All the 
ufual tropical productions, except thofe that delight in 
dry and fandy tracts, are found here in full perfection. 
Befides the common fpecies of palms, there are two 
which are almoft peculiar to this part of America ; but 
4 which, 
