A few hours after we came to an anchor I went on shore, and I verily believe that the passengers and spectators suspected they had received a visitation from the world of spirits.  When I reached the house of Mr. Colin McCrea, Captain Brown’s consignee, the unaffected and gentlemanlike reception I met with, both from him and his lady, with their subsequent kind conduct, can never be effaced from my memory.  Captain Brown soon joined us, and in the most engaging terms we were invited to become inmates with Mr. McCrea and his partner, which we availed ourselves of during our stay in Demerary.  A few days after, I became acquainted with Mr. Alexander McCrea, brother to my kind host, and as soon as my health would permit, visited him at his plantation, the Hope, 11 miles from Stabroke, the capital of the colony of Demerary.  In this society, and from other quarters, I was favoured with various information upon the situation of the colonies in Dutch Guiana, and their importance in a political and commercial point of view.

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 L20. per cask, and L3. per barrel; rum 150 guilders, or L12. 10s. per puncheon; coffee 1s. per lb.; cotton L20. per bale of 3 cwt; and molasses a guilder, or 1s. 8d. per gallon, the total amount will be upwards of L1,600,000.

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.