Since that time, however, the seasons have been favourable; and the crops of 1788, 1789 and 1790, were considerable. May the inhabitants be thankful, that it has thus pleased the Divine Providence to remember mercy in judgment; and may past misfortunes teach them those lessons of fortitude, frugality and foresight, which always alleviate afflictions, and sometimes even convert them into blessings.

Nothing now remains but to state the value of this island, considered as British property; of which the estimate is formed as follows;-250,000 negroes at fifty pounds sterling each, make twelve millions and a half; the landed and personal property to which these negroes are appurtenant (including the buildings) are very fairly and moderately reckoned at double the value of the slaves themselves; making twenty-five millions in addition to the twelve millions five hundred thousand pounds I have stated before; ' and in further addition, the houses and property in the towns, and the vessels employed in the trade, are valued at one million five hundred thousand pounds; amounting in the whole to thirty-nine millions of pounds sterling.

IN this delightful island, thus variegated by the hand of nature, and improved by the industry of man, it was my fortune to pass the spring of my life, under the protection and guidance of men whose wisdom instructed, whose virtues I hope improved me, -and whose tenderness towards me expired only with the last sigh that deprived me of them for ever. Towards persons whose memories are thus dear to me,--who were at once a blessing and an ornament to the country of which I write,—my readers will, I hope, allow me to offer in this place, a tribute of affectionate and respectful remembrance. One of those persons devoted some years to the improvement of , my mind in the pursuits of knowledge. From the precepts and instructions, and still more from the beautiful compositions, of ISAAC TEALE, I imbibed in my youth that relish for polite literature, the enjoyment of which is now become the solace of my declining years. If the public has received my writings with favour, it becomes me to declare that, whatever merit they possess is due to the lessons inculcated, and the examples supplied by my revered and lamented friend. He was a clergyman of the church of England, and having for twenty years discharged the pastoral duties of a country curacy in an obscure part of Kent, was reluctantly prevailed on, at the age of forty-five, to exchange his stipend of £.40 per annum, for preferment in Jamaica. Here his virtues, learning and talents, attracted the notice of my distinguished

relation and bountiful benefactor, ZACHARY BAYLY; by whose kindness he was enabled to spend the remainder of his days in leisure and independency.In the society of these valuable friends, chiefly under the same roof, I passed the days of my youth, until my amiable preceptor in the first place, and my generous benefactor a few years afterwards, (neither of the mhaving reached his 50th year), sunk into an untimely grave! Of Zachary Bayly, the renown is familiar to every one who has resided in Jamaica at any time during the last forty years. I endeavoured to delineate his character on the stone which I inscribed to his memory; and fondly hoping that my book will be read where the stone cannot be inspected, I transfer to this page what his monument imperfectly records:

INSCRIPTION IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF
ST. ANDREW, JAMAICA.

Near this place

Lie the remains of

ZACHARY BAYLY,

Custos and Chief Magistrate of the Precinct
of St. Mary and St. George, and one of his Majesty's
Hon. Council of this Island,
Who died on the 18th Dec. 1769,
In the 48th year of his age.

He was a Man

To whom the endowments of Nature render'd those
of Art superfluous.

He was wise without the assistance of recorded wisdom,
And eloquent beyond the precepts of scholastic

Rhetoric.

He applied, not to Books, but to Men,
And drank of Knowledge,

Not from the stream, but the source.

To Genius, which might have been fortunate without Industry,

He added Industry, which, without Genius, might have commanded Fortune.

He acquired Wealth with Honour,
And seemed to possess it only to be liberal.

His Public Spirit

Was not less ardent than his Private Benevolence:
He considered Individuals as Brethren,
And his Country as a Parent.

May his Talents be remembered with respect,
His virtues with emulation!

Here also lies,

Mingled with the same earth, the dust of NATHANIEL BAYLY EDWARDS, his Nephew:

In whom distinguished abilities and an amiable disposition,

Assisted by such an example,

Gave the promise of equal excellence:
When, on the 28th of January, 1771,
In the 21st year of his age,
He paid the debt to Nature;

His surviving Brother,
BRYAN EDWARDS,

Inscribes this Stone as a memorial of his Gratitude,

Affection and Esteem.

APPENDIX TO BOOK II.

No. I.

A general state of agriculture, and Negro population in the island of Jamaica, at the close of 1791, from the report of a Committee of the House of Assembly.

1,047

31,000

Coffee plantations

Grazing and breeding farms called penns
Of small settlements for the growth of
cotton, ginger, pimento, corn and o-
ther provisions, the number is not as-
certained; they are supposed (inclu-
ding the negroes in the several towns)
to give employment to

Total number of enslaved negroes in
Jamaica in 1791

58,000

250,000