ANTIGUA
THE ANTIGUANS,
CHAPTER I. General description of the island—Appearance — Soil—Productions— Climate—Early history—Discovery by Columbus—Attempted settlement by Spaniards—Grant to Earl of Carlisle—Settlement by d'Escambue—Williams—Governor Warner—Account of Sir Thomas Warner, founder of the family. THE Island of Antigua, one of the great Antilles, is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about twenty-five miles to the northeast of Montserrat, and forty miles north of Guadaloupe, in latitude seventeen degrees north, and longitude sixty-two degrees, or thereabouts, the measurement in these respects not being more exact than those of its length and breadth, which are variously stated at 21,20, and 18 miles for its length, and 21, 20, and 17, for its breadth. The lower estimate is, however, most probably correct. Its circumference, again, is variously stated at from 50 to 80 miles, and its total area from 59,838 acres, to 108 square miles, or nearly 70,000 acres. The population in 1837, consisted of 2000 whites and coloured people, and 33,000 blacks. All the slaves in the island were enfranchised in 1834. The island is of an oval shape. On the first approach the coast appears rough and barren, but as the voyager draws nearer, hills and valleys open on his view, and the shore puts
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