deprived of its ableft statesmen and most experienced generals, whom Charles had artfully included in his nomination. At laft Francis took leave of the emperor, whofe fufpicion of the king's fincerity increafing, as the time of putting it to the proof approached, he endeavoured to bind him still fafter, by exacting new promises; which, after thofe he had already made, the French monarch was not flow to grant. He fet out from Madrid; a place, which the remembrance of many afflicting circumstances rendered peculiarly odious to him, with the joy natural on fuch an occafion, and began the long-wifhed for journey towards his own dominions. He was escorted by a body of horse, under the command of Alarcon; who, as the king drew near the frontiers of France, guarded him with more fcrupulous exactnefs than ever. When he arrived at the river Andaye, which feparates the two kingdoms, Lautrec appeared on the oppofite bank with a guard of horfe, equal in number to Alarcon's. An empty bark was moored in the middle of the ftream; the attendants drew up in order on the oppofite banks; at the fame inftant, Lannoy, with eight gentlemen, put off from the Spanish, and Lautrec, with the fame number, from the French fide of the river; the former had the king in his boat; the latter, the dauphin and duke of Orleans; they met in the empty vessel; the exchange was made in a moment: Francis, after a fhort embrace to his children, leaped into Lautrec's boat, and reached the French fhore. He mounted that inftant a Turkish horfe, waved his hand over his head, and with a joyful voice cry

An Effay on the Natural Hiftory of Guiana, in South-America. Containing a defcription of many curious productions in the animal and vegetable fyftem of that country. Together with an account of the religion, manners, and customs of feveral tribes of its Indian inha bitants. Interfperfed with a variety of literary and medical obfervations. In feveral letters from a gentleman of the medical faculty, during his refidence in that country.

VERY acceffion of natural

E knowledge is highly ufeful,

as well as entertaining. Mr. Bancroft, the author of this effay, refided for three years in a medical capacity, in the country which he defcribes. A longer refidence, and a much larger work, would have been neceffary, to give a compleat natural hiftory of a country fo little known, and fo much abounding in uncommon productions. The public are, however, much obliged to the ingenious writer for this effay; which, while it conveys a great deal of curious information on a fubject with which they were but little acquainted, carries with it all the internal evidence of truth, and every other mark of a careful and accurate obfervation. The cautious distrust of his own judgment, which our author every

where

where fhews, while it interefts his readers ftrongly in his favour, convinces them at the fame time of his veracity; and the modesty with which he confeffes his not being well verfed in botany, and his being totally unacquainted with the art of drawing, makes us regret the lofs the more fenfibly. A knowledge of that art, and a thorough acquaintance with the Indian languages, would undoubtedly have feconded the ingenuity and induftry of the author fo effectually, as to have added greatly to the utility of his work.

Our author's obfervations on this country are confined to the Dutch territories in Guiana; thofe of Spain being inacceffible to foreigners, with whom all intercourse is prohibited, nor is the communication with the French and Portuguefe colonies on this coaft much lefs embarraffed. His obfervations in natural history are alfo limited to the vegetable and animal kingdoms.

འ

"Guiana was firft difcovered by Christopher Columbus, in the year 1498. It is fituated between the feventh degree of north, and the fifth degree of fouth latitude, and between the fifty-third and fixtieth degrees of longitude, weft from London. It is bounded on the north and eaft by the Atlantic ocean, on the weft by the great river of Oronoque, on the fouth by the river of the Amazons, and on the fouth west by the river Negro. The communication of this river with the two former, which was originally believed, and afterwards univerfally denied, on ftrength of mere conjecture, is now fufficient ly demonftrated; and Guiana, which by the river of the Amazons VOL. XII.

is divided from Brafil, by the river Oronoque from Terra Firma, and by the Negro from the kingdom of Peru, is by this communication converted into an island, the largest which has been hitherto discovered.

"The fea-coaft from the mouth of the river Oronoque to that of the Amazons, is near three hundred leagues in length, running from Cape Barimer, near the Oronoque, to the river Demerary, which is upwards of twenty leagues, in a courfe nearly east fouth-east; and from thence to Cape Orange, near the river Oyapock, with fome variation fouth-eaft by eaft; from thence to the island of Maraca, and the North Cape, it fhapes nearly fouth by east half east, còntinuing from thence to the river of Amazons, in a courfe nearly fouth.

"Several revolutions have happened in the property of Guiana fince its difcovery; but it is now divided between the Spaniards, Dutch, French, and Portuguefe ; the Spaniards, however, have no other poffeffions in this country, except their fettlements, on the eaftern fide of the river Oronoque, near the confines of its limits, and therefore, can hardly be included among the proprietors of Guiana."

