914 Deane Phillips 



ruptions in the trade resulting from wars, acts of Parliament, and 

 other causes, there remained still another factor that affected the demand 

 for horses. This was a change in the methods of manufacture of sugar, 

 which took place in connection with a shift in the center of production 

 from the small islands, such as Barbados, Antigua, and Guadeloupe, 

 to the larger ones such as Jamaica and Haiti. 



The advantages of the larger islands for the production of sugar 

 were numerous, and they early became apparent to both the British and 

 the French. In both Jamaica and Santo Domingo there were extensive 

 savannas where pasturage was abundant, and the planters thus were 

 able to produce in some measure the livestock needed for draft pur- 

 poses on the plantations as well as some to be used for food; in addition, 

 both islands were well stocked with wild horses and cattle left from 

 the former Spanish occupation; (124) and, further, there was plenty 

 of timber to be found, of a sort which could be used in constructing 

 sugar mills."^ In Jamaica, at least, sugar could be cured more quickly 

 than in the islands of the Windward group (125). Another factor, 

 probably of more importance than any of the others, was the presence 

 of numerous streams capable of furnishing water power for turning 

 the heavy cylinders of the cane-crushing mills (126). All of these 

 conditions tended to facilitate the production of sugar, and as a result 

 Jamaica and Santo Domingo were enabled to increase their output at 

 a more rapid rate than the small islands could do. 



The use of water power for driving the cane mills naturally removed 

 the need for horses and cattle for this task. A similar displacement 

 took place to some extent even in the colonies not possessed of adequate 

 water power. In such colonies resort Avas had to wind-driven mills, 

 and in Barbados, for example, according to Oldmixon, there were by 

 1741 forty mills of this type to one of the earlier sort (127). On the 

 whole, however, there pi'obably remained in operation a very considerable 

 number of the older horse and cattle mills, and this, together with the 

 fact that they were still needed to haul supplies and to bring the canes 

 from the field, continued to make horses an important item in the 



^ .Tamaica was taken by the English from Spain in 1655, and was found to be so 

 well stocked with horses and cattle that it was at once proposed to supply Barbados 

 and the other British colonies from there. This plan was given up, however, because 

 of the difficulty of sailing from Jamaica to the Windward Islands due to the prevailing 

 winds. ' i ' ■ 



