of the inhabitants was the same as ever, but they had lost their wonted
gaiety in public, and the stranger might read in their countenances, as
the recollection of recent humiliations and misfortunes every now and
then kept breaking in upon them, that they were still in sorrow for
their fallen country: the victorious hostile cannon of Waterloo still
sounded in their ears: their emperor was a prisoner amongst the hideous
rocks of St. Helena; and many a Frenchman who had fought and bled for
France was now amongst them begging for a little support to prolong a
life which would be forfeited on the parent soil. To add another
handful to the cypress and wormwood already scattered amongst these
polite colonists, they had just received orders from the Court of
Janeiro to put on deep mourning for six months, and half-mourning for
as many more, on account of the death of the queen of Portugal.
About a day's journey in the interior is the celebrated national
plantation. This spot was judiciously chosen, for it is out of the
reach of enemies' cruisers. It is called La Gabrielle. No plantation in
the Western world can vie with La Gabrielle. Its spices are of the
choicest kind, its soil particularly favourable to them, its
arrangements beautiful, and its directeur, Monsieur Martin, a botanist
of first-rate abilities. This indefatigable naturalist ranged through
the East, under a royal commission, in quest of botanical knowledge;
and during his stay in the Western regions has sent over to Europe from
twenty to twenty-five thousand specimens in botany and zoology. La
Gabrielle is on a far-extending range of woody hills. Figure to
yourself a hill in the shape of a bowl reversed, with the buildings on
the top of it, and you will have an idea of the appearance of La
Gabrielle. You approach the house through a noble avenue, five hundred
toises long, of the choicest tropical fruit-trees, planted with the
greatest care and judgment; and should you chance to stray through it,
after sunset, when the clove-trees are in blossom, you would fancy
yourself in the Idalian groves or near the banks of the Nile, where
they were burning the finest incense as the queen of Egypt passed.
On La Gabrielle there are twenty-two thousand clove-trees in full
bearing. They are planted thirty feet asunder. Their lower branches
touch the ground. In general the trees are topped at five and twenty
feet high, though you will see some here towering up above sixty. The
black pepper, the cinnamon and nutmeg are also in great abundance here,
and very productive.
While the stranger views the spicy groves of La Gabrielle, and tastes
the most delicious fruits which have been originally imported hither
from all parts of the tropical world, he will thank the Government
which has supported, and admire the talents of the gentleman who has
raised to its present grandeur, this noble collection of useful fruits.
There is a large nursery attached to La Gabrielle where plants of all
the different species are raised and distributed gratis to those
colonists who wish to cultivate them.
Not far from the banks of the River Oyapoc, to windward of Cayenne, is
a mountain which contains an immense cavern. Here the cock-of-the-rock
is plentiful. He is about the size of a fantail pigeon, his colour a
bright orange and his wings and tail appear as though fringed; his head
is ornamented with a superb double-feathery crest edged with purple. He
passes the day amid gloomy damps and silence, and only issues out for
food a short time at sunrise and sunset. He is of the gallinaceous
tribe. The South-American Spaniards call him "Gallo del Rio Negro"
(Cock of the Black River), and suppose that he is only to be met with
in the vicinity of that far-inland stream; but he is common in the
interior of Demerara, amongst the huge rocks in the forests of
Macoushia, and he has been shot south of the line, in the captainship
of Para.
The bird called by Buffon grand gobe-mouche has never been found in
Demerara, although very common in Cayenne. He is not quite so large as
the jackdaw, and is entirely black, except a large spot under the
throat, which is a glossy purple.
You may easily sail from Cayenne to the River Surinam in two days. Its
capital, Paramaribo, is handsome, rich and populous: hitherto it has
been considered by far the finest town in Guiana, but probably the time
is not far off when the capital of Demerara may claim the prize of
superiority. You may enter a creek above Paramaribo and travel through
the interior of Surinam till you come to the Nicari, which is close to
the large River Coryntin. When you have passed this river there is a
good public road to New Amsterdam, the capital of Berbice.
On viewing New Amsterdam, it will immediately strike you that something
or other has intervened to prevent its arriving at that state of wealth
and consequence for which its original plan shows it was once intended.
