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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
end_n	black_a	tail_n	wing_n	1,324	5	9.4072	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35222	The English empire in America, or, A prospect of His Majesties dominions in the West-Indies ... with an account of the discovery, scituation, product, and other excellencies of these countries : to which is prefixed a relation of the first discovery of the New World called America, by the Spaniards, and of the remarkable voyages of several Englishmen to divers places therein : illustrated with maps and pictures by R.B., author of Englands monarchs, &c., Admirable curiosities in England, &c., Historical remarks of London, &c., The late wars in England, &c., and The history of Scotland and Ireland.	R. B., 1632?-1725?	1685 (1685)	Wing C7319; ESTC R21113	146,553	216

their Division the French more of the plain Country fit for Tillage The English exceed the French in number but the French have four Forts and the English only two and to prevent differences between the two Nations each of them have a Guard upon the Frontiers of their Division which is renewed every day There is a fine Salt Pit in the Island and some conceive there is a Silver Mine but because the Salt Pits Woods Havens and Mines are common to both People it is not regarded besides the great stock and multitude of slaves which such an enterprize would require The true Silver Mine is Sugar This Island may be easily incompassed by Land but one cannot pass through the midst of it by reason of several great and steep Mountains between which are dreadful Rocks Precipices and springs of hot Water yea some springs of Sulphur which causeth one of them to be called the Sulphur Mountain The Island seems to descend gently toward the Sea and is divided into several Stages from the uppermost whereof a man may take a very pleasant Prospect of all the Plantations from thence downward There are many gallant Houses built both by the English and French and the English have also erected five fair Churches well furnished within with Pulpits and Seats of excellent Joyners work of precious wood The Ministers being sent thither by the Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury The French and English Colonies had their beginning at the same time for in 1625. Monsieur Desnambuck a French and St. Thomas Warner an English Gentleman jointly took possession of St. Christophers on the same day in the names of the Kings of Great Britain and France their Masters that they might have a place of safe retreat and a good Haven for the Ships of both Nations bound for America as being well furnished with Provisions and therefore often visited by the Spaniards who sometimes left the sick there to be look'd to by the Caribeans with whom they had made a peace upon those Terms These two Gentlemen having thus taken possession of the Island left some men therein to secure it and returned for the further establishment of these Colonies to their respective Countreys But before they parted hence suspecting some private Intelligence between the Indians and Spaniards for destroying all the English and French in their absence they in one night rid their hands of the most factious of that Nation and soon after forced all the rest who were got together in several Bodies and stood upon their Guard to retire to some other Islands and leave that to their disposal After this they both returned home where their Conquests and Proceedings being approved of by the Kings their Masters they returned with recruits of men in the quality of Governors and Lieutenants under the Kings of Great Britain and France and having divided the Island according to their first Agreement and the English having plentiful Provisions from London prospered much more than the French who wanted necessary assistance In 1629. a powerfull Fleet from Spain under Don Frederick de Toledo had received order from that King that before he fell down to the Havana he should touch at St. Christophers and force thence all the English and French who had planted themselves there for some years before This Navy consisted of twenty four great Ships of Burden and fifteen Frigots who first seized some English Ships lying at Anchor near the Isle of Mevis And then came and cast Anchor in the Road of St. Christophers in the French Division and the Forts of both Colonies being not in a condition to stand out a Siege unfurnished with Ammunition and Provisions nay all the Forces of the Nations in Conjunction not being able to have opposed so great an Army it was a great discouragement to them yet resolving the Enemy should not boast they had compassed their designs without blows they made a very Vigorous opposition but being over powered by number the French forsook the Island ●●snam●u● Imbarquing all his Men in certain Ships which chanced to be in the Haven The Quarters of the English upon this Intelligence were in great disorder and in continual expectation that the Spaniards would fall upon them Some endeavouring to escape by Sea or shelter themselves in the Mountains while others somewhat more couragious sent Deputies to Don Frederick to propose an accommodation But all the answer they received was an express command immediately to depart the Island or to be treated with that Rigour which the Law of Arms permits to be used toward those who wrongfully possess what belongs not to them and to speed their departure he ordered those English Ships taken at Mevis should be restored to them wherein they should Imbarque Instantly for England and because it was impossible those Vessels should contain so great a number he permitted the rest to continue in the Isle till they had opportunity of Transportation These things dispatcht Don Frederick weighed Anchor but as soon as the Fleet was out of sight the English who were left behind began to rally and took a resolution couragiously to carry on the Settlement of their Colony During these Transactions at St. Christophers the French who went to Sea having suffered many inconveniences were forced to put in at the Islands of St. Martin and Montserrat but looked on them as Desarts in comparison of the place they had left and being desirous to be informed of the condition of the Spaniards there sent one of their Ships to St. Christophers who returning gave them an account the Enemy was gone and the English couragiously imployed in Re building Planting and repairing Desolations This unexpected good News revived their decayed hopes and persuaded them to a speedy return The English Colony with constant supplies from London from that time grew very powerful peopling not only this place but sending new Plantations from hence to Barbuda Montserrat ●ntego and Barbadoes which are grown very numerous and famous for the Trade of the rich commodities they are furnished with as well as this curious Island whose chiefest Trade is Sugar Tobacc● Cotton Ginger with several other sorts of Fruits and Provisions The Rocquet is a pretty Animal in this Isle their skin is of the colour of a withered leaf marked with little Yellow or blewish Points they go on four feet those before being highest their Eyes lively and sparkling their heads always lifted up and so active that they leap up and down perpetually like Birds when they make no use of their Wings their Tails are so turned up toward their back that they make a Circle and an half They love to look upon men and are constantly staring on them When they are pursued they open their Mouths and put out their Tongues like little Hounds There is a large Bird in the Carribees called the Eagle of Orinca much like an Eagle in shape All his Feathers are of light Gray marked with black Spots save that the ends of

