MISCELLANIES. 



697 



glitter- tiles, but though thecountry 

 HiFords excellent clay and plenty of 

 wood, very few bricks are burnt. 



The population of this place 

 amounts to full fifteen thousand 

 souls : perhaps nearer twenty thou- 

 Band ; the clergy, including all 

 ranks of religious orders, may be 

 reckoned at five hundred. They 

 are in general good members of 

 society, free from that excessive 

 bigotry and illiberality which is 

 the reproach of the neighbour- 

 ing colonies ; and their example 

 has so beneficial an effect on 

 the rest of the inhabitants, that I 

 may presume to say, no stranger 

 will be molested while he acts as a 

 gentleman, and does not insult the 

 established religion. His Excel- 

 lency the Bishop is a most worthy 

 prelate; and were the inferior or- 

 ders in his diocese to follow his 

 steps in cultivating the sciences, 

 and diffusing useful information, 

 they would command greater re- 

 spect from their flocks, and by 

 that means further the interest of 

 the religion they profess. Priests, 

 so ignorant, can hardly escape con- 

 tempt. 



No endemial diseases at present 

 prevail here. The small-pox for- 

 merly, and indeed of late, made 

 great havock among the inhabi- 

 tants, but its progress has been 

 checked by the introduction of 

 vaccine inoculation. Professors at- 

 tended at a large hall belonging to 

 the governor, to which the public 

 were invited, and the operation 

 was performed gratis. It is to be 

 hoped that the credit of this pre- 

 ventative will make its way among 

 the people here, for they are not 

 competent to enter into the merits 

 of that controversy which injured 

 it in Europe. 



Here are few manufactures of 

 any consequence; a little coarse 

 cotton is spun by the hand, and 

 woven into cloth, which serves for 

 a variety of wearing apparel, sheets, 

 &c. They make a beautiful kind 

 of net-work for hammocks, which 

 are fringed with lace, and form an 

 elegant piece of furniture, being 

 slung low, so as to answer the pur- 

 pose of sofas. The ladies are par- 

 ticularly fond of using them, espe- 

 cially when the heat of the wea- 

 ther disposes them to ease and in- 

 dolence. The making of lace is a 

 general employment for females, 

 some of whom excel in it. The 

 shop-keepers here are a numerous 

 class, who, as in most colonial 

 towns, deal in almost every thing, 

 and sometimes make great for- 

 tunes. Here are few doctors, of 

 medicine, but many apothecaries ; 

 some silversmiths, whose articles 

 are equally indifferent both in men- 

 tal and workmanship ; tailors and 

 shoe-makers in great numbers ; and 

 joiners, who manufacture very 

 beautiful wood, but are not so mo- 

 derate in their charges as the for- 

 mer classes of tradesmen. In the 

 out-skirts of the city live a num- 

 ber of Creolian Indians, who make 

 earthen-ware for culinary purposes, 

 large water-jars, and a variety of 

 other utensils ornamented with 

 some taste. The greatest propor- 

 tion of the inhabitants consists in 

 farmers and inferior husbandmen, 

 who cultivate small portions of 

 land, on which they breed large 

 stocks of pigs and poultry for sale. 

 With these the market is generally 

 well supplied, and in the fruit- 

 season is also stored with pines, 

 grapes, peaches, guavas, bananas, 

 a few apples, and an enormous 

 quantity of quinces. 



Esculent 



