In her 1937 novel Busman's Honeymoon, Dorothy Sayers has several
of her characters sing a bit of Down in Demerara. They do:
Now this old man, he took and died-a-lum,
Took and died-a-lum,
Took and died-a-lum,
This old man, he took and died-a-lum,
Down in Demerara!

and   So here we sit like birds in the wilderness,
      Birds in the wilderness,
      Birds in the wildeness!
      Here we sit like birds in the wilderness,
      Down in Demerara!

The novel has nothing to do with Guyana. It is a detective story about Lord Peter Wimsey and his wife, Harriet Vane, on their honeymoon. The song is on the program of a village concert that the vicar is organizing to raise money for the organ fund. So, the birds in the wilderness here merely testify to the popularity of this
odd little song in genteel rural society in 1930s England - and also, perhaps, to its universal appeal. Not only does the vicar know the words - so also does the chimney sweep (he's in the choir) and
Wimsey and Vane.

I wonder who wrote the music...