There is another quality remarkable in the fire flies, which is, that several of them being killed and mashed together will produce the same effect, and be as visible in letters marked out on the walls of a dark room, as if done with artificial phosphorus; and this for a considerable time after the flies are dead.
The loggerhead fly is a species of the moth, from which it differs only in the uncommon largeness of its head, and a singular quality of transparency in its body; which latter is very remarkable, for placing this fly near to the light of a candle, you may plainly distinguish every part of its vitals, and distinctly count every movement of them.
The Spaniard fly and free-mason fly are both of the wasp kind, but they differ from each other in size, shape, and also in the substance and curious manner of making their nests. The first is of the shape of a small bee, and builds its nest of a waxy matter, in the form of a small flat button full of holes, which it suspends by a silky ligament to the cielings of houses, or to the boughs of trees, where it has the benefit of the wind to vibrate to and fro.
The free-mason fly is exactly of the shape, size, and colour of a wasp, and builds its nest of mud, in the shape of organ barrels. It is curious to see these little creatures at work, they shew so much art and industry, some of them fetching the mud in their mouths, while others are forming their small cones, or filling them up when finished with numbers of various-coloured small spiders, which they also bring in their mouths, for food to their young when hatched.That which is further remarkable of these flies is, that it appears they qualify the spiders, by some means, for remaining a long time in as perfect a state as the first day they were immured in their cells; I have seen spiders, so immured for several weeks, as whole and perfect in size, shape, and colour, as when alive.
There is another species of these flies, called galley wasps, which is double the size and of a bright light-blue colour. These have very long stings, which are plainly to be seen when they are flying, with which they wound very severely, causing the blood to spout out, as from the prick of a lancet.
The sting of these flies is very painful, and persons have been thrown into fevers by being stung severely by them; but they are seldom offensive, unless disturbed.
The wood-horse, called by the negroes the fairy-horse, is a very singular insect. Its headis like that of a grasshopper, it has two horns, considerably longer than its own body, which is about three inches, and of one continued thickness, like a large caterpillar. It has six legs, which are raised and doubled above its body, like the springing legs of a grasshopper, but they have not the same power, serving it only to walk with, which it does very fast. It has no wings, is of a deep green colour, and is perfectly harmless.
The vegetable fly is a remarkable insect. It is of the appearance and size of a small cockchafer, and buries itself in the ground, where it dies, and from its body springs up a small plant, which resembles a coffee-tree plant, only its leaves are much smaller. The plant which springs from this insect is often overlooked, from the supposition people have of its being no other than a coffee plant; but on examining it properly, the difference is easily distinguished, from the head, body, andfeet of the insect appearing at the root, as perfect as when alive.
In the woods of Dominica are vast swarms of bees, which hive in the trees, and produce great quantities of wax and honey; both of which are equal in goodness to any of those articles to be had in Europe.
The musquitoes and sand flies are not so numerous, or so troublesome in this country, as they are in most parts of the West Indies, owing to there being but few spots of stagnated water, which breeds them.
The musquito is a species of the gnat kind, but rather smaller than the common gnat in England. The sand fly is not much larger than the head of a large pin, but is a very tormenting little insect in some islands, particularly to persons newly arrived from Europe.
Ants are very numerous in Dominica, and are of several sorts; as the large black ant, the brown ant, the red ant, the flying ant, and the wood ant. The latter is the most troublesome, as they are very destructive to trees, and the timber in houses; which they will reduce to dust in a short time, if suffered to take up their abode therein. The best method to prevent this is, to rub the timber with tar or turpentine, which hinders their attacking it, or, if already there, to sprinkle arsenic in their nests, which kills them.
The other sorts of ants are injurious only to particular articles, as new sown seed, the buds and fruit of trees, especially in dry seasons, when sometimes they cover the ground in such numbers, as is truly astonishing.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE DIFFERENT ARTICLES OF WEST INDIA PRODUCE, RAISED IN THE ISLAND; THE NUMBER OF SUGAR AND COFFEE PLANTATIONS THEREIN, WITH REMARKS.
The several articles of West India produce raised in Dominica for commerce are, sugar, rum, coffee, cocoa, and indigo.
There are not more than fifty sugar plantations at present in this island, above thirty estates of that description having been abandoned, owing to several causes; and among others, to the imprudence and mismanagement of some of the first proprietors of them; and to the great disadvantages this island laboured under, while it was in the possession of the French last war.
It was a great misfortune, that on the first settlement of this country by the English, so great a rage prevailed in the new settlers for having extensive estates, as many of them were no ways qualified for the laborious task of establishing a valuable property, by clearing the woods, and proceeding, not only to superintend, but to get forward by degrees, with industry and œconomy.
