most easterly of all the Caribbee islands, subject to Great Britain, and according to the best geographers, lying between 59° 50' and 66° 2' of west longitude, and between 12° 56' and 13° 16' of north latitude. It lies 20 leagues east from St Vincent, which may be seen in a clear day. It is 21 miles in length and 14 in breadth; but these mensurations are subject to so many uncertainties, that it will perhaps convey a more adequate idea of this island, to tell the reader that in reality it does not contain above 107,000 acres. The climate is hot, but not unwholesome, the heat being qualified by sea-breezes; and a temperate regimen renders this island as safe to live in as any climate south of Great Britain; and, according to the opinion of many, as even Great Britain itself. The island has on its east side two streams that are called rivers, and in the middle is said to have a bituminous spring which sends forth a liquor like tar, which serves for the same uses as pitch or lamp-oil. The island abounds in wells of good water, and has several reservoirs for rain-water. Some parts of the soil are said to be hollowed into caves, some of them capable of containing 300 people. These are imagined to have been the lurking-places of runaway negroes, but may as probably be natural excavations. The woods that formerly grew upon the island have been all cut down, and the ground converted into sugar plantations. When those plantations were first formed, the soil was prodigiously fertile, but has since been worn out, insomuch, that about the year 1730, the planters were obliged to raise cattle for the sake of their dung, by which means the profit of their plantations was reduced to less than a tenth of its usual value. Notwithstanding the smallness of Barbadoes, its soil is different; Barbadoes, different; being in some places sandy and light, in others rich, and in others spongy; but all of it is cultivated according to its proper nature, so that the island presents to the eye the most beautiful appearance that can be imagined. Oranges and lemons grow in Barbadoes in great plenty, and in their utmost perfection. The lemon juice here has a peculiar fragrancy. The citrons of Barbadoes afford the best drams and sweetmeats of any in the world, the Barbadoes ladies excelling in the art of preserving the rind of the citron fruit. The juice of the limes, or dwarf-lemons, is the most agreeable souring we know, and great quantities of it have of late been imported into Britain and Ireland. The pine apple is also a native of Barbadoes, and grows there to much greater perfection than it can be made to do in Europe by any artificial means. A vast number of different trees peculiar to the climate are also found to flourish in Barbadoes in great perfection; such as the aloe, mangrove, calabash, cedar, cotton, mastich, &c. Here likewise are produced some sensitive plants, with a good deal of garden stuff, which is common in other places. In short, a native of the finest, the richest, and most diversified country in Europe, can hardly form an idea of the variety of delicious and at the same time nutritive vegetable productions with which this island abounds.

When Barbadoes was first discovered by the English, few or no quadrupeds were found upon it, except hogs, which had been left there by the Portuguese. For convenience of carriage to the sea side, some of the planters at first procured camels; which undoubtedly would in all respects have been preferable to horses for their sugar and other works; but the nature of the climate disagreeing with that animal, it was found impossible to preserve the breed. They then applied for horses to Old and New England: from the former they had those that were fit for show and draught; from the latter those that were proper for mounting their militia, and for the saddle. They had likewise some of an inferior breed from Curassoa, and other settlements. They are reported to have had their first breed of black cattle from Bonavista and the isle of Mayo; they now breed upon the island, and often do the work of horses. Their asses are very serviceable in carrying burdens to and from the plantations. The hogs of Barbadoes are finer eating than those of Britain, but the few sheep they have are not near so good. They likewise have goats, which when young are excellent food. Racoons and monkeys are also found here in great abundance. A variety of birds are produced in Barbadoes, of which the humming bird is the most remarkable. Wild fowl do not often frequent this island: but sometimes teal are found near their ponds. A bird which they call the man of war, is said to meet ships at 20 leagues from land, and their return is, to the inhabitants, a sure sign of the arrival of these ships. When the wind blows from the south and south-west, they have flocks of curlews, plovers, snipes, wild pigeons, and wild ducks. The wild pigeons are very fat and plentiful at such seasons, and rather larger than those of England. The tame pigeons, pullets, ducks, and poultry of all kinds, that are bred at Barbadoes, have also a fine flavour, and are accounted more delicious than those of Europe. Their rabbits are scarce; they have no hares; and if they have deer of any kind, they are kept as curiosities. Barbadoes. The insects of Barbadoes are not venomous, nor do either their snakes or scorpions ever sting. The musketeos are troublesome, and bite, but are more tolerable in Barbadoes than on the continent. Various other insects are found on the island, some of which are troublesome, but in no greater degree than those that are produced by every warm summer in England. Barbadoes is well supplied with fish; and some caught in the sea surrounding it are almost peculiar to itself; such as the parrot-fish, snappers, gray cavallos, terbums, and coney-fish. The mullets, lobsters, and crabs, caught here are excellent; and the green turtle is perhaps the greatest delicacy that ancient or modern luxury can boast of. At Barbadoes this delicious shellfish seldom sells for less than a shilling a pound, and often for more. There is found in this island a kind of land crab, which eats herbs wherever it can find them, and shelters itself in houses and hollows of trees. According to report, they are a shell-fish of passage; for in March they travel to the sea in great numbers. See Cancer.

