2,4 JAMAICA. 



for whofe reception the parifnloners erefted barracks capable of 

 liold'mg one hundred nicn, witli their officers. As the fituation of 

 thefe barracks is high, and on a rock by the harbour-fide, they 

 would be pleafant and healthy, if the trees and buflies, v/hich are 

 fufFered to grow io luxuriantly near them, were cut down; and if 

 a further improvenient war. made in refpe6l to the accommodations 

 provided for the officers, which are very inconveniently placed. 

 ' The fort Is, or lately was, in a ftate of decay ; and fcarcely deferves 

 to be rebuilt, as it does not, from its fituation, appear to have been 

 -ever, capable of guarding the entrance ; fmce, at the fpot where it 

 • now flands, the channel is fo wide, that any veflel might enter the 

 bay without danger from its artillery, and afterwards come to an- 

 chor unmolefted, Tlie guns (eleven in number) are of too fmall 

 a fize to range a fufficient dillance, and (what is flill worfe) fo ho- 

 ney-combed and ruft-eaten, and fo crazily mounted, as to make 

 it dangerous to fire them ; which was fatally experienced by a 

 gunner, who was fhattered to pieces on letting off ^feudejoye after 

 the furrcnder of the Havannah to the Englifh forces. Though a 

 more eligible fpot may be appropriated to the next fort, and though 

 the prefent is not worthy to be rebuilt, I muft take leave to fay, 

 that thefe ruins, like others of a fimilar kind in many defencelefs 

 parts of the ifland, have happened chiefly for want of a trifling 

 fum every year expended in neceflary repairs, and particularly the 

 painting, or tarring, the guns and their carriages. In truth, the 

 fortifications planted about the harbour of Port Royal and King- 

 flon, being the only ones which receive an annual vifitation from 

 the commiffioners of forts and fortifications, are kept in better re- 

 pair than any other ; and, becaufe there was a time when no other 

 part of the ifland was fortified, or of fo nriuch importance as that 

 diftricl, it is therefore flill the cuflom to expend the whole fortifi- 

 cation-fund, and feveral thoufand pounds more per annum, upon 

 them ; while others at the out-ports are utterly neglected, and left 

 to be kept up at the expence of private perfons, or of the parifKJS 

 in which they have been ereded, and where the inhabitant-- ai'S 

 glad, on every convenient occafion, to lefien their aflefliTipits as 

 much as they can, and perhaps take no thought about tl'eir fcts 

 .and batteries, except in time of adual war, Thi^ pro,eeding of 



the 



