SIA ROBERT H.SCHOMBURON KY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF LONGMAN. BROWN, GREEN AND LONGMANS, PATERNOSTER ROW 1847 THE GIFT OF BARNARD SHIPP THE HISTORY OF BARBADOS; COMPRISING A GEOGRAPHICAL AND STATISTICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND; A SKETCH OF THE HISTORICAL EVENTS SINCE THE SETTLEMENT; AND AN ACCOUNT OF ITS GEOLOGY AND NATURAL PRODUCTIONS. BY SIR ROBERT H. SCHOMBURGK, PH.D., " KNIGHT OF THE ROYAL PRUSSIAN ORDER OF THE RED EAGLE; OF THE ROYAL FRENCH ORDER OF THE LEGION OF HONOUR. Corresponding Member of the Royal Geographical, the Zoological, and the Entomological Society of LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN AND LONGMANS. my labours, I arrived at this part of my history, I found that the work had already far exceeded its intended size. Nevertheless I unhesitatingly resolved rather to sacrifice pecuniary considerations than to curtail this part materially. Nor could I be satisfied to give merely a dry catalogue, without dwelling, at least in general terms, upon the science which the different objects of natural history served to illustrate. I hope therefore that these introductions may not be considered superfluous; they cannot teach the science, but they may awaken in the reader a desire to make himself acquainted with it. It was a favourite plan of mine to treat the Botany of the island in a more detailed manner, and in place of the usual dry scientific descriptions, to give a popular account of the plants, their uses and properties. My preparations had already far advanced, and the first sheet was printed, when I found that a continuation in that manner would alone fill about twenty sheets, and I was reluctantly obliged to abstain from a task which I considered one of the most delightful connected with my projected work. Still I trust that, if the Subscribers, satisfied with the execution of this History, give me their further assistance, I may execute my former scheme and publish a Flora of Barbados as a sequel to the present work. The catalogue of plants in the Third Part contains the scientific and vernacular names of a much larger number than are enumerated in Maycock's Flora, and to a person unacquainted with the Latin language, it will serve the same purpose as that work, which is now very scarce. The descriptions and lists of the other objects of organic nature will explain themselves. I may be allowed to repeat also my acknowledgements-which I have had occasion to express in several parts of this work-to Professors Müller and Rose, Dr. Troschel of Berlin, Charles Darwin, Esq., Professor E. Forbes, F.R.S., and Adam White, Esq., F.L.S., for their kind assistance. The lists of Crustacea and Mollusca comprise those generally met with in the seas of the West |