,.tf^ 



BOOK III. CHAP. VII. 3 



gradually left it, either to refide at the new metropolis, or to (]uead 

 themlelves in the country fill confequence oTvvhicb,, a great many 

 of the Spanifli houfes were fuffered to_decaj; and others were 

 • pulled down, to enlarge areas ; while fome were converted into ware- 

 houfes and ftables ; i'o that" at prefent it does not contain more thati'"" , ■)y,^<(lJ<^l 

 between four and five hundred inhabited by white peribns ; but, when '.-«^-'-^ 



thofe inhabited by free Negroes, Mulattoes, and flaves, are taken 

 into account, the whole number may b e eftimated at about twel ve ■^ TV 

 hundred. The prefent church was ere£led where theL-Spauilla B,ed ^ 

 Crofs Church formerly ftood, at the Eaftern end of the town; the 

 Whit e Crp lLiloQd'at-t^*aJ^Q£tIlf^rt-| ^;!f,trem'i|j^7 aT"rr2 fmay"(^^^ 

 from tlie.4-iver, on a very .agreeable fpot, wh|ch is now occupied 

 with a handfome modern-built houfe. On digging the foundation 

 for this houfe, feveral large pieces of wrought tlone were turned up. 

 They appeared to be of the white lime-flone, or fpecies of fhell- 

 marble, fo common in the neighbouring hills, and to have been the 

 lintels of doors or windows belonging to the old church [^]. The 

 abbey was fituated on the South fide of the parade, where the 

 guard-room and chapel now ftand, and extended back to the go- 

 vernor's houfe. The bafes of two columns, which once fupported 

 a large arch-way leading into the abbey, were vifible but a few 

 years ago : they flood near the South end of the public offices, 

 were about eight feet fquare, compofcd of brick-work, cemented 

 with fo fine a mortar, that in removing them the bricks were all 

 fhivercd in pieces. I have feeti in this town a great many large 

 ftone-mouldings, for the bafes and other parts of columns ;,. which, 

 as well as the Iculptures dug out of the ruins of Sevilla Nueva, in 

 St. Anne's, appeared to have been executed by no mean artifts. 

 '/ The Spanifh ecclefiaftics (however blameable in other refpecls) muft 

 be allowed lome merit in having cultivated the elegances of archi- 

 tecture in th£fe^emote parts of the world.'' Some of their public 



[i] In blocks of this ftone, or marble, I have feen ver}' perfeft ihells of the Jamaica mufcle 

 and peclina. In fome parts of the country, where it overfpreads the farface, and has fuffcreii 

 a torrefaclion from the accidental firing of the woods in dry weadier, it appears pitted all over ; 

 and the little cavities, only divided from each other by (hafp points, thefe have been occafioned 

 by violent (howers falling upon the rock when its face was foitened by fiie. A genclcman's 

 houfe built of this material, being unfortunately burnt, the walls continued' ftanding till a feafon 

 of heavy raincame on ; when- they fairly diffolved into a fubllrate ot lime. 



B 2 flrudlures 



