5 70 T'he Discoveries and Settlements Book I. 
negle< 5 t tliis new Acquifition ; on the contrary^ One Mar- 
tin Hhomas was fent from St. Eufiachius.^ to take Poffd- 
fion of their Part of the Ifland, with a confiderabie Num- 
ber of new Planters. After this they began to treat the 
French but very indifferently, who, receiving no News 
from their Countrymen, began to fufpedl; the Reafon •, 
and therefore, though with fome Difficulty, found the 
Means of fending a Perfon to St. Chrifiophef s., to inform 
M. de Poincy of the Agreement they had made, and the 
Hardffiips they laboured under •, whereupon he fent an 
Officer and thirty Men, to take Poffeffion for the Crown 
of France % but the Dutch would not fuffer them to land, 
declaring, that they looked upon themfelves as the legal 
Poffeffors of that Ifland. 
They founded this Claim upon a prior Poffeffion •, of 
which it may not be amifs to fay fomething. The 
French were the firft who attempted to fettle this Ifland ; 
but, allowing the Dutch to trade with them, they fur- 
prized and drove them out of it, and built a Fort for 
their own Security •, but the Spaniards^ not liking their 
Neighbourhood, drove them out in their Turn, and 
erefted a ftrong Fortrefs on the Ifland, as has been be- 
fore-mentioned. As foon as the French Officer returned 
to St. Chrifiophep M. de Poincy fent his Nephew, with 
three hundred Men, to put an End to this Difpute, and 
he did it very effectually *, fo that the Dutch Governor 
was glad to fettle the Divifion of the Ifland, according 
to the firft Agreement *, by which all that Part of the 
Ifland, which looks towards Anguilla, was to belong to 
the French ; and the other Side of the Ifland, in which 
formerly ftood the Spanijh Fort, remained to the Dutch. 
The former was the better half in every RefpeCt, except 
the Salt-pits, which belonged to the Dutch. The Con- 
trail was fettled on the Top of an Hill, the higheft on 
the Ifland, which was from thence called la Montange des 
Acordes. 
From this Time, to the War in the Year 1688, the 
two Nations lived together in ftriCl Friendfhip, till the 
French called off the greateft Part of their Inhabitants to 
people that Part of the Ifland of St. ChriJlophePs, out of 
which they had driven the Englijh •, and being afterwards 
driven out by them, thefe poor People were, for the 
moft Part, undone fo that when they endeavoured to 
perfuade them in the next general War, to take the fame 
Step, they would not liften to the Propofal at all, but 
refolved to remain where they were •, and the Dutch and 
French lived, while that War lafted, in great Quiet and 
Tranquility ; neither would they fuffer the Privateers of 
either Nation to injure the other. The French Settle- 
ment is of very little Confequence \ but the Dutch are 
in a mighty good Condition, have large Warehoufes, and 
carry on a confiderabie Trade, efpecially in Tobacco, 
which is very much efteemed, and the Place would be 
ftill more confiderabie, if they had a tolerable good P ort •, 
but they have only a Road, where Ships are much ex- 
pofed, and, befides, it lies fomewhat out of the Way, as 
being too much to the Leeward, which renders the Com- 
merce to the Windward Hands very difficult. There 
is great Plenty in this Ifland of a kind of Tree, which 
both the Dutch and French call Candlewood. When it 
grows dry, and fit to burn, it yields a very pleafant 
Smell ; and the fmall Sticks of it, when lighted, ferve for 
Candles •, and at the fame Time that they light the Room, 
yield a very pleafant Scent, which arifes from a fragrant 
Gum in the Tree, which cannot otherwife be extradled. 
Thefe are all the Poffeffions of the Dutch in this Part 
of the World, and it is equally furprizing that they have 
kept thefe fo long, and that they have not been able to 
acquire better *, ftnce it is certain, that they have fuc- 
ceeded as well as any Nation, in thofe they have fettled, 
and carry on a confiderabie Trade to Holland, in all Kinds 
of JVeJi India Commodities *, as on the other Hand, they 
maintain a very confiderabie Commerce in America, 
from the great Warehoufes of European Commodities, 
which they keep alv/ays full, and have fmall Veffels 
ready to carry their Goods wherever they hear of a 
Market, more efpecially in the Time of War between 
Great Britain and France % for then they have an Oppor- 
tunity of fuppiying the Colonies of both Nations, in ex- 
change fof Sugar, and ofhef Wejl India Goods, wdiich i 
they tranfport in their own Veffels into Europe ■, fo that ! 
in a very few Years fuch a War cannot fail of making all 
the Dutch Planters prodigioufly rich. We are now to pro- 
ceed to their other Hands, which lie nearer the Spamjh 
Coaft, and are confequentiy of more Value tO them. 
