518 WEST INDIES. 



produces excellent cotton, sugar, and rum. Vigin Gorda, another 

 of these islands belonging to the English, is about the same size. 

 The islands of St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix, which are a part 

 of this groupe, belong to the Danes. 



LUCAYOS, OR B HAMA ISLANDS. ...The Bahamas are situ- 

 ate to the south of Carolina, between 12 and 27 degrees north lati- 

 tude, and 73 and 81 degrees west longitude. They extend along 

 the coast of Florida quite down to the isle of Cuba ; and are said to 

 be 500 in number, some of them only mere rocks ; but 12 of them 

 are large, fertile, and in nothing different from the soil of Carolina : 

 they are, however, almost uninhabited, except Providence, which is 

 200 miles east of the Floridas ; though some others are larger and 

 more fertile, on which the English have plantations. Between thern 

 and the continent of Florida is the gulf of Bahama, or Floiuda. These 

 islands were the first fruits of Columbus's discoveries ; but they 

 were not known to the English till 1667, when captain Seyle, being 

 driven among them in his passage to Carolina, gave his name to one 

 of them ; and being a second time driven upon it, gave it the name 

 of Providence. The English, observing the advantageous situation 

 of these islands, for a check on the French and Spaniards, attempted 

 to settle on them in the reign of Charles II. Some unlucky inci- 

 dents prevented this settlement from being of any advantage, and 

 the Isle of Providence became a harbour for the buccaneers, or pi- 

 rates, who for a long time infested the American navigation. This 

 obliged the government, in 1718, to send out captain Woodes Ro- 

 gers, with a fleet, to dislodge the pirates, and for making a settle- 

 ment This the captain effected ; a fort was erected, and an inde- 

 pendent company was stationed in the island. Ever since this last 

 settlement, these islands have been improving, though they advance 

 but slowly. In time of war, people gain considerably by the prizes 

 condemned there; and at all times by the wrecks, which are fre- 

 quent in this labyrinth of rocks and shelves. The Spaniards cap- 

 tured these islands during the American war; but they were retaken 

 by a detachment from St. Augustine, April 7, 1783, 



