Chap. III. (?/ E N G L i S M A M E RI C A. 2 
true, neither is it very difficult to account for them ; for 
if without much Labour and Pains not only a bare Sub- 
fiftance may be gained, but in time alfo good Effates 
may be raifed by Methods already in ufe •, we are not to 
expeft that our People in the Colonies will either rim 
Hazards or give themfelves much Trouble to ftrike out 
new Ways to Wealth, even though they ffiould be con- 
vinced that fuch Ways, at the fame time they increafed 
their own Fortunes, would prove beneficial to their 
Mother-Country likewife. There are indeed fome Peo- 
ple who take a Pleafure in running down the Countries 
we have planted in America^ and in making their Coun- 
trymen believe that they are amufed with fine Stories, 
without Truth, or which, at leaft, have but a fmall Mix- 
ture of Truth in them. I'hey fay, for Inftance, that tho’ 
Englijh Wheat will grow in Carolina^ yet it is apt to 
mildew, and almoft always runs up into Straw, and pro- 
duces but a fmall Grain, and that it is very difficult to 
keep it from the Wevill. Thefe, however, are Incon- 
veniencies felt in other Countries, where very good 
Wheat grows, for which many Remedies have been 
found and applied with Succefs, as doubtlefs they might 
be there, if the Planters went about it. The Truth of the 
Matter is, that Rice is raifed without fo much Trouble, 
and as they can exchange this in Penfyhania and New 
7 'orky almoft Weight for Weight for Flour, they are 
content, and indeed think it a Happinefs they can have 
Bread without being at much Pains in procuring it. 
The fame thing may be faid of Wine, which it is now 
generally agreed cannot be made there, becaufe their Grapes 
ripening in June^ when their great Heats and heavy Rains 
come on, are very feldom fit for preffing. But it is very 
certain, that this is no better than an Excufe, fince the 
wild Grape ripens in OEioher^ and Perfons fkilful in 
Vineyards would foon teach them the Means of making 
life of thefe. The very fame Objeftions were raifed in 
reference to the Country about the Cape of Good Hope ; 
and it was as pofitively faid that no Wine could be made 
there, but the Hutch have fhewn what Strength there 
was in the Objeiftion, by their improving into a Paradife 
a Place we defpifed, and thought not worth the keep- 
ing ; and while Madeira is to be had fo cheap, I am con- 
vinced no Grapes will ripen kindly in Carolina. As to 
Silk, the fame Objedlion does not lie ; for, it is well 
known, there are Woods of Mulberry-Trees there, upon 
which the Worms feed and fpin as well as in any Place 
in the World. I may add, that Silk has been brought 
over from Carolina.^ as good, in the Opinion of the beft 
Judges, as any that comes from Piedmont., for which we 
pay large Sums of Money every Year ; but it falls out 
unluckily, that from the End of March to the Beginning 
of May., when the Worms want moft Attendance, all 
the Hands in Carolina are employed in planting and hoe- 
ing their Rice, fo that they have no time to fpare for 
procuring a Commodity, of which hitherto they do not 
feera to know the true Value. 
But all the Faults do not lye on that Side of the Wa- 
ter ; fince it is true, that though there comes a great 
deal of Pitch from thence, we have but little Tar from 
Carolina •, whereas, there have been formerly many thou- 
■fand Barrels brought in a Year, not at all inferior to the 
beft Tar from Norway ; which was, by this Means, re- 
duced from three Pounds to fifteen Shillings a Barrel, with 
which Reduction, it feems, we are content to have re- 
courfe again to the North Countiy Tar, and no longer 
.make ufe of what might come from this Plantation. We 
may from thefe few Hints fee clearly, that as great as 
our Trade to thefe Colonies is, it might ftill become 
much greater, and that how beneficial foever they may 
be to Great Britain., we are far from deriving. from them 
all the Benefits we might do ; and though confidered, in 
one light, this feems a little diftafteful ; yet, if we view 
it in another, it affords us a very comfortable Profpeil j 
fince, when we are difpofed to apply ourfelves heartily 
to the Improvement of this Commerce, we have a moral 
Certainty, that our Endeavours will fucceed, and that 
Great Britain can never feel any fenfible Decay of Trade, 
while fhe preferves and cherifties her Plantations. 
5. Among other Perfons of Quality and Diftinftion 
who were juftly entitled to the Favour of King Charles^ 
there were few who had a better Title than Francis Lord 
Willoughby., who Was Governor of Barbadoes, and wh(i 
in 1663 obtained a Grant of the Bland of Antego^ in 
which he fettled a Colony about three Years after. The 
Country had been known before, and^ if I am not mif- 
ftaken. Sir Phomas Warner had attempted to fettle it. 
