According to the latest account, this 
group of islands contains 22,379 inhabi¬ 
tants, among whom are about 20 consi¬ 
derable proprietors, and a great many 
small ones. The whole land-rent amounts 
to about L. 5000 per annum, which is a 
small sum when compared with the pro¬ 
fits which the proprietors make by the 
fisheries, in which they are all concerned. 
This business is carried on by the te¬ 
nants ; an affair which tends much to af¬ 
fect the state of the common people at 
large. The landlords, as before mention¬ 
ed, make their lands subservient to this 
trade, by setting them in small portions 
to fishermen : and, in order the more to 
propagate the human species for the pur¬ 
pose of fishing, the young men get pre¬ 
miums of small subdivisions of land, 
(though without lease,) on their taking 
wives. The poor, who thus swallow the 
matrimonial bait, getting more nume¬ 
rous families than they can maintain, 
