Book I. land of BARBADOS. 25 
and Weather, and the quick Return of Night, with its moift Vapours, 
we cannot be at a Lofs to conceive how thefe otherwife hot and fultry 
Regions, near the Equator, are by this Means rendered not only habi- 
table, but pleafant ; and, as the Inhabitants are not liable to fudden The Mand 
Changes from Heat to Cold, they not only enjoy a great-Share of Health, ppeiny 
but likewife live to an advanced old Age. from the 
5 5 f L it 
There are now alive (and moft of them in a tolerable good State of of feme em 
Health) within Three Miles round, in a Country-place, Part in $2. Lucy's the Inhabit- 
Parifh, and Part in S¢. Peter’s, Eleven Women, and One Man, whofe Age, 
added together, make a Thoufand and Five Years. We have likewife, in 
the Ifland, Three Perfons, whofe Ages, being added together, amount, by 
the beft Computation that can ke made, to near Three hundred Years. 
Pifo, in his Account of Brafil, fays, that feveral of the Natives there 
live, fome to an Hundred, others to an Hundred and. Fifty Years : Yet I 
beg Leave to diffent, with regard to the Certainty of it, from that great 
Man, however a Man of Veracity in other refpeéts ; for neither the Jn- 
dians upon the Continent of America (at leaft the different Nations that 
I knew), nor the native Negroes of Africa (as far as I could learn by the 
moft ftri& Inquiry from fuch of them as have been naturalized in thefe 
Colonies), have any certain Method of reckoning their Years; nor of 
the latter is there one of an Hundred that can give you any tolerable room 
to guefs at their Age, unlefs fomething very remarkable happened when 
they were young, to leave a lafting Impreflion upon their Minds, 
When I examined a very old Perfon about her Age, all that fhe could 
remember was, that fhe was a very lufty Girl when the great Hurricane 
happened. 
This indeed was an #ra remarkable enough ; for of all Storms called Hurricanes, 
Hurricanes, which, in Truth, are inexpreflibly violent (though not fo fre- ma 
quent in their Returns here, as it is imagined in Europe), that which 
happened in Barbados, on the 31ft of Auguf? 1675. was not inferior, in 
its deplorable Confequence, to the Earthquake which happened at 
Jamaica (27); for it left neither Houfe nor Tree ftanding, except the 
few that were fheltered by fome neighbouring Hill or Clift. 
Some Hours before the Storm began, the Heaven was overcaft with 
thick Clouds, of a black reddifh Hue; the Air calm, but fultry ; and the 
more it loft its expanfive Force (which before buoyed up the watry Par- 
ticles in a difperfed State), the clofer the Clouds condenfed, and the 
blacker they appeared. 
H The 
(27) In the terrible Earthquake at Jenaicd, which happened on the 7th of June 1692. the Sand in the 
Streets moved in Heaps, like the Waves of the Sea ; then on a fudden the Earth opened in feveral 
Places, and {wallowed in whole Rows of Houfes with their Inhabitants. The remaining few knew not 
whither to fly ; for Deftruction was on every Side. As the Earth opened and clofed with a yery quick 
Motion, feyeral Hundreds of the Inhabitants were abforbed alive ; others jammed in the clofe Fiflures, 
fome up to their Necks, fome to theirWaifts ; and others had their Legs and Thighs broken in thefe Yawn- 
ings of the Earth, which were fo numerous, that a Gentleman reckoned above Two hundred open in a 
very fhort time. The Sea was in fuch ftrong convulfive Motions, that in almoft an Inftant it receded back 
near a Mile, and as quick returned to its former Bounds. A large Mountain, not far from Port Morant, 
was quite fwallowed up, and the Place where it ftood is now become a large Lake of about Four Leagues 
over. Vide Phil. Tranf. Vol. Il. p. 411. 
