1897 } PUBLIC GARDENS AND PLANTATIONS OF JAMAICA 347 
{n June 1782 Captain Marshall, of H. M. S. Flora, one of Lord 
Rodney’s squadron, captured a French ship bound from Mau- 
ritius for Haiti, carrying a number of plants of economic value. 
The ship was sent as a prize to Jamaica, and Captain Marshall 
“with Lord Rodney’s approbation” deposited the whole collec- 
tion in Mr. East’s garden. Many plants were new introductions, 
and amongst these were the mango, cinnamon, and jack fruit. 
On Mr. East’s death in 1790, the Liguanea garden was offered 
by his nephew to the assembly as a public garden at their own 
price. It was purchased under the authority of an act of the 
Assembly, the preamble stating that the garden in Bath was 
insufficient in extent, and was besides liable to be carried away 
by the river which had destroyed two-thirds of the town. 
In 1793 Captain Bligh in H. M. S. Providence brought sev- 
eral hundred plants of the breadfruit and other valuable plants 
from Otaheite for the West Indies. These were distributed to the 
gardens at Liguanea and Bath, and to other centers, and commit- 
tees were appointed to make arrangements for their reception, the 
care of them, and their distribution. One of the gardeners, James 
Wiles, who had circumnavigated the globe with Captain Bligh, 
was appointed to the care of the Liguanea garden, and writing to 
Sir J. Banks in 1793, he says: 
All the trees under my charge are thriving with the greatest Sakuribance: 
of the breadfruit are upwards of eleven feet high, and my success in 
cultivating them has exceeded my most sanguine expectations. The cinnamon 
tree is become very common, and mangoes are in such plenty as to be planted 
in the negro grounds. 
In 1782 Dr. Thomas Dancer was elected physician of the Bath 
_ of St. Thomas the Apostle; in 1788 he was appointed by the 
legislature superintendent of the Bath garden; and in 1797 island 
botanist. The duties of the island botanist were defined as 
pees 
_ Tocollect, class, and describe the native plants of the island; to use his 
- ile to find out their medicinal virtues; to discover if they possess 
_ any qualities useful to the arts, and annually to furnish the House with a cor- 
os Tect it of such plants as are in the botanic gardens, together with such infor- 
_ Mation as he may have acquired ee to their uses and virtues. 
