Religion. The bishop of London claims this and the other British West India islands, as a part of his diocese; but his jurisdiction is renounced by the laws of Jamaica. The governor, as head of the provincial church, inducts into the various rectories. The United Brethren, the Baptists, and the Methodists employ missionaries here, principally among the negroes.

Government.] The legislature of Jamaica is composed of the governor, of a council nominated by the crown, consisting of 12 gentlemen, and a house of assembly containing 43 members, who are elected by the freeholders. A bill becomes a law as soon as the governor's assent is obtained, but if the royal disapprobation is afterwards officially signified, it ceases to be valid.

Commerce.] The most important exports are sugar, rum, molasses and coffee, and next to these cacao, cotton, indigo, pimento. and ginger. The amount of sugar exported has gradually increased from 11,000 hhds. in 1742 to 140,000 in 1802. In 1791 the coffee exported amounted to about 600,000 lbs.; in 1807 it had increased to 28,500,000 lbs.

4. PORTO RICO.

Situation and Extent.] Porto Rico, called by the natives Boriqua, lies to the E. of Hispaniola, between 17° 54° and 18° 30' N. lat. and between 65° 30′ and 67° 45′ W. lon. It is 115 miles long from E. to W. and has a mean breadth of 36, containing 4,140 square miles. Its shape is nearly that of a paralellogram.

Face of the Country, Soil, &c.] The country is pleasantly diversified with hills and vallies. The soil is generally fertile. The principal agricultural productions are sugar, cotton, rice, maize, and tobacco. Hurricanes are not unfrequent, and are sometimes very destructive.

Chief Town.] St. Juan de Porto Rico, the capital, is on the north side of the island, about 15 leagues west from cape St. Juan. It stands on a peninsula in a spacious bay, and is connected with the main land by an isthmus of considerable length. The harbor is spacious and safe, and admits vessels of any burden. The entrance is less than half a mile wide, and the fortifications are strong and commanding. The population is variously estimated from 10 to 30,000.

Population.] The population in 1778 was 80,660. In 1795 it received a large accession from St. Domingo, many of the Spanish inhabitants of that island removing hither. At present it is supposed to exceed 100,000.

Government.] Porto Rico is a captain generalship. Orignally, with Cuba, it was a part of the viceroyalty of Mexico; then it was attached to the government of Cuba; and finally made a distinct province.

II. BAHAMAS.

Situation and Extent. The Bahama islands lie directly north of the Greater Antilles,and are separated from Cuba by the Old Bahama channel, and from Florida by the New Babama channel or Gulf of Florida. They lie between lat. 20° and 28° N. and between lon. 69° and 80° W.

Banks and Keys.] There are two noted banks in these seas; the Great and Little Bahama banks. The Great Bahama bank lies between lat. 21° 40' and 26° N. and between lon. 74° 50' and 80° 20′ W. Its length, from Verde key in the S. E. to Isaacs' key in the N. W. is 450 miles. Its breadth in the south is about 140 miles. A little north of the tropic it is divided by an arm of deep water called Providence bay.which is 100 miles long from S. E. to N.W. and about 30 broad, and opens on the N.W. side of New Providence into the N. E. channel. The Old Bahama channel separates this bank from Cuba, and the New Bahama channel from Florida; the N. W. channel on the N. divides it from the Little Bank; Rock sound and Exuma sound on the N. E. separate it from Eleuthera and Guanaḥani. Little Bank is bounded by the New Bahama channel on the W.; by the N. W. channel on the S.; by the N. E. channel on the S. E. and the Atlantic ocean on the N. E. Its length, from the Hole in the Wall in the S. E. to Maranilla Reef in the N. W. is about 180 miles. The depth of water on the Great Bank varies from one to seven fathoms ; on the Little Bank from three to twelve.

The Keys or Kays are rocks or sand islands scattered in great profusion over this part of the ocean. Their number has been computed at 700. The larger and more remarkable have received appropriate names; the rest are known only by the generic name of Keys.

Islands. Besides the Keys already mentioned, the Bahamas consists of 14 islands or groupes of islands. The following are their names arranged in geographical order, beginning in the S. E.

