When Jamaica was discovered, it contained eight spe cies of quadrupeds, the agouti, the pecal e, the armadillo, the opossum, the racoon, the musk-tat, the alco, and the motility. Of these only the agouti and the monkey re main. There are many varieties of the lizard, some of them very beautiful. The most delicious of the wild fowl are the ring-dove, and the rice-bird of South Carolina; the lat ter, after fattening upon the rice plantations in that district, visit Jamaica in prodigious numbers in October, to feed on the seeds of the Guinea grass. Parrots are still found in the groves, but the flamingo is no longer to be seen.
Few cattle arc bred here, the asses and mules being im ported from the Spanish Main, and the horses from Eng land and America ; the latter arc in general excellent, and sell at from 1001. to 1401. currency. The black cattle are of a large size. There arc also asses and sheep ; thc mut ton is well tasted, but the wool is hairy and coarse. There are likewise goats and hogs in great plenty ; sea and river fish ; wild, tame, and water fowl. Near the coast there are salt ponds, from which formerly the inhabitants supplied their own consumption.
The commercial productions of the island are sugar, rum, molasses, coffee, cocoa, cotton, indigo, pimento, and ginger.
In the year 1673, the chief productions of Jamaica were cocoa, indigo, and hides. The cultivation of sugar had just commenced. It appears from the following statement, that the increase in the growth of this staple article of the island has been very gradual.
plies annually of British manufactures and provisions. One hundred barrels of herrings arc required for 250 negroes in the course of the year.
The following table, extracted from the Report of the Committee of the House of Commons in the year 1807, on the commercial state of the West Indies, exhibits the outgoings, and the produce of a sugar estate in 1806, which was cultivated by 519 negroes, and 434 head of stock.
A new species of sugar-cane, far more valuable than that formerly in use, has lately been introduced into Ja maica. It was first imported into the French islands of Guadaloupe and Martinique, from the islands of Bourbon and Mauritius, and is called the Bourbon or Otaheite cane. It is much higher, and four times as large as the cane formerly grown exclusively. It will grow on boggy land, and yields one-third more sugar than the old cane ; but the sugar is not of such a compact grain. The average ex pence of the cultivation of sugar is 20s. 10d. per cwt. in the interest of capital and the produce of rum. The works necessary for making 200 hogsheads of sugar annually cost 10,0001. Jamaica currency ; and an estate producing such a quantity, requires 40,0001. to establish
it, viz. 250 negroes at 701. sterling each, amounting to 17,5' 01. ; 180 cattle and mules at 30/. each, amounting to 001. ; buildings for the manufacture, and houses for ne groes and owners, 70001. ; and land, 10,1001. The value of the buildings and machinery on the sugar plantations varies from 40001. to 23,0001. sterling. The greatest crop of sutrar on an estate with one set of works ever known, was 1030 hogsheads, of 18 cwt. each ; but estates in gene ral, with one set of works, make from 100 to 300 hogs heads. Estates containing 1300 negroes and a due pro portion of whites, require about 10,000/. sterling of sup Formerly it was calculated, that where two hogsheads of sugar were made, there was at least one puncheon of rum ; but latterly the proportion has been greater ; the average annual quantity of rum being nearly 54,000 puncheons.
Coffee was little cultivated in Jamaica till the year 1788. The coffee plantations are generally situated in the hilly of which nearly two-thirds of the island consist, and which arc, from their soil, climate, and situation, un fit for sugar plantations. The increase of coffee planta tions may be seen from the following facts, taken from the report already referred to. In the four years ending the 30th September 1791, the average exportation of coffee was 1,603,066Ibs. ; in 1804, it amounted to 22 million pounds ; and during three years ending 30th September 1807, the average exportation was more than 28i millions, which, at 61 per cwt. its cost in Jamaica, produced more than 1,700,0001. It is calculated that 20.000,000/. is in vested in coffee estates. Cotton is not cultivated to any very great extent : it was attempted to cultivate it on ground worn out by sugar ; but it was found that such soil would not grow either cotton or coffee, and would produce only very inferior grass. Indigo is now very little cultivated, and, in all probability, will never again become a staple commodity. Bionic, who published a short ac count of Jamaica, in the year 1672, mentions that 'there ex isted at that time, about sixty cocoa walks : at present, there is scarcely a single plantation in the whole island. Ginger is little cultivated. Ail the produce of the arnotto plant, which is at present exported from Jamaica, is ga thered from the trees that grow spontaneously. The pi mento trees also grow spontaneously, and in great abun dance, especially in the hilly regions of the North. The returns from a pimento walk, in a favourable season, are very great : a single tree has been known to yield 150 lbs. of the raw fruit, or 100 lbs. of the dried spice.