BERBICE

BERBICE is a colony belonging to the British, situate on the banks of the river of that name, in the province of Guiana, in South America. The latitude of the mouth of the river Berbice is 6 degrees, 20 minutes north; and its longitude 57 degrees, 11 minutes west from London. The plantations are situate on each side of the river, and extend nearly 300 miles from its entrance. Previously to the year 1799, this colony was bounded on the east by the Devil's Creek, and on the west by Abarry Creek, which separated it from Demerary, its breadth being then 30 miles. But when Surinam surrendered to the British in that year, a negotia-

Berbice. tion was entered into between the Governors of these two colonies, by which Surinam conceded to Berbice the tract of country between the Devil's Creek, and the river Courantine; thus increasing its breadth to about 45 miles. The sea coast, extending nearly 50 miles, and the west bank of the Courantine, were immediately surveyed, and laid out into regular allotments. The extent of this colony was farther enlarged by the British, who cleared and embanked from the sea the whole line of coast between the Demerary and the Courantine, forming upon it a carriage-road 60 feet broad, with six-foot parapets on each side for the convenience of travelling.

Face of the Country. Previously to this improvement, the face of this country resembled that of the rest of Guiana. On the shores there was a border of low ground, between high and low-water marks, covered with mangrove. When the tide flowed, this border had several feet of water over it; and when it ebbed, it presented an inaccessible mud-bank. This is now rendered dry and productive. Behind this border of mangroves, at the distance of 400 or 500 paces, commence low, level, swampy savannahs, formed by the rains, which are prolonged in the direction of the coast, with a depth more or less considerable, according to the distance of the mountains. This part of the colony was almost entirely neglected by the Dutch, who fixed their principal plantations in the more elevated and interior part of the country.

Climate. The year, here, is divided into two dry and two wet seasons; light showers begin to refresh the land about the middle of April; the rain increases till the middle of June, when it falls in torrents; at the beginning of July, these heavy rains begin to decrease; and in August, the long dry season begins, and continues till November. December and January constitute the short and rainy season; and February and March the short dry season. The land winds prevail during the two wet seasons, and are unhealthy; in the dry season, the air is refreshed, by regular, diurnal sea-breezes. The temperature of this colony is not so great as might be expected from its latitude; the thermometer very seldom rises to 91 degrees; in general, during May, June, and July, it varies between 83 and 84; the lowest degree is about 75. The weather always changes very gradually.

Rivers. There are two rivers in this colony; the Berbice, and the Canje. The former runs from south to north, and discharges itself into the Atlantic Ocean. The coast on each side of it forms a bay at its entrance, which is nearly a mile in width, having a small island in the middle, called Crab Island, from the number of land-crabs on it; the entrance is protected by three forts, but they are of little use, as Berbice must, from its situation, always follow the fate of Demerary. Without the entrance of the river is a bar of sand, over which, at high tide, there is seldom more than 16 feet of water; but within, the water is of sufficient depth, and the river is navigable, for ships of burden two hundred miles from its mouth. On account of the bar, however, few vessels rendezvous here, but anchor off the port of Demerary.

Berbice.

The river Canje is narrow, but deep, running at first nearly from south to north, but afterwards diverging to the east, till it falls into the Berbice about a mile from the sea. It is navigable for colony schooners 30 miles up. At its head are immense falls, and about 40 miles below, there is a creek which connects it with the Courantine. In this route, and by means of this creek, or island, dispatches are brought from Surinam to Berbice by the Indians. The water on all the coast of Berbice is brackish. The rain-water, which lodges in the low parts of the forests, called bush-water, is collected by the Indians for the purposes of drinking and cooking. The forests are extensive, and contain many very large trees. Dr Pinckard describes an enormous tree of the Tonquin Bean, the body of which rose perpendicularly to the height of between 70 and 80 feet, before it threw out a single branch.

