JACOBUS II ds D. G. Angliae Scotiae Fran et Hiber REX Fidei Defensor etc. DIEU ET MON DROIT F. H. van Hove Sculp THE Present State Of His Majesties Isles and Territories IN AMERICA VIZ. Iamaica Barbadoes S. Christophers Mevis Antego S. Vincent Dominica New-Iersey Pensilvania Monserat Anguilla Bermudas Carolina Virginia New-England Tobago New-Found-Land Mary-Land New-York With New Maps of every Place Together with Astronomical TABLES Which will serve as a constant Diary or Calendar for the use of the English Inhabitants in those Islands from the Year 1686 to 1700. Also a Table by which at any time of the Day or Night here in England you may know what Hour it is in any of those parts And how to make Sun-Dials fitting for all those places Licens'd July 20. 1686. Roger L'Estrange LONDON Printed by H. Clark for Dorman Newman at the Kings-Arms in the Poultrey 1687. TO HIS SACRED MAJESTY JAMES II. King of England Scotland France and Ireland c. Dread Sovereign THIS Treatise or Description of Your Majesties Dominions and Territories in America humbly presents itself unto Your Royal Patronage by the hands of Your Majesties most humble and obedient Subject and Servant Richard Blome THE PREFACE TO THE READER THE ensuing Discourse contains an Account of the Present State of His Majesties Dominions on the Coast of America wherein thou wilt find a considerable Discovery of the growing Greatness of those distant Colonies which by the most clement and wise Administration of the Monarchs of Great Britan have already arrived to a Figure so Considerable as may attract the Emulation of the Neighbouring Potentates the Golden Peru hardly affording so great a Treasure to the Catholick Crown as these most Flourishing Plantations produce to the Crown of England The vast Returns which the Merchants of London and other Parts of His Majesties Dominions make from those Parts are a sufficient Encouragement for any one that would study the Improvement of his Fortunes to look into the advantages of that Extensive Traffick which those Regions produce And since our Neighbours have not been wanting in the most Remote Courts to represent their Foreign Plantations as vast and mighty Accessions to their Government and to make their State look the more Considerable in the Eyes of distant Monarchs Why may not an Essay towards the Delineation of the English Territories in Foreign Parts at least in some measure contribute to raise in them an Esteem and Dread of the Mighty Power of the British Crown Little more need be said to recommend the usefulness of the ensuing Discourse but that the natural result of Discoveries is the Promotion of Improvement and the Considerate know how to make their Advantages thereof There was intended to be added to this Volume a Summary of the several Laws in Force in each Plantation but that being a work which will swell to a larger Bulk than this is reserved for a particular Treatise by it self I have one thing more to advertise thee That the Printer hath neglected to fix the Running-Title on the top of every Page therefore thou may'st find that part of the Discourse which relates to them in the following Table Farewel The Contents JAmaica Page 1 Barbadoes Page 30 St. Christophers Page 45 Mevis Page 53 Antego Page 60 St. Vincent Page 65 Dominica Page 73 New-Jersey Page 78 Pensilvania Page 88 Montserat Page 134 Anguilla Page 137 Barbada or Bermuda Page 141 Bermudas or the Summer-Islands Page 146 Carolina Page 150 Virginia Page 182 Mary-Land Page 195 New-York Page 201 New-England Page 210 New-Found-Land Page 239 Tobago Page 247 Directions for the Improvement of the Island of Tobago Page 253 Proposals lately made by Captain John Poyntz for Himself and Company to all such People as are minded to Transport or Concern themselves in the Island of Tobago Page 259 Proposals for further Improvement Page 261 Astronomical Tables shewing the Rising and Setting of the Sun with the Length of the Days and Nights in all the Principal English Plantations in the West-Indies Also Tables of the New and Full Moons in every Month from the Year 1686 to 1700 in the Meridian of London and from thence referred to the Meridians of the Principal Plantations abovesaid The which Tables will serve as a constant Diary or Calendar for the Vse of the English Inhabitants in those Islands Also a Table by which at any time of the Day or Night here in England you may know what Hour it is in any of those Islands And how to make Sun-Dials fitting for all those Remote Parts A New Exact Mapp of ye. Isle of IAMAICA as it was lately Surveyed by order of S. Tho mas Mediford Bar. late Gover r divided into Precincts or Parishes with its Ports Bayes etc. HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE DIEV ET MON DROIT Leiutenant 〈◊〉 Doyloy late Oâ—â—â—â—der in Cheife of all the English Army by Land and 〈◊〉 in America first â—ow of the Isle for his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thomas Lord Winâ—â—◠〈◊〉 〈…〉 of 〈…〉 Shiâ—â—◠〈…〉 Island S. Thomas Modifor â—â—n third Governor of the Isle â—â— Thomas Lynâ—â— knight proâ—â—â— Governour of the Isle The Armes of the Island â—â— LONDON Printed for Richard Blome Aº 1671 The North West Part of AMERICA by Robt. Morden THE Present State OF HIS MAJESTY's Isles and Territories IN AMERICA Of JAMAICA THE Island of JAMAICA is situate between the Tropicks