How it came to pafs that after the Death of Lord Wil- 
loughby, who removed hither, this Bland came again into 
the Hands of the Crown I cannot fay, but without all 
doubt, the Fa6l is true, and this Ifland now makes a Part 
of the Government with the reft of the Leeward IJlandsi 
and is faid to owe its prefent happy Situation to the Care^ 
Induftry, and Skill of Sir Chrifiopher Codrington^ who 
made it the Seat of his Government when he was Gene- 
ral and Commander in chief of thofe Blands. It Wa^ 
here, that in the latter End of the late Queen’s Time 
Governor Park was killed by the People •, an Affair that 
will be ever remembered, both in that Part of the World 
and this, though it does not feem to be well underftood 
in either ; the Fa6t moft certainly was barbarous and 
bloody enough ; but, at the fame Time, it is as certain 
the Provocations the People had received were great, 
which was the Reafon that moft of thofe concerned in 
this Murder efcaped with Impunity. 
But our Bufinefs lies not fo much with Men as with 
things, and therefore we fh all proceed to the Defcription 
of the Ifiand Antego, or as it is fometimes written Antigua.j, 
which lies in 16 Degrees 1 1 Minutes North Latitude, and 
in 63 Degrees of Longitude Weft from London. It is of a 
circular Form, about twenty Miles in Diameter, and 
near fixty in Circumference. The Climate is not to 
be boafted of, fince it is allowed to be hotter than Bar- 
hadoes, and very ftibjefl to Flurricanes. The Soil too 
is fandy, and a great Part of the Bland is overgrowm 
with Wood ; but the worft of it is, that there are but few 
Springs, and not fo much as a fingle Brook in the whole 
Ifiand, fo that the People depend chiefly upon Rain-water, 
for which they are fometimes diftreffed : Yet, notwith- 
ftanding thefe Inconveniencies, it is a very confiderable 
and a very thriving Plantation. 
This Bland is divided into five Pariffies, four of which 
are Towns \ as St. JohPs Pown to the Ts^orthward, and 
Falmouth, Parham, and Bridge Pown to the Southward ; 
the other Parifii is St. Peters. St. John^s Harbour is the 
moft commodious, befides which there are feveral otiher 
good Harbours, as Five Ifiand Harbour, fo called from 
five little Hands to the Weftward of the Ifie of CarJliU 
Bay Englijh Harbour, at the bottom of which is Fal- 
mouth Pown, defended by Charles Fort next to it is 
Willoughby Bay ; on the Eaft Shore is Bfidge Pown, the 
Green Bay, off which is Green Ifiand •, then Nonfuch Har- 
bour, a fpacious Bay. On this Coaft, on the North-eaft 
Shore, are feveral little Ifiand s called Polecat fflands and 
Goat Ifiand, and more to the Northward Goana Ijland, 
Bird Ijland, Long Ijland, Maiden Ijland, and Prickle-Pear 
Ijland. The Forts are now in pretty good Repair; Monkf- 
hill Fort is mounted with thirty Pieces of Ordnance; it has 
a Magazine with about four hundred and ten Mufkets and 
eight hundred Bayonets, in good order ; the other Fort 
ereded at St. John's Harbour, is mounted with fourteen 
Pieces of Cannon ; there are feven other Batteries raifed 
for the Defence of fo many landing Places, in all mount- 
ed with twenty-fix GlinS* 
The Capital of the Ifiand is St. Johls Pown, which 
confifts of about two hundred Houfes *, and the Number 
of Souls in ail this Colony are one thoufand fiVe hundred 
at prefent. It has greater plenty of Cattle and other 
Beafts, efpecially Venifon, than any other of our Carib- 
bee IJlands *, the Animals of which are much the fame, as 
alfo their Produdions. Sugar, Indico, Ginger, and To- 
bacco, were the chief Growths and Commodities of 
Antego, when it was firft planted, but now Indico and 
Ginger are Very rarely cultivated there. The Sugar and 
Tobacco were both bad of the Sort ; the former fo black 
and coarfe, that on^ would fcarce have thought any 
Art could have refined it ; and, as if our Sugar Bakers 
fcorned to piit fuch Dirt into their Coppers, it was ge- 
nerally fliipped off for Holland Pad. Hamburgh, being fold 
for fixteen Shillings a hundred Weight, when other Muf- 
OGVadQ 
