Twenty-five Years in British Guiana ... With map and illustrations

Chapter I

Introduction — Changes in twenty-five years — First impressions of British Guiana — Mosquitoes — Frogs — Georgetown — Houses in Guiana — Drainage — Heat and damp — Society — -Absence of the leisured and literary classes — Newspaper press — Anthony Trollope — Boddani-Whetham — Monotony of life— Position of British Guiana unknown — Travellers' tales — Climate — Early burials — Yellow fever — Funerals — Difficulty of burial — Leprosy — Hospitals

Chapter II

A thirsty country — Swizzles — Georgetown Club — Visits of the fleet — Swizzleiana — Pepper-pot — Bliss Gerty's kitten — Planters — Mr. Henry Clementson — His burglary — Medical service — Old-time doctors— The Bar— Dick Whitfield— Lynch— Samuel T. Fitz- Herbert — Macaronic verses — Church endowments — Cake walks — Rally of the tribes — Ladies in British Guiana — Sexual relations — Establishments — Children of the poor — Quasi-slavery — Roman Dutch Law — Emancipation of women — Tigress of Tiger Bay — Tim Sugar — Assaulting the sheriff

Chapter III

Colonel Foster-Foster — " Home " — Coloured gentry — Census papers — Curious returns — The Zoo in Georgetown — List of animals — German warships — Learning a new language — Plain vernacular a CONTENTS VI PAGE 50 70 107 —Amusements in British Guiana— Racing— D'Urban racecourse — Blood stock— Georgetown races— Belfield— Cricket — Ted Wright— English teams— Chinese cricketers— Black players — Dancing— Creole— Congo— Hindoo— Reminiscences— Officials —X Beke— Military force— White troops— West Indian Regi ment—Soldiers' burial-ground— 98th Regiment— Withdrawal of troops — Venezuelan raid — Uruan — Capture of the post — Vixen — 'Varsity dinner — Mr. James Crosby — Crosby office — Insect plagues — Cockroaches — Ants — Centipedes — Hardbacks—Mara buntas — Electric light— Gas — Beckwith's hotel

Chapter IV

Equatorial zone — Tropical vegetation — Forests — Striking effects — Gardens in British Guiana — Fauna — Shooting — Game bags — Muscovy ducks — Hoatzin — Jaguars — Waracabra tigers — Deer — Peccary — Tapir — Monkeys — Iguanas — Snakes — Fishing — Cuffum — Lukananni — Cannibal snakes — Essequibo and Aroabisce coast — Old-time planters — Racecourse — Hospitality — Practical jokes — Clergy — Dean Austin — Rev. William Brett — St. John's Church — Medical officers — Riot on the coast — An awkward predicament — A faithful sentry — Sheriff Humphreys — Miss Anna Austin ...

Chapter V

Monotony of life — Trips in the bush — Pomeroon journey — Tappacooma Lake — Aripiaco Creek — Cabacaburi Mission — Mr. and Mrs. Heard — Medora — Bishop Austin — Maccaseema — McClintock — Indian chief — Im Thurn — Bivouac — Benaboo — Howling baboons — Carib settlement — Piwarrie — Captain Jeffreys — Indian names — Samboura — Cooking under difficulties — Indian dance — A sunken boat — Anna Regina — Onomatopoetic birds — Supernaam Indian Mission — Sermon — Huis t' Dieren — Boiler explosion — Manslaughter— Coolie settlement

Chapter VI

Ikarakka Lake— Capoey racecourse— Riding catastrophe — Maroonin"- — Ituribisce Creek — Indian settlements — Flights of butterflies Arawak Indians— Duffryn Mission— Manatee Island— Dauntless CONTENTS VII PAGE 129 147 174 Bank — Manatees at the Aquarium and the Zoo — Bartica. Essequibo River — Gold discovery — Rev. William Pierce — Rail ways — Christian mission — Rev. Thomas Youd — Church — Situation for a future city— Mechanics under indenture — Peter McPherson — His death — Better success — Africans — Congo language — Thick skins — Jubilee at Hampton Court — Firework display

Chapter VII

Bovianders — Aboriginal Indians — Indian women — Waterton — George Augustus Sala — Piwarrie — Character of Indians — Kanaima — Murder of Simon the Arawak's wife — Indian impassivity — Impatience of confinement — Doctrine of clothes — Old customs — Floating shops — Smuggling — Akyma — Bremner family — Old graves — A tomb in the wilderness — Alaric Watts — Sebacabra — Fishing — Old woodskin — Dances— Christianburgh — Paterson — Dalgin — Sergeant Alleyne — Surgical operations — Mora — Sergeant Blunt — Brittlebank — Miscegenation — Napier's "Peninsular War" — Kroomen — Joe — Arecima Indians — Maroons