What has caused this stop in its progress to the rank of a fine and
populous city remains for those to find out who are interested in it;
certain it is that New Amsterdam has been languid for some years, and
now the tide of commerce seems ebbing fast from the shores of Berbice.
Gay and blooming is the sister colony of Demerara. Perhaps, kind
reader, thou hast not forgot that it was from Stabroek, the capital of
Demerara, that the adventurer set out, some years ago, to reach the
Portuguese frontier-fort and collect the wourali poison. It was not
intended, when this second sally was planned in England, to have
visited Stabroek again by the route here described. The plan was to
have ascended the Amazons from Para and got into the Rio Negro, and
from thence to have returned towards the source of the Essequibo, in
order to examine the crystal mountains and look once more for Lake
Parima, or the White Sea; but on arriving at Cayenne the current was
running with such amazing rapidity to leeward that a Portuguese sloop,
which had been beating up towards Para for four weeks, was then only
half-way. Finding, therefore, that a beat to the Amazons would be long,
tedious and even uncertain, and aware that the season for procuring
birds in fine plumage had already set in, I left Cayenne in an American
ship for Paramaribo, went through the interior to the Coryntin, stopped
a few days in New Amsterdam, and proceeded to Demerara. If, gentle
reader, thy patience be not already worn out, and thy eyes half-closed
in slumber by perusing the dull adventures of this second sally,
perhaps thou wilt pardon a line or two on Demerara; and then we will
retire to its forests to collect and examine the economy of its most
rare and beautiful birds, and give the world a new mode of preserving
them.
Stabroek, the capital of Demerara, has been rapidly increasing for some
years back; and if prosperity go hand in hand with the present
enterprising spirit, Stabroek, ere long, will be of the first colonial
consideration. It stands on the eastern bank at the mouth of the
Demerara, and enjoys all the advantages of the refreshing sea-breeze;
the streets are spacious, well bricked and elevated, the trenches
clean, the bridges excellent, and the houses handsome. Almost every
commodity and luxury of London may be bought in the shops at Stabroek:
its market wants better regulations. The hotels are commodious, clean
and well-attended. Demerara boasts as fine and well-disciplined militia
as any colony in the Western world.
The court of justice, where in times of old the bandage was easily
removed from the eyes of the goddess and her scales thrown out of
equilibrium, now rises in dignity under the firmness, talents and
urbanity of Mr. President Rough.
The plantations have an appearance of high cultivation; a tolerable
idea may be formed of their value when you know that last year Demerara
numbered 72,999 slaves. They made above 44,000,000 pounds of sugar,
near 2,000,000 gallons of rum, above 11,000,000 pounds of coffee, and
3,819,512 pounds of cotton; the receipt into the public chest was
553,956 guilders; the public expenditure 451,603 guilders.
Slavery can never be defended. He whose heart is not of iron can never
wish to be able to defend it: while he heaves a sigh for the poor negro
in captivity, he wishes from his soul that the traffic had been stifled
in its birth; but unfortunately the Governments of Europe nourished it,
and now that they are exerting themselves to do away the evil, and
ensure liberty to the sons of Africa, the situation of the
plantation-slaves is depicted as truly deplorable and their condition
wretched. It is not so. A Briton's heart, proverbially kind and
generous, is not changed by climate or its streams of compassion dried
up by the scorching heat of a Demerara sun: he cheers his negroes in
labour, comforts them in sickness, is kind to them in old age, and
never forgets that they are his fellow-creatures.
Instances of cruelty and depravity certainly occur here as well as all
the world over, but the edicts of the colonial Government are well
calculated to prevent them, and the British planter, except here and
there one, feels for the wrongs done to a poor ill-treated slave, and
shows that his heart grieves for him by causing immediate redress and
preventing a repetition.
Long may ye flourish, peaceful and liberal inhabitants of Demerara.
