QUIT RENTS. 195 



ninety-nine years at the rate of ten dollars per 

 acre, per annum. 



" The foregoing rules, however, are applicable 

 only to lands beyond the limits of the town, and 

 occupied for agricultural purposes ; those re- 

 specting ground occupied within the limits of 

 the town, for the erection of buildings, being 

 different. For such ground, the rate of quit- 

 rent has been fixed, on regular leases for nine 

 hundred and ninety-nine years, at one dollar for 

 nine hundred and sixty-six feet, or in the pro- 

 portion of forty five dollars per acre. 



" Such are the terms on which land is held 

 at this settlement, and which we declare to be 

 prohibitions to an extended cultivation and the 

 general improvement of the island. In the first 

 place, with regard to land beyond the limits of 

 the town, the rent, even on the first lease, can- 

 not be considered moderate, at a dollar an acre, 

 as the leaseholder must necessarily incur con- 

 siderable expense, at the commencement, in 

 clearing the land, which, for the most part, is 

 overgrown w4th jungle and forest. To repay 

 himself for this expenditure, and to render the 

 speculation worthy of his time and attention, the 

 ground must be made to yield productions cal- 

 culated to realize some profit. Those most likely 

 to do so, on this island, (from its hilly nature,) 



o 2 