seventeen or eighteen degrees North-Latitude It s Scituation upon the Sea usually known by the Name of Mare del Nort being about an hundred and forty Leagues North of the Main Continent of America fifteen Leagues South from the great Island of Cuba and twenty Leagues Westward from Hispaniola from Porto Bello Northwards an hundred and sixty and from Carthagena an hundred and forty Leagues 'T is somewhat of an Oval Form and hath a continued Ridge of lofty Mountains running from East to West which extend themselves from one end of it to the other and being full of fresh Springs furnisheth the Island with great plenty of pleasant and useful Rivers to the great refreshment of the Inhabitants and accommodation of Trade It is exceeding fruitful being for the most part a rich fat soyl It s Fertility the Earth blackish and mixt with clay except in the South-west parts where it is generally of a more red and loose Earth but every where wonderful fertil and incomparably apt to answer the Cultivator's expectation and recompence his pains and expence in planting for it enjoys a perpetual Spâ—ing and its Plants and Trees are never disrob'd of their Summer Livery but every Month is to them like April or May to us It is in length about 170 Miles and about 70 in breadth It s Form aad Extent containing between four or five Millions of Acres nine hundred thousand whereof were planted in the Year 1675. There are intermixt with the Woods and Mountains many Savanaes or Plains which are supposed to
pierce through the hardest Bodies it s Fesh is delicate Meat and its Body so large that three Hundred Persons are reported to have fed upon one taken in those Parts But none of those Sea Monsters that are eatable are so much in esteem as a certain Fish called by the French Lamantine or Manaty some whereof are eighteen Foot long having a Head like a Cow and is therefore called the Sea-Cow it hath a thick dark coloured Skin somewhat hairy which when dried serves for a defence against the Arrows of the Indians instead of Finns they have two short Feet which seem much too weak for the supporting so heavy a Body he lives upon what grows on the Rocks and in shallow places where there is not much Water Upon this Coast likewise are often seen great numbers of Fishes which Fly fifteen or twenty Foot above Water Flying Fish and near one Hundred Paces in length but no more in regard their Wings are dried by the Sun they are somewhat like Herrings but of a rounder Head and broader Back their Wings like a Bats in their flight they often strike against the Sails of Ships and fall even in the day time upon the Decks and some report them to be very good Meat the occasion of their flying is to avoid danger from greater Fishes but they meet with Enemies in the Air as well as Water having open hostility with certain Sea-Fowl which living only upon prey seize them as they fly The Sword-Fish The Sword-Fish is worth observing as well as the Flying-Fish it hath at the end of the upper Jaw a defensive weapon about the breadth of a great broad Sword which hath sharp hard Teeth on both sides several of these Swords are five Foot long and about six Inches broad towards the lower end with seven and twenty white solid Teeth in each rank and the bulk of their Bodies answering thereto the Head of this Monster is flat and hideous to behold being in form of a Heart having near their Eyes two vents at which they cast out the Water they have swallowed they have no Scales but a grayish Skin on the Back and white under the Belly which is rough like a File they have seven Finns two on each Side two on the back and one which serves them for a Tail Some call them Saw-Fishes and others Emperours because there is always open War between them and the Whale which is very often wounded to death by their terrible weapon A DESCRIPTION OF THE Island of ANGVILLA THhis Isle of Anguilla sometimes called Snake-Island from its shape seated in the Latitude of 18 deg and 21 min. on this side the Equinoctial Situation is a long Tract of Land and extendeth itself length about ten Leagues and in breadth about three The Inhabitants Inhabitants are English which are computed to amount unto two or three Hundred which Plant Tobacco which is highly esteemed by those who are good Judges in that Commadity Before the discovery of America there were not found in these Parts any Horses Kine Oxen Sheep Goats Swine or Dogs but for the better conveniency of their Navigations and supply of their Ships in case of necessity they left some of these Creatures in several Parts of this New-found World where they have since multiplied and become so numerous that they are more common than in any Part of Europe But besides these Forreign kind of Cattel there were before in these Islands certain sorts of strange four footed Beats Their Beasts and Cattel as the Opassum about the bigness of a Cat with a sharp Snout the neither Jaw being shorter than the upper like a Pigs it hath very sharp Claws and climbs Trees easily feeding upon Birds and in want thereof upon Fruit it is remarkable for a purse or bag of its own Skin folded together under its Belly wherein it carries its Young which he lays upon the ground at pleasure by opening that natural purse and when he would depart he opens it again and the Young ones get in and he carries them with him where-ever he goes the