Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/268

Rh 254 GUIANA [FRENCH. During the rest of the year there is often hardly a drop of rain for months. At Cayenne the annual rainfall amounts on an average to from 10 to 11 feet, and it is naturally heavier in the interior. It has been calculated indeed that, if all the fluvial outlets were blocked, a single winter would be sufficient to submerge the whole colony to a depth of 15 or 16 feet. During the hotter part of the year August, September, October the temperature usually rises to about 86 F., but it almost never exceeds 88; in the colder season the mean is 79, and it seldom sinks so low as 70. Between day and night there is very little thermo- mstric difference. The longest day is 12 hours 18 minutes, the shortest 11 hours 42 minutes. The prevailing winds are the N.N.E. and the S.E. ; and the most violent are those of the N.E. During the rainy season the winds keep between N. and E., and during the dry season between S. and E. Hurricanes are unknown. Sudden rises of the sea are occasionally experienced in November and December. Within the present century there have been three earthquakes (1821, 1843, and 1877), none of which did much damage. Population. -The population of French Guiana consists of a few pure whites, negroes from Africa, mulattoes, coolies, a decreasing number of Indians, convicts from France and its colonies (among whom are many Arabs from Algeria), and Chinese, Hindu, and Anamite immigrants. In 1877 the fixed population was stated at 17,230, and the floating population included 2300 aboriginal Indians, a military force of 1084, 338 Government officials and ecclesiastics, 4750 workmen connected with the commerce of immigra tion, and 1380 convicts outside of the penitentiaries; so that in round numbers the total amounted to 27,000. Of the fixed population the males were 7972, and the females 9258. The widows were 1108, while the widowers were 298. Vegetation. French Guiana has a rich variety of trees, and several of them are attracting increasing attention from their economic value. The Leguminosce are abundantly represented, including the gayac (Coumarouna odorata, Aubl.), the courbaril or locust-tree of Surinam, which grows 70 or 80 feet high without branching, the angelique (Dicorenin paraensis), thebois violet or amaranthe (Coj&amp;gt;a- ifera bracteata], the pois sabre or oily wapa (Epcruafalcata, Aubl.), the wacapou or epi de ble (Andirn Aublctii, Benth.), the RoMnia Panacoco, the Saint Martin, and the Afachcerium Schomburghii or tiger wood. To the family of the Myrtacecc belong the Psidium pomiferum or guava, the Couratouri guianensis, the Lccythis graiuli- flora or monkey-pot tree of British Guiana, the Lccythis ollaria, and other species of Lecytkis ; to the Sapotaccce, the Mimusops Balata, the jaune d oiuf or Lucuma Rivicoa, and the bartaballi or Lucuma Bonplandii. Of the Laurinccc it is enough to mention the black cedar (Nectandra Pisi), the taoub, the bois canelle or cinnamon wood, anl several species of Acrodididium. Among the palms are the cocoa-palm, the oil-palm of Africa, and the date-palm. The timber of the courbaril, the bois violet, and the balata has been found to be of very high excellence. Caoutchouc (Hcvca guianensis) is com mon in the contested territory in the south ; the elemi-tree (Idea clemiyera) and the/. Aracouchini, which also yields a medical resin, are abundant in the colony. Large quantities of oleaginous seeds might be collected from the yayamadou ( Virola sebifcra) and the crab-wood (flaropa guianensis). The manioc is the principal source of food in French Guiana ; rice is becoming an important object of cultivation ; and maize, yams, arrowroot, bananas, and the bread-fruit are also known. The Guiana cocoa is excellent ; coffee, introduced in 1716, is extensively grown ; and vanilla is one of the common wild plants of the country. The clove- tree has been acclimatized, and in the latter years of the empire it formed a good source of wealth ; the cinnamon tree was also successfully introduced in 1772, but like that of the pepper-tree and the nutmeg its cultivation is neglected. Minerals. Great interest attaches to the gold of Guiana, which promises, or threatens, to modify the life of the colony. Indian traditions affirmed the presence of the precious metal, and Hum- boldt and Buflbn agreed that the geological character of the country indicated the probability of auriferous deposits ; but it was not till 1819 that Felix Couy, at the instigation of a Portuguese Indian named Paoline, discovered and opened the first &quot; placer.