APPENDIX. 255 



ceived its name), distant from the equinoctial northward 

 11° 16'. It is about eight leagues in length and four in 

 breadth. There are in it several pleasant mountains, out 

 of which arise eighteen springs or small rivers, which, 

 having drenched the plain, fall into the sea. The extraor- 

 dinary height of the trees growing in this island argues 

 the fruitfulness of the soil. There are here five kinds of 

 four-footed creatures, whereof there are but one or two in 

 any other island — viz., a kind of swine (peccary) not much 

 furnished with bristles, which have a certain hole or navel 

 in their backs ; 2, the tatoui (armadillo) ; 3, the agouti 

 (small mammal, like a hare) ; 4, opossum ; and 5, muskrat ; 

 not to mention the woodquits, turtles, partridges, parrots, 

 and other birds not known in Europe." 



In fact, Tobago is well known to the native hunters as 

 the abode of numerous specimens of rare and beautiful 

 birds, and from this island thousands of their skins have 

 been sent to the markets of Europe. 



It has now been in English possession for nearly 

 ninety years. It is mountainous and forest-covered, and 

 has a fertile soil but partially cultivated. Climate and 

 vegetation are purely tropical ; and, if any good man 

 wishes to go there and take up any of the crown land, he 

 can obtain the same, suitable for the raising of cacao, nut- 

 megs, arrowroot, etc., at from two and a half to five dol- 

 lars per acre. It has an area of about one hundred and 

 fourteen square miles, with a population (mostly black and 

 colored) of some eighteen thousand. There are only two 

 towns on the island, the larger and the capital, Scar- 

 borough, having a population of about a thousand souls. 



The description of Sir William Young, written a hun- 

 dred years ago, will apply well, even yet : " In traversing 

 the country I was much struck with its beauty, from the 

 flat at Sandy Point [the southern end] quietly breaking 

 into hills, till ultimately, at the northeast, it became a 

 scene of mountains and woods. From the very point of 



