SOB L O N' 
juft out of dock, and fitted in the completeft manner to 
carry out lieutenant-general Hiftop, governor of Bombay, 
and his ft a ft’; captain Marfhall, a commander in the Britiftn 
navy ; and a number of naval officers, going to join the 
Britifti (hips of war in the Eaft-Indies. Befides thefe, 
and having her own complement of officers and men com¬ 
plete, ftie had upwards of 100 fupernumeraries, of petty 
officers and feamen for the admiral’s fhip and other vef- 
fels on the Eaft-India ftation. She had alio difpatches 
from the Britifh government for St. Helena, the Cape of 
Good Hope, and to every Britifh eftablifliment in the Eaft- 
India and China feas; arid had copper oil-board for a 
y 4-gun fhip, and two Hoops of war, building at Bombay ; 
and it is prefumed many other valuables; all of which 
were blown up in her on the 31ft of December, when llie 
was fet on fire.—The Conftitution was confiderably cut 
in her fpars, rigging, and fails 5 but the Java was made a 
perfectly unmanageable wreck. All the officers and fea¬ 
men taken in the java were paroled by commodore Bain- 
bridge, and landed on the 3d of January at St. Salvador, 
Brafil. 
In thefe feveral defeats fuftained by the Britifti navy, 
110 honour was loft, fince every thing was done in defence 
that could be effected by courage and conduct againft fu- 
perior force ; but the ur.ufual circumftance of Engiifh 
ftriking to foreign fhips of a fimilar clafs, produced as 
much mortification on one fide as triumph on the other ; 
and both beyond the occafion. 
At this time alfo, the Weft-Indian feas fwanned with 
privateers which made numerous captures; and, from the 
fhelter they obtained in frnall iflands of difficult accefs, 
were not eafily difcovered or avoided. A meeting of the 
merchants and others concerned in the coafting trade of 
Jamaica was held at Kingfton on the 25th of September, 
In which arefolution was paffed relative to its unprotected 
ftate ; and a committee was appointed to wait upon vice- 
admiral Sterling, requefting him to grant all the protec¬ 
tion to the coalt in his power to afford. He informed 
them that two cruifers were already ftationed on the 
coaffs 5 and that, upon the arrival of other veffels of war, 
they fnouid be employed on the fame fervice. It appears, 
however, that, during the remainder of the year, the de¬ 
fence of the commerce of the Weft-India iflands was very 
inadequate to the means of annoyance pofTelfed by the 
enemy. 
I11 other refpefls, the Weft-India iflands afforded very 
little interefting matter for the hiftory of this year ; but 
.the tranquillity of the inhabitants, and their blifsful apa¬ 
thy for political convulfions, was as ufual diflurbed by 
the periodical fcourge of thefe parts of the globe, the 
hurricane, preceded by horror and filence, atcended by 
gloom and devaftation, and followed by the defolation of 
the land where it pnfles in its deftruclive career. But, 
before we proceed to the hiftory of thefe horrors, we may 
juft obferve, that the negro-government of St. Domingo 
(Hayti) was this year a fcene of that diforderand muta¬ 
tion which may always be expected where the ftrongeft 
fword is the only fource of authority. The mimic mo¬ 
narch, Chriftophe, whom we left laft year (p. 263.) en¬ 
joying himfelf in great ftate, was encountered with l’upe- 
rior force by his rival Petion, and, for the time at lea.ft, 
funk under the conte.ft. Petion is ftated to have made 
the whole of Chriftophe’s cavalry prifoners about the 15th 
of April. During his abfence, however, from Port au 
Prince, Chriftophe had fuddenly appeared before that 
place, and gained pofloffi ■ cf a ftrong fort; on which 
account all the Britifti (hipping had been ordered away 
by captain Vafhon. But tins luccefs was only temporary : 
Petion took from him St. Mark’s, Cape Nicholas Mole, 
and Gonaives : Chriftophe was deferted by his ftaff-otfi- 
cers, and fled to the mountains; and, in fine, the feat of 
his power. Cape Francois, fubmitted without refiftatice 
fo his rival. The trealure which Chriftophe had amafled 
by the 1110ft unjult exactions, to the amount of feven 
D O N, 
millions of dollars, fell into the hands of Petion, who 
iflued a proclamation, declaring that this money fhould 
be applied in re-eftablifhing the affairs of the ifland. 
