(49 ) 



and founded the settlement of New Smyrna: 

 the principal treasure which they brought 

 from their native clime was the Olive. Bar- 

 tram, who visited this settlement in 1775, 

 describes it as a flourishing town. Its pros- 

 perity , however , was of momentary dura- 

 tion : driven to despair by hardship and op- 

 pression, and precluded from escape by land, 

 where they were intercepted by the wander- 

 ing savages , a part of these unhappy exiles 

 conceived the hardy enterprise of flying to 

 the Havannah in an open boat. The rest re- 

 moved to St. Augustine when the Spaniards 

 resumed possession of the country. In 1787, 

 a few decaying huts and several large Olives 

 were the only remaining traces of their in- 

 dustry. 



Louisiana , the Floridas , the islands of 

 Georgia, and chosen exposures in the inte- 

 rior of the State , will be the scene of this 

 culture : perhaps it will be extended to some 

 parts of the Western States. It has been hast- 

 ily concluded that the Olive can exist only 

 in the vicinity of the sea ; it is found in the 

 centre of Spain, and in Mesopotamia at the 

 distance of a hundred leagues from the shore, 



4 



