125 
chap, iii.] WEST INDIES. 
serve, that the legislative authority of this island is 
vested in the commander in chief, a council of 
twelve gentlemen, and an assembly of nineteen 
members.* The few observations therefore which 
follow, concerning its present state and produc¬ 
tions, will conclude my account. 
Dominica contains 186,436 acres of land; and is 
divided into ten parishes. The town of Roseau is 
at present the capital of the island, and is situate 
in the parish of St. George, being about seven 
leagues from Prince Rupert’s bay. It is on a point 
of land on the S.W. side of the island which forms 
two bays, viz. Woodbridge’s bay to the north, and 
Charlotteville bay to the southward. 
Roseau is about half a mile in length, from 
Charlotteville to Roseau river, and mostly two 
furlongs in breadth, but less in some parts, being 
of a very irregular figure. It contains not more 
than five hundred houses, exclusive of the cottages 
occupied by negroes. Before its capture by the 
French, it contained upwards of one thousand. 
This island is twenty-nine miles in length, and 
mav be reckoned sixteen miles in breadth. It con- 
* 
tains many high and rugged mountains, intersper¬ 
sed with fine vallies, and in general they appear to 
* The governor’s salary, exclusive of his fees of office, is £.1,300 
sterling, payable out of the four and a half percent, duties 5 whether 
he has any addition from the colonial assembly I am not informed. 
