58 



THE PROSTRATION OF THE OTRER ISLANDS. 



vated sugar estate of 2000 acres was sold only this last 

 April for £600. 



I might multiply facts of this kind without number, but 

 it is sufficient to say, that prepared land, as fine as any 

 under cultivation on the island, may be readily bought in 

 unlimited quantities for five dollars an acre, while land far 

 more productive than any in New England, may be readily 

 had for from fifty cents to a dollar. 



That the misfortunes of Jamaica may not be attributed 

 exclusively to local causes, it is proper that I should state 

 that the other British West India islands have all been 

 visited by equally serious, if not the same prostrating influ- 

 ences, and all consider themselves ruined and helpless. 



By returns recently made to the British House of Com- 

 mons, it appears that, comparing the imports from British 

 Guiana, Jamaica, and Trinidad, during the years 1831 to 

 1838, with the years 1844 to 1848, the production of sugar 

 has fallen off 3,130,000 cwts., molasses 506,133 cwts., 

 rum 3,324,62V galls., cofTee 52,661,350 lbs., and the pro- 

 duction of cotton has entirely ceased. 



In 1838 there were two hundred and fifty-eight estates 

 in Demerara and Essequibo in profitable cultivation ; of 

 these, seventy-one have been abandoned and one hundred 

 and eleven sold under execution. 



The condition of Berbice may be inferred from the fol- 

 lowing extract from the Address presented to the Governor 



