1800. | Account o/ 
eonttant breeze, the climate would be un- 
healthy. Hurricanes prevail from the 
middie of July till the middle of October, 
dwing which time the wind changes fo 
rapidly as to vifit every point of the com- 
pals within ten or twelve minutes. 
The population of the ifland is much 
increafed fince it belonged to Sweden. At 
Guftavia are to be found Swedes, Englihh, 
French, Danes, Ameticans, and Jews. 
With the exception of a very few, the 
planters are French. The food of the ne- 
groes here 1s fo {canty as, in many cates, 
to be infufiicient for nourithment; and 
their cloathing ir wretched, indeed it can 
f{carcely be called fuch, leaving the body 
expofed to all the vic It can encounter 
from nakedne{s, and, ameng the reft, to 
the juice of the mancenillier, which cor- 
rodes and burns the flefh like agua fortis. 
The ftature of the inhabitanis varies 
according to the different nations from 
which they are f{prung. The natives 
of the country are ffrong and robuf, 
but more efpecially the men. The wo- 
men are comparativey flight and fee- 
ble, which is the effeét of the indolent 
Tees they lead. They are never employ- 
é€d inany kind of labour, and remain in a 
fitting potture during the greater part of 
the day. If any thing happens to fall 
from their hand, they call a flave to take 
it up; and flaves are contantly employed 
to keep off the flies and infeéts that would 
incominode them. ‘The natives are very 
little fubjeét to illnefs, and generally live 
to an cld age. 
Frefh proviions, flour, dried fifh, and 
falted meat.are brought from the continent 
of America to this ifland; and the fea 
furnifhes i¢ with filh of various kinds. 
They have wheatcn bread here, befides a 
kind of bread peculiar to the country. 
The houles are made of wocd,and there 
are but a few that have the lower part of . 
fione. Some of them are raifed upon four 
fione pillars, fo that the wind can pafs un- 
derneath. The windows are fimply open- 
ings in the wail, with window-fhutters, 
or Bee 
. Bartho'omew, as well as the neigh- 
ne ing iflands, is a magazine for Ame- 
rican ad Furcpean merchandize. 
arrive daily to deliver their cargoes, and 
take in others, The plantations that 
abound the moft there are thofe of cotton, 
which fucceed very weli. The praétice of 
the planters 1s, to fow four or five grains 
of the fred ina hole, and when the plants 
appear, they pluck ail up but the trongelt. 
After the fir crop they cut down the 
branchesy and the plant pufhes out new 
the Ifland of St. Bartholomew. 
be again fown. 
Veifels. 
O51 
foots which ee like the original ftem 
but, after the fecond crop, the feeds mult 
Aloes are planted round 
the plant ations for fences; they are placed 
in a flraight line, and as clofe together as 
poflible. Whenthefe fences have arrived 
at maturity, they are impenetrable, either 
by men or animals. The alce grows toa 
great height, and fpreads very much, the 
leaves being often fiom four to five feet in 
Jength. When the aloe his biofflomed and 
borne fruit, it dies; but the planters take 
care to prevent any void in the fence. 
Laws-fuits, in general, are determined 
in this ifland according to the Swedifh 
code. There are cafes, liowever, in which 
the cuftom of India is followed. As to 
the punithments infli€ted on flaves, almoft 
every proprietor has a different method. 
The flaves, fearcely receive nourifhment 
to keep them alive, overburthened with 
labour, and daily receiving ftrokes of the 
whip, frequently defert; in which cafe, 
the proprietor has a right to inflict dif- 
cretionary punifiment on the flive he re- 
covers. On ordinary occafions, the cul- 
prit is laid upon his face on the ground, 
{tripped quite naked, with his hands tied 
to the wheels of a cannon, and his feet ex- 
tended and bound to two polts. He who 
inflicts the punifhment, is armed with a 
whip from twelve to fourteen feet in 
leneth, but with a very fhort handle: he 
places himfelf at fome diftance, and, at 
every fireke, produces a noife like the re- 
port of a piltol ; and long ftripes of fkin, 
and frequently of the flefh itfelf; are tern - 
off by the whip. The punifhment extends 
to thirty, fifty, and fometimes a hundred 
lathes. 
The negroes excel in dances, which con- 
fit of a great variety of figures and move- 
ments of the body, thatat is difficult, and 
almoft im;offibie, for Europeans to imi- 
tate; even Creoles atiain them with great 
difficulty, while the negroes eafily learn 
European dances, On the laft Sunday of 
every month battles are fought with cocks, 
which oceafion confiderable betting. 
The coins ufed in this ifland are the moi- 
dore and the pialtre ; they have alfo a fiéti-’ 
tious money, called the pifovett, which is 
worth fomething more than two thirds of 
a piafire, and a {mall filver coin called a 
ge, anda coin called a bett, of the va- 
lue of fix doggs. “The piaiires are the moft 
in we. The inhabitants trequently cut 
them into two cr four parts. When they 
axe sed aa four pieces, two of them: 
are always larger than the others; the 
Jarger are of the value of three nee: and 
the imailer of two betts anda half, 
6 F 2 The 
dogs 