his Wings and Tail are yellow he hath a piercing sight and feeds on other Birds yet to shew his generosity he never sets upon the waeker sort but those that are armed with crooked beaks and sharp Tallons like himself nay it is observable he never seizes his prey on the ground or a Tree but stays till it has taken his flight that he may ingage it in the open air with equal advantage upon whom he furiously fastens his Tallons and having mastered them tears them in peices and devours them There is also a large Bird in these Islands called a Craw fowl about the bigness of a great Duck the feathers Ash colour and hi●eous to the eye it hath a long Flat beak a great head small eyes deep set in his heed and a short neck under which hangs a bag or Craw so big that it will contain two Gallons of Water they are commonly found on Trees by the Sea-side where as soon as they perceive a Fish at advantage they seize it and swallow it whole they are so attentive on their Fishing having their Eye constantly on the Sea that they are easily shot and become a Prey to others their sight is so admirable that they will discover a Fish at a great distance in the Sea and above a fathom under Water yet stay till they come almost even with it before they seize Their Flesh is not to be eaten Here are likewise found a kind of Pheasants which are called Pintado's because they are as it were painted with colours and have about them small points like so many Eyes on a Dark ground To conclude with these Fowls we shall give an Account of the Colibry or Humming Bird which is admirable for its beauty bulk sweet scent and manner of life for being the least of all Birds he gloriously confirm the saying of Pliny That nature is ever greatest in its least Productions Some of these Birds are no bigger bodied than the greater sorts of Flies yet of such beautiful feathers that the neck wings and back represent the Rain-bow there are others that have such a bright red under their neck that at a distance one would imagine it to be a Carbuncle the Belly and under the Wings are yellow as Gold the thighs Green like an Emerald the feet and beak as black as polished Ebony the two little eyes two diamonds set in an oval of the colour of burnished steel the Head is grass green which gives it such a lustre that it looks as if gilt The Male hath a little Tuft on the head in which may be seen all the colours that enamel this little Body the miralcle of the feathered Common wealth and one of the rarest productions of nature He moves that little Crown of Feathers at pleasure and is more beautiful than the Female As his bulk and plumage is miraculous so is the activity of his flight making a noise with his Wings as if a little Whirl-Wind were suddenly raised in the Air which surprizes those who hear him before they see him He lives only on the dew which he sucks from the Flowers of Trees with his Tongue which is longer than his beak hollow as a reed and about the bigness of a small needle 't is pleasant to look on him in that posture for spreading abroad his little crest one would think 〈◊〉 had on his head a Crown of Rubies and all sorts of ●●ecions stones and the Sun adding to his Lustre makes him look like a composition of precious Stones animated and flying in the Air The female commonly lays but two Eggs which are oval about the bigness of a Pea or small Pearl And though he lose much of his beauty when dead yet there is so much left that some Ladies have worn them for Pendants and imagined they became them better than any other its smell being also excellent even like the finest Musk and Amber CHAP. XXI A Prospect of the Island of Barbadoes BArbadoes is the most considerable Island the English have among the Carribees lies in thirteen degrees and twenty Minutes on this side the Equator and though not above Twenty four Miles long and fifteen broad yet was many years ago accounted to have above Twenty thousand Inhabitants besides Negro Slaves who are thought a far greater number In the reign of K. James the first a Ship of Sr. William Curteens returning from Fernambuck in Brasil being driven by soul weather upon this Coast chanced to fall upon this Island and anchoring before it staid some time to inform themselves of the nature thereof which was so exceedingly over-grown with Woods that they could find no Champion or Savana's for men to dwell in nor any Beasts but a multitude of Swine which the Portugals put ashoar long before for breed if they should at any time be cast on that shoar in foul weather and the fruits and roots that grew there afforded so great plenty of food as they multiplied abundantly so that the Natives of the other Islands use to come thither a hunting This discovery being made and advice given to their Friends in England other Ships were sent and having cut down the Woods and cleered the ground they planted Potatoes Plantines and Maiz which with the Hogsflesh they found served only to keep Life and Soul together and their supplies from England coming so slow and uncertain they were oft driven to great extremities but in the year 1627. when they had more hands and having Tobacco Indico Cotton Wool and Fustick Wood to trade with some Ships were invited with hope of gain to visit them bringing for exchange such things as they wanted as working Tools of Iron and Steel Cloaths Shirts Drawers Hose Shoes Hats and more Planters So that in a short time they grew very considerable especially when their Sugar Canes were grown and they had learned the Art of making Sugar The Inhabitants which consist of English Scotch Irish with some few Dutch French and Jews were lately calculated to be above fifty Thousand and the Negro's about an hundred Thousand So that they can in a short time arm Ten Thousand fighting men which with the natural advantage of the place is able to defy the most potent Enemy as the Spaniards have sound to their cost having in vain assaulted it several times It hath only one River or rather a Lake which runs not far into the Land yet the Country lying low and level they have divers Ponds and are supplyed with Rain Water by making Cisterns in their Houses The Air is very hot for eight months and would be more insupportable were it not for the cool breezes which rise with the Sun and blow still fresher as that grows higher but always from the Northeast except in the Turnado and then it chop about to the South an hour or two and after returns as before the other four months are not so hot but like the air of England about the middle of May and though they sweat yet find