BOOK heat is reverberated from the adjacent rocks. Early hisXCIII. torians speak of rich mines and veins of gold and silver; no trace of them, however, can at present be found; the Minerals, vegetables, inhabitants find sometimes minute particles of these metals in the sand, or in the beds of rivers that descend from the mountains; and it is probable that this circumstance has given rise to the exaggerated accounts of the first travellers. Copper is the most valuable of its metallic productions; a trade is carried on from the eastern mines with the other islands, and some of the ports on the southern continent. A mine of rich iron ore has lately been discovered within the jurisdiction of Havannab.* The island is also famed for its mineral waters, and numerous sait springs; but its wealth is chiefly derived from extensive sugar plantations, which yield from two to three millions of arobes. Its tobacco, which is well known in Europe by the name of Havannah, is considered the best in the world; coffee, cocoa, manioc, and maize, are some of its other productions. All the trees that have been observed on the Antilles grow on this island, and timber for building ships is sent from it to Spain. Bees were brought thither about fifty-five years ago by some emigrants from Florida; honey and wax are now two important articles in the export trade. Oxen have multiplied so much that they are become wild; immense herds haunt the forests and savannas, the inhabitants kill them for the sake of their hides and tallow, which are sent to Europe. The colonists are said to be the most industrious and active of any in the Spanish islands, and the annual revenue amounts to two millions of piastres, but the expenses of administration absorb a much greater sum. The military force, which consists chiefly of militia, exceeds perhaps 26,000 men, the most of whom are ill disciplined. Army. Principal towns. Havannah, the capital of this island, was founded * Descourtils, Voyage d'un Naturaliste. A Spanish weight equivalent to twenty-eight English lbs. on the north coast by Velasquez in the sixteenth century; it BOOK is the residence of the Governor, and its population amounts XCIII. to fifty thousand souls. The largest fleet may ride in its harbour, but the entrance into this fine port is narrow; vessels may be taken in time of war, when they are about to go into it, for, as only one ship can pass at a time, the hindmost have sometimes fallen into the hands of the enemy without their comrades being able to assist them. The passage is defended by two forts: Morro castle is a triangular building on the east side, mounted with forty pieces of heavy cannon; the other is built on the western bank, and communicates with the town. Puerto del Principe, which is situated about the middle of the northern coast, near a fertile country abounding in rich savannas, contained, about thirty years ago, twenty thousand inhabitants. St. Yago de Cuba, at one time the chief town of the island and the seat of a bishop, who was formerly suffragan to the metropolitan of St. Domingo, has been, for that reason, called the ecclesiastical capital; but as the bishop now resides at Havannah, it can no longer claim this distinction. St. Yago is built near a fine bay on the southern coast; the harbour is large and commodious, its trade consists mostly in sugar and tobacco, and its population exceeds probably fifteen thousand souls. Boyamo, or St. Salvador, is situated on the little river Estero, about twenty miles from the ocean; the Boyamo channel, so called from this place, waters the low rocks and land, to which Columbus gave the name of the Queen's Gardens. Matanzas, La Vega and Trinidad, may each of them contain about five thousand inhabitants. Although two islands in this archipelago are larger Jamaica. than Jamaica, the industry of the English has enabled it to vie with any of the settlements. Its length from east to west is about one hundred and fifty miles, and it is nowhere more than sixty in breadth, towards the extre BOOK mities it is much narrower, and resembles in some respects XCIII. the figure of an ellipse. Mountains. The Blue Mountains consist partly of rocks heaped upon each other by frequent earthquakes, and extend from one end of the island to the other; the spaces between the naked rocks are filled with lofty trees and evergreens, which seem to indicate a perpetual spring. The numerous rivers in this part of the country are fed by a thousand rills; the mountains above them, and their cascades issuing from verdant woods, add to the beauty of the landscape. Besides the great chain, there are others, which become gradually lower as they approach the coast; these hills are covered with cotton trees, and the prospect of the plains below them is bounded by extensive sugar plantations. The soil of the savannas abounds in marl, and affords an excellent pasturage for cattle. The land most favourable for the cultivation of sugar is called brick mould, not from resembling that substance in colour, but because it contains such a due mixture of clay and sand, as is supposed to be well adapted for the use of the kiln.