one of the Caribbee islands, ceded to Great Britain by the treaty of Paris in 1763, taken by the French in 1781, and retaken by the British in 1793. It lies in the latitude of 11 degrees 10 minutes north, and 59 degrees 40 minutes longitude west from London, about 40 leagues south-west from Barbadoes, 35 south-east from St Vincents, 20 south-east from Grenada, 12 north-east from the Spanish island of Trinidad, and between 30 and 40 north-east from the Spanish main. According to the latest accounts, it is somewhat more than 30 miles in length from north-east to south-west, between 8 and 9 in breadth, and from 23 to 25 leagues in circumference. The English visited this island very early, Sir Robert Dudley being there in the reign of queen Elizabeth. In that of Charles I., William earl of Pembroke procured a grant of this, with two other small islands; but died before he was able to carry into execution his design of settling them. In A.D. 1622 some merchants of Zealand sent over a small colony thither, and gave it the name of New Walcheren; but before they were able thoroughly to establish themselves, they were destroyed by the Indians assisted by the Spaniards. Ten years after, James Duke of Courland sent a colony thither, who settled themselves upon Great Courland bay, and made a considerable progress in planting. A.D. 1654, Messieurs Adrian and Cornelius Lampfius, two opulent merchants of Flushing, sent a considerable number of people thither, who settled on the other side of the island, and lived in amity with the Courlanders, until they learned that the king of Sweden had seized the person of their duke and dispossessed him of his dominions, when they attacked and forced his subjects to submit. The duke being afterwards restored, he obtained from Charles II. a grant of this island, dated the 17th of November 1664. In the second Dutch war the count d'Effrees, by order of his master, totally ruined it at the close of the year 1677; and from that time it continued waste till Britain took possession of it after the treaty of Paris. The climate, notwithstanding its vicinity to the sea, is so tempered by the breezes from the sea, as to be very supportable even to Europeans; and hath the same advantages with that of Grenada, in having regular seasons, and also in being exempt from the hurricanes. There are throughout the island many rising grounds, though except at the north-east extremity, there is no part of it that can be styled mountainous; and even there the country is far from being rugged or impassable. The soil, if we may credit either Dutch or French writers, is as fertile and luxuriant as any of the islands, and very finely diversified. Ground provisions of all sorts have been raised in great plenty, a vast variety of vegetables, excellent in their kind, some for food, some for physic. Almost every species of useful timber is to be found here, and some of an enormous size; amongst others, the true cinnamon and nutmeg tree, as the Dutch confess, and of which none could be better judges; whole groves of saffron, and of trees that bear the true gum copal, with other odoriferous plants that render the air wholesome and pleasant. It is as well watered as can be wished, by rivers that fall into the sea on both sides, many smaller streams, and fine fresh springs in almost every part of the island. The sea-coast is indented by 10 or 12 fair and spacious bays, and there are amongst these one or two ports capable of receiving as large ships as ever visited those seas. There are wild hogs in great plenty, abundance of fowls of different kinds, and a vast variety of sea and river fish. At the north-east extremity lies Little Tobago, which is two miles long, and about half a mile broad, very capable of improvement.