or St Eustatia, one of the Caribbean islands, belonging to the Dutch, and situated in W. Long. 62° 56'. N. Lat. 17° 29'. It is about 15 miles in compass; and is little else than a huge mountain, which formerly has, in all probability, been a volcano. Its situation is so strong, that it has but one landing place; and that is fortified in such a manner as to be almost impregnable. Tobacco is the chief product of the island, and that is cultivated to the very top of the pyramid, which terminates in a large plain surrounded with woods; but having a hollow in the middle, which serves as a large den for wild beasts. No fewer than 5000 white people, and 15,000 negroes, subsist on this spot, where they rear hogs, kids, rabbits, and all kinds of poultry, in such abundance, that they can supply their neighbours, after having served themselves.

The first Dutch colony sent to this island consisted of about 1600 people. They were dispossessed by the English from Jamaica in 1665. Soon after, the Dutch and French becoming confederates, the English were expelled in their turn. The French continued to hold a garrison in the island till the treaty of Breda, when it was restored to the Dutch. Soon after the revolution, the French drove out the Dutch, and were in their turn driven out by the English under Sir Timothy Thornhill, with the loss of no more than eight men killed and wounded, though the fort they took mounted 16 guns, and was in every other respect very strong. Sir Timothy found it necessary, for the protection of the Dutch, to leave a small English garrison in the fort; but he granted the French no terms of capitulation, except for their lives and baggage. By the peace of Ryswick, the entire property of this island was restored to the Dutch, who have ever since remained undisturbed masters of it.