The island of Grenada is divided into six parishes, viz. St. George's, St. David's, St. Andrew's, St. Patrick's, St. Mark's, and St. John's; and, since its restoration to Great Britain in 1783, a Protestant clergy have been established by law. Four clergymen are alloned to the whole, and each is provided with an annual stipend of 330/. curren cy,* 60/. for house rent, and a considerable portion of the valuble glebe lands which had formerly been appropriated to the support of the Romish clergy, for whose benefit a part of the amount is still reserved. The capital of Gre nada, formerly named Fort Royal, but now St George, is situated close to the spacious bay on the west coast, alrea dy described, and is divided by a ridge into two towns ; the Bay-town, in which is a handsome square and market place ; and the Carenage-town, where the principal mer chants reside. On the ridge, between the two towns, stands the church ; and on the promontory above it is an old fort built of stone, and capable of accommodating an entire regi ment. The other towns are only villages or hamlets, which arc generally situated at the bays or shipping places.
The governor of the island is also chancellor-ordinary and vice-admiral, and his salary is 3200/. currency per annum, which is raised by a poll-tax on all slaves.• The council consists of twelve members, and the assembly of twenty-six. A freehold or life estate of fifty acres in the country, and of fifty pounds house rent in the capital, qualifies for a representative. Au estate of ten acres in fee, or for life, or a rent of ten pounds in any of the coun try towns, and a rent of twenty pounds out of any freehold or life estate in the capital, gives a vote in the election of the representatives. The law courts, besides those of chan cery and ordinary, in which the governor presides, are the court of grand sessions of the peace, held twice a year, in which the person first named in the commission of peace presides; the court of common pleas, in which a profes sional judge, with a salary of 600/. presides ; the court of exchequer, lately fallen into disuse ; the court of admiral ty, and the court of error, composed of the governor and council, for trying appeals. In all cases the common sta tute law of England is the rule of justice, unless where par ticular laws of the island interfere.
The white population of Grenada has decreased consider ably since it came into the possession of the British. In 1771 their number was above 1600; in 1777, they had diminish ed to 1300: and in 1791, they were not supposed to ex ceed 1200. Of these about two-thirds are able to bear arms, and are incorporated into live regiments of militia, with a company of free blacks, or mulattoes, attached to each. There are likewise about 500 regulars from Great Britain, for the defence of the island. The negro slaves, also, which, in 1779, were stated at 35,000, including those which were in the smaller islands, were found, in 1785, to have decreased to 23,926. The free people of colour amounted, in 1787, to whose evidence is received in the courts of law, upon proofs of their freedom being pro duced : and who are allowed to possess lands or tenements to any amount, provided they are not aliens.
There. are 80,000 acres of land in the island, but only 50,000 were brought into cultivation in 1791. The face of the country is •mountainous, but every where accessible, and well provided with rivulets and springs. On the west side, the soil is a rich black mould, lying on a substratum of yellow clay ; on the north and east, it is a brick mould ; on the south, and in the interior, it is of a reddish hue, and generally poor. In 1776, the exports from the island and
its dependencies were 14,012,157 lbs. of muscovado, and 9,273,607 lbs. of claycd sugar ; 818,700 gallons of rum ; 1,827,166 lbs. of coffee ; 457,719 lbs. of cocoa ; 91,943 lbs. of cotton ; 27,638 lbs. of indigo, and some smaller articles, the whole of which, at a moderate computation, was worth, at the ports of shipping, 600,0001. sterling. The sugar was the produce of 106 plantations, worked by 18,293 negroes, which gives rather more than a hogshead of muscovado sugar of 16 cwt. from the labour of each negro,—a return which Mr Edwards affirms to be unequalled by any other British island in the West Indies, except St Christopher's. In 1787, the exports were 175,548 cwt. of sugar, 670,390 gallons of rum, 8812 cwt. of coffee, 2,062,427 lbs. of cot ton, and 2810 lbs. of indigo. In 1810, the value of the exports amounted to 388,9361., and of the imports to 173,366/.
The sugar plantations in this colony are subject to great ravages from the carnivorous or sugar ant, an insect which is thought to be common to all the West India islands, hut which has been peculiarly destructive in Grenada. It is the Formica omnivores of Linnxus, and is described by Sloane as the Formica fusca minima antennis nis longissimis. They are of an ordinary size, a slender shape, a dark red colour, remarkable for the quickness of their motions ; but are distinguished from every other species, chiefly by the sharp acid taste which they yield when applied to the tongue, and the strong sulphureous smell which they emit when rubbed together between the palms of the hands. Their numbers have often been so immense, as to cover the roads for the space of several miles ; and so crowded in many places, that the prints of the horses' feet were dis tinctly marked among them, till filled up by the surround ing multitudes. They were never seen to consume or car ry off any vegetable substance whatever, but always laid hold of any dead insect or animal substance that came in their way. Every kind of cold victuals, all species of ver min, particularly rats, live poultry, and even the sores of the ncgroes, were exposed to their attacks. But they were chiefly injurious by constructing their nests among the roots of the lime, lemon, orange trees, and sugar canes, and so obstructing their growth, as to render the plants sickly and unproductive. A premium of 20,000/. from the public treasury, was offered to the discoverer of any effectual me thod of destroying them ; and the principal means employ ed were poison and fire. By mixing arsenic and corrosive sublimate with animal substances, myriads were destroyed ; and the slightest tasting of the poison rendered them so ,outrageous as to devour one another. Lines of red hot charcoal were laid in their way, to which they crowded in such numbers, as to extinguish it with their bodies ; and holes full of fire were dug in the cane grounds, which were soon extinguished by heaps of dead. But, while the nests remained undisturbed, new progenies appeared as nume rous as ever ; and the only effectual check which they re ceived, was from the destructive hurricane of 1780, which, by tearing up altogether, or so loosening the roots where they nestled, as to admit the rain, almost extirpated the whole race, and pointed out the frequent digging up and consuming by fire of those stools and roots in which they take refuge, as the best preventative of their future in crease. See Edward's History of the /Vest Indies, vol. i.; AbLe Raynal's History of the Indies, vol. v. ; and Gray's Letters from Canada, p. 379. (q)