WEST INDIES. 515 



man. Yet, as the climate was so good, and the soil appeared fertile, 

 some gentlemen of small fortunes in England resolved to become ad- 

 venturers thither. The trees were so large, and of a wood so hard 

 and stubborn, that it was with great difficulty they could clear as 

 much ground as was necessary for their subsistence. By unremitting 

 perseverance, however, they brought it to yield them a tolerable sup- 

 port ; and they found that cotton and indigo agreed well with the 

 soil, and that tobacco, which was beginning to come into repute ia 

 England, answered tolerably. These prospects, .together with the 

 disputes between the king and parliament, which were beginning to 

 break out in England, induced many new adventurers to transport 

 themselves into this island. And what is extremely remarkable, so 

 great was the increase of people in Bai badoes, twenty-five years after 

 its first settlement, that in 1650 it contained more than 50,000 whites, 

 and a much greater number of negroes and Indian slaves : the latter 

 they acquired by means not at all to their honour; for they seized 

 upon all those unhappy men without any pretence, in the neighbour- 

 ing islands, and carried them into slavery. They had begun, a little 

 before this, to cultivate sugar, which soon rendered them extremely 

 wealthy. The number of the slaves therefore was still augmented ; 

 and in 1676, it was supposed that their number amounted to 100,000; 

 which, together with 50,000, make 150,000 on this small spot; a de- 

 gree of population unknown in Holland, in China, or any other part 

 of the world most renowned for numbers. At this time Barbadoes 

 employed 400 sail of ships, one with another, of 150 tons, in their 

 trade. Their annual exports, in sugar, indigo, ginger, cotton, and 

 citron water, were above 350,000/. and their circulating cash at home 

 was 200,000/. Such was the increase of population, trade, and wealth, 

 in the course of fifty years. But since that time this island has been 

 much on the decline ; which is to be attributed partly to the growth 

 of the French sugar colonies, and partly to the British establishments 

 in the neighbouring isles. In 1786 the numbers were 16,167 whites; 

 838 fiec people of colour ; and 62,115 negroes. Their commerce 

 consists in the same articles as formerly, though they deal in them to- 

 less extent. The exports on an average of the years 1784, 1785? 

 1786, were 9554 hogsheads of sugar; 5448 puncheons of rum ; 6320 

 bags of ginger; 8331 bags of cotton, exclusive of small articles, as- 

 aloes, sweetmeats, kc. In 1787, 243 vessels cleared outwards, and 

 the London market price of their cargoes amounted to 539,605/. 14s. 



. of which the value exported to the United States was 23,217/. 

 13*. id. Here is a college (the only one in the West Indies) founded 

 and well endowed by colonel Codrington,- who was a native of this 

 island. Barbadoes, us well as Jamaica, has suffered much by hurri- 

 canes, fires, and the plague. On the 10th of October, 1780, a dread- 

 ful hurricane occasioned vast devastation in Barbadoes: great num- 

 bers of dwellings were destroyed, not one house in the island wu:-. 

 wholly free from damage, many persons were buried in the ruins of 

 the buildings, and many more were driven into the sea, and there 

 perished. By this storm ho less than 4326 of *1?he inhabitants lost 

 their lives; and the damage dune to the property was computed at 

 1,320,564/. 



ST. CrIRISTOPHERS....This island, commonly called by the 

 sailors St. Kitt's, is situate in 62 degrees west longitude, and 17 de- 

 grees north latitude, about 14 leagues from Antigua, and is 20 miles 



-'and 7 broad. It has its name from the famous Christopher Ca= 