They flattered themselves, that without all this, in the course of a few years, their fortunes would be made, as they had very large estates; but they did not consider the consequences of borrowing money at eight per cent. which was allowed in Dominica at that time.—The forming new estates with new negroes, instead of seasoned ones, at a time when that climate was, from the quantity of its wood, so unsettled, that it rained best part of the year.—The extra labour of making roads, and carrying materials for building, whichtook up at least eighteen months, before any produce could be planted.—Whilst in several instances, some of them spent the money, which was intended to forward their plantations, in unnecessary buildings; or in an unwarrantable luxury of living.
Others, from an unpardonable greediness, purchased, in the names of their acquaintances or families, several lots of land, each containing the number of acres limited in the grants; by which means, persons who would have been more fit settlers, were deprived of them; and large quantities of land thus purchased, are now in the same state (in woods) as they were, when first sold at the Commissioners sales nearly thirty years ago.
Another material cause, to which the reduction of sugar plantations in this island may be attributed, is, that several of the first English settlers, from a want of knowledge inthe choice of lands, proper for the immediate cultivation of the sugar-cane, had chosen such places in the interior parts of the country, as were on the tops of high mountains, or surrounded by vast woods; which affording too much shelter from the sun, and being subject to too frequent great rains, chilled the canes, rendering their juice unfit for making sugar. Not but that, was the whole of the cultivable lands there to be cleared of their woods, there are few situations, even in the most interior parts, but would be proper for the growth of that article.
By this imprudent conduct of such of the new settlers, after they had spent considerable sums of money, which they had borrowed on the credit of their plantations so situated, and having lost a number of negroes and cattle by the dampness of the climate in those places, together with the difficult and laborious roads to them, they were at length driven to the necessityof abandoning their possessions to the mortgagees in Europe.
These latter, it is presumed, having taken an unfavourable opinion of the mortgaged premises, from having been sufferers already in the loss of considerable sums they had lent on them; and not knowing, or not considering the value of such property at a future period, are unwilling to advance more; at least the majority of the mortgagees seem to be disposed to let their lands remain in the same neglected, abandoned situation they have been in these several years past, to the great hindrance of the prosperity of that valuable island, as well as their own detriment.
It is computed, that on an average, one year with another, there are not more than three thousand hogsheads of sugar made annually in Dominica. This is certainly a verysmall quantity of that article for such an extensive island, or even for the number of plantations in it, at present under cultivation: for, supposing these fifty estates contained only two thousand acres of land in canes, which is a very small calculation, as several single estates have upwards of one hundred acres, and few less than sixty: this is at the rate only of a hogshead and a half per acre.
In the English old settled islands, three hogsheads of sugar for every acre in canes, on an average, is considered as a very moderate produce; for, after good seasonable weather previous to the crop, some lands have been known to yield from four to five hogsheads per acre. From the great disproportion in point of yielding, between the lands of other islands and those of Dominica, the superior fertility of the former may be inferred; which, however, is by no means the case: for the landsof the old islands, from having been a considerable number of years under cultivation, are so much worn out, as to require great attention to make them bear the culture of the sugar-cane. And the Planters there are obliged to let the land lie a year or two fallow occasionally, or only plant such vegetables as yams and potatoes, the roots of which open and enrich the soil; beside, it must be well dunged previous to planting.
Again, no more than one-half in some plantations, in others only one-third part of the land is yearly planted with canes; the other part being prepared for growing rattoons, turned into pasture for cattle, or given to the negroes for gardens, in order to improve and render it fit for the canes. The rattoons, it is necessary to acquaint the readers, who may probably not know the sugar-cane, are second canes, which spring from the roots of plant canes, after they have been cut down andmade sugar of; which the rattoons produce in like manner, but generally not in an equal quantity with the other. Of these, the lands of the old islands will bear but one crop, in Dominica they will rattoon four or five years running, and the last year’s yielding of sugar will be as great as the first.
The sugar estates in the old islands have generally a number of barren spots in them, called “Yellow spots;” the sterility of which no art can overcome so as to make them bear canes to any perfection; for though they will spring up, yet they soon change from a green to a yellow colour, and rot in the ground. And, moreover, the old islands are frequently subject to long and severe droughts, which never happen in Dominica; and there is every reason to suppose they never will, from the great number and heighth of its mountains, together with the vast quantity of woods, which it will be next to impossibleever to clear away in some parts of the island.
The land of Dominica is quite new, very little of it having been more than thirty years under cultivation, and a great part of it, it is probable, never since the creation; the soil thereof produces vegetation so quick, that it is truly amazing; and this vigour is particularly conspicuous in the sugar-cane, for it has been seen there of the length of sixteen feet and upwards, and double the thickness that it in general attain in other islands.
