a rich town and island of South America, and capital of the French settlements there, is bounded on the north by the Dutch colonies of Surinam, and situated in W. Long. 53. 10. N. Lat. 50.

This settlement was begun in 1646. A report had prevailed for some time before, that in the interior parts of Guiana, there was a country known by the name of El Dorado, which contained immense riches in gold and precious stones; more than ever Cortez and Pizarro had found in Mexico and Peru; and this fable had fired the imagination of every nation in Europe. It was supposed that this was the country in quest of which Sir Walter Raleigh went on his last voyage; and as the French were not behind their neighbours in their endeavours to find out so desirable a country, some attempts for this purpose were likewise made by that nation much about the same time; which at last coming to nothing, the adventurers took up their residence on the island of Cayenne. In 1643, some merchants of Rouen united their stock, with a design to support the new colony; but, committing their affairs to one Poncet de Bretigny, a man of a ferocious disposition, he declared war both against the colonists and savages, in consequence of which he was soon massacred. This catastrophe entirely extinguished the ardour of these associates; and in 1651 a new company was established. This promised to be much more considerable than the former; and they set out with such a capital as enabled them to collect 700 or 800 colonists in the city of Paris itself. They embarked on the Seine, in order to sail down to Havre de Grace; but unfortunately the abbé de Marivault, a man of great virtue, and the principal promoter of the undertaking, was drowned as he was stepping into his boat. Another gentleman, who was to have acted as general, was assassinated on his passage, and 12 of the principal adventurers who had promised to put the colony into a flourishing situation, not only were the principal perpetrators of this fact, but uniformly behaved in the same atrocious manner. At last they hanged one of their own number; two died; three were banished to CAY

ayenne, a desert island; and the rest abandoned themselves to every kind of excess. The commandant of the citadel defected to the Dutch with part of his garrison. The savages, roused by numberless provocations, fell upon the remainder; so that the few who were left thought themselves happy in escaping to the Leeward islands in a boat and two canoes, abandoning the fort, ammunition, arms, and merchandise, fifteen months after they had landed on the island.

In 1663, a new company was formed, whose capital amounted only to £750. By the assistance of the ministry they expelled the Dutch who had taken possession of the island, and settled themselves much more comfortably than their predecessors. In 1667 the island was taken by the English, and in 1676 by the Dutch, but afterwards restored to the French; and since that time it has never been attacked. Soon after some pirates, laden with the spoils they had gathered in the South seas, came and fixed their residence at Cayenne; resolving to employ the treasures they had acquired in the cultivation of the lands. In 1688, Ducaise, an able seaman, arrived with some ships from France, and proposed to them the plundering of Surinam. This proposal exciting their natural turn for plunder, the pirates betook themselves to their old trade, and almost all the rest followed their example. The expedition, however, proved unfortunate. Many of the assailants were killed, and all the rest taken prisoners and sent to the Caribbee islands. This loss the colony has never yet recovered.

The island of Cayenne is about 16 leagues in circumference, and is only parted from the continent by two rivers. By a particular formation, uncommon in islands, the land is higher near the water side, and low in the middle. Hence the island is full of morasses, that all communication between the different parts of it is impossible, without taking a great circuit. There are some small tracts of an excellent soil to be found here and there; but the generality is dry, sandy, and soon exhausted. The only town in the colony is defended by a covert way, a large ditch, a very good mud rampart, and five bastions. In the middle of the town is a pretty considerable eminence, of which a redoubt has been made that is called the fort. The entrance into the harbour is through a narrow channel; and ships can only get in at high water, through the rocks and reefs that are scattered about this pass.

The first produce of Cayenne was the arnotto; from the culture of which the colonists proceeded to that of cotton, indigo, and lastly sugar. It was the first of all the French colonies that attempted to cultivate coffee. The coffee tree was brought from Surinam in 1721 by some deserters from Cayenne, who purchased their pardon by doing so. Ten or twelve years after they planted cocoa. In the year 1752 there were exported from Cayenne 269,541 pounds of arnotto, 80,363 pounds of sugar, 17,919 pounds of cotton, 26,881 pounds of coffee, 91,916 pounds of cacao, 618 trees for timber, and 104 planks.