* The mountains near Spanish Town are resorted to on account of their medicinal waters, but the greater number of saline springs have been observed on the plains, and lead is the only metal which has hitherto Climate. been discovered in Jamaica. The low grounds are un Productions. healthy on account of the heat; the morning sea-breeze renders the climate less oppressive, and the refreshing air of the mountains is salutary to invalids. The summit of the highest mountain is about seven thousand eight hundred feet above the level of the sca. Although sugar is in some seasons much more abundant than in others, it yields on the whole a greater return than any other production of this island. A great quantity of cocoa was formerly cultivated; but the colonists have of late years paid greater attention to their coffee plantations. It appears from official documents, that Jamaica produces about three-fourths of the Edwards, History of the West Indies. Govern coffee, and more than a half of the sugar, which Great BOOK Britain derives from her colonies. The harvests are less XCIII. variable than those in the Windward and Leeward Islands, and the country is not so much exposed to droughts and hurricanes. The produce of Antigua, for instance, amounts in some seasons to 20,000 hogsheads of sugar, in others to less than a thousand.* Pimento and ginger are cultivated in Jamaica; its mahogany, which is so much used in England, is said to be equal to any in the world, and the soap tree is a remarkable production, which possesses all the qualities of that substance. All the fruits of the Antilles are found on this island,† the bread tree was brought thither from Otaheite, and transplanted by the celebrated Sir Joseph Banks. Jamaica is divided into three counties, Divisions. Middlesex, Surry and Cornwal; its government is repre- ment. sentative, and the legislative power is vested in the governor, in the house of Assembly, which consists of forty-three members elected by freeholders, and in a council of twelve persons nominated by the king. Kingston, San Jago and Port Royal return each of them three representatives, and two are sent from every other town. Port Royal, once the Towns. capital of the island and a place of very great wealth, has been reduced to an inconsiderable size by earthquakes and repeated calamities; its excellent harbour, the ease with which large vessels might approach the wharfs, and other conveniencies attracted formerly a great number of settlers; but a naval yard, an hospital and barracks, that may contain a single regiment, are all the remains of its ancient splendour. The population of Kingston, now the capital of Jamaica, amounts to 30,000 inhabitants. Many of the houses in the upper part of the town are spacious, although, like others in these islands and the neighbouring continent, they consist only of a single story. St. Jago de la Vega or Spanish Town, the metropolis of the island in the time of the Spaniards, is situated at no great distance from * Edward Young's West India Common-Place Book. Edwards. Population BOOK Kingston; it is still the seat of government and of the XCIII. different courts, its population exceeds 6000 souls. The total number of inhabitants in Jamaica, amounted, in the year 1787, to 23,000 colonists, 4093 mulattoes, and 256,000 slaves; so that the proportion between the Europeans and the negroes was as one to more than eleven. It appears from the census of 1805, that there were 28,000 colonists, 9000 people of colour, and 280,000 negroes; thus there must have been at that time ten slaves for every European; but the free population has increased of late years in a greater ratio than that of the slaves. According to the registers laid before the colonial assembly in 1811, the number of negroes exceeded 326,000; in 1815, a short time after the slave trade was prohibited, this number was reduced to less than 315,000. The total population was then estimated at $60,000 souls, the inhabitants of European origin were calculated at 30,000, and the mulattoes amounted to 15,000.* The exports from the island in that year consisted of 119,000 hogsheads of sugar, 53,000 puncheons of rum, and 27,360,000 lbs. of sugar. Columbus gave the name of Hispaniola, or little Spain, to the island St. Do- of St. Domingo. The extent of this settlement is about mingo. 140 miles from north to south, and 390 from east to west. Mountains The Cibao, a group of lofty mountains near the middle of the island, is divided into three chains, the greatest of which has an eastern direction. As the most of these mountains may be cultivated, the productions and fruits of different climates are often found in the same district. But the low grounds are very unhealthy, if the diseases to which Europeans are liable on their arrival do not prove fatal, they generally impair the constitution.† Spring and autumn are unknown in the eastern and southern parts of Exports. *Colonial Journal, vol. I. p. 245. + Moreau de Saint-Méry, Description de la Partie Française de Saint Domingue. Cossigny, Moyens d'améliorer les Colonies, 1st 16mo. observation. |