"The Dutch territory is bounded by the Spanish fettlements on the weft, and by the river Maroni on the east. Within thefe limits are the following large navigable rivers, discharging themfelves into the Atlantic Ocean, viz. Pomaroon, Effequebo, Demerary, Berbice, Currantine, Surinam, and Merriwina, fituated from west to eaft, in the order in which they are mentioned T

"The

"The French territory includes the river Maroni, which is the boundary to the Dutch poffeffions on the west, and extends to the territory on the north fide of the river of the Amazons, near Cape Orange, which a few years fince was ceded by France to the dominion of Portugal. Within thefe limits are the rivers Maroni, Sinamary, Kourou, Amunibo, Organa, Cannanama, and Maccouria." Dutch Gulana was formerly the property of the crown of England, and the English had made fettlements at Surinam; where, at this time, a fpecies of corrupt English is univerfally fpoken by the Negroes: but of these fettlements, the Dutch made themselves mafters, in the reign of Charles II. to retaliate the conqueft of New Holland; and by a fubfequent treaty, in Feb. 1674, they obtained a ceffion of all the English territories in Guiana, in exchange for what they had poffeffed in the province now called New York.

"The land in Dutch Guiana, for the distance of near fifty miles from the fea, is every where flat and level, without a fingle hill; and fo low, that during the rainy feafons, it is ufually covered with water near two feet in height. This, however, has produced an effect fimilar to that of the prolific inundations of the Nile, and rendered the foil more fertile than that of any other part of the globe; infomuch, that the foil on the surface of the earth, for twelve inches in depth, is a ftratum of perfect manure, and as fuch, has been tranfported to the island of Barbadoes; but the wood-ants, which are here very numerous, committed fuch

ravages in the veffel, that a repe. tition of that project has not been attempted."

"But to convey an adequate idea of the foil of which I am writing, I need only tell you, that in Effequebo it has produced thirty crops of rattoon canes, fucceffively, without replanting; whereas, in the West India islands, more than two is never expected. I have inftanced Effequebo, not because its foil is more fertile than that of this river, or Berbice, but because no fettlements have been made on the lower parts of these rivers, until very lately, the Dutch having before cultivated the more elevated, but lefs valuable lands, farther up thefe rivers; while that adjacent to the fea, was by them neglected, on account of thofe fuperundations, which are the fource of this redundant fertility; which is even fomewhat difadvantageous, and proves, that even the greatest blesfings may be dispensed to excefs; as the inhabitants near the sea are under the neceffity of recurring to various expedients for diminishing the exceffive fertility of the foil, which they ufually effect by stocking it with plantin trees for two or three years, and afterwards planting it with canes; which even, after this precaution, are ufually too robust and luxuriant to make fugar with advantage, and are therefore, during the first and fecond crop, converted into rum ; which, until the late act of the British parliament, for prohibiting the entry of foreign rum into her American colonies, was ufually fold to New-England traders, in payment for their commodities, but has fince been fent to the coaft

of

of Africa, for the purchase of flaves.

"The timber, with which the land adjacent to the fea is covered, is chiefly small and low, confifting moftly of manicoles, which are a fmall fpecies of palm, and troelies, which are a leaf, near thirty feet in length, ferving for the thatch of houfes; thefe, however, at the edges of current water, are intermixed with large mangroves.

"The foil in the inland elevated part of the country, though fertile, is lefs durable: it is, however, cloathed with lofty ever-verdent forefts, affording the most valuable fpecies of timber, either for folidity, weight, duration, or ornament. In this part of the country, there are feveral ridges of fandy hills, but no elevations that can deferve the name of mountains, between the fea coaft of the Dutch part of Guiana, and the river of the Amazons: a Dutch furgeon, more than twenty years fince, having obtained from the governor of Effequebo, feveral Indians to conduct him into the interior parts of the country, in queft of new difcoveries, with whom he afcended the river of Effequebo, three hundred miles from the fea, near its fource; and from thence transporting his canoe by creeks and rivulets, and when these were wanting, by land, he at length fell in with a branch of the river Blanco, by which he defcended into the Negro, and from thence to the river of the Amazons, without difcovering any confiderable mountain in all this courfe. Here the Indians left him, and returned, as he thought proper to fix his refidence among the Portuguese. This

is probably the fame person that Monfieur de la Condamine faw, in defcending the river of the Amazons in 1743, whom he names Nicolas Hortfman, and fays he mounted the river of Effequebo, in 1740, in queft of the Golden Lake of Parima.

"But though the Dutch territories are deftitute of mountains, those of France are not, as there is a confiderable ridge of them, about thirty miles from the fea, on the continent, oppofite the island of Cayenne, and a ftill larger ridge near three hundred miles farther within the country, extending from eaft to weft, according to the reports of the Indians, for they were never vifited except by the aboriginal natives.

"Befides the large rivers which I have enumerated, there are an innumerable number of large and fmall ereeks, many of which are navigable for veffels of fome burthen for many leagues; and but few countries can boast of superior advantages in navigation.

"Notwithstanding the proximity of Guiana to the equator, there is no country between the tropics which enjoys a more regular and uniform temperature of climate. The conftant regularity of the trade winds during the day, and of the land breezes which fucceed in the evening, joined to the quick return, and invariable length of the nights, with their refreshing dews, render the heat fo far from being exceffive, that it is feldom difagreeable, especially to the white inhabitants; who, except a very few, are unexposed to the rays of the fun near mid-day. And furprizing as it may appear, I can T 2.

never