*The Reader may fee another Eftimate of the Produce, Exports, and Imports of Jamaica, in the Review, vol. XV. page 34, feq; upon which we made fome animadverfions; and, upon the whole, we are fill of opinion, that the above deferves the preference, which we mention as one reafon for inferting it.

By

6

By these two eftimates it appears, that after fuch a large allowance as 270,000l. for drains of abfentees, intereft money, luxuries, &c. there is a ballance in favour of this island ⚫ in its annual commerce with the mother-country, of 74,3441. 17s. 4d. towards enabling it to pay off its debts, befides the yearly improvements; and it appears, that Jamaica confumes of British manufactures and merchandize to the amount of 488,2081. 6s. 8d. this currency, which reduced into sterling, at 40 per cent. exchange, is 348,720l. 4s. 9d.; and that C by abfentees, lodgments, and for the education of youth, and intereft, 220,000l. is clear gain to Great Britain, which reduced into sterling, is

But allowing only one fourth of the
488,2081. 6 s. 8d. to be profit in the
• manufactures, &c. furnished, is

157142 17 1

112052 1 8

269194 189

Add to this the advantage (as a nursery for feamen, and a fupport of the trades concerned in fhipbuilding) of employing upwards of a hundred and fifty fail of fhipping, of 250 <tons each, or a lefs number of fhips of a greater burthen, to the fame amount, befides Guiney fhips, and the freight paid < out and home yearly, which, by the following calculation, ⚫ amounts to 209850l. 19s. 2d. sterling, viz.

For half freight out from Great Britain, &c. at at 51. per ton

-

• For returned freight to ditto of 400,000 gallons ❝ of rum, at 6ď.

209850 9 2

Upon the whole, this calculation feems to prove, that Ja'maica yields an annual profit of 479,0451. 7s. 11d. fterl ing to the mother-country, by its own confumption, trade, and employment of fhips, abfentees, and intereft- money; befides the profit on 75,510l. returns of the negro trade with Spain, and of other manufactures and merchandize fold there, the amount of which cannot be computed, but the whole may

• be

⚫ be supposed to yield 50,000l. profit: A noble tribute for her • tender care and protection! So precious a jewel in the crown of Great Britain, muft ever be fure of care and defence, to • fecure it from the attempts of our rival neighbours, fo long as Britons fway its fcepter, and maintains her empire of the ocean; and may that be to the latest ages! Perhaps Spain or • France cannot boast of any of their colonies of equal extent, ⚫ paying such a valuable and voluntary tribute to either of them; and it may vie with not the leaft valuable mines of his Catholic Majefty, in his new world, for importance and advantage: Befides, it seems little more than in its infancy as yet, and capable of being trained up to much greater usefulness and importance, if defended from the infults and depredations of coafting pirates, who fcreen themselves under the fanction of Spanish Guarda-coaftas, and obftruct our navigation; and if its real intereft is duly confidered, and promoted by a true public fpirit, unbiaffed by partial views, and unretarded by heats and animofities.

• Here it may be obferved, how confiftent it is with the pro'vident management and fagacity of the Jews, a people fo well < verfed in commerce, and watchful of their intereft, to let fo much of their wealth center among us; where they find they have fo fufficient fecurity in the country, and from an affurance that fo great a property of the fubject can never be neglected, nor can never fail of the care and protection of the mother-country, equal to the importance of it. And, on the other hand, how little juft caufe has our fellow-fubjects to fear, that their property in this ifland is not fecured; their great anxiety must proceed from mifreprefentations, and wrong apprehenfions of the circumftances of this ifland, or from a ⚫ want of fome neceffary qualities and regulations among ourfelves, perhaps to both: To point out fome of them has been endeavoured in this Enquiry.

But to form fome notion of the riches of Jamaica, and the value and importance of it to Great Britain, an estimate of ⚫ its value is attempted, tho' fhort of what it may appear on an exact scrutiny; for this is not fo compleat, or made with that accuracy it might, for want of proper helps and leisure; but far from being exaggerated, it is confined greatly within the bounds of truth.