Female suckles them without setting them on the ground for her Teates lie within that purse they commonly bring six Young ones but the Male who hath such another natural purse under his Belly takes his turn to carry them to ease the Female There is also in some of these Islands a kind of wild Swine with short Ears almost no Tail and their Navels on their Backs some of them are all black others have certain white spots their strange grunting is more hideous than that of Swine they are called Javaris the flesh is of taste good enough but very hardly taken in regard the Boar is in a manner unwearied by reason of a vent or hole he hath on his Back by which his Lungs are mightily refreshed and if he be forced when he is pursued by Dogs to stop he is armed with such sharp and cutting Tushes that he tearts to pieces all that set upon him The Tatous is another strange Creature armed with a hard scaly coat wherewith they cover and secure themselves as with armour having a Head and Snout like a Pig wherewith they turn up the ground they have also in each Paw five very sharp Claws which help them to thrust out the Earth with the more ease and pull up the Roots whereupon they feed in the night time they have in their Tail a small bone which is reported to help deafness and noise and pains in the Ears they are about the bigness of a Fox and their flesh is accounted delicate Meat when they are pursued or sleep which is usually in the day time they close themselves close up together like a Bowl and get in their Feet Head and Ears with so much dexterity under their hard Scales that their whole Body is by that natural armour secured against all the attempts of Huntsmen and Dogs and when at any time they come near any precipiece or steep hill they roul down without getting any harm There is likewise the Agouty another Creature of a dark colour with a little Tail without Hair having two Teeth only in each Jaw it holds its meat in the two fore-Claws like a Squirrel and its usual cry is as if it distinctly pronounced the word Covey when it is hunted it gets into hollow Trees out of which it is not to be forced but by smoak making a hideous cry before they will leave the holes in which they are gotten if taken while young they are easily tamed but if old with exceeding difficulty when they are angry they strike the ground with their hind-feet like a Rabbet being about the same bigness and shape only their Ears are short and round 't is a fierce Creature and its hair when angry stands perfectly upright There is likewise Musk-Rats which live in holes and boroughs like Rabbets there comes from them a scent like Musk which causes melancholly and so
several of which being capable to harbour five hundred Sail of Ships from the rage of the Sea and Winds by reason of the interposition of several Isles to the number of about 200 which lie about this Coast The Account of the Worship and Ceremonies of the Indians hath been much perfected by the Industry and Voyages of Capt. Gosnold Capt. Hudson Capt. Smith and others the last of which gives a very large Account this Captain being taken Prisoner by the Natives and while he stayed among them observed their Magical Rites three or four days after his being seized seven of their Priests in the House where he lay each with a Rattle making him sit down by them began about Ten in the Morning to sing about a fire which they encompassed with a Circle of Meal at the end of every Song which the Chief Priest begun the rest followed in order they laid down two or three Grains of Wheat then the Priest disguised with a great Skin his Head hung round with little Skins of Weasles and other Vermine and a Cornet of Feathers painted as ugly as the Devil at the end of every Song he used strange and vehement Gestures throwing great Cakes of Deer-Suet and Tobacco into the fire thus these howling Devotions continued till Six a Clock at Night and held so three days This they pretended was to know of their God whether any more English should arrive and what they intended to do in that Country They sed Capt. Smith so high that he much doubted they would have sacrificed him to their Chief Deity the Image of whom is so deformed that nothing can be more monstrous the Women likewise after he was freed and President of the Company made him a very odd Entertainment thirty of them came out of the Woods only covered before and behind with a few green Leaves their Bodies painted of different colours the Commander of these Nymphs had on her Head a large pair of Stag's Horns and a Quiver of Arrows at her Back with Bow and Arrows in her hand the rest followed with Horns and Weapons all alike they rushed through the Streets with hellish shouts and crys dancing about a fire which was there made for that purpose for an hour together then they solemnly invited him to their Lodging where he was no sooner come but they all surrounded him and crying Love you not me after which they feasted him with great variety cook'd after their mad fashion some singing and dancing all the while and at last lighted him home with a Firebrand instead of a Torch to his Lodgings And although this Country is seated in the midst of the Temperate Zone yet is the Clime more uncertain Temperature as to the heat and cold than those European Kingdoms which lie Parallel with it and as to Virginia this may be