Chapter VIII

Decay of river population — Rise of the gold industry — Kanaimapoo — Mecropie — Water-mammas — Coomarroo — Vampire bats — George Couchman — Visit to the Orarumalali Falls— Derrire Hill — Comarramarra — Koomparoo Rapids — Camanna fish — Carroquia — Eneyeudah Mission — Thunderstorm — Great Falls — Snakes— Palaver with the Indians— Captain Tiger — Dyed Indians— Scarlet dog — Her Majesty's penal settlement — Massaruni River — Ticket-of-leave men — Convicts — Their sentiments — Confidence in magistrates — The wife of Ramdass — Kykoveral — Fort Island— Fred Hamblin — Theatrical entertainment — West Indian Regiment— Colonel Fygelmesy — New Amsterdam ball — Old Woolward — Life in New Amsterdam — Dr. Hackett — Anthony Trollope— Official etiquette— D. M. Gallagher— Lunatic Asylum — Corentyne coast — Smuggling — Wild-duck shooting — Elections — Vendues — Atlantic voyages .. . CONTENTS PAGE 206 232

Chapter IX

Emancipation — Immigration schemes — East Indians — Chinese — Dangerous characters — The coolie — Invested savings — Mowla Buksh — Chan-a-fook, the burglar and murderer — Execution of Chinese at Suddie — Christian Chinese — Their honesty and sincerity — Opium-smoking — Gambling — Chinese settlement, Camounie Creek — Queer dishes — Chinese immigrants ex Corona — Similarity of appearance — Concubines — Suicides — East Indian immigrants — Scarcity of women — Difficulty in obtaining wives — Polyandry — Purchase of wives — Girl or cow — Adultery — Frequent murders — Case of Seecharam — Mutilation and murder of his wife — Execution of Seecharam — Transmigration of souls — Indian superstitions — Marriage at Aurora — Tragic results ...

Chapter X

Perjury : in the Divorce Court ; generally ; amongst Hindoos — Family ties — Caste — Case of Rookminia — Perjury a duty — Her imprisonments — Release — Gratitude — Various races and creeds in British Guiana — Variety of judicial oaths — Curious Chinese oaths — Hindoo beliefs — Results of education — Names of children, Hindi, Congo — Bindharry and his pretty daughters — A disappointed lover — Large amount of savings made by coolies — Mootee — Champagne-drinking — Deposit in the Bank of Bengal — Hardships of coolies returning to India — Extortion by priests and relatives — Marriage contracts — Consideration money — Baboo English — Marriages between chDdren — Complications — Fatalism — Oriental imagery — " Found dead " — Mortuary

CHAPTER XL

Negro population — Their manners and habits — Slavery — The African at home — Ashanti — Benin — Amelioration of slavery in the colony — Fine race — Nocturnal habits — Servants— Stealing or taking — Oratory and letter-writing — A little knowledge is a dangerous thing — Amusing witnesses — Curious use of words — Intoxication, definition of — What is heaven? — Miscegenation — Half-and-half illegitimacy — Mulattoes — Division of races- Illegitimate births — Marriage garments — " Love, honour, and CONTENTS IX PAGE 252 271 290 obey " — An uncertain husband — Wifely obedience — Dangers of marriage — A provident husband — Consolation for widows — High-sounding titles — Judas Iscariot — The Goddess of Chaste —What is a bachelor ? — Au, revoir — Want of midwives ; their ignorance and brutality

Chapter XII

Good conduct of the coloured people — Occasional outbreaks — Riots in Georgetown — Portuguese shopkeepers — Antipathy between them and the masses— Murder of Julia Chase — March, 1889 — Assault in the market — Rising of the people— Police — Special constables — Street fighting — Incendiary fires — West Indian Regiment — Volunteers — Proclamation — Permission to fire — Result —Arrival of blue-jackets and marines of H.M.S. Canada — Unfortunate murder — Running amok — Excitement — Emptying the gaol — Ludicrous results — Compensation for damage done by rioters — Creole superstitions — Obeah — Poisoning — Education — Want of reverence — Confirmation — Jumping Jenny — Coloured gentlemen — Extension of the franchise — A local civil service — Painless dentistry — A state of prognostication — The benefits of corporation ...

Chapter XIII

Criminals — Murderers I have known — Causes of murder — Origin of crime — Cause of crime in British Guiana — Classification of criminals — Amount of crime — Its cause — Scarcity of women — Colonial laws — Brutal child-wife murder — Jealousy — Revenge — Execution of felons — Composure of condemned men — Brain exhaustion — Murder of Mrs. Walsh — Terrible scene — Walsh's strange defence and behaviour — Trial and execution — Murders by Portuguese — Texeira — Excitement of his countrymen — Murders by Arabs — Cayenne — Escaped convicts — Annamese and Tonquinese criminals — Numerous languages spoken in sheriff's office — Interpreters and their manners — Russian vagrants — National odours — Executioners — Hamlet — His bungling and brutality — Execution of Butler — Painful scene — Brown — The difficulties of a sheriff CONTENTS X PAGE 308 329

Chapter XIV

Moral education— Filthy dwellings of the poor — Corporation of Georgetown — Want of benefactors — Paul de Saffon — Trotman — Disapproval of criminals — Its absence — Bantus — Immorality — Concubinage — Industrial schools — Whipping — Flogging as a deterrent — A careless warder— Jack in office — A hopeless case — Female obstinacy — Burglary — Blackman — Betrayed by a woman — An ingenious thief — Death by lightning — Curious results — A jealous Mohammedan — Mutilation — A strange case — Murder without a motive— An injured damsel — Her revenge —The biter bit