172 JAMAICA. 



Eafternmod: point of Cuba, they have got a key, which as effec- 

 tually locks up the navigation of the Windward Paflage to the 

 Eaft, as the Havannah, in the liands of the Spaniards, fecures it to 

 the Weft by the Gulph of Florida; the confequence of which muft 

 necelfarily be, in any future rupture with France and Spain, that^ 

 ■without a very ftrong convoy of feveral men of war, not a mer- 

 chant-fhip will have the leail chance of getting home : and I think 

 it is evident, from all the pains and expence which the French 

 have been at in making tlieir eftablifliment at the Mole, that they 

 defigned it as an effetSlual curb upon the Jamaica trade, and for nor 

 other purpofe : becaufe the country that environs it is rocky,, 

 barren, and unfit for plantations of any fort. It is plain, there- 

 fore, that they had not agriculture in view; and it is mod pro- 

 bable, that, in time af war, they will always take care to keep a 

 number of men of war and frigates at the Mole, or cruizing be- 

 tween it and Cape Maize, to intercept our homeward-bouiid trade, 

 which of courfe will fliU an ealy prey, unlefs we have always fa 

 large a fleet on the ftation, as to be able to block up theirs, or di- 

 fpute fuperiority of force with it. As a check therefore upon their 

 fortrefs, it would feem abfolutely necefliiry, that Port Antonio 

 fhould be ftrengthened with fortifications, and the former plan re- 

 vived of accommodating it for the reception, refitting, and careen- 

 ing, of his majefty's ftiips: and, in order to guard againfl that: 

 havock, vs'hich the employment of felling trees, and clearing, 

 ground, in the Weft-Indies, has never failed making among Eu- 

 ropeans, efpecially if unfeal'oned to the climate ; the legiflature of 

 Jamaica ought, in regard to the importance of this concern ta 

 their properties, either to purchafe fifty Negroes, or levy that num- 

 ber in rotation from different eftates, to be employed, under proper 

 white overfeers, to clear away all the wood upon the ifland, and 

 affift in carrying on other laborious works that may be required. 

 The raifing them by levy might be made very equitable, if, at the 

 fame time, their relpe£live owners were to be paid a certain juft rate 

 per day, for their maintenance and hire, out of the public funds ;. 

 and the expence to the ifland would be very trifling. 



The 