Your doors are ever open to harbour the harbourless; your purses never
shut to the wants of the distressed: many a ruined fugitive from the
Oroonoque will bless your kindness to him in the hour of need, when
flying from the woes of civil discord, without food or raiment, he
begged for shelter underneath your roof. The poor sufferer in Trinidad
who lost his all in the devouring flames will remember your charity to
his latest moments. The traveller, as he leaves your port, casts a
longing, lingering look behind: your attentions, your hospitality, your
pleasantry and mirth are uppermost in his thoughts; your prosperity is
close to his heart. Let us now, gentle reader, retire from the busy
scenes of man and journey on towards the wilds in quest of the
feathered tribe.
Leave behind you your high-seasoned dishes, your wines and your
delicacies: carry nothing but what is necessary for your own comfort
and the object in view, and depend upon the skill of an Indian, or your
own, for fish and game. A sheet about twelve feet long, ten wide,
painted, and with loop-holes on each side, will be of great service: in
a few minutes you can suspend it betwixt two trees in the shape of a
roof. Under this, in your hammock, you may defy the pelting shower, and
sleep heedless of the dews of night. A hat, a shirt and a light pair of
trousers will be all the raiment you require. Custom will soon teach
you to tread lightly and barefoot on the little inequalities of the
ground, and show you how to pass on unwounded amid the mantling briers.
Snakes, in these wilds, are certainly an annoyance, though perhaps more
in imagination than reality, for you must recollect that the serpent is
never the first to offend: his poisonous fang was not given him for
conquest--he never inflicts a wound with it but to defend existence.
Provided you walk cautiously and do not absolutely touch him, you may
pass in safety close by him. As he is often coiled up on the ground,
and amongst the branches of the trees above you, a degree of
circumspection is necessary lest you unwarily disturb him.
Tigers are too few, and too apt to fly before the noble face of man, to
require a moment of your attention.
The bite of the most noxious of the insects, at the very worst, only
causes a transient fever with a degree of pain more or less.
Birds in general, with a few exceptions, are not common in the very
remote parts of the forest. The sides of rivers, lakes and creeks, the
borders of savannas, the old abandoned habitations of Indians and
wood-cutters, seem to be their favourite haunts.
Though least in size, the glittering mantle of the humming-bird
entitles it to the first place in the list of the birds of the new
world. It may truly be called the bird of paradise: and had it existed
in the Old World, it would have claimed the title instead of the bird
which has now the honour to bear it. See it darting through the air
almost as quick as thought!--now it is within a yard of your face!--in
an instant gone!--now it flutters from flower to flower to sip the
silver dew--it is now a ruby--now a topaz --now an emerald--now all
burnished gold! It would be arrogant to pretend to describe this winged
gem of Nature after Buffon's elegant description of it.
Cayenne and Demerara produce the same hummingbirds. Perhaps you would
wish to know something of their haunts. Chiefly in the months of July
and August, the tree called bois immortel, very common in Demerara,
bears abundance of red blossom which stays on the tree for some weeks;
then it is that most of the different species of humming-birds are very
plentiful. The wild red sage is also their favourite shrub, and they
buzz like bees round the blossom of the wallaba tree. Indeed, there is
scarce a flower in the interior, or on the sea-coast, but what receives
frequent visits from one or other of the species.
On entering the forests, on the rising land in the interior, the blue
and green, the smallest brown, no bigger than the humble-bee, with two
long feathers in the tail, and the little forked-tail purple-throated
humming-birds, glitter before you in ever-changing attitudes. One
species alone never shows his beauty to the sun: and were it not for
his lovely shining colours, you might almost be tempted to class him
with the goat-suckers, on account of his habits. He is the largest of
all the humming-birds, and is all red and changing gold-green, except
the head, which is black. He has two long feathers in the tail which
cross each other, and these have gained him the name of karabimiti, or
ara humming-bird, from the Indians. You never find him on the
sea-coast, or where the river is salt, or in the heart of the forest,
unless fresh water be there. He keeps close by the side of woody
fresh-water rivers and dark and lonely creeks. He leaves his retreat
before sunrise to feed on the insects over the water; he returns to it
as soon as the sun's rays cause a glare of light, is sedentary all day
long, and comes out again for a short tune after sunset. He builds his
nest on a twig over the water in the unfrequented creeks: it looks like
tanned cow-leather.
As you advance towards the mountains of Demerara other species of
humming-birds present themselves before you. It seems to be an
erroneous opinion that the humming-bird lives entirely on honey-dew.