The intereft of the public had been powerfully excited 
by accounts received in London from Barbadoes and 
Nevis, of a preternatural darknefs on the firft of May ; 
and a fall of volcanic duft, which indicated fome oreat 
natural convulfion in that part of the world; and reports 
were actually circulated of the deftruflion of the iflands 
<.f Marlinico and Guadaioupe. At length, however, the 
following accounts from St. Vincent’s explained the phe¬ 
nomena. 
The Souffrier Mountain, the molt northerly of the 
lofty chain running through the centre of this ifland, and 
the highelt, had for fome time pall indicated much dif- 
quietude ; and, from the extraordinary frequency and 
violence of earthquakes, which are calculated to have ex¬ 
ceeded two hundred within the laft year, portended fome 
great movement or eruption. The. appreheniion, how¬ 
ever, was not fo immediate as to reltrain curiofity, or to 
prevent repeated vifits to the crater, which of late had 
been more numerous than at any former period, even to 
Sunday the 26th of April, when fome gentlemen afcended 
it, and remained there for fome time. Nothing unufuai 
was then remarked, or any external difference obferved, 
except a rather ftronger emiffion of frnoke from the in- 
terftices of the conical hill at the bottom of the crater. 
To thofe that have not vifited this romantic and wonder¬ 
ful fpot, a flight defcription of if, as it lately flood, is 
previoufly ueceffary. About 2000 feet from the level of 
the fea, on the fouth fide of the mountain, and rather 
more than two-thirds of its height, opens a circular chafm, 
fomewhat. exceeding half a mile in diameter, and between 
400 and 500 feet in depth ; exactly in the centre of this 
capacious bowl rofe a conical hill about 260 or 300 feet 
in height, and about 200 in diameter, richly covered and 
variegated with (hrubs, brufhwood, and vines, above half¬ 
way up ; and the remainder covered over with virgin lid- 
phur to the top. From the fiffures of the cone and inter- 
ftices of the rocks, a thin white fmoke was conftantly 
emitted, occafionally tinged with a flight bluifh flame. 
The precipitous fldes of this magnificent amphitheatre 
were fringed with various evergreens and aromatic (hrubs, 
flowers, and many alpine plants. On the north and fouth 
fldes of the bafe of the cone were two pieces of water; 
one perfectly pure and taftelefs, the other ftrongly im¬ 
pregnated with fulphur and alum. This lonely and beau¬ 
tiful fpot was rendered more enchanting by the fingular- 
ly-melodious notes of a bird, an inhabitant of theie up¬ 
per folitudes, and altogether unknown to the other parts 
of the ifland : hence principally called or fuppofed to be 
inviflble ; though it certainly has been feen, and is a fpe- 
cies of thrufli. 
The eruption of the Souffrier Mountain, on Thurfday 
the 30th of April, after the lapfe of nearly a century, 
was preceded on Monday the 27th at noon by a dreadful 
craft), with a fevere concnffion of the earth, a tremulous 
noife in the air, and a vaft column of thick black ropey 
fmoke, which, mounting to the fky, (Lowered down fand, 
with gritty calcined panicles of earth and favilla mixed, 
on all below. At night a very confid.trable degree of ig¬ 
nition was obferved on the lips of the crater. The fame 
awful fcene prefented itfelf on Tuefday the 28th; the fall 
of favilla and calcined pebbles frill increafing, and the co¬ 
lumn from the crater riling perpendicularly to an immenfe 
height, with a noife at intervals like the muttering of 
diltant thunder. On Wednefday the 29th, the column 
(hot up with quicker motion, dilating as it rofe like a 
balloon. At length, on Thurfday the 30th in the after¬ 
noon, the noife became inceflant, and relcmbled the ap¬ 
proach of thunder (rill nearer and nearer, with a vibra¬ 
tion that aftedled the feeling and hearing. The Charaibes 
fettled at Morne Eonde, at the foot of the Souffrier, 
abandoned tiieir houles, with their live flock, and every 
thing. 
