ad4 ^he Discoveries and Settlements Book I. 
©Oj the nobleft PoiTeffion v/e have in thefe Parts. The 
Hiflbry of this Country, fince it came into our Poffef- 
fion is fo well known, and would alfo take up fo 
much room, that we cannot enter into it here, nor in- 
deed is it neceflary, becaufe our chief Bufinefs is to fhew 
the Value and Importance of our Colonies, with refpecl 
to their Mother-Country, which is always beft done by 
defcribing the Plantation, explaining the Nature of its 
Produbt, and giving as good an Account as may be of 
the Nature of its Trade and the Number of its Inhabit- 
ants ; and as this appears to be the moft material Part, to 
an Englijh Pleader, v/here we cannot infert all that relates 
to a Colony, we prefer this Part to any other. 
22. We have a very large and accurate Account of 
this noble Country written by a learned, candid and in- 
defatigable Perfon, Vvho relided long there, I mean Sir 
Hans Sloane^ from whom others have taken their Mate- 
rials, and fo mull I ^ as not knowing where to find any 
fo good, or that may be fo well depended upon j which 
Acknowledgment, as it is due to his Merit, I think it 
but Juftice to make, as I hope it will add fome Degree 
of Credit both to his Work and mine. 
It is from him, therefore, that we learn moft of the 
Particulars, which follow, and are every way fufficient 
for our Purpofe. Jamaica is fituated on the Atlantic 
Ocean^ between ly and i8 Degrees North Latitude, and 
between 76 and y^ Degrees Weftern Longitude, about 
twenty Leagues Eaft of Hifpaniola and as many South of 
Cuba, and upwards of an hundred and fifty Leagues to 
the Northward of Porto Bello and Carthagena on the 
Coaft of Perra Firma. I'his Ifiand ftretches from Eaft 
to Weft one hundred and forty Miles in Length and 
about fixty in Breadth in the Middle ; growing lefs to- 
wards each End ; the Form is pretty near oval. 
The whole Ifiand has one continued Ridge of Hills 
running from Eaft to Weft through the Middle of it, 
which are generally called the Blue Mountains \ the Tops 
of fome are higher than others ; one of the higheft is cal- 
led Mont Diabolo ; Other Hills there are on each Side of 
this Ridge of Mountains, which, however, are much low- 
er. The outward Face of the Earth feems to be different 
here from what it is in Europe, the Valleys being very 
level, with little or no riling Ground or fmall Hills, with- 
out Rocks or Stones ; the mountainous Part is very fteep, 
and furrowed by very deep Channels on the North and 
South Side of the higheft Hills ; thefe Channels are made 
here by frequent and very violent Rains, which every Day 
almoft fall on the Mountains, and firft wearing a fmall 
Trough orCourfe for their Pafiage, wafli away afterwards 
whatever comes in the way, and make their Channels ex- 
traordinary fteep. The greateft Part of the high Land of 
this Ifiand is either Stone or Clay, which refifts the Rains, 
and fo is not carried down violently with them into the 
Plains, as the Mould proper for Tillage and friable 
Earths are ; Hence it is, that in thefe mountainous 
. Places one fiiall have very little or none of fuch Earths, 
but either a very ftrong tough Clay or a Honey-Comb, 
or other Rock, upon which no Earth appears. All the 
high Land is covered with Woods, fome of the Trees 
very good Timber, tall and ftrait ; and one would won- 
der how fuch Trees fhould grow in fuch a barren Soil, 
fo thick together among the Rocks ; but the Trees fend 
down their fibrous Roots into the Crannies of the Rocks, 
where here and there they meet with little Receptacles of 
Rain-Water, v/hich nourilh their Roots. 
It is a very ftrange thing to fee in how fhort a Time 
a Plantation formerly cleared of Trees and Shrubs will 
commonly grow foul, which arifes from two Caufes ; 
one, the not flubbing the Roots, whence arifes young 
Sprouts, and the other the Fertility of the Soil. The 
Settlements and Plantations not only of the Indians but 
the Spaniards being quite overgrown with tall Trees, fo 
that there would be no Footfteps left were it not for 
old Pallifadoes, Building, Orange Walks, Cfc. which 
. evidently fhew Plantations have been there. There are 
, the fame Layers of Earth, one over another, in the 
fruitful Part of the Ifiand, as are to be met with in 
Europe ; and the fame Difference of Soil appears as in 
England, in digging of Wells, and other Occafions of 
opening the Ground. Moft of the Savanahs, or Plains fit 
for Pafture, and cleared of Wood, are like our Meadow 
' ^ ~ 2 
Land, lye near the South Side of the Ifiand, where one 
may ride a great many Miles v/ithout meeting the leaft 
Afcent ; fome of thefe Plains are wdthin Land, incircled 
with Hills. Thefe Savanahs after Rain are very green 
and pleafant, but after long Droughts are very much 
v/ithered, and look yellow and parched. 
