Observations Upon the Windward Coast of Africa: The religion, character, customs, &c. of the natives; with a system upon which they may be civilized, and a knowledge attained of the interior of this extraordinary quarter of the globe; and upon the natural and commercial resources of the country; made in the years 1805 and 1806; with an appendix, containing a letter to Lord Howick, on the most simple and effectual means of abolishing the slave tradeCorry, Joseph
History
Observations Upon the Windward Coast of Africa: The religion, character, customs, &c. of the natives; with a system upon which they may be civilized, and a knowledge attained of the interior of this extraordinary quarter of the globe; and upon the natural and commercial resources of the country; made in the years 1805 and 1806; with an appendix, containing a letter to Lord Howick, on the most simple and effectual means of abolishing the slave trade
Corry, Joseph
Africa, West -- Description and travel; Slave trade -- Africa
The colonial produce of Demerary, Essequibo, and Berbice, chiefly consists
in sugar, coffee, cotton, rum, and molasses; but the richness and fertility
of the soil is capable of raising any tropical production; new sources
being daily unfolded, of the immense wealth derivable from these colonies,
and their great importance to Great Britain. The following example,
extracted from the Custom House reports, may elucidate this in a striking
degree.
In the June fleet of 1804, consisting of sixty sail of various burthen and
tonnage, there were exported, viz.
17,235 Casks of sugar. 203 Casks coffee.
442 Barrels do. 39,701 Barrels cotton.
3,399 Puncheons rum. 336 Hhds. molasses.
8,668,885 lbs. wt. coffee.
Calculating sugar at £20. per cask, and £3. per barrel; rum 150 guilders,
or £12. 10s. per puncheon; coffee 1s. per lb.; cotton £20. per bale of 3
cwt; and molasses a guilder, or 1s. 8d. per gallon, the total amount will
be upwards of £1,600,000.
This immense export has since progressively increased, and colonists are
only wanting to augment it to an inconceivable extent. How valuable then do
these colonies become, and of what importance are they, in any negociation
with the enemy.
Unquestionably under the fostering care and guidance of British
jurisprudence, they would produce an accumulated export infinitely beyond
the present computation, and be productive of increasing wealth to the
merchant, and revenue to the country.
The lands are still more fertile proceeding towards the interior, and being
thinly inhabited, are attainable with great facility, and are extremely
various in their productions.
At this period these valuable possessions were nearly in a defenceless
state, having a very inadequate and feeble military force to defend them,
and being almost without naval protection; they had literally only an armed
brig and schooner, built and set a float by the colony of Demerary, to
guard an extensive coast, and an immense property.
In addition to the foregoing enumeration of commerce, indigo, pepper,
cacoa, or chocolate nut, &c. may be raised to great amount. Of the latter,
an individual planter at Berbice, from a nursery of 500,000 trees had
138,000 bearing ones in 1806, which when gathered in, calculating 5lb. to
each tree, will reimburse him in the sum of £32,000.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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