compared as Scotland is to England The Air The Air. is found very healthful and agreeable to the English which makes them possess many Potent Colonies being very numerous and powerful When they design to make War they first consult with their Priests and Conjurers no People being so Barbarous almost but they have their Gods Their Religion Priests and Religion they adore as it were all things that they think may unavoidably hurt them as Fire Water Lightning Thunder our Great Guns Muskets and Horses yea some of them once seeing an English Boar were struck with some terror because he bristled up his Hairs and gnashed his Teeth believing him to be the God of the Swine who was offended with them The chief God they Worship is the Devil which they call Okee they have conference with him and fashion themselves into his shape In their Temple they have his Image ill-favouredly Carved Painted and Adorned with Chains Copper and Beads and covered with a Skin The Sepulchre of their Kings is commonly near them whose Bodies are first Imbowelled dried on a Hurdle adorned with Chains and Beads and then wrapped in white Skins over which are Matts they are afterwards Intombed orderly in Arches made of Matts their Wealth being placed at their feet But for their common Burials they dig a hole in the Earth with sharp Stakes and the Corps being wrapped in Skins and Matts they lay them in the Ground placing them upon sticks and then cover them with Earth the Burial ended the Women having their Faces painted black with Cole and Oyl sit Mourning in the House twenty four hours together howling and yelling by turns The Natives are cloathed with loose Mantles made of Deers Skins and Aprons of the same round their Middle Their Cloathing all else being naked of Stature like to us in England They Paint themselves and their Children and he is most Gallant who is most deformed The Women Imbroider their Legs Hands and other Parts with several Works as of Serpents and the like making black spots in their Flesh Their Houses are made of small Poles round and fastened at the top in a circle like our Arbours covered with Matts twice as long as broad they are exact Archers and with their Arrows will kill Birds flying or Beasts running full speed One of our Men was with an Arrow shot through the Body and both the Arms at once Another Indian shot an Arrow of an Ell long through a Target that a Pistol Ballet could not pierce their Bows are of tough Hazle and their Strings of Leather their Arrows of Cane or Hazle headed with Stones or Horn and Feathered Artificially They soon grow heartless if they find their Arrows do no execution They say there is Men among them of above two hundred years of Age. Though the Planting of this Country was designed by several of the English yet it lay much neglected 'till a small company of Planters under the Command of Captain George Popham and Captain Gilbert was sent over at the charge of Sir John Popham in 1606. to begin a Colony upon a Tract of Land about Saga de hoch the most Northernly part of New-England but that design within two years expired with its Founder Soon after some Honourable Persons of the West of England commonly called the Council of Plymouth being more certainly informed of several Navigable Rivers and Commodious Havens with other places sit either for Planting or Traffick newly discovered by many skilful Navigators obtained of King James the First a Patent under the Great Seal of all that part of North America called New-England from forty to forty eight Degrees of North Latitude This vast Tract of Land was in 1612. Cantoned and divided by Grant into many lesser Parcels according as Adventurers presented which Grants being founded upon uncertain and false Descriptions and reports of some that Travelled thither did much interfere one with another to the great disturbance of the first Planters so that little profit was reaped from thence Nor was any greater Improvement made of those Grand Portions of Land saving the erecting some few Cottages for Fishermen
himself and Family consisting of Eleven in number to this Island of Tobago and suppose their Passage cost him fifty pound and Manuals with other things requisite and necessary for Planting as also Provision for the first Twelve Months together with the Charge of Houshold-stuffs and all other Necessaries may stand him in forty seven pound ten shillings more suppose also this man takes a Lease of fifty Acres of Land for a Thousand Years at the rate of Twelve pence an Acre annually it amounts but to Two pound Ten shillings a Year except otherwise he purchase the Fee simple of the Proprietors which compleats the Hundred pound This is the first Money laid out nor need he be at any more Charge for in twelve Months time he will have Ground-provision enough and in all probability two Crops of Tobacco The next thing to consider of is the Improvement It s Improvement of the said Land which is as followeth After your arrival in the Island of Tobago the first six Months may be spent to clear fifteen Acres of Land and to put Provisns into the Ground to build Conveniencies to accommodate your self and Family to adapt and fit Ground for planting a Nursery of Cacao-Nuts as also a Bed sowed with Tobacco-seeds and be sure to keep your Nursery clear from Weeds then about a Months time after you have sown your