142 JAMAICA. 



heap of rubbifli. Some o'f the Greets were laid federal fathoms 

 under water ; and it flood as high as the upper rooms of fome 

 houfes which remained. It was computed, that about two thou- 

 fand Whites and Negroes periflied in this town alone. The har- 

 bour had all the appearance of agitation as in a ftorm ; and the 

 huge waves rolled with fuch violence, as to fnap the cables of the 

 (hips, drive fome from their anchors, and overfet others. Among 

 the reft, the Swan frigate, that lay by the wharf to careen, was 

 •forced over the tops of the funken houfes, and providentially ena- 

 bled fome hundreds of the inhabitants to fave their lives. The fort 

 onlv, and about two hundred houfes, efcaped without damagel 

 But a part of the neck of land, communicating from the point to 

 the Palifadoes, about a quarter of a mile in length, was entirely 

 fubmerfed, with all the houfes, which ftood very thick upon it. 

 The water forced its paflage through the Saltpond Hill and gufhed 

 in torrents from its fide, at an elevation of twenty, and in fomfe 

 places thirty feet above its bafe, and continued running for feveral 

 hours afterwards. The mountains on each fide the river-road, 

 leading frorai Spanifli Town to Sixteen -mile-walk, Avere thrown 

 -down in fuch heaps, as to obftru£t the paflage of the river, and for 

 Ibme time to prevent all communication between thefe two places. 

 A great part of a rocky mountain in St. David's fell down, and bu- 

 ried a whole plantation lying at the foot of it. The part from 

 .which this huge fragment was detached is now a precipice of folid 

 rock, confpicuous from its height at a great diftance, and remains 

 a dreadful monument of that day's cataftrophe. 



The fhock was not lefs violent in the mountains. Some were 

 even of opinion, that they had funk a little ; others, that the 

 whole ifland had fomewhat fubfuled ; for they obferved, that feveral 

 wells in Liguanea did not require fo long a rope, by two or three 

 feet, as they did before the earthquake. However, it is more na- 

 ,tural to account for this change, by fuppofing, that the water had 

 rifen higher; for, in all thefe violent commotions of the earth, it 

 ;is well known, that fprings are remarkably affected. At the North 

 fide, above one thoufand acres of land are faid to have funk, with 

 thirteen inhabitants. It left not a houfe ftanding at Paflage Fort ; 

 .only one at Liguanea ; deftroyed molt of tlie planters habitations 

 4 'm 