1. Turks islands.

2. Caicos.

3. The Inaguas.

4. Mayaguana.

8. Watling's island.

9. Guanahani or St. Salvador. 10. Eleuthera and Harbor islands. 11. New Providence.

5. Crooked island groupe 12. Andros.

6. Long island.

7. Eguma.

13. Abaco.

14. Great Bahama.

Turks islands are famous for their salt ponds, which in some years have yielded more than 30,000 tons of salt for exportation Guanahani, called by Columbus St. Salvador, and by the English sailors Cat island, is celebrated as the spot where Columbus first Janded in the new world.

Face of the Country, Soil, &c.] These islands are heaps of Fimestone and shells, covered with vegetable mould. The Keys are chiefly rocky and sandy: on some of them a few trees are found. All the large islands that front directly upon the Atlantic stretch from S. E. to N. W. and the ridge of each is in the same direction. The soil of all the islands is a thin but rich vegetable mould. It yields for a few years luxuriantly, but is soon exhausted. The chief production is cotton.

Navigation.] Owing to the immense number of sand hanks, rocks, and breakers, every where dispersed over these Seas, the navigation is extremely dangerous, and thousands of vessels have been wrecked here. Vessels bound to New Orleans from the United States first make for the Hole in the Wall, the southern point of Abaco. Proceeding through the N. E. channel, they enter on the Great Bank S. of Berry islands, and leave it S. of the Cat Keys, whence they make for the Havana. Those bound to Jamaica pass to the leeward of Crooked island, between it and the Great Bank, and leaving the Inaguas on the left make for the Windward channel between Cuba and Hispaniola.

Population and Occupations.] In 1803 the population consisted of 3.923 whites and 11,395 blacks; in all, 14,318. The inhabitants are divided according to their occupations into two classes, residents and wreckers. The residents are chiefly loyalists and their descendants, who emigrated from Carolina and Georgia at the close of the American war. The wreckers are constantly employed in the business of rescuing shipwrecked vessels with their crews and cargoes from the waves. They sail in small flat bottomed sloops, just fitted for the seas which they navigate. They are excellent sailors, are familiar with all the Keys, shoals and breakers; and with alacrity and courage encounter any danger or hardship. They are licensed by the governor, and receive salvage on all property rescued from the waves. The number of these vessels is very great, 40 sail being some times seen in one inlet. By day they are always cruising, at night they usually put into the nearest harbor. Their great places of rendezvous are the Florida Gulf, the Hole in the Wall, and the Hogsties. The Hogsties are small keys, with reefs of rocks on each side in the form of a horse-shoe, which form a harbor, in lon. 74° W. about half way between Grand Inagua and South Crooked island.

III. CARIBBEAN ISLANDS.

A. LEEWARD ISLANDS.

1. St. Thomas, about 12 leagues E. of Porto Rico, is 9 miles long and contains about 40 square miles. The soil is well water

ed and fruitful. The number of plantations is 74, of which 40 are devoted to the cultivation of sugar, and 34 to that of cotton. The population in 1815 was estimated at 5,050, of which number 550 were whites, 1500 free negroes and 3,000 slaves. St Thomas, the chief town, is on the S. E. side of the island, and has a safe and commodious port in which 200 ships can be accommodated.

2. St. Johns, 6 miles S. E. of St. Thomas, contains about 40 square miles. The soil produces sugar, coffee, tobacco and cotton. The population is 2430, of which number 180 are whites, 50 mulattoes and 2200 negroes.

3. Santa Cruz or St. Croix lies south of St. Johns, and contains about 100 square miles. The soil is tolerably fruitful and is divided into 346 plantations. The principal productions are sugar and cotton. The population in 1813 was 31,387 of whom 2,223 were Danes, 1,164 mulattoes and free blacks, and 28,000 slaves. Christianstadt, the chief town, and capital of all the Danish West India islands, is on the north coast. It has a harbor, a fort, 660 houses and 5,000 inhabitants.

The value of all the property, public and private, in the three Danish islands, is estimated at £5,014,440, viz. Santa Cruz £3,728,640; St. Thomas £747,800; and St. John £538,000.

