old man with a cutlass to their small fields of cassava, cleared by
girdling and burning a part of the forest behind the logies. These
Indians were of the Arrawak nation; we afterwards saw Caribs, Accaways,
&c.

The rivers and creeks, and the whole of the interior of British Guiana
at a distance from the sea, are unknown and unexplored. October and
November are the driest months in the year, and the best for expeditions
into the interior. I was unable to go as far up the river as I wished,
from the great freshes; the rain fell every day, yet I penetrated in all
directions as far as I could, and I trust to be able, at some more
favourable season, to return to that interesting country.

Two years ago, a Mr. Smith, a mercantile man from Caraccas, was joined
at George Town by a Lieutenant Gullifer, R.N. They proceeded down the
Pomeroon river, then up the Wyeena creek, travelled across to the
Coioony, sailed down it, and then went up the Essequibo to the Rio
Negro, which, it appears, connects the Amazons and Oroonoco rivers.
At Bara, on the Rio Negro, Mr. Smith, from sitting so long cramped up
in coorials or canoes, became affected with dropsy; and allowing himself
to be tapped by an ignorant quack, died after a fortnight's illness.
Lieutenant Gullifer sailed down the Rio Negro to the Amazons, and
remained at Para for some months, till he heard from England. From
domestic details he received at Para, he fell into low spirits, and
proceeded to Trinidad, where, one morning, he was found suspended to
a beam under the steeple of the Protestant church! His papers, and
Mr. Smith's, consisting of journals of their travels, were sent to a
brother of Lieutenant Gullifer's, on the Marocco coast of Essequibo,
where I went and saw the papers, and was most anxious to obtain them for
the Geographical Society; but Mr. Gullifer said that he must consult