The only towns in this colony are Old Amsterdam, and Fort Nassau, or New Amsterdam; the former is said, by Bolingbroke, to be 50 miles up the river Berbice, but Dr Bancroft places it at 100 miles from the mouth. The inconveniences attendant on this situation of Old Amsterdam were so numerous and obvious, arising chiefly from the uncertain and intricate navigation of the river, that, in the year 1766, when Dr Bancroft visited Guiana, it was resolved to remove the seat of government to a point of land on the eastern shore of the Berbice (about a mile from its entrance), formed between that river and the Canje. So slow, however, were the Dutch in their operations, that New Amsterdam, for so this town was called, was scarce begun, in the year 1796, when Berbice capitulated to the English. Under the greater activity of the conquerors, New Amsterdam soon assumed the size and appearance of the capital of the colony. It lies on the south side of the Canje; and the houses extend up the banks of the Berbice about a mile and a half, facing the water. The Dutch, in laying out the town, paid particular attention to health and convenience. Round each allotment there are trenches, which fill and empty themselves every tide, so that all the filth is carried off before it stagnates and becomes unwholesome. Each lot contains a quarter of an acre of land; a free circulation of air, as well as ground for a kitchen-garden, is thus secured to the inhabitants. The houses are very long and narrow, and not more than a story and a half high, with galleries on each side, to protect them from the sun. Those inhabited by the Dutch are thatched with troolie* and plantain leaves, which they prefer to shingles on account of coolness; but

Berbice. the English shingle their houses, from their dislike of the insects and vermin which the trolie and plantain leaves harbour. The government-house and colonial offices are built of brick, in the European style, and with considerable pretensions to architectural taste and magnificence.

Estates. Before Berbice surrendered to the British, in 1796, almost all the plantations were at a distance from the coast, considerably up the banks of the Berbice and the Canje; but within a very short time after the colony came into our possession, the plantations were greatly extended. The west coast was first cultivated; and in the year 1799, that to the eastward of the river Berbice, as far as the Devil's Creek, was cleared and cultivated. This part was surveyed and cut into two parallel lines of estates, with a navigable canal between them, for the convenience of water-carrage. Behind the second row of estates, the river Canje runs, both the banks of which are cultivated with sugar, coffee, and plantains. The estates are distinguished as follows: those on the line facing the sea are the coast estates; the second line consists of the canal estates; and the remainder are called the Canje estates. Besides these, there are valuable and extensive plantations on each side of the Berbice, stretching, as has been already mentioned, nearly 300 miles from its mouth. The principal and most valuable produce of the colony are sugar, coffee, cocoa, tobacco, cotton, and the arnotta, or roucou shrub. This last was, for a considerable time after the settlement of the colony, cultivated almost exclusively by the Indians; they macerated its seed in the juice of lemons, in which the gum of the manna tree had been dissolved, and thus obtained the celebrated Indian pigment, or crimson paint, with which they adorn their bodies. The roucou is now cultivated by the Dutch and English planters, as a dyeing stuff. Cotton thrives best, and is principally cultivated on the coast estates. The sugar plantations are deemed the most valuable.

Negroes, and Indians. Agriculture, and all other labour in Berbice, is almost wholly performed by negroes. On an estate, which, on an average, produces annually 140,000 cwt. of coffee, and 10,000 cwt. of cocoa, there are generally 200 slaves employed, calculated at the value of from L. 50 to L. 100 each. The Indians who inhabit this part of the South American coast, consist of four tribes; from these, particularly, the tribe of the Arrows, the inhabitants derive some assistance, as a few of them reside on almost every plantation, and are employed in various services, particularly in hunting and fishing. They have no animals domesticated, nor any grain or roots, except the cassada, brought into cultivation; a small species of deer, which something resembles the hare, and the armadillo, are their favourite food. They scald off the fur of the deer, cut the body in pieces, and stew it in cassada juice, seasoning it very highly with capsicum. The weapons they employ are the common bow and arrow, and the poisoned arrow, which they blow from a tube. Their accuracy and skill in using both these is surprising. With the common arrow, which is formed of a reed nearly six feet long, they can hit a chicken with tolerable certainty at nearly 100 yards distance. The

Berbice. poisoned arrow they can shoot from a tube of about seven feet in length, to the distance of eight or ten yards, with great accuracy; and, at 12 or 14 feet distance, they seldom fail in striking the edge of a penknife stuck on the back of a chair. The plants from which this poison is extracted are not known.