The lands on the sea-coast have abundantly the advantage of the interior country, for forming sugar estates; but then, they are contiguous to, or are overtopped by vast woods, and have not the benefit of an uninterrupted, warm air, which is necessary for the growth of canes to any perfection. Besides, the damps from the woods near them, rising in heavyfogs, has a bad effect on canes; and though the lands on the sea-coast all lie on a declivity, yet the under stratum of the soil being either a stiff clay, or strong terrace, so much water is retained from the frequent rains, occasioned by the woods, as to chill the soil.
These considerations seem to point out the necessity, in order to render Dominica a good sugar country, of clearing the extensive forests of trees in the interior parts of it. When this is done, and not till then, will this island be distinguished for the number of its sugar plantations, and for the quantity of sugar it is absolutely capable of raising.
There are above two hundred coffee plantations in Dominica; but the principal and most productive of them belong to French proprietors, who raise great quantities of coffee, which they dispose of to the English merchants, who export it to Europe. There are, however,several valuable estates of that description belonging to the English inhabitants of it; and the coffee produced in this island is esteemed superior to that of most others in the West Indies.
It is computed, that, one year with another, there are between four and five millions of pounds weight of that article produced, and exported annually from this island to Great Britain, where it sells from 4l. 15s. to 5l. 5s, per hundred weight.
The cultivation of cocoa is not much attended to by the English planters; and the small quantity which is exported, is chiefly raised on the plantations of the French inhabitants.
Indigo is manufactured on only two or three English estates in the island; but they have lately very much neglected that article, owingto too frequent rains, occasioned by the extensive woods.
Cotton trees thrive extremely well in the land on the sea-coasts of Dominica, but the cultivation of them is, at present, wholly neglected; as is also that of ginger. The latter having been formerly planted in estates that are now abandoned, it grows there spontaneously, and in great luxuriance.
The cassia-fistula, and castor-oil nut trees, are both raised on some plantations, but very little of the produce of either is exported. The cassia-fistula was considered by the French as so valuable an article, that soon after they were in possession of Dominica last war, an ordinance of the French King was proclaimed in Roseau, for every-planter in the country to give in an account of the number of cassia-fistula trees he had growing on his estate.
Tobacco grows in great perfection, but it is only cultivated by the negroes, who raise it in their gardens for their own use.
Dominica is, beyond dispute, the most valuable island belonging to Great Britain in that part of the world, for the vast quantities and excellency of the farinaceous fruits and roots of the West Indies; such as plantains, bananas, manioc, or cassada, yams, sweet potatoes, cushcushes, tanias, eddoes, &c. &c. some of which are not to be found in the other islands, but which grow spontaneously in the woods of this. Among these are, the wild yams, which grow there in great abundance, and were the chief food of the runaway negroes for a number of years, till it became necessary to reduce them.
Also Guinea corn, Indian corn, and rice, grow extremely well in Dominica; the latter especially, which being introduced there bythe American refugees, flourishes in the moist, flat lands, and yields in great perfection. The large plantations there of plantains and bananas, exceed any thing of the kind in the old islands; the inhabitants of which are often obliged to have recourse to this country for a supply of those fruits.
NAMES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF PARTICULAR WEST INDIA FRUITS WHICH GROW IN THE ISLAND; ALSO OF EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN FRUITS, HERBS, VEGETABLES, AND FLOWERS; WITH OBSERVATIONS ON THEIR PROPERTIES, &c.
The island of Dominica produces every species of fruit peculiar to the West Indies; all which grow there in great perfection. The principal are, oranges, lemons, limes, citrons, shaddocks, water lemons, granadillas, sappadillas, pomegranates, alligator pears, mountain pears, pine apples, rose apples, star apples, sugar apples, custard apples, mamma apples, guavas, sea-side grapes, cocoa nuts, conk nuts, soursops, papaws, cashew apples, and tamerinds.
The oranges in this island are of three sorts, the China orange, the bergamot, and theSeville orange. The first sort is far superior, in flavour and sweetness, to any fruit of the kind to be had in England; the bergamot orange is small, but it is a most delicious fruit; and the Seville orange is very serviceable. The blossoms of their trees have a delighting fragrant smell, which is to be scented at a great distance; and the fruit, when ripe and full on them, has a very pleasing appearance.
The lemon and lime trees bear also very aromatic, scenting blossoms; and the fruit of both is in great abundance, large, and of an excellent quality. Of these, the latter especially, great quantities are often sent in barrels to England and America; the neighbouring English islands are likewise often supplied with them from this country, especially those of Antigua and Barbadoes.
The citrons are large, but are chiefly valuable for their rinds, as with them are made the best kind of sweetmeats.
