The West Indies: Being a Description of the Islands, Progress of Christianity, Education, and Liberty Among the Colored Population GenerallyPrince, Nancy
History
The West Indies: Being a Description of the Islands, Progress of Christianity, Education, and Liberty Among the Colored Population Generally
Prince, Nancy
Black people -- Jamaica; Jamaica -- Description and travel; West Indies -- Description and travel
Black river, in the Parish of St. Elizabeth, is the only one
navigable; flat-boats bring down produce from plantations about 30 miles
up the river. Along the coast, and on the plains the weather is very hot;
but in the mountains, the air is pure and wholesome; the longest days in
summer are about thirteen hours, and the shortest in winter about eleven.
In the plains are found several salt fountains, and in the mountains,
not far from Spanish Town, is a hot bath of great medicinal virtues;
this gives relief in the complaint called the dry bowels malady, which,
excepting the bilious and yellow fevers, is one of the most terrible
distempers of Jamaica. The general produce of this Island is sugar,
rum, molasses, ginger, cotton, indigo, pimento, cocoa, coffees, several
kinds of woods, and medicinal drugs. Fruits are in great plenty, as
oranges, lemons, shaddocks, citrons, pomegranates, pine-apples, melons,
pompions, guavas, and many others. Here are trees whose wood, when dry,
is incorruptible; here is found the wild cinnamon tree, the mahogany, the
cabbage, the palm, yielding an oil much esteemed for food and medicine.
Here too is the soap tree, whose berries are useful in washing. The
plantain is produced in Jamaica in abundance, and is one of the most
agreeable and nutritious vegetables in the world: it grows about four
feet in height, and the fruit grows in clusters, which is filled with a
luscious sweet pulp. The Banana is very similar to the plantain, but not
so sweet. The whole Island is divided into three counties, Middlesex,
Surry, and Cornwall, and these into six towns, twenty parishes, and
twenty-seven villages.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account