invkmg aspect from the river, which favourable impression, so far
from being attended with disappointment, is greatly increased upon
landing; the streets are wide and regular, planted on both -sides
with orange trees, which blossom and yield fruit twice a year;
whilst in Italy, which;’is styled the garden of Europe, the orange
trees produce fruit only ©tied a year. The place where .we landed
is Called Government Square, as facing it stands the Government-
House, a fine- building of two stories high,-but Seemingly out
repair. Very nearly opposite, to the left, and close to the r iv e r # i s
Fort Zelandia, in which are the arsenal, several large < magazines
and barracks, all built of brick. Between thé-GitaJel and Govern-
ment House is situated the public walk, amidst a large cluster of
tamarind trees, which commands a fine prospect ©vet the square
to the river and its opposite shore. On the other side of the square
are some very handsome private houses.
Another fine square is called Orange Place, being planted with
those trees. Here stands the Town-house^ built Of brick-; butlat
is remarkable for nothing 'except its size. Here also is the 'Protestant
church, and a - few private houses of brick ; and the- other
principal public buildings are a Portugubae and a German synagogue
for the Jews of their respective nalions. The . Bank and
two Free Masons’ lodges are all built of wood, as indeed are
most of thé Bouses in Paramaribo. The general custom of building
the houses here is by raising first a brick wall some feet high, and
then building the upper part of wood, which in this Climate is preferred
as being more cool and dry than buildings wholly of stone ;
and many sorts of the wood in this country are esteemed as almost
of equal duration with metal. The houses in general are two
stories high, and in the Tropics they never should be built higher,
as otherwise it screens the streets too much from the free circulation
Of the air. There is but one street here that has many houses
of three stories high, and though it is sufficiently wide, yet it is by
far the hottest str6e$iti Paramaribo. The houses have their outside
iitf general painted with a pearl gray colour; but the shutters
_ and doors are relieved with green, white, and black. A few houses'
only have glass windows, for some inhabitants think them too hot for
the climate, and therefore they prefer frames of gauze. The inside
. of the house in general is wainscotted with the finest dark coloured
woods, of which that of the locust tree is preferable in the polish to
thevmahogany, and when hung with fine paintings is of a still
greater lustre; -the wainscotting is often washed with lemon juice,
which keeps the apartments free from insects, refreshes the air, and
spreads a pleasant perfume through all the house.
But, for the sake of fashion, many of the. new comers have painted
the Inside of their . houses white,'to the no small concern of the
oMeuinhabitants, who complain that this innovation entirely spoils
the rooms, as jhey cannot be kept either so clean or pleasant as
before; besides, the reflection of the white has a bad effect upon
the eyes,, the light in the Tropics being too powerful for these
organs, and'indeed it does seem that the ancient custom is most
reasonable. The town of Paramaribo is about a mile long ; some
parts three quarters, and others half a mile wide The population
i s ’esteemed at nearly twenty thousand, of which about eighteen
hundred are Europeans of different nations, in proportion as they
are here'mentioned: Dutch, Germans, English, and French. The
German and Portugueze Jews are estimated to be near three
thousand, the free negroes and people of colour four thousand, and
the slaves are supposed to be about eleven thousand; but the
number of the last is the most difficult to ascertain, as they are
continually removing to and from the plantations. As the town is
neither inclosed by walls nor gates, the limits are constantly
extending; and in the most distant streets the houses are separated
from each other, by hedges of lime fruit trees, which are kept cut in
the form of a regular wall* At Paramaribo there are at present two
G