roceed from the extreme richness of the soil injuring the
quality of the sugar; just as with us, wines produced in soils of too
great fertility are apt to have a peculiar flavour. Another cause of this
is supposed to proceed from the climate of the island being too hot and
too moist, except in the month of June, July, and August, at which season
a fresh dry wind blows from Ethiopia to this island; and they then make
their best sugars.

The planters are obliged, to ship off their sugars as soon as they can
procure shipping, because they would become liquid if attempted to be
kept for a length of time. At present, not above two-thirds of the island
are appropriated to the cultivation of sugar; but any person who comes to
this island for the purpose of settling, whether from Spain or Portugal,
or any other country, may procure from the royal intendant as much land
as he is able to cultivate, and at a moderate price. The esculent root
which is known in the Spanish islands by the name of _batata_, is here
named ingame by the Negroes, and is their principal food, either boiled
or roasted under the ashes. There are different kinds of this root
produced on the island, but that which is known by the name of _igname
cicorero_ is preferred by the merchant vessels, all of which purchase
considerable quantities as a sea-stock for their homeward voyage, and the
Negroes cultivate them largely for the express purpose of supplying the
ships[11]. This island is distinguished by a high mountain in the middle,
thickly covered by tall, straight, and verdant trees, and its summit is
continually enveloped in clouds, whence water is diffused in numerous
streams all over the island. A large shallow stream flows through the
city of Pouoasan, supplying it with abundance of excellent water, which
the inhabitants reckon of a medicinal quality, and allege that St Thomas
would not be habitable if it were not for this river and its other
numerous springs and rivulets. The native trees are chiefly barren, and
though some olives, peaches, and almonds, were planted by the early
settlers, which soon grew with great luxuriance, they never bore any
fruit, and this has been the case with all stone fruits that have been
tried. But the cocoa-nut palm, brought hither from Ethiopia, has thriven
satisfactorily. Repeated attempts have been made to cultivate wheat, but
always unsuccessfully, though tried at different seasons of the year; as
the ear would never fill,