or Demerary, a colony belonging to Great Britain, in the northern part of South America. It is now composed of what formerly constituted the two governments of Demerara and Essequibo, both of which having been permanently secured to Great Britain by the peace of 1814, have been formed into one settlement, and now constitute but one province. Stabroek, the principal city, and the seat of the government, is in latitude 6° 49' north, and 57° 45' west longitude from London. It is bounded on the east by a line drawn from the mouth of Albany Creek, which divides it from the British colony of Berbice, and on the western side by the river Pomaroon, which divides it from Spanish Guyana. Its northern boundary is the Atlantic Ocean, and its southern is undetermined.

On this coast the tides rise to the height of from sixteen to twenty-four feet. The river Demerara has a bar across its mouth, which prevents ships of large burden from entering it. Vessels not drawing more than fourteen feet may be loaded in the river, but those of greater draught must complete their loading without the bar. At Stabroek there are convenient wharfs towards the river, but they are only safe for small craft to lie alongside them, on account of the withdrawing of the tide and the declivity of the bank. Vessels, therefore, are compelled to lead and discharge their cargoes in the middle of a rapid stream. The other river, the Essequibo, has no bar, and is easily entered by the largest merchant ships, but they must also be loaded and unloaded in the stream. Although the cultivation in Demerara at present exceeds that on the Essequibo, yet the greater depth of water in the latter river, and the absence of a bar at its entrance, will, at no distant period, raise this settlement above that on the former river.

The river Demerara is navigable for ships about fifty miles above Stabroek, and perhaps even higher; but as there are no plantations at a greater distance, no accurate survey of it has been taken. At 130 miles from its mouth are considerable cataracts, beyond which the Europeans have not explored its course; but the Arrowauk Indians, who descend in large canoes, represent it as accessible above the cataracts to a much greater distance than the latter are from the sea. Information respecting the river Essequibo is equally obscure. About sixty miles from its mouth it is divided into three branches, the easternmost of which proceeds from the supposed lake Parima, on which