chap, iv.] WEST INDIES. 131 
groes employed solely in raising of this article ; 
who, according to common calculation, when the 
plants are all at full growth (viz. in 1797) should 
make a return of about sixteen millions of pounds; 
that is above eighteen times as much as was produced 
before 1783, and seven times as much as was pro¬ 
duced last year. It may be added that the lowlands 
of Jamaica are already settled ; the highlands, gene¬ 
rally speaking, are improper for sugar, but proper 
for coffee 5 they are new, they are equal to near 
two-thirds of Jamaica : the island is now well inter¬ 
sected with roads, &c. &c. In short, the country 
is prepared, and the time is proper for it. 
From all these circumstances, taken together, it 
is reasonable to conclude, that if labourers shall 
continue to be procured from Africa at moderate 
prices, and every advantage be made of the pre¬ 
sent moment, we shall establish in Jamaica a most 
extensive cultivation of coffee, which as an export 
staple, will be of the utmost consequence to Great 
Britain, perhaps, exceeding in value the staple of 
sugar. But this new and important commerce 
is entirely dependant on a continued importation of 
labourers. The increase of the cultivation of coffee 
to the extent here suggested is, in the present 
times, of peculiar consequence in two other points 
of view: First, it will augment the number of 
that middle class of Whites who, though not rich 
enough to live in a distant country, are sufficiently 
opulent and independent to support their families 