The shaddocks are of two sorts, the one white in the inside, the other red; they are a large fruit, some of them being as big as a good sized musk-melon; but the red sort of them is most admired. The juice is contained in separate divisions of a thin, skin-like substance, as transparent as diamonds, and which have much the look of them, finely squared and polished. It has a sweet taste, tinctured with a bitter, and when the fruit is ripe is very agreeable, and reckoned a good addition to a glass of Madeira wine after dinner. The rinds of them also make good sweetmeats.
The water lemon is a fine fruit, of the shape and size of a dunghill fowl’s egg. The rind of it is of a bright yellow colour, theinside is full of small, flat seeds, covered with a juicy pulp, which has a very agreeable, musky taste. It grows on a vine, which bears a very beautiful blossom, very much resembling the passion flower; and the vine is much admired, because it affords the most delightful shade when turned over an arbour.
The granadilla is ratherlarger than the largest sized Lisbon lemon, and is an excellent fruit. It also grows on a vine, which bears a delightful sky-blue and yellow blossom, very fragrant, and of the same appearance as that of the water lemon, but much larger. The rind of the fruit is also of a yellow colour, but not so bright as the other; and the inside is full of seeds covered with a juicy pulp, but not of so musky a taste. The granadilla is much recommended to people in fevers, its juice being very cooling. The rind of it mixed with a little lime-juice, makes an excellent tart, nearly equal to those made withEnglish apples; and so very refreshing is the scent of these fruits, that many people suffer them to decay on their side-boards, for the sake of their agreeable smell.
The sappadilla is of the size and make of a bergamot pear, its juice is of a gluey nature, and of a sweet taste. The tree which bears it resembles a pear-tree, and its timber is very serviceable for mills, or to make cartwheels of.
The pomegranates in Dominica are not so large as those brought to England from other countries; but they are fleshy, sweet, and good, when thoroughly ripe. They bear a delightful scarlet-coloured blossom, which, in size and make, is very like the flowers called blue-bottles; and the skin, or shell of the fruit, being boiled into a decoction, is given to persons afflicted with the flux.
The alligator pear is of the shape of an English bell pear, but is much larger. There are two sorts of this fruit, the one of a purple-coloured rind, the other of a pale green: the latter is the largest, and most esteemed. They are excellent fruit, and are greedily eaten by all kinds of animals; for even horses, who are in general not fond of fruit, will eagerly eat them. This is the fruit which is called in the West Indies “Vegetable marrow,” from its rich melting taste, and it is justly reckoned the best and most wholesome fruit of the country.
Some people eat them with salt and black pepper, others with lime-juice and syrup, and some without either; but the generality of the French eat them with fish or flesh, with which they are very relishing. The seed of the alligator pear, which is nearly one-third part of the fruit, and shakes within it when ripe, has the appearance of the inside part of a horse-chesnut,and has a very firm colour; for which reason it is commonly used to mark linen with. This is done, by covering the seed with the cloth, and pricking out the letters with a pin; the juice filling up the punctures, stains the form of the letters so durably, that they are not to be washed out, only decaying with the cloth.
The mountain pear is found growing only on barren heights, or on the sides of steep precipices; it grows on a tall, fluted-like stalk, that has the appearance of a well-wrought, fluted, slender pillar, full of strong, sharp prickles. The fruit is of the size of a pippin, its skin is of a beautiful crimson colour; when this pear is cut open, it presents an innumerable quantity of fine black seeds, which are covered with a juicy pulp of the same colour as the skin, its taste is much like that of a strawberry; by which name the fruit is sometimes called.
Pine apples grow in Dominica to a great size, and are in general very juicy, but they are not so good as in most other islands, owing to the too great moisture of the ground, which makes them grow too luxuriant and watry. Pine apples sliced, covered with brown sugar, and left some time to drain out their juice, make an excellent drink, after being strained, and set by for a time in bottles.
The rose apple is chiefly esteemed for its fine scent, which resembles that of the flower after which it is called. It is, however, eat by many, but is reckoned unwholesome; being put up with linen, it gives it an agreeable scent, equal to that of lavender.
The star apple, so called from the blossoms of the tree which bears it, resembling a star, is a fine fruit, of the size and shape of a large plumb, of a purple colour; and its juice is ofan agreeably sweet taste, and of a gluey nature.
The sugar apple is a singular fruit, about the size of a middling-sized English apple, but in appearance differs from any fruit of that name, as it does also in quality. The rind of it is crossed in divisions, the shape of diamonds in a card, which are considerably raised above the furrows between each, and stand in regular rows. The outside is of a pale green colour, the inside has a great number of hard, black seeds, which are nearly as big as peas, and are covered with a moist, gritty pulp, which has the taste of sugar; and it is reckoned very wholesome.
