Eastward of the Berbice, and greatly inferior in size to the Essequibo,
is the Corentyn, which has its source near the equator, and forms the
boundary of the British colony. A few Indians of various tribes dwell
on its banks near the mouth, but above their last settlement desolation
reigns supreme.
On the rocks near its banks may be seen a few rude carvings, the
handiwork of a race long passed away. Day after day the voyager on its
waters passes amid the wildest and most romantic scenery,--amid numerous
islands, rocks, and rapids; but no human beings are seen--not a light
canoe on its waters, not an habitation on its banks. At length, after a
nine days' voyage, enormous rocks appear heaped together, opposing
progress; vast chasms yawn beneath his feet when he lands, and at
certain places the streams sink into the earth as if by magic, to
reappear where least expected. A thundering noise is heard, and a mist
hovers in the air, in which thousands of birds disport themselves,--
marking the position of the great cataracts of the Corentyn. The scene,
however, is too vast to be beheld in its full grandeur from any single
point of view. No waterfall in the territory surpasses them in
grandeur.
The fierce Caribs, in the days of their power, inhabited the banks of
the river, engaged in carrying into slavery the people of other tribes
from far and near; but they, and those they oppressed, have passed
away--a few families only of their descendants remaining here and
there--the one to boast of the prowess of their ancestors, the other to
tell the tale of their woes.