Almost every flower of the tropical climates contains insects of one
kind or other. Now the humming-bird is most busy about the flowers an
hour or two after sunrise and after a shower of rain, and it is just at
this time that the insects come out to the edge of the flower in order
that the sun's rays may dry the nocturnal dew and rain which they have
received. On opening the stomach of the humming-bird dead insects are
almost always found there.
Next to the humming-birds, the cotingas display the gayest plumage.
They are of the order of Passer, and you number five species betwixt
the sea-coast and the rock Saba. Perhaps the scarlet cotinga is the
richest of the five, and is one of those birds which are found in the
deepest recesses of the forest. His crown is flaming red; to this
abruptly succeeds a dark shining brown, reaching half-way down the
back: the remainder of the back, the rump and tail, the extremity of
which is edged with black, are a lively red; the belly is a somewhat
lighter red; the breast reddish-black; the wings brown. He has no song,
is solitary, and utters a monotonous whistle which sounds like "quet."
He is fond of the seeds of the hitia-tree and those of the siloabali-
and bastard siloabali-trees, which ripen in December and continue on
the trees for above two months. He is found throughout the year in
Demerara; still nothing is known of his incubation. The Indians all
agree in telling you that they have never seen his nest.
The purple-breasted cotinga has the throat and breast of a deep purple,
the wings and tail black, and all the rest of the body a most lovely
shining blue.
The purple-throated cotinga has black wings and tail, and every other
part a light and glossy blue, save the throat, which is purple.
The pompadour cotinga is entirely purple, except his wings, which are
white, their four first feathers tipped with brown. The great coverts
of the wings are stiff, narrow and pointed, being shaped quite
different from those of any other bird. When you are betwixt this bird
and the sun, in his flight, he appears uncommonly brilliant. He makes a
hoarse noise which sounds like "wallababa." Hence his name amongst the
Indians.
None of these three cotingas have a song. They feed on the hitia,
siloabali- and bastard siloabali-seeds, the wild guava, the fig, and
other fruit-trees of the forest. They are easily shot in these trees
during the months of December, January and part of February. The
greater part of them disappear after this, and probably retire far away
to breed. Their nests have never been found in Demerara.
The fifth species is the celebrated campanero of the Spaniards, called
dara by the Indians, and bell-bird by the English. He is about the size
of the jay. His plumage is white as snow. On his forehead rises a
spiral tube nearly three inches long. It is jet black, dotted all over
with small white feathers. It has a communication with the palate, and
when filled with air looks like a spire; when empty it becomes
pendulous. His note is loud and clear, like the sound of a bell, and
may be heard at the distance of three miles. In the midst of these
extensive wilds, generally on the dried top of an aged mora, almost out
of gun-reach, you will see the campanero. No sound or song from any of
the winged inhabitants of the forest, not even the clearly pronounced
"Whip-poor-will" from the goat-sucker, cause such astonishment as the
toll of the campanero.
With many of the feathered race he pays the common tribute of a morning
and an evening song; and even when the meridian sun has shut in silence
the mouths of almost the whole of animated nature the campanero still
cheers the forest. You hear his toll, and then a pause for a minute,
then another toll, and then a pause again, and then a toll, and again a
pause. Then he is silent for six or eight minutes, and then another
toll, and so on. Acteon would stop in mid-chase, Maria would defer her
evening song, and Orpheus himself would drop his lute to listen to him,
so sweet, so novel and romantic is the toll of the pretty snow-white
campanero. He is never seen to feed with the other cotingas, nor is it
known in what part of Guiana he makes his nest.
While the cotingas attract your attention by their superior plumage,
the singular form of the toucan makes a lasting impression on your
memory. There are three species of toucans in Demerara, and three
diminutives, which may be called toucanets. The largest of the first
species frequents the mangrove trees on the sea-coast. He is never seen
in the interior till you reach Macoushia, where he is found in the
neighbourhood of the River Tacatou. The other two species are very
common. They feed entirely on the fruits of the forest and, though of
the pie kind, never kill the young of other birds or touch carrion. The
larger is called bouradi by the Indians (which means nose), the other
scirou. They seem partial to each other's company, and often resort to
the same feeding-tree and retire together to the same shady noon-day
retreat. They are very noisy in rainy weather at all hours of the day,
and in fair weather at morn and eve. The sound which the bouradi makes
is like the clear yelping of a puppy-dog, and you fancy he says
"pia-po-o-co," and thus the South-American Spaniards call him piapoco.
