388 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES. 



After seven months of hopeless resistance they at last capitulated, to the num- 

 ber of 1,400 on the condition of being spared their lives and lands. But the governor 

 hastened to violate the convention, and the unfortunate captives were removed to 

 Nova Scotia, where thousands of their posterity still survive. From Nova Scotia 

 large numbers were also later transported to Sierra Leone, whence many of their 

 ancestors had originally been imported. 



After the suppression of a general insurrection of the slaves, the abolition of 

 slavery was decreed in 1833, and this step was followed in 1838 by further 

 economic changes, which assumed the character of a social revolution. Trading 

 relations were abruptly diminished with Great Britain and the rest of the world, 

 and at the same time the number of whites was considerably reduced. This sudden 

 crisis is easily explained by the prevailing system of land tenure. The Jamaica 

 planters, grown powerful by their accumulated wealth, had for the most part 

 returned to England, leaving their estates to be managed by agents. But their 

 lavish expenditure in the metropolis soon exceeded their income, and their lands 

 were so deeply mortgaged that they could not be cleared even by the £5,855,000 

 of public money received in compensation for the enfranchisement of the slaves. 

 Ruined by their extravagances, they did not fail to attribute their misfortunes to 

 the abolitionist policy, thus transferring to others the consequences of their own 

 errors. 



Meantime the plantations remained in the hands of agents, who were no longer 

 provided with the funds necessary to keep them in order. The houses crumbled 

 to ruins, and the cultivated tracts were speedily invaded by a rank vegetation of 

 weeds, brushwood and even forest growths. Most of the old white families who 

 had remained after the emancipation now also emigrated in the wake of the 

 ruined planters. In 1852 a memorial addressed to the Governor of Jamaica by 

 eleven residents certified that they were in charge of 123 plantations, partly as 

 owners, party as agents. 



The "Whites of Jamaica. 



Since the abolition of slavery, the white population has diminished by one-fourth, 

 while the number of blacks has been nearly doubled. This result has been mainly 

 attributed to the climate, which is injurious to the white race and especially to 

 those of North Europe, and favourable to the development of the African people. 

 Certainly there is some truth in this assertion, and although numerous cases may 

 be cited of Englishmen enjoying perfect health in Jamaica during a long life passed 

 in hard work, the island is, on the whole, unsuitable for British settlers. 



Nevertheless the decrease of the white population is chiefly due to the emigra- 

 tion, especially of the women. The majority of young girls are sent for education 

 to England, and many of these never return. The white element has altogether 

 been reduced far more by the economic conditions than by the climate. The most 

 unhealthy part is the southern peninsula in the basin of the Dry River, and 

 yellow fever, which confines its ravages almost exclusively to the whites prevails 