4. Tortola lies N. E. of St. Johns, and is 15 miles long by 6 broad. It is well cultivated, and is one of the healthiest islands in the West Indies. It has a large and safe harbor on the S. E. side. The productions are sugar and cotton. Population about 10,000.

5. Virgin Gorda is 8 miles E. of Tortola. It is 15 miles long and produces sugar and cotton. The population is stated at 8,000. Anegada, the largest of its dependencies, is low and almost covered by water at high tides.

The five preceding islands are called The Virgin islands.

6. Anguilla or Snake island, so called from its winding tortuous figure, is about 30 miles long. It produces sugar, cotton, tobacco and maize, and has about 800 inhabitants. It belongs to the British.

7. St. Martin, 5 miles south of Anguilla, is 15 miles long and contains about 90 square miles. It produces sugar, cotton, and tobacco, but is principally valuable for its salt pits. The island was formerly divided between the Dutch and French, and afterwards between the Dutch and English, but it now belongs wholly to the king of the Netherlands. The population, amounting to 6,100, consists partly of Dutch and French, partly of mulattoes and negroes.

8. St. Bartholomew is a small island, 15 miles S. E. of St. Martin, containing about 60 square miles. It was first settled by the French in 1648, but in 1785 was ceded to Sweden, to whom it still belongs. It produces sugar, cotton, cacao, tobacco and manioc, also iron wood, and lignumvitae. There is no lake or spring on the island. The inhabitants depend on the skies for water, which they keep in cisterns, and when they fail, it is procured from St.

Christopher. The shores are dangerous and cannot be approached without a good pilot. The only port is Le Carenage, on the west side, near which stands Gustavia the principal town. Gustavia is inhabited by Swedes, English, French, Americans and Jews. The planters are chiefly French. The population is about 8,000, two thirds of whom are negro slaves.

9. Saba, a small island, 12 miles in circumference, lying 30 miles S. W. of St. Bartholomew, belongs to Netherlands, and is dependent on the neighboring island, St. Eustatius. It consists of a delightful valley which produces the necessaries of life, and the materials for several manufactures, but being destitute of any port, its commerce is very inconsiderable. The sea is shallow and full of rocks for some distance from the coast, and none but small vessels can approach very near. The access to the interior of the island is by a difficult road cut out of the rock, by which only one person can ascend at a time. The population is esti mated at 1,600.

Barbuda, belonging to the English, is 20 miles E. S. E. of St. Bartholomew, and is 21 miles long. The land is low but fertile, and produces cotton, pepper, indigo, tobacco and especially cocoa trees, which are here extremely fine. There is no harbor, but a well sheltered road on the west side. It belongs to the Codrington family, by one of whom the revenue arising from this island, and from several other plantations, was bequeathed to the society for propagating the Gospel. The population is estimated

at 1500.

11. St. Eustatius, 12 miles S. E. of Saba, and 9 N. W. of St. Christopher, is a huge rock rising out of the waves in the form of a pyramid, 29 miles in circumference. Sugar, cotton and maize are raised here, but the principal, production is tobacco which is cultivated on the sides of the pyramid to its very top. There is but one landing place, and that though difficult of access, is strongly fortified. The number of inhabitants is 20,000, of whom 5,000 are whites, chiefly Dutch. and 15,000 negroes. The isiand was taken by the English in 1801 but in 1814 was restored to the king of the Netherlands.

12. St. Christopher, called by sailors St. Kitts, is 9 miles S. E. of St. Eustatius, and contains 43,276 acres. or almost 70 square miles. The interior of the island consists of many rugged precipices and barren mountains. Mount Misery, the loftiest summit, rises 3,711 feet above the level of the sea. It is evidently a decayed volcano. Near the shore, the country is level and the soil extremely fertile, no part of the West Indies being so well suited to the production of sugar. Particular spots have been known to yield 5 hhds. of 16 cwt. each to the acre, and a whole plantation has yielded 4 hhds. to the acre. Of the 43,726 acres which the island contains, 17,000 are devoted to sugar, 4,000 to pasturage and perhaps 2 or 3,000 to cotton, indigo and provisions; the rest is unfit for cultivation. The population in 1794 was 25.000, of whom 4,000 were whites, and 21,000 negroes. Basseterre, the capital, is on the S. W. coast, at the mouth of a river