The custard apple is of much the same nature with the former, only the skin of it is smooth, of a rust colour, and the inside pulp less gritty, resembling in taste a custard, after which it is called.
The mamma apple is a large fruit, of the size in general of a middling-sized musk melon, but some are much smaller. The rind of it is thick, strong, and has the appearance of leather; the inside has three large nuts, or kernels, which are covered with a thick substance, of the colour of a carrot, very juicy, and in taste much resembling that of a peach. It is a delicious fruit when ripe, but is reckoned to be unwholesome, from its indigestive quality, yet they make tarts of it. The timber of the tree which bears the mamma apple is a very beautiful wood, durable, and is used for furniture.
Guavas are of three sorts, the white, the red, and the yellow guava; the first is the largest and most esteemed, but they are all very good. The white sort grows in general as large as a good-sized apple, the red rather smaller, and the yellow about the size of a golden pippin, which they also much resemble.The outside of these fruits is much like that of an apple, especially when half ripe, when they are used to make puddings or tarts of, which they make equal to an English apple, and are by many preferred. The inside of them is full of small, hard, and indigestible seeds, that are taken out when prepared for pastry, or for jelly; which latter they make in great perfection, and exceeding any thing of the kind.
The guava tree is of the shrub kind, but some of them grow tolerably large and lofty, especially those which bear the white guavas. Their timber and branches are very serviceable; and being durable, and of a supple nature, are used for making bows for cattle yokes, knees for canoes, or boats, baskets, &c. These trees have a singular property in them, as they are to be seen bearing ripe fruit, fruit just left by the blossoms, and blossoms in full bloom, all growing on the same branch.The blossoms close during the night, but being touched with the hand, or receiving the heat of the sun in the morning, they expand, diffusing the most delightful, fragrant scent.
The sea-side grapes are of the size of other grapes, but are the produce of a large spreading tree, which bears them in small clusters. They have only one seed, which is nearly as large as the fruit, by which it is covered very thinly; have a very agreeable taste, but are of an astringent nature.
The cocoa nut is so well known, as to need no description; but they are not in such great plenty in Dominica, as in many other islands, owing to the little pains taken to plant them.
The conk nut is rather larger than a walnut, but grows from a vine, the blossoms of which are much like those of the water lemon. It has a thick, strong shell, full of seeds, likethe water lemon, but the juice of it is not so sweet.
The soursop is a fine fruit, large, and much of the shape of an heart. When unripe, it is of a brown colour, and its skin is covered with raised points like prickles, but they are not sharp. When ripe, it is of a fine green colour, the points fall off, and the skin is quite smooth. It is a very wholesome fruit, in taste resembling fine cotton dipped in syrup, with a little tincture of acid, of a very agreeable musky flavour, and much recommended in fevers.
The fruit and the leaves of the soursop have a very singular quality in them, for the fruit will rot on the ground without the least visible appearance of worms, although most animals and birds are very fond of it; and the leaves being scattered in a room infested with fleas, soon clears it of those troublesome guests, bythe strength of the smell of the leaves, which, however, is very pleasant.
The papaw apples grow in clusters on stalks, but each of them, when full-grown, is larger than the largest-sized English apple, some nearly as large as a good-sized musk melon, and have nearly the same look. When half-ripe, they are used as a vegetable, and boiled, are a good substitute for turnips; when full-ripe, they are a great antidote to worms, and are recommended to persons afflicted with them: the seeds of the apple especially, which have a hot quality, like pepper, are reckoned good in that disorder.
The blossoms of the papaw tree are of a beautiful white and yellow colour, have a very odoriferous scent, and with the stalks are made pickles and preserves of. The juice of the apples, which, when they are unripe, is like thick milk, has the peculiar quality ofmaking tough meat tender, by being rubbed over with it.
The cashew apples grow of different forms, sizes, and colours, some being shaped like a quince, and of the same colour, some longer, more round, less, and of a purple colour, and others of both colours; but all have the same astringent quality as the quince. These apples have each a nut, which grows out in the middle of their tops, and is of the shape of a kidney; the shell of which nut contains an oil of a corrosive quality that will consume iron; and being rubbed on the skin of a person, it will cause it to blister, as if burnt or scalded. The apple is usually roasted, the juice pressed out, and put hot into punch, to which it gives a very fine flavour. The nut is also roasted, and the kernel of it is esteemed preferable to that of any other nut whatever. Of these nuts, quantities are often sent from this island to England as presents.
The tamarind trees grow here in great perfection, and the fruit of them is excellent, being much used in medicine, for which purpose they are very valuable, and the timber of the trees is very serviceable.
English and American apple trees grow well in Dominica, and several of them are on different plantations in the island; particularly on those of Alexander Stewart, Esq. William Urban Bueé, merchant, and on some French estates, where the trees bear a juicy, well-flavoured apple.
