514 WEST INDIES. 



still the seat of government, and the place where the courts of justice 

 are held. 



On the 3d of October, 1780, was a dreadful hurricane, which al- 

 most overwhelmed the little sea port town of Savanna la Mar, and 

 part of the adjacent country. Very few houses were left standing, 

 and a great number of lives were lost. Much damage was also done, 

 and many persons perished, in other parts of the island. 



The number of white inhabitants in this island in 1787, was 30,000 ; 

 freed negroes 10,000; maroons 1400; and slaves 250,000; in all 

 291,400. The population in 1811, consisted of 40,000 whites, and 

 350,000 blacks; total 390,000. The value of this island as British 

 property is estimated as follows; 250,000 negroes, at 50/. sterling 

 each, twelve millions and a half; the landed and personal property, 

 and buildings to which they are appurtenant, twenty-five millions 

 more ; the houses and property in the towns, and the vessels em- 

 ployed in trade, one million and a half; in all thirty-nine millions. 

 The exports of Jamaica for one year, ending the 5th of January, 

 1788, amounted in sterling money to 2,135,442/. 17s. 3d. In 1787, 

 the exports to the United States amounted to 60,095/. 18s. and im- 

 portations from the United States to the value of 90,000/. 



The whole produce of the island may be reduced to these heads : 

 First, sugars, of which article was exported to Great Britain in 1787, 

 824,706cwt. In 1790, 1,1 85,519 cwt. Most of this goes to London, 

 Bristol, and Glasgow, and some part of it to North America* in re- 

 turn for the beef, pork, cheese, corn, peas, staves, planks, pitch, and 

 tar, which they have from hence. Second, rum, of which they ex- 

 port about four thousand puncheons. The rum of this island is gene- 

 rally esteemed the best, and is the most used in Great Britain. 

 Third, molasses, in which they make a great part of their returns lor 

 New England, where there are vast distilleries. All these are the 

 produce of the grand staple, the sugar cane. According to the late 

 testimony of a respectable planter in Jamaica, that island has 280,000 

 acres in canes, of which 210,000 are annually cut, and make from 68, 

 to 70,000 tons of sugar, and 4,200,000 gallons of rum. Fourth, cot- 

 ton, of which they send out two thousand bags. The indigo, formerly 

 much cultivated, is now inconsiderable ; but some cocoa and coffee 

 are exported, with a considerable quantity of pepper, ginger, drugs 

 lor dyers and apothecaries, sweetmeats, mahogany, and manchineel 

 planks. But some of the most considerable articles of their trade 

 arc With the Spanish continent of New Spain and Terra-Firma ; for in 

 the former they cut great quantities of logwood, and both in the for- 

 mer and latter they cany on a vast and profitable trade in negroes 5 

 and all kinds of European goods, 



BARBADOES....This island, the most easterly of all the Carib- 

 hees, is situate in 59 degrees west longitude,, and 13 degrees north 

 latitude. It is 21 miles in length, and in breadth 14. It contains 

 106,470 acres of land, most of which is under cultivation ; and is divi- 

 ded into five districts and eleven parishes, and contains four towns ; 

 Bridgetown, the capital, where the governor resides; Ostins, or 

 Charlestown; S:. James's, formerly called the Hole; and Speight's- 

 town. When the English, some time after the year 1625, first landed 

 here, they found it the most savage and destitute place they had 

 hitherto visited. It had not the least appearance of ever having been 

 peopled even by savages. There was no kind of beasts of pasture 

 or of prey, no fruit, no herb, nor root, fit for supporting the life of 



