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Article DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF TRINIDAD, Page 1 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Description Of The Island Of Trinidad,
DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF TRINIDAD ,
TiECENTLY CAPTURED FROM THE SPANIARDS . HPHE Island of Trinidad is ninety miles in length , ancl sixty in " - breadth ; is separated , by the Boca del Dragon and the Gulp h ds Paria , from the Spanish Main ; and lies eig hty miles N . W . of the
River Oroonoko , abounding in the same kinds of produce as the other Islands in the same latitude . The soil of the Island has always been found to be most peculiarly adapted to cotton , and the quality which it produces is of the finest sort , superior to any of the Leeward Island growth . Tobacco is also a very principal article of the produce of Trinidad ;
it is of a very superior quality , equal to the Virginia growth , or that of Porto Rico . This Island also produces Cocoa , and from its vicinity to the Caraccas , would supply us with the best growth of that commodity from the Continent . The neihbourhood too of Oroonoko and Comniana abound with
g hard wood , mules , and cattle , and consequently furnishes us so great an export of hides , as offers considerable advantages to that branch of trade . . The importance of this possession did not begin to impress itself upon the minds of the Spanish Ministers until the year 1783 , when ,
by a Royal Cedula , issued at Madrid on the 24 th of November , certain privileges and immunities , to encourage the settlement and cultivation of this Island , were allowed to the inhabitants , and such other persons ' ( Roman Catholics ) as might resort thither . By this Cedula , the Island was to be parcelled out , in suitable allotments , and exemptions of taxes were granted for the first ten years , from the ist of January 1785 so that we obtain possession of the Island at the
; moment it was judged that its cultivation would be completed . This conquest relieves us from a grievance , which at the first settling of the Island led to great inconveniences , and occasioned very serious complaints from many of our own islands ; it arose from one of the clauses of the Spanish ' Cedula , whereby it was enacted , that free Negroes , or Mulattoes , who should fix their residence in this Island ,
were respectively to be entitled to an allotment , equal to one half of what was designed for each European , in proportion to the number of slaves each Negro or Mulatto should bring with him . This encouragement to fugitive Negroes , added to the declaration of the Spanish Governor , that upon their arrival there from any of the Antilles they should be free , occasioned such abuses , that se- - rious remonstrances were made by our Court to that of Spain , in the year 1790 ; in consequence of which a Royal Order , dated fronv VOL . VJII , G g
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Description Of The Island Of Trinidad,
DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF TRINIDAD ,
TiECENTLY CAPTURED FROM THE SPANIARDS . HPHE Island of Trinidad is ninety miles in length , ancl sixty in " - breadth ; is separated , by the Boca del Dragon and the Gulp h ds Paria , from the Spanish Main ; and lies eig hty miles N . W . of the
River Oroonoko , abounding in the same kinds of produce as the other Islands in the same latitude . The soil of the Island has always been found to be most peculiarly adapted to cotton , and the quality which it produces is of the finest sort , superior to any of the Leeward Island growth . Tobacco is also a very principal article of the produce of Trinidad ;
it is of a very superior quality , equal to the Virginia growth , or that of Porto Rico . This Island also produces Cocoa , and from its vicinity to the Caraccas , would supply us with the best growth of that commodity from the Continent . The neihbourhood too of Oroonoko and Comniana abound with
g hard wood , mules , and cattle , and consequently furnishes us so great an export of hides , as offers considerable advantages to that branch of trade . . The importance of this possession did not begin to impress itself upon the minds of the Spanish Ministers until the year 1783 , when ,
by a Royal Cedula , issued at Madrid on the 24 th of November , certain privileges and immunities , to encourage the settlement and cultivation of this Island , were allowed to the inhabitants , and such other persons ' ( Roman Catholics ) as might resort thither . By this Cedula , the Island was to be parcelled out , in suitable allotments , and exemptions of taxes were granted for the first ten years , from the ist of January 1785 so that we obtain possession of the Island at the
; moment it was judged that its cultivation would be completed . This conquest relieves us from a grievance , which at the first settling of the Island led to great inconveniences , and occasioned very serious complaints from many of our own islands ; it arose from one of the clauses of the Spanish ' Cedula , whereby it was enacted , that free Negroes , or Mulattoes , who should fix their residence in this Island ,
were respectively to be entitled to an allotment , equal to one half of what was designed for each European , in proportion to the number of slaves each Negro or Mulatto should bring with him . This encouragement to fugitive Negroes , added to the declaration of the Spanish Governor , that upon their arrival there from any of the Antilles they should be free , occasioned such abuses , that se- - rious remonstrances were made by our Court to that of Spain , in the year 1790 ; in consequence of which a Royal Order , dated fronv VOL . VJII , G g