BOOK ir. CHAP. IX. 203 



cafe) fcems to have taken the dccifion upon itfelf, and by wilful 

 dilapidation endeavoured to convince them, that it will at lea{l be 

 the cheaper plan for them to build a new tabernacle than repair the 

 old one. As no houfe of refidence has been provided for the reftor, 

 he receives 50/. a year in lieu of one. The redlor's ftipend is 250/. ; 

 hut his whole income has been computed at not lefs than 700/. In 

 the year 1710, a Mr. Thomas Manning devifed the bulk of his 

 eftate to trullees, for the j)urpofes of founding a free-ichool near 

 Beckford Town, maintaining and educating poor children of the pa- 

 ri(h till the age of fourteen. In 1738, an aft was pafled for more 

 effedlually executing this charitable bequefl:. The trullees were in- 

 corporated, empowered to build a fchool-houfe, receive children, 

 appoint tutors, and prelcribe rules and orders, under a common 

 feal, for its better government. I fhall take occafion hereafter to 

 offer fome remarks in regard to this and other fimilar foundations, 

 which have not in general anfwered the good ends of their in- 

 ftitution. 



In the Eafl: part of the parifli, near Scot's Cave, were fettled the 

 Surinam planters in 1675, and in 1699 the remnant of the Scotch 

 Darien colony, who may now be traced by the names of feveral 

 fettlements hereabouts, as Cullodcn, Auchindown, &c. From 

 the former, this divifion was called Surinam quarters. The {d- 

 vannahs, or low lands, of Weftmoreland are in general rich and 

 fertile, but, if negleded for any time, become as inuch infefted 

 with logwood as thofe in St. Catharine's are with the opopinax. 

 The air of thefe parts is hot, but tolerably healthy, except near 

 the fhore. The Eaft and North-eafl diftrift, being very mountai- 

 nous, is not yet peopled. Towards the Weft, or land's-end, the 

 hills diminifh. Many of the planters houfes are fituated on thefc 

 eminences, and enjoy a very pure and healthy air, though fubjedl 

 to very heavy and frequent rains, occafioned by the colleftion of 

 vapours, blown hither from the Eaftward, over the whole length 

 of the ifland, by the trade-wind: thele are often impeded in their 

 courfe, either by the higli ridges, or Wefterly airs, and then they 

 fall very copioufly. This plentiful irrigation, though productive 

 of fome inconveniencies, yet conduces to the fertility of the plan- 

 tations, and fecures their crops with fo much regularity and cer- 



D d 2 taintv. 



