book iv.] WEST INDIES. 1 183 
SECTION V. 
VIRGIN ISLANDS. 
Of the Virgin Islands I have so few particulars 
to communicate, that I fear the reader will accuse 
me of inattention or idleness in my researches. I 
have, however, solicited information of those who 
I thought were most likely to afford it; but if my 
inquiries were not slighted, my expectations were 
not gratified. Even in a late historical account by 
Mr. Suckling, the chief justice of these islands, I 
find but little of which I can avail myself. It fur¬ 
nishes no particulars concerning their extent, their 
cultivation, or their commerce. It is silent as to 
the number of their present English inhabitants. 
The author is even misinformed as to the origin of 
their present name; for he supposes that it was 
bestowed upon them in 1580, by Sir Francis Drake, 
in honour of queen Elizabeth; but the fact is, that 
these islands were named Las Virgines by Colum¬ 
bus himself, who discovered them in 1493, and 
gave them this appellation, in allusion to the well- 
known legend in the Romish ritual of the 11,000 
virgins. 
1 he Spaniards of those days, however, thought 
them unworthy of further notice. A century after- 
