Horse Ratsine IN CoLontiAL: NEw ENGLAND 913 
ing prisoners, and in other ways. A very considerable part of the 
contraband trading, however, was of a more roundabout sort and was 
effected through the neutral Dutch and Spanish ports. At first the 
Dutch islands of Curacao and St. Eustatius were the centers of this 
trade, but, being broken up in these places by the British fleet, the 
trade transferred itself to the Spanish port of Monte Christi adjacent 
to the French settlements on the island of Haiti. Here resorted New 
England vessels laden with the customary plantation supplies, which 
they exchanged at very profitable rates for French sugar and molasses 
in addition to bringing in European goods and taking back part pay- 
ments in coin (119). ; 
Thus, in spite of difficulties, it was still possible to find an outlet 
for New Eneland horses, and these continued to be supplied to both 
French and British planters. This is indicated, for example, by the 
complaint of Governor Hardy to the Lords of Trade in 1757 to the 
effect that the New England colonies still continued to send supplies 
to the enemy. Governor Hardy mentions a privateer ‘‘ lately come 
into port which reports having spoke several vessels off Block Island 
bound for the Indies with horses notwithstanding the general embargo 
agreed on by the several governors’ (120). In 1762 also the British 
fleet in the Bahamas seized a similar vessel bound for Cayenne with 
lumber, provisions, and horses (121). 
After the conclusion of peace between France and Great Britain 
in 1763, the commerce between the northern colonies and the British 
islands went on as before. Between that date and the beginning of 
the American Revolution, horses were again a considerable item 
of exchange. In the years 1771 and 1774, according to the record of 
the Secretary of Customs in London, there were imported into the 
British islands from ‘‘ North America’’ a total of 3647 oxen and 
7130 horses (122). The trade with the French islands, however, fell 
off considerably because of the resurrection of the Molasses Act and 
the establishment of means for its adequate enforcement, as well as 
other trade acts that were passed (125). 
CHANGES IN THE PRODUCTION OF SUGAR 
In addition to the effect of the continued growth of both British and 
French sugar plantations throughout this period, with the various inter- 
