I, p. 174. Extent of Dutch Settlement. (1674.) Essequibo are specifically mentioned in the grant. Under this Charter the Central Council consisted of ten instead of nineteen members. I, pp. 176-178. (1676.) I, p. 179. P. 177. I, p. 187. I, p. 188. Two years afterwards the Spanish Council of War of the Indies brought forward the 5 question of the Dutch colonies on the coast of Guiana, and suggested a remonstrance with the States-General on the ground that they were establishing new settlements in the Indies without informing the King of Spain, but it was 10 resolved that to bring such a complaint before the States-General of the United Provinces was not advisable. It is to be noted that the attention of the Council was called to the fact that the (1676.) Dutch at that time held the chief portion of the 15 coast of Guiana from Trinidad to the River Amazon, and had settlements in Berbice, Essequibo, and Surinam. (1676.) (1684.) In 1684 Santo Thomé was sacked by the French and Caribs, and when the Spaniards reoccupied 20 it, the Commandeur of Essequibo reported that (1685.) they had "resumed possession of Oronoque," the name given to the portion of the Orinoco district under Spanish control, and that the Caribs were flying to Barima, Waini, and Amakuru. I pp. 181, 182. (1679.) I. p. 199. 1. p. 203. I, p. 208. 1. p. I, p. 211. 25 As early as 1679 a Postholder had been stationed on the Pomeroon, and in 1686 the Central Council of the West India Company resolved to recolonize that station, and a Commandeur of the name of de Jonge was appointed 30 to govern that river independently of the Governor of Essequibo. De Jonge proceeded to the Pomeroon and commenced planting and cutting wood for a fort. In 1688 he had finished the fort, but in 1689 it was surprised and sacked 35 by the French and was not re-established, though (1689.) the Company retained a Post in the river. (1686.) (1688.) With regard to the settlement in the district of the River Essequibo itself, there is evidence, from 1681 onwards, that the area of actual 40 plantation extended along the rivers Cuyuni, Massaruni, and Upper Essequibo. In 1681, an (1681.) island in the mouth of the River Cuyuni was cleared and planted with cassava for the use of the garrison. On the 26th March, 1694, the 45 Commandeur reports to the West India Company I, pp. 212, 213. (1694.) that he has "again begun to make here a new I, p. 185. plantation in the River Cuyuni above the fort." But the energies of the Dutch were not confined to the area of actual plantation. Hunting the Commandeur proposed sending a smack to I, p. 184. (1681.) 10 reported that a canoe had gone to Amakuru to I, p. 185. (1681.) 15 salt manatees and bush-hog's flesh. A supply of salt pork had been organized before this date from the Cuyuni; for in 1683 the Commandeur sent a negro up that river to endeavour to establish peace between Akawois and the Caribs "so as by I. p. 185. this means to get hold of the bush-hog hunting there as formerly." In a letter of the 28th June, 1680, the Commandeur, referring to the war between those tribes, had written, "Hereby the I, p. 183. 20 River Cuyuni, our provision chamber, is closed; (1683.) (1680.) The system appears to have been in existence I, p. 175. in 1674 when Postholders received payment for (1674.) 35 services upon the Essequibo. In 1679 the I, p. 181. (1679.) felt it necessary to withdraw a travelling I, p. 182. trader whom he had sent to Pomeroon, where 40 the settlement destroyed by the English in 1665 had not yet been re-established, and suggested to the Company that it "would not be a bad idea to build there a small house for two or three men, so that they may dwell permanently among 45 the Indians and occupy that river." (1679.) I, p. (1679.) On the 25th December, 1683, the Com- I, p. 185. mandeur writes "I have caused one of the Company's servants to reside in Barima, as much annatto and letter-wood is obtainable there, and this lies near to Pomeroon." On the 31st March, (1683.) (1684.) 1684, he writes again, "I have caused a small station to be made in Barima, and Abraham Baudardt, who is there (meaning Pomeroon) as Postholder in place of Daniel Galle, shall occasionally visit those places and encourage 5 the Caribs to trade." He continues: He continues: "I submit therefore, under correction, that it would not be inequitable for the Honourable West India Company, to take possession of the River Barima, in order to acquire the trade aforesaid, and to com- 10 mand the erection there of a permanent place for a Postholder." A Post was maintained either on the Pomeroon or on one of the two neighbouring creeks Wakepo and Moruka until the system of Posts was superseded under the 15 British Government in the middle of the present (1686.) century. There is also mentioned in 1686 an annatto store at a Carib village "above in (1699.) Massaruni," and in 1699 a dye store in the Cuyuni is referred to. (1691.) 