It was a great misfortune, that on the firſt ſettlement of this country by the Engliſh, ſo great a rage prevailed in the new ſettlers for having extenſive eſtates, as many of them were no ways qualified for the laborious taſk of eſtabliſhing a valuable property, by clearing the woods, and proceeding, not only to ſuperintend, but to get forward by degrees, with induſtry and œconomy.
They flattered themſelves, that without all this, in the courſe of a few years, their fortunes would be made, as they had very large eſlates; but they did not conſider the conſequences of borrowing money at eight per cent, which was allowed in Dominica at that time.—The forming new eſtates with new negroes, inſtead of ſeaſoned ones, at a time when that climate was, from the quantity of its wood, ſo unſettled, that it rained beſt part of the year.—The extra labour of making roads, and carrying materials for building, which