&quot; In 1856 the Approuague company was formed ; but, though 5762 oz. were collected between 1857 and 1860, it soon after sold its rights. The Martaroni company has been more successful : 23,342 oz. of gold were obtained in 1872 ; 46,044 oz., equal to 4 million francs, were exported from Cayenne in 1874; and in 1875 and 1876 the yield was 4823 oz. per month. As various ferruginous minerals are abundant in some places, it is possible that iron ores may exist. Commerce. The total value of the imports into French Guiana in 1871 was 5,903,413 francs ; and it exported to the value of 2,556,158 francs to France, 10,600 francs to the French colonies, and 148,839 francs abroad. It is with Martinique that it stands in closest com- mercial relations, but the imposition in 1872 of a duty on eau do vie from that island has almost put a stop to its importation. Several small steamers maintain communication between different parts of the colony. Convict Establishments. It was in 1851 that Guiana was recom mended to the French Government by a special commission of inquiry as a suitable place for criminal penitentiaries. In February 1852 transportation thither was offered as a favour to the convicts then under sentence, and more than 3000 of them accepted the change. As the minister of the colonies is allowed by a decree of 1853 to send to Guiana any Asiatics or Africans who are condemned to hard labour or solitary confinement, and as it has been deemed better since 1864 to take the European convicts to New Caledonia, the actual inhabitants of the penitentiary districts are mainly negroes, Arabs, and Anamites. The principal establishments are those of Cayenne, of the three lies du Salut, of the Kourou, and of the Maroni. The little island La Mere is reserved for the aged, the infirm, and the convalescent. At Saint Laurent on the Maroni there is almost a little town of wooden houses built on brick pillars. The convicts carry on their several trades as carpenters, tanners, bakers, &c. After two years in the colony, those whose conduct has been satisfactory are allowed to contract marriage, to send home for their families, to have a piece of ground assigned to them for culti vation, and to receive the necessary implements. A tramway has been constructed for the use of the &quot;concessions.&quot; (See Rev. Col. etMar., 1876.) Administration. Besides the governor and the military com mandant, the administrative personnel comprises an ordonnateur, a director of the interior, and a procurator-general, as well as a privy council and a director of the penitentiary service. There is a court of appeal and q, tribunal of first instance, and justices of peace- are appointed for each canton. Cayenne is administered by a municipal council. Religious affairs are under an apostolic prefect. History. According even to the French writers, the histoiy of Guiana is little better than a series of disasters. La Revardiere, sent out in 1604 by Henry IV. to reconnoitre the country, brought back a favourable report ; but the death of the king put a stop to the projects of formal colonization. In 1626 a small body of traders from Rouen settled on the Sinnamary, and in 1634 a similar band took up their quarters at Cayenne. The Compagnie du Cap Nord, founded by the people of Rouen in 1643, the Compagnie de la France ^quinoxiale, established in 1645, and the second Com pagnie de la France ^quinoxiale, or Compagnie des Douzc Seigneurs, established in 1652, were so many lamentable failures, the result of incompetence, mismanagement, and misfortune. The Compagnie des Indes Occidentales, chartered in 1664 with a monopoly of Guiana commerce for forty years, proved hardly more successful ; but in 1674 the colony passed under the direct control of the crown, and the able administration of Colbert began to tell favourably on its progress. The year 1 763 was marked by a terrible disaster. Choiseul, the prime minister, having obtained for himself and his cousin Praslin a concession of the country between the Kourou and the Maroni, sent out about 12,000 volunteer colonists, mainly from Alsace and Lorraine. They were landed at the mouth of the Kourou, where no preparation had been made for their reception, and where even water was not to be obtained. Mismanagement had reached its grotesquest limits ; there was a shop for skates (!), and the necessary tools for tillage were wanting. By 1765 no more than 918 colonists remained alive, and these were a famished fever- stricken band. A long investigation by the parliament of Paris proved only that some one had blundered. Several minor attempts at colonization in Guiana were made in the latter part of the century ; but they all seemed to suffer from the same fatal prestige of failure. During the terrible times of the Revolution band after band of political prisoners were transported to Guiana. The fate of the royalists, nearly 600 in number, who were exiled on the 18th Fructidor, was especially sad. Landed on the Sinnamary without shelter or food, two-thirds of them perished miserably. In 1800 Victor Hugucs was appointed governor, and he managed to put the colony in a better state; but in 1809 his career was brought to a close by tho invasion of the Portuguese and British. Though French Guiana was nominally restored to the French in 1814, it was not really sur rendered by the Portuguese till 1817. In 1823, at the suggestion of M. Catineau Laroche, an attempt was made to settle a colony of French agriculturists in the basin of the Mana ; but they were soon driven by fevers from the town of Nouvelle Angouleme, which they had founded. Since that date the principal facts in the history of the unfortunate country are the discovery of its gold-fields and the introduction of the convict establishments.