The inhabitants may be reduced to three classes; viz. the masters, the white servants, and the blacks. The former are either English, Scots, or Irish: but the great encouragement given by government to the peopling this and other West Indian islands, induced some Dutch, French, Portuguese, and Jews, to settle among them with their estates; by which, after a certain time, they acquire the rights of naturalization in Great Britain. The white servants, whether by covenant or purchase, lead more easy lives than the day-labourers in England; and when they come to be overseers, their wages and other allowances are considerable. As to the treatment of the negro slaves in this and the other islands, that falls to be spoken of under the articles Negro, Slave, West-Indies; which see. The manners of the white inhabitants, in general, are the same as in most polite towns and countries in Europe. The capital of the island is called Bridge-Town; see that article.

As the history of this island furnishes no very remarkable events, the following short hints concerning it may suffice.

When the English, some time after the year 1625, first landed here, they found it the most savage and destitute place they had hitherto visited. It had not the least appearance of ever having been peopled even by savages. There was no kind of beasts of pasture or of prey, no fruit, no herb, no root fit for supporting the life of man. Yet as the climate was so good, and the soil appeared fertile, some gentlemen of small fortune in England resolved to become adventurers thither. The trees were so large, and of a wood so hard and stubborn, that it was with great difficulty they could clear as much ground as was necessary for their subsistence. By unremitting perseverance, however, they brought it to yield them a tolerable support; and they found that cotton and indigo agreed well with the soil; and that tobacco, which was beginning to come into repute in England, answered tolerably. These prospects, together with the storm between the king and parliament, which was beginning to break out in England, induced many new adventurers to transport themselves into this island. And what is extremely Barbadoes tremely remarkable, so great was the increase of people in Barbadoes, 25 years after its first settlement, that in 1650 it contained more than 50,000 whites, and a much greater number of negro and Indian slaves. The latter they acquired by means not at all to their honour: for they seized upon all those unhappy men, without any pretence, in the neighbouring islands, and carried them into slavery; a practice which has rendered the Caribbee Indians irreconcilable to us ever since. They had begun a little before this to cultivate sugar, which soon rendered them extremely wealthy. The number of slaves, therefore, was still augmented; and in 1676 it is supposed that their number amounted to 100,000, which, together with 50,000 whites, make 150,000 on this small spot: a degree of population unknown in Holland, in China, or any other part of the world most renowned for numbers. Their annual exports, in sugar, indigo, ginger, cotton, and citron-water, were above 350,000l. and their circulating cash at home was 200,000l. Such was the increase of population, trade, and wealth, in the course of 50 years. But these accounts are supposed by Mr Bryan Edwards to be greatly exaggerated. But since that time this island has been much on the decline; which is to be attributed partly to the growth of the French sugar colonies, and partly to their own establishments in the neighbouring isles. Their numbers in 1811 were 16,280 whites, 62,248 slaves, and 3392 free persons of colour. The official value of the exports in 1810 was 271,597l. and of the imports 311,400l.

**Barbadoes-Tar**, a mineral fluid of the nature of the thicker fluid bitumens, of a nauseous bitterish taste, very strong and disagreeable smell, found in many parts of America trickling down the sides of the mountains, and sometimes floating on the surface of the waters. It has been greatly recommended in coughs and other disorders of the breast and lungs.