s an article of cultivation at Eleuthera; and a
few years subsequently, during the American war of independence, colonists
arrived in great numbers, bringing with them wealth and also slave labour.
Cotton cultivation was now attempted on a large scale. In 1783, at Long
Island, 800 slaves were at work, and nearly 4000 acres of land under
cultivation. But the usual bad luck of the Bahamas prevailed; the red bug
destroyed the cotton crops in 1788 and again in 1794, and by the year 1800
cotton cultivation was almost abandoned. There were also other causes that
tended to retard the progress of the colony. In 1776 Commodore Hopkins, of
the American navy, took the island of New Providence; he soon, however,
abandoned it as untenable, but in 1781 it was retaken by the Spanish
governor of Cuba. The Spaniards retained nominal possession of the Bahamas
until 1783, but before peace was notified New Providence was recaptured by
a loyalist, Lieutenant-Colonel Deveaux, of the South Carolina militia, in
June 1783.

In 1784 and 1786 sums were voted in parliament to indemnify the descendants
of the old lords proprietors, and the islands were formally reconveyed to
the crown. The Bahamas began again to make a little progress, until the
separation of Turks and Caicos Islands in 1848, which had been hitherto the
most productive of the salt-producing islands, unfavourably affected the
finances. Probably the abolition of the slave-trade in 1834 was not without
its effect upon the fortunes of the landed proprietors. The next event of
importance in the history of the Bahamas was the rise of the
blockade-running trade, consequent on the closing of the southern ports of
America by the Federals in 1861. At the commencement of 1865 this trade was
at its highest point. In January and February 1865 no less than 20 steamers
arrived at Nassau, importing 14,182 bales of cotton, valued at L554,675.
The extraordinary difference between the normal trade of the islands and
that due to blockade-running will be seen by comparing the imports and
exports before the closing of the southern ports in 1860 with those of
1864. In the first year the imports were L234,029, and the exports
L157,350, while in the second year the imports were L5,346,112, and the
exports L4,672,398. The excitement, extravagance and waste existing at
Nassau during the days of blockade-running exceed belief. Individuals may
have profited largely, but the Bahamas probably benefited little. The