180 HISTORY OF THE [book in, 
religion adventured thither soon after the first set¬ 
tlement, as to create a white population which it 
has ever since possessed; if it be true, as asserted 
by Oldmixon,- that at the end of sixteen years, 
there were in the island upwards of one thousand 
white families, constituting a militia of three hun¬ 
dred and sixty effective men. 
The civil history of this little island contains no¬ 
thing very remarkable. It was invaded by a French 
force in 1712, and suffered so much from the de¬ 
predations of that armament, that an article was 
inserted in the treaty of Utrecht for appointing com¬ 
missioners to inquire into the damages; which, 
however, were not made good to the sufferers. It 
was again invaded, and with most of the other 
islands captured by the French, in the late War, and 
restored with the rest. 
Nothing therefore remains, but to furnish the 
reader with an account of its present state in re¬ 
spect of cultivation, productions, and exports. 
Montserrat is about three leagues in length, and as 
many in breadth, and is supposed to contain about 
thirty thousand acres of land, of which almost two- 
thirds are very mountainous, or very barren. The 
land in cultivation is appropriated nearly as follows. 
In sugar, six thousand acres : In cotton, provisions, 
and pasturage, two thousand each. None other of 
the tropical staples are raised. Its average crop 
from 1784 to 1788, were 2,737 hogsheads of sugar 