An

6

An ESSAY towards an Eftimate of the Riches and Value of JAMAICA.

120,000 negroes, which confidering the number of trade negroes included, and others of a much greater value than field or labouring negroes, may be computed at 351. each

18,000 mules, allowing forty to each plan•tation, on an average, at 201. per head 27,000 fteers, allowing fixty to each plantation, at 121.

£4,200,000 oo

45,000 head of cattle in pens and polinks,
and employed for other ufes to make up
with the above mules and fteers 90,000;
of which 83,000 were given in 1740,
and are fuppofed to increase the other
7000; on an average of mules, fteers,
cows, horfes, and mares, at iol.
450 fugar plantations, supposed to produce
one with another eighty-nine hogfheads,
containing five hundred acres each, is
225,000, on an average of cane, pasture,
and wood-land, valued at 51. per acre
2,000l. allowed for works and improve-
ments on each plantation

110 cotton works, allowing each, on an a-
verage, to make ten bags of 180 lb. each,
and to require twenty acres for planting
cotton, and 120 for pafturage and provi-
fions, is 15,400, on an average at 31.
! per acre
60 Piemento walks, allowing on an average
each to make 10,000 lb. and to contain
100 acres, valued on an average at 31.
30 Ginger plantations, allowing each on an
average to make 70 bags of 100 lb. each;
and to require 146 acres each for ginger,
pafturage, and provifion; (tho' it is known
that of late much more is planted than
" was at the time from whence this compu-
tation is made, which, as all the others,
fhould be obferved to be upon an average
• of the last three years) is 4400 acres, on
an average at 31,

360,000 o o

324,000 o o

450,000 0 O

1,125,000 0

900,000 o o

46,200 o o

18,000 o o

13,200 0 0

Carried over . 7,436,400 oo

༠༠

Brought over. 7,436,400 o a 180 pens to raise 250 head of cattle each, ' which amounts to the 45,000 head before computed, each pen containing 600 acres, is 108,000, at 31.

360 polinks and provifion plantations, con-
taining each 200 acres, is 72,000, on an
at 31.
average
1600 houses in Kingston, lands and im-
· provements, valued on an average at
600l. each

< 100 ditto in Port-Royal, at 2001.

· 400 ditto in Spanish-Town, at 400l. Furnitures of 2100 houfes in the towns, on C an average at 300l. each

Ditto in 450 plantations, at 2001. each Houses and furniture in 540 pens and po· links, at 2001. each

324,000 o o

216,000 o o

960,000 o o

20,000 0 O 160,000 o o

630,000 o o

90,000 o o

108,000 o o

9,944,400 o o

2

So that by this computation, the riches and value of this island appears to be 9,944,400l. this currency, which reduced to fterling, at 40 per cent. is 7,103,1421. 175. Id. ; befides the merchandize in the hands of the Traders, and the floops, boats, and wherries, which may amount to at least half a Million fterling, and makes the value and importance of this island to Great Britain, to be at least 7,603,1121. 175. Id; exclufive of the fubjects, and of the advantage which the Northern Colonies reap from their traffic with us: and if the island was well inhabited, and the lands fufficiently cultivated, it might be of five times that value at least.

For, by this computation, only 430,800 acres of land are occupied; and according to the extent of this island, it may ⚫ be computed to contain four millions, as measured by the map and fcale in Sir Hans Sloane's Hiftory of Jamaica; and as the 430,800 acres now fuppofed to be occupied, tho' not sufficiently cultivated, are little more than one to nine of the whole, allowing four ninths to be barren and incapable of cultivation, then the remaining four ninths improved equal, and added to the 430,800 now occupied, would amount to 35,515,7141. 15s. 7d. fterling, and confequently this ifland would give employment to feven hundred and fifty fail of Britifh fhips, confume to the amount of 1,743,6031. 5s. 1d. 1 fterling of British merchandize and manufactures, and including freight, yield a profit of 1,710,8781. 4s. od. 3 yearly to

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