Curasao, or as the Dutch pronounce,' and fometimes 
write it, Currajfaw, is a fmail Ifland in the Latitude of 
12 Degrees 40 Minutes North, about nine or ten Leagues 
in Length, and about five in Breadth ; the Soil of which j 
is far enough from being fruitful, and the Climate ftill 1 
farther from being either wholefome or agreeable ; but I 
notv/ithftanding thefe Difad vantages, fuch have been the 
Care and Induftry of the Dutch, that they have always 
drawn great Advantages from this fmall, and feemingly ' | 
inconfidcrable. Country, in which formerly there were 
large Paftures, and a great Qiiantity of Cattle j but of 
late they have turned thefe into Sugar and Tobacco Plan- 
tations, fo that at prefent it is thought the Provifions of | 
all Sorts, that are raifed in this Ifland, would fcarce main- 
tain its Inhabitants for one Day ; yet fuch is the Prudence ! 
of the Dutch Government, that the Inhabitants are fo far | 
from being expofed to Want, that there is not a more 
plentiful, or better provided. Place in t\it Wejt Indies’, 
but, at the fame Time, it is to be underftood that every 
thing fetches a high Price there, which is fo far from 
being a Difadvantage, that, in reality, it is the principal 
Source of the great Wealth of the Inhabitants. On the I 
South-fide of the Eaft End of this Hand, there is an 
Harbour called Santa Barbara *, but the chief Harbour 
is about three Leagues from the South-eaft End, on the ^ 
South-fide, where the Dutch have a very good Town, and 
a ftrong Fort. Ships bound in thither muft be lure to 
keep clofe to the Harbour’s Mouth, and have a Haufar, 
or Rope, ready to fend one End affiore to the Fort ; for 
there is no anchoring at the Entrance of the Harbour, 
and the Current always fets to the W eft ward •, but, be- 
ing got in, it is a very fure Place for Ships, either to ca- 
reen or lie fafe ; at the Eaft End are two Hills, one of 
them is higher than the other, and fteepeft tov/ards the ! 
North-fide. i 
The Dutch Town, upon this Hand, is, for its Size, 
one of the faireft and fineft in America-, and there are in 
it every thing requifite to render it commodious and 
agreeable, as far as the Climate and Soil will admit •, pub- 
lic Buildings there are of all Kinds, very neat and com- 
modious •, the Port is rendered as fafe as it is poflible, and 1 
though the Entry is dangerous, yet the Precautions taken 
for the Service of Strangers, by the Government, are 
fuch, as not only free them from all Difficulties, but ren- 
der them alfo, in a great Meafure, infenfible of^ any 
Flazard ; fo that though Nature has made it as inac^- : 
ceffable as any, yet, by the Skill and Induftry of the 
Dutch, it is become one of the moft frequented Ports in 
the JVeJl Indies. All kind of Labour here is performed 
by Engines, and that with fuch Dexterity, that Ships are 
lifted at once into the Dock, where they are carefully ! 
and effedlually careened, and fiirniffied with Provifions, , 
naval Stores, Ammunition, and even Artillery if they ! 
want it and all this is done with equal Readinefs to all ! 
Nations, the Dutch being in perpetual Alliance with 
ready Money, let it be Englijh, French, or Spamjh *, as 1 
appeared clearly in our late Expedition to Laguira, and 
Porto Cavallo, where they furniffied us with Cables, 
Ammunition, and even Men, for attacking the Spaniards, 
whom they had before furnifhed with Powder and Ball, 
fufficient to render that Attack ineftedtual, and, but for 
the Neighbourhood of this Dutch Settlement, the Spanijh \ 
Fortreffes before-mentioned had been infallibly reduced, 
and in our Poffeffion. 
Bonaira and Aruba are two Hands likewife in the 
Poffeffion of the Dutch, and dependent upon the Ifland 
of Curacao the former, which is twice as big as Cura- 
sao, lies ten Leagues to the Eaftward of it, and is about 
feventeen in Compafs ; the Dutch have a Deputy-Go- 
vernor here, a Guard of Soldiers, and confiderabie Num- 
ber of Indians •, of late Years there is a Fort built for the 
Proteftion and Security of the Place, in which the Sol- 
diers do Duty. The Indians are Huibandmen, and plant 
^ Maize 