The chief Ports in the Ifiand are, i. Port Royal, a 
fine capacious Harbour. 2. Old Harbour, which lies fe- 
ven or eight Miles South- weft of St. Jago. 3. Port 
Morant, at the Eaft End of the Ifiand ; and, 4. Point 
Negril, at the Weft End of this Ifiand ; befides which, 
are feveral more on the South and North Sides of the 
Ifiand ; but it is dangerous approaching the Coaft, with- 
out a Pilot, on account of the Coral Rocks, which al- 
moft lurround it. There are near an hundred Rivers in 
Jamaica, but none of them navigable ; for rifing in the 
Mountains in the Middle of the Ifiand, they precipitate 
themfelves down the Rocks to the North or South, fall- 
ing into the Sea before they have run many Miles, and 
carrying down with them frequently great Pieces of Rock 
and Timber. Yet frefii Water is very fcarce in dry 
Years in the Savanahs diftant from Rivers, fo that many 
of their Cattle die with driving to Water. Near the 
Sea the Well-water, as at Port Royal, is brackifli ; this 
brackifh Water, which is very common in Wells on 
Sea Shores is not wholfome, but the Caufe of Fluxes and 
other Difeafes in Sailors by their drinking it. 
Their River Water carries with it much Clay or Earth,’ 
and has an odd Tafte, which in St. Jago gives Occafion 
to the Spaniards to call it Rio Cobre, and the Englijh to 
fay it is not wholfome, and taftes of Copper j whereas, on 
the Trial of the Sand, there is no Metal found therein ; 
this River- Water, however, if fuffered to fettle fome 
Days in Earthen Jars is good; Spring-Water, at a Dif- 
tance from the Sea, is preferred to River or Pond- 
Water. There are fome Springs as well as Rivers, which 
putrify their Channels, and flop their Courfe by a Cement, 
uniting the Gravel and Sand in their Bottoms. There is 
a Hot-Bath or Spring near Port Morant, in the Eaft 
Part of the Ifiand, fituate in a Wood, which hath been 
bathed in, and drunk of late Years for the Belly-ach, 
the common Difeafe of the Country, with great Succefs. 
A great many Salt Springs arife in a level Ground under 
the Soils in Cabbage-Free Bottom, about a Mile or two 
diftant from the Sea, which united, make what is called 
the Salt River. Salt is made here in Ponds, into which 
the Sea or Salt Water comes, and by the Heat of the 
Sun the Moifture being exhaled, leaves the Salt, which is 
in great Plenty ; at the Salt Ponds about Old Harbour 
the Salt is not perfectly white, or in fmall Grains, but in 
large Lumps, and has an Eye of Red in it, as fome Sal 
Gemma, from Spain, or what comes from the Ifiand of 
Salt Tortuga near the Main of America, which is here 
reckoned the ftronger and better. Salt Lagunas, or great 
Ponds, there are many here, one whereof, Riottoa Pond, 
receives a great deal of Water by a River, which yet has 
no vifible Rivulet or Difcharge runs from it ; fome Ri- 
vers in the Mountains rife above and go under ground 
again in a great many Places. Rio d'Oro paiticularhr 
falls and rifes two or three times, and I0 it is in iij^uiy 
others. At Abrahani ^ Plantation on the North Siae is 
a River, which has ftopt its own Courfe by letting a Set- 
tlement fall, and putrifying its own Bottom. It is very 
common to have Cataradls or Cafeades in Rivers among 
the Mountains fifty or fixty Feet high. 
This Ifiand being feven Degrees v/ithin the Tropic, 
has the Trade-Wind continually there, which is on the 
SoLith-fide of the Ifiand, called the Sea-breeze. It comes 
about eight o’Clock in the Morning, and increafes till 
twelve in the Day ; and then, as the Sun grows lower, 
it decreafes till there is none at four in the Evening. 
About eigiit in the Evening begins the Land-breeze, 
blowing four Leagues into the Sea, and continues in- 
creafing till twelve at Night, and decreafes again till 
four. The Sea-breeze is now and then more violent than 
at other times, as at new or full Moon, and encroaches 
very much on the Land-Winds ; and the Norths when 
they reign, mz. in the Months of December, jemuary, 
and February, blow over the Ridge of Mountains with 
Violence, and hinder the Sea-breeze, which blows 
ftronger and longer near the Sea^ as at Port-Royal, or 
