H Printed image digitised t : THE BRITISH COLONIAL LIBRAEY, COMPULSING A POPULAR AND AUTHENTIC DESCRIPTION OF ALL THE COLONIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, History—Physical Geography—Geology—Climate—Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral Kingdoms—Government—Finance— Military Defence—Commerce- Shipping— Monetary System—Koligion—Population, white and coloured- Education and the Press—Emigration, Social State, &c. R. MONTGOMERY MARTIN, F.S.S. IS" TEN" VOLUMES. VOL. IV. LONDON HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. MDCCCXLIV. HISTORY OF THE WEST INDIES: COMPRISING JAMAICA, HONDURAS, TRINIDAD, TOBAGO, GRENADA, THE BAHAMAS, AND THE VIRGIN ISLES. BY R. MONTGOMERY MARTIN, F.S.S. GREAT SEAL OE JAMAICA. VOL. I. LONDON: WHITTAKER & Co. AVE MARIA LANE. MDCCCXXXVI. — CONTENTS. BOOK I. JAMAICA, &c. CHAPTER I. Geography, Area, Boundaries and History . 1 , p. CHAPTER II. Physical Aspect, Mountains, Rivers, Geology, Mine- ralogy, Soil, and Climate—Health of Troops, &c. The Cayman Isles Dependency . p. 41 CHAPTER III. Vegetahle and Animal Productions . p. 72 CHAPTER IV. Population, White, Coloured, and Negro —Various Classes of the Inhabitants—Census of the different Parishes— Stock, and Land in Cultivation, &c. The Press—Education and Religion . p. 83 CHAPTER V. Government Council— Courts of Law, Supreme and Local—Laws of the Colony—Military Defence and ' Militia—Revenue and Expenditure, &c. - . .p. 100 a 3 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. Commerce — Shipping — Imports and Exports — Monetary System— State of the Exchanges—Value of Property, &c p. 118 CHAPTER VII. Religion, Education, and the Press—Future Pros- pects, &c - . p. 129 BOOK II. HONDURAS. CHAPTER I. Locality, Area, Boundaries—History, &c. p. 135 CHAPTER II. Physical Aspect—Geology— Soil and Climate . p. 140 CHAPTER III. Population, White and Coloured — Character and Appearance — Schools, &c. — Staple Products — Mahogany, &c p. 150 CHAPTER IV. Government— Military Defence—Finances—Revenue and Expenditure — Commerce — Staple Exports, &c.—Future Prospects . p. 163 BOOK III. TRINIDAD. CHAPTER I. Geography—Area—Discovery— General History, Sic. p. 173 — CONTENTS. CHAPTER II. Physical Aspect — Mountains, Rivers, Lakes, Har- bours, &c. —Geology and Soil— Mineral Kingdom —Volcanoes—Mud and Pitch Lakes—Climate, &c. p. 177 CHAPTER III. Vegetable and Animal Kingdoms—Ichthyology— Staple Produce—Land in Cultivation—Stock, &c. &c. p. 1 99 CHAPTER IV. Population, White, Coloured, and Indians—Progres- sive Population—Births, Marriages, and Deaths Schools, Religion, &c. p. 214 CHAPTER V. Government—Military Defence— Finances—Moneys, Weights and Measures—Value of Property—Com- merce — Shipping — Imports and Exports, &c. General View p. 221 BOOK IV. TOBAGO. Its Locality — General History — Physical Aspect — Geology—Climate—Animal and Vegetable King- doms — Population — Commerce — Revenue and Expenditure— Government, &c p- 232 BOOK V. GRENADA and the GRENADINES. CHAPTER I. Geography—Area—General History, Sc. p. 24G age digitised t Dton Library Diaitisation Ui — Vlll CONTENTS. CHAPTER II. Physical Aspect — Mountains, Rivers, Lakes, and Division into Parishes—Geology-— Soil—Climate Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms, &c. .p. 253 CHAPTER III. Population, White and Coloured—Government, Civil, Military, and Ecclesiastical—Finances—Monetary System—Commerce—Exports and Imports, &c. Value of Property, &c p. 267 BOOK VI. THE BAHAMAS. Locality — History — Aspect — Geology — Climate — Population—Productions — Finances—Government —Waste Lands, &c p. 274 BOOK VII. THE VIRGIN ISLES. Locality — History — Physical Aspect — Population Government — Commerce, &c. — Chief Islands — Tortola, &c p. 288 _ ;:=; INTRODUCTION TO THE FOURTH VOLUME OF THE BRITISH COLONIAL LIBRARY. WEST INDIES. Eukope, emerging from the dark ages which for centuries had shrouded the genius that so pre- eminently distinguished her past history, was roused from a long lethargy at the close of the fifteenth century—one of those memorable epochs when the human mind bursts through the shackles of igno- rance and prejudice, thinks for itself, and approxi- mates yet closer to the maximum of intelligence allotted unto mortals. The invention ' of the art of printing, the discovery of the compass and astrolabe, the knowledge of gunpowder, &c. &c, all conduced at this period to stimulate men to investigate hypo- theses heretofore neglected ; and among the specu- 1 I say invention and discovery, as in common parlance ; but it is more than probable that what were then termed dis- coveries was merely imported information from China and the eastern hemisphere, where printing, the compass, astrolabe, gunpowder, metallurgy, &c, were long known. X INTRODUCTION. lative opinions of the day was the possible existence of a western continent. The master-mind of Prince Henry of Portugal had already traced the African shores to the Cape Verd isles, and meditated a passage round the southern cape to the