B O O K II. CHAP. VIi; ^s 



South-fca rofe, Barbadoes pride, Jerufalem thorn, pomegranate, 

 pailion flower, phyfic nut, and many others. In the centre is a 

 fountain ; and in another part a large labyrinth, inclofed princi- 

 pally with the wild olive, and furnifhed with commodious leats. 

 The town of St, Anne carries on fome trade, ch?efly for mules and 

 cattle, with the Cuba Spaniards, who run over in one night's 

 time in very fmall veflels, and not feldom in open boats. This 

 pedling intercourfe has been productive of a very lignal mifchief, 

 which has chiefly affefted this parifli. The Negroes here, either 

 perceiving the facility of this paiiage, or (which is moft probable) 

 inveigled bv the flattering aflurances of thefe ftrolling Spanifli tra- 

 ders, who for the greater part are a thievifii race, l;ave taken every 

 opportunity to defert in canoes, and withdraw to Cuba, in hopes of 

 obtaining their freedom ; fo that feveral hundreds have, within a 

 few years paft, decamped from this and other parts of the North 

 fide, to the great lofs of the planters. Thefe Spaniards, upon many 

 occafions, have lain under iufpicion of not merely inveigling the 

 Blacks with fair fpeeches, but even taking them away by force. 

 This, indeed, has been a very old pra6lice of thei;s, and, for want 

 of an authoritative check, is now become fo habitual, that they 

 ufe as little ceremony in fupplying themfelves from Jamaica by 

 thefe means, as the Portugueze and iiollanders formerly ufed to- 

 wards the natives of Guiney. In tlie year 17 19, tiie then gover- 

 nor of Jamaica fent the captain of a frigate to the alcaldes, or 

 chief officers of Trinidado, a town in Cuba, demanding relHtution 

 of feveral Negroes, piratically taken from the ifland. But the of- 

 ficers returned for anfwer, " that, as to thofe and oth.r fugitives, 

 " they were there as the other fubjects of their lord the king, and, 

 " being brought voluntarily to their holy church, liad received 

 " the water of baptiiln." The conclufion follows of courfe ; that, 

 being thus adopted into the Roman Catholic faith, in virtue of 

 the mere ceremonial of their bantifm, thoup-h without the lealf 

 knowledge of their new religion, or the gr&unds or nature of their 

 faith, they could not return, to mingle again with heretics, with- 

 out peril to their immortal louls. Such is the pretext by which 

 thefe rogues, under the cobweb veil of their religion, detain the 

 property of Britifl^ fubjeds. It will not be difputed, but that the 



induih'V 