All the toucanets feed on the same trees on which the toucan feeds, and
every species of this family of enormous bill lays its eggs in the
hollow trees. They are social, but not gregarious. You may sometimes
see eight or ten in company, and from this you would suppose they are
gregarious; but upon a closer examination you will find it has only
been a dinner-party, which breaks up and disperses towards
roosting-time.
You will be at a loss to conjecture for what ends Nature has overloaded
the head of this bird with such an enormous bill. It cannot be for the
offensive, as it has no need to wage war with any of the tribes of
animated nature, for its food is fruits and seeds, and those are in
superabundance throughout the whole year in the regions where the
toucan is found. It can hardly be for the defensive, as the toucan is
preyed upon by no bird in South America and, were it obliged to be at
war, the texture of the bill is ill-adapted to give or receive blows,
as you will see in dissecting it. It cannot be for any particular
protection to the tongue, as the tongue is a perfect feather.
The flight of the toucan is by jerks: in the action of flying it seems
incommoded by this huge disproportioned feature, and the head seems as
if bowed down to the earth by it against its will. If the extraordinary
form and size of the bill expose the toucan to ridicule, its colours
make it amends. Were a specimen of each species of the toucan presented
to you, you would pronounce the bill of the bouradi the most rich and
beautiful: on the ridge of the upper mandible a broad stripe of most
lovely yellow extends from the head to the point; a stripe of the same
breadth, though somewhat deeper yellow, falls from it at right angles
next the head down to the edge of the mandible; then follows a black
stripe, half as broad, falling at right angles from the ridge and
running narrower along the edge to within half an inch of the point.
The rest of the mandible is a deep bright red. The lower mandible has
no yellow: its black and red are distributed in the same manner as on
the upper one, with this difference, that there is black about an inch
from the point. The stripe corresponding to the deep yellow stripe on
the upper mandible is sky-blue. It is worthy of remark that all these
brilliant colours of the bill are to be found in the plumage of the
body and the bare skin round the eye.
All these colours, except the blue, are inherent in the horn: that part
which appears blue is in reality transparent white, and receives its
colour from a thin piece of blue skin inside. This superb bill fades in
death, and in three or four days' time has quite lost its original
colours.
Till within these few years no idea of the true colours of the bill
could be formed from the stuffed toucans brought to Europe. About eight
years ago, while eating a boiled toucan, the thought struck me that the
colours in the bill of a preserved specimen might be kept as bright as
those in life. A series of experiments proved this beyond a doubt. If
you take your penknife and cut away the roof of the upper mandible, you
will find that the space betwixt it and the outer shell contains a
large collection of veins and small osseous fibres running in all
directions through the whole extent of the bill. Clear away all these
with your knife, and you will come to a substance more firm than skin,
but of not so strong a texture as the horn itself. Cut this away also,
and behind it is discovered a thin and tender membrane: yellow where it
has touched the yellow part of the horn, blue where it has touched the
red part, and black towards the edge and point; when dried this thin
and tender membrane becomes nearly black; as soon as it is cut away
nothing remains but the outer horn, red and yellow, and now become
transparent. The under mandible must undergo the same operation. Great
care must be taken and the knife used very cautiously when you are
cutting through the different parts close to where the bill joins on to
the head: if you cut away too much the bill drops off; if you press too
hard the knife comes through the horn; if you leave too great a portion
of the membrane it appears through the horn and, by becoming black when
dried, makes the horn appear black also, and has a bad effect.
Judgment, caution, skill and practice will ensure success.
You have now cleared the bill of all those bodies which are the cause
of its apparent fading, for, as has been said before, these bodies dry
in death and become quite discoloured, and appear so through the horn;
and reviewing the bill in this state, you conclude that its former
bright colours are lost.