A true & exact history of the island of BarbadosLigon, Richard
History
A true & exact history of the island of Barbados
Ligon, Richard
Barbados -- Description and travel; Plants -- Barbados; Sugar -- Manufacture and refining -- Barbados
Some other kindes of pleasures they have in _England_, which are not
so fully enjoyed in the _Barbadoes_, as, smooth Champion to walk
or ride on, with variety of Landscapes, at severall distances; all
there being hem’d in with Wood, and those trees so tall and lofty,
as to hinder and bar the view so much, as (upon a levell or plain)
no Horison can be seen. But upon the sides of Hills, which look
toward the Sea, your eye may range as far that way, as the globicall
roundnesse of that watry Element will give way to; but that once
seen, the eye is satisfied, and variety in that object there is none;
for no shipping passe that way, but such as arive at the Iland. ’Tis
true, that Woods made up of such beautifull Trees as grow there, are
pleasant things to look on, and afford a very plentifull delight to
the eyes; but when you are so enclos’d, as hardly to look out, you
will finde too quick and too full a satiety in that pleasure. But
as the Woods are cut down, the Landscapes will appear at farther
distances.
Now for the beauty of the Heavens, they are as far transcending all
we ever saw in _England_, or elsewhere 40 Degrees without the Line,
on either side, as the land-objects of the _Barbadoes_ are short of
ours in _Europe_. So he that can content himselfe with the beauties
of the Heavens, may there be sufficiently satisfied. But we Mortalls,
that till and love the earth, because our selves are made up of the
same mold, take pleasure sometimes to look downward, upon the fruites
and effects of our own labours; and when we finde them thrive by the
blessings of the great Creator, we look up to give thanks, where we
finde so great a glory, as to put us into astonishment and admiration.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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