20 The first muster-roll of the Company's servants which has been preserved, viz., for the year 1691, includes the names of the Postholders at Pomeroon and Demerara. The muster-roll for the year 1703 (1703.) includes, in addition to the Postholders in the 25 Rivers Demerara, Mahaicony, and the Pomeroon, the name of the Postholder in Cuyuni " up in the savannah six weeks by water." The position so described is clearly very distant, the savannah referred to being the Pariacot Savannah. The 30 approximate site, which cannot have been lower than the junction of the Yuruari with the Uruan, is marked on the Map in the Atlas, p. 1. I, pp. 222-224. (1701.) I, p. 223. I, p. 228. The Post in the Pomeroon is described in the same roll as lying from the fort four days' sail 3♪ by sea. Similar lists occur over a period of seventy years, showing that Postholders were at different periods stationed at different places a considerable distance up the Essequibo, at more than one place 40 on the Cuyuni, and in Pomeroon and Moruka. In 1701, in view of the approach of war, the colony was organized for defensive purposes, according to districts. In the regulations issued for this purpose by the Court of Policy, Com- 45 missaries were appointed to make rounds of the (1701.) plantations "and to give instructions to the new planters, to wit, those dwelling in Maseroene." In 1704, the plantation Poelwijk was moved to a position above the falls in Massaruni. The (1704.) site can be identified by means of the map of 1748 by Storm van 's Gravesande, on which it is Atlas, p. 17. numbered 46. In 1709 and 1712 the Dutch Post at Wakepo 5 (Pomeroon) was attacked by the French and Spaniards, but was successfully defended by the garrison with the help of Indians. At the time of the Treaty of Utrecht (1714) the Dutch had established themselves as the 10 masters of a great part of Guiana, from various positions on the coast as far as Barima, to the Pariacot Savannah beyond the River Cuyuni in the interior of the country, and they were already opening up the the higher reaches of 15 the Essequibo. Their plantations and settlements lined the banks of the Essequibo, Massaruni, and Cuyuni for some distance from the junction of the three rivers. They had established friendly relations with the Indian 20 tribes of the interior, who looked to them as their arbiters in tribal disputes, and offered them assistance in time of hostile attack. On the other hand, the Spanish records up to this period show that there had not been any 25 development whatever of the Spanish occupation to the south of the Orinoco. I, p. 233. (1709.) (1713.) In 1690 a despatch by Don Sebastian de Rotela, Governor of Trinidad, throws light upon I, p. 211. the state of the so-called City of Santo Thomé at 30 that date. He went to Santo Thomé for the purpose of putting in force a decree bestowing liberty upon Indian slaves, and he reports that he found thirty-two such slaves "among the I, p. 212. seven citizens, who, with some soldiers of the 35 castle, form its population, and the free Indians of the villages of San Pedro de Mariguaca and Santa Maria Magdalena de Caucao, which are in the said territory of Guayana." The state of the province in 1720 is described 40 in the Report of Don José Diguja, the Spanish Governor of Cumaná, dated the 15th December, 1763, in the following words : "In the year 1720, the Province of Guayana was a dependency of the Government of Trinidad, and with 45 no other settlement than the fortress or town of Santo Thomé, situated on the banks of the River Usupamo, and containing only twenty or twenty-five houses, occupied by as many inhabitants, deprived of (1690.) (1690.) III, pp. 1-52. (1763.) III, p. 10. (1763.) all human assistance, and with no means whatever to clear III, pp. 22, 68. (1761.) Progress of Dutch Colony Such was the extent of Spanish dominion in Guiana in 1720. 10 A few years later, about 1724, some Capuchin Fathers, aided by the gift of 100 head of cattle, founded a Mission. Missions began to be estab- 15 lished in the district immediately in the immediate vicinity of Santo Thomé. The extension of these Missions, their numbers and positions, will be considered later. To return to the history of the Dutch Colony 20 I, pp. 252, 253. (1722.) Maurain Saincterre, an engineer of the Company, 30 I, p. 253. II, pp. 5, 6. (1723.) (1726.) In 1726 the Dutch resolved to move the post at Wakepo to the River Moruka, and to erect a station there at a point which gave them the command of the route to the Orinoco by the inland waterways. A subsequent report in 1728 from the Postholder at this station, to the effect that a vessel from Surinam had been seized by the Spaniards while fishing in the Orinoco, and that there was 40 15 |