rich king- doms of the east. An obscure navigator, yet bolder, contemplated a shorter route across the wild and heretofore unknown waste of the western waters, where it had long been surmised a vast transatlantic territory gave rotundity and balance to the world. Then was the tradition remembered, that at a period of time indefinitely remote there existed a vast insu- lar territory, stretching beyond the coasts of Africa and Europe, which bore the appellative of Atlantis ; and that for three days this western land was shaken to its foundations by the incessant and hourly in- creasing concussions of an earthquake, when it at length yielded to the irresistible and unseen myste- rious power, and sunk, with its immense population, beneath the bosom of the ocean '. Nor were the Welch chronicles forgotten—namely, that in 1 1 70, Madoc, son to Owen Quineth, Prince of Wales, seeing his two brethren at debate who should inherit, prepared certain ships with men and munition, and left his country to seek adventures by sea. ' Leaving Ireland north, he sayled west, till he came to a land vnknown. Returning home, and relating what plea- sant and fruitfull countries he had seene, without inhabitants, and for what barren ground his brethren and kindred did murther one another, he provided a number of ships, and got with him such men and women as were desirous to liue in quiet- 1 This is the recorded tradition of Plato and the ancients ; and on examining the geological features of the different West Indian islands, in the following pages, there will be found a remarkable confirmation of the earthquake tradition: in par- ticular, vide ' Bermudas' chapter. ! INTRODUCTION. XI nesse, who arrived with him in this new land, in the yeare 1170V As if in confirmation of these statements, pieces of curiously carved wood, large jointed reeds, and trees of a kind unknown in Europe, were picked up to the westward of Cape St. Vincent, and at the Azores, after long-continued westerly winds. At Flores the bodies of two human beings were washed ashore, whose colour and features were distinct from those of any heretofore seen men ; and a singularly wrought canoe was also driven on the same coast. Several Portuguese navigators thought they had seen three islands when driven far to the westward, and the sons of the discoverer of Terceira perished in seeking them ; while the legends of the Scandina- vian voyagers told of a mysterious Vin-land, enve- loped in danger, and surrounded by the awful super- 2 stitions of the northern mariners . Urged by these and many other indications, as also by some sound 1 I notice these events, in order to induce the attention of the rising generation to the geography of our possessions, which is so little known, even in the highest quarters, that Berbice is marked {printed) in an official document in the House of Commons as an island, and placed among the Bahamas 2 Among the visions and delusions of the day was that recorded of the inhabitants of the Canary Isles, who imagined that from time to time they beheld a vast island to the west- ward, with lofty mountains and deep valleys. It was said to be distinctly seen in cloudy or hazy weather, or only for short intervals, while sometimes in the clearest atmosphere not a trace of it was visible. The Canary people were so convinced of the reality of the island, that they applied for and obtained permission from the King of Portugal to fit out various expe- ditions in search of it, but in vain ; the island, however, still continued to deceive the eye occasionally, and it was identified by many with the legendary isle alleged to have been disco- vered by a Scottish priest, St. Brandan, in the sixth century, and was actually laid down in several old charts, as St. Bran- dan's or St. Borodon's Isle. ie University of Southampton Library Diaitisation U: INTRODUCTION. geographical reasonings, Columbus, a Genoese sea- man of a hardy character and chivalrous spirit, im- bued with the religious enthusiasm of the times, and actuated by a lofty desire for fame, after in vain tendering his services to several European monarchs, finally engaged in the employ of the politic Ferdi- nand and magnanimous Isabella of Castile and Arragon, sailed from Palos with two barks or cara- vals and a decked ship, on the 3d of August, 1492, and on the 12th of October set at rest a long- agitated question, by discovering and landing on one of the Bahama islands, now in our possession, and called by its discoverer San Salvador. Cuba was the next island of importance disco- vered ; then Haiti or St. Domingo, where the Spa- niards formed a colony, and gave the isle the name of Espanola (Hispaniola) . It would be out of place to detail the further progress of maritime adventure. [n the three succeeding voyages of Columbus, the main land near Trinidad and several islands were explored; and as years rolled on, the Spaniards extended their colonies to Jamaica, Cuba, Trinidad, Porto Rico, &c, and finally to Mexico and Peru, under adventurers such as Cortez.