The Island Of St Thomas Was Discovered Above Eighty[9] Years Ago, By Some Captains In The Royal Navy Of Portugal, And Was Altogether Unknown To The Ancients.

Its horizon or parallel passes at an equal distance between the arctic and antarctic poles, and its days and nights are always equal.

The arctic polar star is there invisible, but the _guardiani_ are seen in some measure to revolve, and the constellation which is known by the name of _il crusero_, is seen in the heavens at a high altitude. To the eastwards[10] of St Thomas, and at the distance of 120 miles, the small island called _Il Principe_ is situated. This latter island is inhabited and cultivated, the produce of its sugar canes belonging to the revenue of the kings eldest son, from which circumstance the island derives its name. To the S. S. W. or S. and by W. and in the latitude of almost 2 deg. S. is the uninhabited island of Annobon, on which numbers of crocodiles and venomous serpents are found. Its rocky shores abound in fish, and are much resorted to by the inhabitants of St Thomas on that account. When first discovered, the island of St Thomas was an entire forest, containing a variety of trees, which, though barren, were extremely verdant. These trees were all remarkably tall and straight, their branches all drawn close to the stems, and not spreading out as with us. After clearing away a great part of the forest, the inhabitants built a principal town called _Pouoasan_, which has an excellent harbour. The principal dependence of the settlers in this island is upon their sugars, which they exchange yearly with the merchants who trade thither, for flour in barrels, wines, oil, cheese, leather, swords, glass beads, drinking-cups, pater-nosters, and _buzios_, which are a small kind of shells, called by the Italians _white porcelain_, and which pass in Ethiopia as money. The Europeans who reside on this island depend much for provisions on the ships, as they cannot subsist on the fare used by the Negroes. The slaves employed in their sugar plantations are procured from Guinea, Benin, and Congo; and some rich planters have from 150 to 300 Negroes. These work five days in every week for their masters, and are allowed the Saturdays to themselves, when they cultivate various articles of provision, as the _miglio zaburo_, a species of bean formerly mentioned, a root called _igname_, and many species of culinary vegetables, the seeds of which must be imported from Europe, as they do not come to perfection in this climate.

[Illustration: Chart of North Western Africa]

The soil of St Thomas consists of a red and yellow marl, or clay, of great fertility, which is kept soft and mellow by the heavy dews which fall nightly, contributing greatly to vegetation, and preventing it from being dried up by the great heats; and so great is the luxuriant fertility of the soil, that trees immediately spring up on any spots left uncultivated, and will grow as high in a few days as would require as many months with us.

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