Note 2 — CHAP. II.

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 Surinam2; 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.