before it could be reduced; but at the expiration of that time à capitulation was signed, and a district of a hundred and eighty miles was yielded up along with the city. This conquest was the most considerable, and in its consequences the most decisive of any the English had made since the beginning of the war; and in no operation were the courage and perseverance of the British troops and the conduct of their leaders more con. spicuous. The acquisition of this place united in itself all the advantages which can be acquired inwar. It was a military atchievment of the highest class; by its effect on the Spanish marine it was equal to the greatest naval victory; and in the plunder it equalled the produce of a national subsidy. Nine line-of-battle ships were taken; three capital ships had been sunk by the Spaniards at the beginning of the siege; and two more were afterwards destroyed by the captors. The Spaniards on this occasion lost a whole fleet of ships of war, besides a considerable number of merchant ships; and in ready money, tobacco, and other valuable merchandise, the sum lost did not fall short of three millions sterling. Havannah was restored by the peace of 1763; and is of the greatest importance to Spain, being the rendezvous for all their fleets to return from America to Europe, lying at the mouth of the gulf of Florida, through which they are all obliged to pass., Here the Spanish navy stationed in the West Indies rides; and here the galleons, flota, and merchant ships from other ports, meet in September, to take in provisions and water, with great part of their lading, and likewise for the convenience of returning to Spain in a body.

St. Domingo, the capital of Hispaniola, is situ

ated on the west bank of the Ozama, three mil below the mouth of Isabella river, where it is twenty-four feet deep, having a bottom of mud or soft sand, and banks twenty feet in perpendicular height. The port of St. Domingo is extremely magnificent; being a real natural bason, with a great number of careenings for the vessels that can get at them. There is a rock at the entrance which will only admit vessels drawing eighteen or twenty feet water, which, it is said, might be easily removed. But the road before the Ŏzama is very indifferent, and lies so much exposed, that it is impossible to anchor in it during the south winds, and the north winds drive the vessels from their moorings out into the sea, which here runs exceedingly high.

The city was originally founded on the east side of the Ozama, by Bartholomew Columbus, who gave it the name of "New Isabella." But Christopher Columbus gave it the name of his father, and the inhabitants of Isabella on the north coast of the island, removed to New Isabella in 1496. In the year 1502 a hurricane destroyed most of its buildings, which induced Orando to remove the inhabitants to the west side of the river, The new city was soon built, with a grandeur of design not unworthy of the first metropolis of the new world. The plan of it is a trapezium of about five hundred and forty fathoms on the east side, along the Ozama; near five hundred fathoms on the south, bordering upon the sea; and about eighteen hundred fathoms in circumference. On the west and north, the land is rough and rocky, for about half a league, but after that it becomes good and the country delightful. Towards the sea, the site of the city lies very high, and forms an insurmountable_dyke

against the fury of the waves. It is also surrounded with a rampart eight feet in diameter, and about ten feet high. There is a great deal of ordnance at St. Domingo, but the fortifications are not strong; and the height of the Heignes commands it entirely.

The streets are spacious, and straight as a line, which gives the city a pleasing appearance. The greatest part of the houses first built are of a sort of marble found in the vicinity, and in the style of the ancient towns of Spain and Italy; those of a more recent construction are of a sort of pise called tapia. To erect these buildings, a case is made of planks between pillars of masonry; and this case is gradually filled with a reddish clay, which is rammed down as it is thrown in, until it forms a. solid wall between the pillars. The clay thus pressed together acquires an amazing hardness, and the walls are sometimes su solid and strong, that the pillars are useless. The houses of St. Domingo are tolerably handsome, in a simple style, and nearly uniform. A considerable part of them, built within these twenty years, are of wood, covered with the leaves of taches of palm trees. The roofs are generally platformed, being shaped so as to conduct the rain water to the cisterns.

Among many public edifices that are worthy of attention, we may reckon the ruins of the house that Diego, son of Christopher Columbus, had begun entirely of hewn stone. The walls are yet remaining, and some of the sculpture round the windows. The roof and cielings, however, are fallen in; the lower floor is become a pen for eattle; and a Latin inscription over the portal is now hidden by the hut of a herdsman. ⠀⠀

The cathedral is a noble Gothic pile, begun in

1512, and finished in 1540, after the model of a church at Rome. I particularly merits admiration on account of the boldness of its vault, which, nothwithstanding the ravages of earthquakes in its vicinity, has never till within these twenty years, had a single flaw. Opposite to this pile is a spacious square, at the south-west end of which is the town house. Here also are three hospitals, a college, and a gaol. The convent of the Cordeliers was built by Ovanno in 1503, on a little hill, containing a mine of mercury. All the three parochial churches of this city are superbly adorned with pictures, statues of marble and of metal, vases of gold and silver, set with precious stones, &c. but the cathedral surpasses the others in every respect.

St. Jago, the capital of Jamaica, is situated in the south-east part of the island, on the bay of Port Royal. It is about a mile long, above a quarter of a mile broad, and contains about five hundred and fifty houses. It is situated in a delightful plain on the banks of the Cobre, thirteen miles from Kingston, and ten from Port Royal. It. is the residence of the commander in chief; and the supreme court of judicature is held in it four times a year.

Port Royal, in the island of Jamaica, was once a place of the greatest riches and importance in the West Indies; but it has suffered so severely from earthquakes, hurricanes, and inundations, that it is now reduced to three streets, a few lanes, and; about two hundred houses. It contains the royal navy yard for heaving down and refitting the king's ships; here also are a navy hospital, and barracks for a regiment of soldiers. The fortifications, which are very extensive, being in excellent order, and having been recently str.gthened with

-many additional works, it may be said to vie in point of strength with any fortress in the king's dominions. The harbour is one of the best in the world, and a thousand ships may ride in it, secure from every wind.

In the year 1692, an earthquake happened in Jamaica, which in the space of two minutes de stroyed the town of Port Royal, and sunk the houses in a gulf forty fathoms deep. I was attended with a hollow rumbling noise like that of thunder: and the streets rose like the waves of the sea, first lifting up the houses, and then immediately throwing them down into deep pits. All the wells discharged their waters with the most violent agitation; the sea burst over its bounds and deluged all that stood in its way; the fissures of the earth were in some places so great, that one of the streets appeared twice as broad as formerly; and in many places it opened and closed again, continuing this agitation for some time. Of these openings great numbers might be seen at once. In some, the people were swallowed up instantaneously; in others the earth caught them by the middle, and crushed them to death, while others, more fortunate, were swallowed up in one chasm, and thrown out alive from another. Some chasms were large enough to swallow up whole streets; and others, still more formidable, spouted up immense quantities of water, drowning such as the earthquake had spared. The whole was attended with noisome stenches, the noise of falling mountains at a distance, &c.; and the sky suddenly turned dull and reddish, like a glowing

oven.

;

Greatly as Port Royal suffered, however, more houses were left standing in it than on the whole