Some parts of Guiana present a barren and mountainous aspect, but in general the soil is abundantly fruitful, the earth during the whole of the year adorned with continual verdure, the trees loaded at the same time with blossoms and ripe fruit, and the whole presenting to the view the delightful union of spring and summer. This general appearance of fertility, particularly in Surinam, may be ascribed not only to the rains and warmth in this climate, but also to its low and marshy situation, which prevents the intense heats from destroying vegetation, and from the extreme richness of the soil, particularly in those parts which are cultivated by European industry. It must indeed be confessed, that such situations are far from being favourable to health; but the spirit of gain is a very powerful principle, and the certainty of present profit will generally be considered as a weighty counterpoise to those evils which, if ever encountered, appear at a considerable distance; and as they are sometimes escaped, may be always esteemed as uncertain. The uncultivated parts of Guiana are covered with immense forests, rocks, and mountains; some of the latter enriched with a great variety of mineral substances; and the whole country is intersected by very deep marshes or swamps, and by extensive heaths or savannas. The stream along the coast flows continually towards the north-west; and the whole shore is rendered almost inaccessible from its being covered with dangerous banks, quicksands, bogs, and rocks, with prodigious bushes, and a large quantity of brushwood, which are so closely interwoven as to be impenetrable. The Spanish, Portugueze, and Dutch, are the only nations which possess settlements in this part of Terra Firma, excepting the small colony of Cayenne, belonging to the French, which is situated between the river Marawina and Cape Orange. The dominions in Guiana, subject to Spain, are situated on the banks of the Oronoque, and those of Portugal extend along the shores of the river Amazon. The Dutch settlements, which spread along the coasts of the Atlantic ocean, and reach from Cape Nassau to the river Marawina, are Essequibo, Demerary, Berbice, and Surinam [6]; the last of which is the most extensive and valuable, and that portion of the Dutch possessions to which the succeeding account will be chiefly confined. This industrious nation endeavoured, in the year 1657, to establish a small colony on the banks of the river Poumeron, but in 1666 this settlement was demolished by the English. Nor were they more successful in one which they founded in 1677, on the river Wiapoko or Oyapocko, which was immediately invaded and destroyed by the French.