Also strawberries, rasberries, and several other European and American fruits grow here in great perfection; proving, beyond a doubt, that was a proper attention to be paid to the further settlement of this island, there is hardly any description of foreign fruits but what would flourish in this country.
The gardens produce the black and green muscadine grapes, figs, musk melons, water melons, cucumbers, gourds, pompions, English, American, and West India beans and peas, cabbages, carrots, turnips, parsnips, lettuces, radishes, horse-radish, asparagus, artichokes, spinage, celery, onions, eschallots, thyme, sage, mint, rue, balm, parsley, and all sorts of vegetables and herbs, all which grow in this island in great perfection.
The flowers are, roses, tuberoses, pinks, jessamines, and several other sorts peculiar to the island; which latter grow spontaneously; some are very curious, and most of them have a very odoriferous smell.
The sensitive plant grows there spontaneously, and in great abundance; also the ipecacuanha, and the latter is often fatal to horses, cattle, and sheep, who chance to bite of it in feeding;for which reason it is necessary to eradicate it as much as possible out of the pastures. This plant bears very beautiful, scarlet and yellow flowers, which, with the leaves, are put into boiling water, and given as an emetic; but, without great experience, this method of using them is dangerous, and has proved fatal to many, who imprudently took too great a quantity of the infusion; for which reason great care should be taken in using it.
CONTAINS AN ACCOUNT OF THE TRADE OF THE ISLAND, PREVIOUS TO THE REDUCTION THEREOF BY THE FRENCH LAST WAR, WITH A RELATION OF THAT CIRCUMSTANCE; TOGETHER WITH THE ARTICLES OF CAPITULATION BY WHICH IT SURRENDERED.
During the space of the last five years, prior to the breaking out of the disturbances in North America, the island of Dominica was in a very flourishing situation. The port of Roseau, which was then a free port, was resorted to by traders from most of the foreign West India islands, as well as from England and North America.
The French and Spaniards purchased in this island great numbers of negroes for the supply of their settlements, together with great quantities of merchandize of the manufacturesof Great Britain. These they paid for in gold and silver, or gave in exchange Muscovada and clayed sugar, coffee, cotton, gums, spices, ivory, mahogany, and dying-woods, the produce of their islands; all of which articles were exported to Great Britain in English bottoms; and thereby were productive of great advantages to the trade and navigation of the mother country.
The Americans imported thither lumber, boards, shingles, wood-hoops, staves, tobacco, flour, rice, salt-fish, horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, and feathered stock, the produce of North America. These were necessary articles for the new settlers, who paid for them in rum and molasses; or such other produce of the island as was at that time permitted to be exported in American vessels from the British West Indies.
The merchants of Dominica were then numerous, and were enabled to make regular yearly remittances, of considerable value, to their correspondents in England; and the planters of the country were furnished with the means of carrying on the settlement of their plantations with vigour.
Soon after the commencement of hostilities in America, and directly on the adoption of measures by the Americans by way of reprisal, the trade of Dominica to and with America was finally ended, and drew with it the loss of that, with the foreign West India islands.
This total ruin of trade was attended with serious consequences, fatal to the welfare of this island in particular, as being then only in a state of infancy with respect to its settlement; and it has never since been able to recover its former flourishing situation: for the merchants, tradesmen, and others, having nosale for their commodities, or work in their line of business, withdrew themselves to places where trade and commerce were more brisk; and the planters, from being deprived of the means of furnishing themselves with such articles as were immediately necessary for their new estates, were driven to abandon, or to postpone the further improvement of them.
In this deplorable state was the island of Dominica when it fell into the hands of the French on the 7th day of September, 1778. Some months previous to this calamitous event his Excellency, Thomas Shirley, Esq. then Commander in chief of the island, knowing the defenceless state it was in, and being apprehensive it would be attacked, in case of a rupture with France, which was then threatened, employed a number of men for the defence of fort Cashacrou; distributed the few soldiers then in garrison into such places aswere thought necessary, and took every precaution in his power to prevent a sudden attack.
Fort Cashacrou, at that time the chief place of defence in the island, is situated on a rock of about three hundred feet perpendicular, and is surrounded on three sides by the sea, being joined to the main land by only a narrow neck of land, which renders it so very defensible, that if well provided, a few men might keep it against as many thousands.
This measure, therefore, of Governor Shirley, who guarded this fort, reflects great credit upon him; and the consequences which happened soon after he quitted that government, from not pursuing his plan, is a lasting proof of his abilities.