Mr Bolingbroke states, that the negro population of Berbice was doubled within ten years after it came into possession of the English; and that, in 1805, it amounted to about 40,000, besides 1000 free people of colour, and 2500 whites. From the papers, relative to the British West Indies, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed in 1815, it appears that, in October 1811, the population of Berbice must have decreased very considerably, if Mr Bolingbroke's estimate be correct; since, at that time, it consisted of

A capitation-tax on the white and black inhabitants, an excise on every fifty pounds of sugar made, a weighage-toll of about 2 per cent. on all imports and exports, and a tonnage-duty of three florins per last on the burden of ships, are the principal sources of the revenue of the colony. In October 1811, there was only one private dwelling hired as a church for the use of the Dutch. The salary of the curate was 7000 stivers, that of the clerk and sexton 500 each, and that of the churchwarden 375. These sums were raised by a tax of one stiver per acre, with the exception of the Coromantine coast of the colony, which, in the return to Parliament, is represented as consisting of 80 estates, at 500 acres each.

The imports and exports were,—

In the years ending the 5th of January, there were imported into Great Britain from Berbice, of rum,—

And, in the year ending 5th January 1813, there was imported of sugar 9084 cwts. In 1809, the exportation of cocoa from the colony amounted to 17,665 cwts. and, in 1810, to 22,582 cwts. In the former year, the exportation of cotton was 1,874,195 lbs.; and, in the latter year, 1,656,057 lbs.

The colony of Berbice was founded in the year 1626, by a merchant of Flushing, to whose family, in 1678, it was granted as an hereditary fief. Three-fourths of it, however, were, not long afterwards, given to Van Hoorn and Company, in consequence of their discharging a heavy contribution levied on the colony by some French privateers. The new proprietors being allowed by the Dutch East India Company to import a certain number of negroes annually from Africa, and obtaining other privileges,

greatly extended the cultivation of sugar, cocoa, and indigo; but they were restricted from exporting the produce of their plantations to any port not within the province of Holland. In 1763, an insurrection happened among the slaves of Berbice, which was quelled chiefly by the assistance of the Indians, and the English from Barbadoes. In 1796, the colony capitulated to the British; but it was restored to the Dutch by the peace of Amiens. In 1803 it was again reduced, and its possession was confirmed to Britain by the peace of Paris. In consequence of the Lords of the Treasury learning that the loss of slaves on the Crown estates from the year 1803 to 1810, had been at the rate of 26 per cent. they appointed, in 1811, commissioners for the management of these estates, who were especially directed and empowered to maintain and protect the negroes, and to reward and encourage industry among them.

By an act of the British Parliament, passed in the 56th of George III. (1816), cap. 91, Berbice is placed on the same footing in relation to the regulations of trade, as the British West India Islands. The subjects of the King of the Netherlands, who are proprietors in Berbice, may import into it from the Netherlands the usual articles of supply for their estates, but not for trade:—wine imported for the use of their estates, to pay a duty of 10s. per ton. The Dutch proprietors may export their produce, but not to Britain; both exports and imports to be in ships belonging to the Netherlands,—the duties to be the same as those payable by British proprietors.

See Pinckard's Notes on the West Indies, 2d edition, Vols. I. and II.—Bancroft's Essay on the Natural History of Guiana.—Bolingbroke's Voyage to Demerary.—Tuckey's Maritime Geography, Vol. IV.—Baron Sack's Account of Surinam. (c.)