Tobacco-seed provided the Season be good you may then draw your Tobacco-Plants and plant them about some four foot distance one from another regularly and in rows which said Tobacco Tobago produces is nothing inferiour to Spanish Trinidado that lies about seven Leagues distance from the said Island of Tobago who sell their Trinidado-Tobacco at the rate of Two Shillings a Pound which said Tobacco the Spaniards transport from thence to Old Spain and sell it there for considerable advantage Now among your Tobacco-Plants you may plant your Cacao and transplant them when about six Months old into new Ground at ten or twelve foot distance and be sure to keep them clear from Weeds in which latter six Months time you may have on your cleared Ground two Crops of Tobacco Now admitting you make but Eight thousand Weight of Neat Tobacco on the said Ground yet in all probability provided your People be healthy it may double the number to Sixteen thousand But if it do not and put the case your Tobacco sell but for an eighth part of what the Spaniards sell for in Trinidado which is but three Pence per Pound sold here in our Island yet will this Crop yield you One hundred Pound sterling which is your Money gained the very first Year and in six Months time all Charges being born Now suppose at the beginning of the second Year the said sixteen Acres be all cleared and Provision enough put into the Ground sufficient for double your number of hands you may rationally then expect four Crops in twelve Months time when as formerly you made two Crops in the last six Months so that with the Hundred Pounds you gained last Year you may now purchase seven or eight Slaves or Servants which may in all probability treble the first Year But put the case it but only double yet at the worst it may yield you and all Charges born Two hundred Pounds sterling Now we cannot otherwise conclude if things succeed well but the third Year will double the second by improvement as is above expressed and if so your Crop will amount to Four hundred Pounds sterling and the fourth Year double the third by reason of the Cacao that was planted the first Year on the fifteen Acres of Land may produce to the value of Thirty Pounds sterling an Acre besides the encrease of Tobacco and clearing of more ground together with your encrease of Servants ana Slaves and planting of more Cacao-Trees which at least will arise to Eight hundred Pounds sterling the fourth Year the fifth Year in all probability doubles the fourth Year the sixth Year you may very well clear Six thousand Pounds sterling and all Charges born by reason the Cacao planted the first Year is now come to perfection and at its full height of bearing which in this Latitude may yield One hundred Pounds sterling an Acre viz. the first fifteen Acres which were planted the first Year and the second years Plants planted the second Year will yield you Sixty Pounds sterling and the third years Plants as by the same Calculation may yield you Thirty Pounds sterling an Acre So that by purchasing the more Servants and Slaves you may if you please decline so much planting of Tobacco as formerly you did The seventh Year you will have all your Land planted with Cacao and that increasing you need not plant above ten or fiften Acres of Tobacco this Year amongst your Cacao but you may plant Provisions amongst them for support and maintenance of your self and Family So that from that Increase of your seventh Year's Crop you may hope and expect by a modest computation to clear from the said fifty Acres of Land at least Five thousand Pounds sterling a Year And now we come to the Reasons for this great Improvement The Reasons for Improvement You must consider that the Spaniards in Trinidado c. give among themselves One hundred Pounds sterling for a Negro-Slave and yet the said Slave will not stand his Master in one single Penny at the Year's end for his purchase and all the labour and service the Spaniard imploys him in the Year about is only in Cacao and Spanish-Tobacco in this our Latitude Now pray consider that we can have Negro-slaves brought and delivered to us at Fifteen Pounds sterling a head by reason we have an open Trade and the Spaniards allows not of a free Trade Where note the Spaniard pays Six-pence or more for every thing he wants when we have the same for a single Penny That 's one Reason The second Reason is The Spaniard cannot have any Tunnage for Goods from Old Spain to the West-Indies and home again for less than Forty or Fifty Pounds sterling per Tun besides the Duties run very high And we can have Freight for Five or Six Pounds per Tun and no Duties from us to a tree Port. When therefore to consider and compute the Charge on either side we profit by what we transport six to one which makes the Spaniard generally so poor in the Indies and we generally to flourish so much the more The third Reason is That in a Ship of Three hundred Tun the Spaniards have seldom less than two hundred Men belonging to her and the Wages each Man comes to at least Fifty Shilling sterling per Month which in the whole amounts to Five hundred Pounds a Month barely for Wages then you are to consider the Monthly Provisions to accommodate these Men cannot come to less than One hundred and fifty Pounds sterling and Ten Months at Six hundred and fifty Pounds per Month amounts to Six