About three weeks before the attack, a report prevailing that hostilities between England and France were actually commenced inEurope, some attempts were made to put the island into a posture of defence. The soldiers, of whom there were only ninety-four, inclusive of officers, were stationed at the forts in and above Roseau, and a few of them at Cashacrou; the militia mounted guard in that town, and patrolled the streets every night till daylight, and every step, that seemed necessary, was taken to prevent a surprize.
Saturday, the fifth day of September, that year, was the day of meeting for the militia to perform their exercise in the field; and it was remarked, that they went through their evolutions with a degree of celerity, nearly equal to regular troops.
Among the spectators in the field, on this occasion, were several French strangers from the island of Martinique, and among them was an officer of that nation of the name of Gabrouse, who was afterwards harbour-masterof the port of Roseau. These strangers were in quality of visitants to some of their acquaintances in the island; but their business was, in fact, to see what state the place was in, and to engage the non-resistance of the French inhabitants against the then meditated attack, as it appeared afterwards by the public boast of the said Gabrouse. However, in consequence of some intimation to the Lieutenant-governor, that officer was taken up as a spy; but after a slight examination he was suffered to depart; and the report of his being in that capacity was treated with unmerited contempt.
It is worth while remarking in this place, that there seems to have been a degree of fatality attending this island at that particular period, as, exclusive of the men placed by Governor Shirley at fort Cashacrou, being discharged from that service soon after his departure for England, some months before the invasion,every method was taken that could be thought of to guard against that event; and it was the determination of the English inhabitants, that should the island fall into the hands of the enemy, it should not be owing to their want of attention, or endeavours to prevent it.
But it so happened, and probably for wise purposes of Providence, as there is hardly a doubt but that the lives of many by that means were preserved, which would otherwise have been lost in the defence they certainly would have made, had they had timely notice to prepare for opposing the invading enemy.
This neglect of theirs was never so very conspicuous as on the last two days before the attack; for on the preceding Saturday, most of them were that evening at a public comedy acted in Roseau; and on Sunday evening, when the militia guard were composedof the chief civil officers and principal inhabitants, who turned out volunteers in that service; being unused to the hardships attending patrolling the streets all night, and watching to give notice of approaching danger, they preferred the more inviting enjoyments of diversions and good cheer in the guard-room; where, overcome by these amusements, between two and three o’clock in the morning they all retired to their own homes, wholly unapprehensive of further danger for that time.
This same evening, some ill-disposed French inhabitants found means to insinuate themselves into Cashacrou fort, where they contrived to make the few soldiers there on duty intoxicated with liquor, and afterwards filled up the touch-holes of the cannon with sand; so that when it was stormed by the French the next morning it was easily taken, and two of the English soldierspaid dearly, the consequence of their great imprudence, by the loss of their lives; being driven, with fixed bayonets, over the ramparts of the fort, and dashed to pieces by the rocks at the foot of it.
The enemy began the attack between three and four o’clock in the morning of Monday, the seventh of September that year; but they had intended to have made their invasion much earlier, having set out on the expedition from Martinique between the same hours the preceding evening, but were detained by calm weather in the channel between the two islands.
This was a very providential event for the English inhabitants of Dominica, as there is every reason to believe, that had the attack been made an hour sooner than it was, many of them would have been massacred in their beds; if not by the French soldiers, therewas every probability to apprehend it would have been done by a lawless banditti, composed of renegado white men, negros, mulattos, and the outcasts of society from several French and other foreign islands; who, with large knives and pistols stuck in their belts, were prepared for the perpetration of every species of rapine, barbarity, and murder. These wretches, upwards of one thousand in number, were obliged to be satisfied for their failure of plunder on this occasion, by a contribution laid on the inhabitants by the Marquis de Bouillé, of four thousand four hundred pounds current money, which was distributed among them a few days after the surrender of the island.
After the enemy were in possession of Cashacrou fort, in the manner before noticed, the major part of their forces being still at sea, those that were landed either judging it imprudent to advance to Roseau, or being satisfiedwith their then success, they fired off two guns from that fort, and let off several sky-rockets, as signals to their friends. This was likewise the first notice the inhabitants had of the attack, which was immediately announced, by firing an alarm gun, and beating to arms in the town.
Then was to be seen, visibly, the most poignant distress: the helpless women and children running, shrieking and crying through the streets; some of the women with their infants in their arms, others with such things of value as they could carry; the negroes terrified, running here and there,—all was, for a time, confusion, hurry, dread, and dismay, none knowing where to fly for safety from the invading enemy.
The situation of the white women and their children was, at that time particularly, pitiable; for, deprived of the protection of theirhusbands and fathers, who were obliged to leave them to go into the forts in defence of the country, they were left to the mercy and care of their slaves, to wade through rapid rivers, exposed to the inclemency of the weather, which happened then to be rainy; and in their way to a place of safety, encountering such difficulties as were hard to be endured by the sex. Their distresses were truly affecting, several of them died a short time after, from the fatigues they that day went through.
