BOOK II. CHAP. IX. 217 



\vith canes, and make a prodigious addition to the exports and im- 

 ports of this parifh. 



The land towards the Eaflern diflridl of it is of a reddifli cafl, 

 •and fmgvUarly porous quaHty, lying on a clayey fubftrate, ex- 

 cellently well adapted to the lugar-cane. Towards the Weflern 

 parts it has more of the loamy foil, but not much lefs fertile. The 

 produce of lands here in general is really amazing. I have beca 

 told the following anecdote in confirmation of this remark. A 

 perfon rented a traft from the proprietor on a leafe of eleven years, 

 conditioned to furrender it back, at the expiration of the term, 

 compleatly planted with canes, &c. and furniflied with proper 

 works. But, before the term expired, the leliee is faid to have 

 gained by the bargain a clear profit of 30,000/. Others, from the 

 very meaneft and fmalleil: beginnings here, have acquired very 

 large fortunes. It is related for a fadl, that a poor man and his 

 wife, poffefiing a grant of a fmall parcel of land, planted fome part 

 of it in canes with the labour of their own hands. From thefe, 

 when they were ripened, they made fliift to exprefs the juice, 

 which they boiled in an old cauldron, and manufaftured a little 

 fugar, with which they went to market. By degrees, and the 

 inceffant application of their induflry, they augmented their pro- 

 duce, till they gained fufficient to purchafe a Negroe. By the fame 

 means, they increafed their labourers, and the importance of their 

 cftate; till, at length, they became proprietors of a valuable fijgar- 

 work, which is now enjoyed by the furvivor, and by the mofl ho- 

 nourable title. 



It is impoflible to particularize the various natural produftions 

 of this parifh, fo fmall a feftion of it being as yet laid open to view ; 

 but, from what has hitherto been difcovered, it is wanting in no 

 article conducive to the pleafureand convenience of the inhabitants. 

 In mofl parts it abounds with excellent ftone both for lime and 

 building; and in fome, as about the neighbourhood of Montpelier, 

 what is obtained from the quarry, refcmbles that of St. Anne be- 

 fore-defcribed, whofe texture, when firft dug, is fo foft as to be 

 ealily worked with the faw, or the chifibl. It remains, for its fur- 

 ther better population, to form two good roads of communication, 

 one leading into Weflmoreland, the other to St. Elizabeth's. The 

 former is at prefent well attended to ; but the latter, by the way 

 Vol. II. V f of 