The militia in the town and suburbs of Roseau were soon in the field, to the number of not more than a hundred in the whole; few of the French inhabitants assembling at the first, and those that made their appearance soon after withdrew themselves, and were no more seen, till after the island was surrendered. The militia were distributed among the different forts in and above the town; where,with the assistance of the few soldiers, some of whom were of the artillery, they greatly incommoded the enemy while landing at point Michael, by firing from all the batteries which they occupied.
These were, however, in a very bad state; the gun-carriages were all rotten, so that after two or three discharges the wheels were broken to pieces. The cannon in Melville’s battery especially, where the most execution was done, being in that situation, were afterwards obliged to be laid on the parapets, there loaded, and fired off. Besides, in this fort they were obliged to load the cannon with loose powder, there being none of it made up into cartridges; and the cartridges that were used there were fetched by the militia from fort Young, which is upwards of half a mile distant from the other. Nevertheless, what with the firing from this fort, and from two field-pieces on a point of land just under it, the French troopswere greatly retarded when they endeavoured to attack Roseau, and upwards of forty of them were killed.
About noon the same morning, the whole of the enemy were landed, and pushed on their march for the town; when, having taken possession of the fort at Loubiere, which is adjoining thereto, they made several attempts to enter Roseau, but were as often driven back, by the very heavy firing then kept up from all the batteries.
Three times they were driven out of the fort at Loubiere, and twice when their colours were hoisted therein, the flag-staves were shattered to pieces by the balls from Melville’s battery: their Commissary-general was killed there, and the Marquis de Bouillé very narrowly escaped sharing the same fate, by the pieces of the flag-staves, which tore away the couteau from his side.
This severe cannonading so greatly intimidated the French, that they evacuated the fort they had taken with much precipitation, and retreated to the side of a hill just opposite to it, out of the line of fire. There they remained a considerable time, as if to meditate on some other mode of attack; but shortly after, about two thousand of them gained possession of the heights above Roseau, where they seemed to wait the coming on of night, to make their further approaches.
This last circumstance determined the fate of the island; as the Lieutenant-governor, seeing the danger to which the small force he had would inevitably be exposed by a further resistance, he, with the advice of his Privy-council, then assembled at the Government-house, sent out a Flag of Truce to the Marquis de Bouillé, with offers to surrender the island by capitulation.
This offer was readily accepted, and the Marquis, under protection of the Truce, came with it to the Government-house, in order to grant his terms, and to sign his part of the Articles of Capitulation. While this was doing, the firing from the batteries ceased, which gave two French frigates an opportunity of coming abreast of Roseau; when the Commanders of them, it is probable, not knowing that the island had surrendered, seeing the English colours still flying, with those of the French under them on the same staff, they fired some broadsides into the town.
This unexpected salute exasperating the militia, they immediately returned it with a forty-two pound cannon-ball, which, however, fell wide of its mark, the gun, in the hurry they were in to shew their resentment at so flagrant a breach, as they supposed, of the Truce, being ill-pointed. This the militia were soon ready to rectify, by pointinganother gun of the same metal point blank on one of the frigates, to which it would, doubtless, have done considerable damage; but just as the match was going to be put to the touch-hole, the Marquis, with the Lieutenant-governor, came running into the fort, and begged them to desist; at the same time, hailing the frigates from the ramparts, acquainted their Commanders with the surrender of the place.
Matters being thus accommodated, the two Commanders in Chief returned to the Government-house, where the Articles of Capitulation being ready, were, by both of them, duly signed and concluded. This being done, the Marquis returned to his troops; and soon after marched them into Roseau, thereby taking possession of the country for his most Christian Majesty.
It is worth while noticing here, the ceremonies used on this occasion, as it is to be hoped they may never again happen in Dominica. The French troops marched into the town in most regular and solemn order, the drums beating a slow march, and the French soldiers, with small boughs and flowers in their hats by way of laurels, with assumed fierce countenances as they came by our small force, seemed to threaten it with instant dissolution. The English soldiers and inhabitants, with two field pieces in their front, and lighted matches, their muskets grounded, and standing in two divisions, the regulars on the right, the militia on the left. The latter were permitted to take up their arms, and to retire with them to their houses, amidst an almost lawless troop of ruffians, by whom they had to pass; and who, with curses and reproaches for being disappointed of plundering and murdering the inhabitants, still threatened them, if they were not satisfied. TheEnglish soldiers left their arms grounded, and retired to a place appointed for them by the Lieutenant-governor; and the next day were sent off the island, agreeably to the Articles of Capitulation, which are as follows: