VOTES

(B»-L. JoMph, Hiatary of Trinidad, part. II, ch. ▼, p. 144 «1 Mq.)

Pour mettre le lecteur au courant de tontes les opinions émises sur la cause de la ruine de la culture du cacao, nous donnons ci»après celles que mentionne notre devancier :

According to the same authority (i. e. Gumilla), so excellent was the caooa of Trinidad, that the planters used to sell it befor^ il was gathered ; this enabled the cacoa planters to defraud the clergy of their dues -« ail, except one planter, wooed Rabélo, who oontinued to give a tenth to the prlests, and his estate was the only exception to the total decay of the caooa trees.

I hâve heard firom tradition another version of the story. The planter referred to had planted the trees called Forastero from the Brazils, which gives an inferior kind of cacoa but in greater quantity, and is withal a hardier tree, hence he could not sell his crop before it was gathered, nor so easely évade the tithes; and on the other side, his stronger trees withstood the gênerai blight better than those of his fellow colonists.

The assertion of Gumilla satisfies no one that this Island was ever stérile ; but we may be assured that the inhabitants were not very obedient children of their spiritual Fathers* This we further learn from the old minutes of the cabildo.

Abbé Raynal ** who in his Historical Romance, which he denominated Histoirepolitique et philosophique des deux Indes, never scruples to assign a cause for every event — saySy the Mure of the cacoa trees in Trinidad was occa*

Bioned by the Dorth winds. Traditiqn, however, assigns the remarkable drought of that year as the cause.

 more probable exptanation of the event was given to me by an old gentleman before referred to, who stated it to be the opinion of tbe cacoa planters, in bis youth, that the trees which so generally perished were a varietyof the cacoa which gave excellent fruit, but were far more tender than the two varieties of Forastero and créole cacoa so generally planted in Trinidad eince the year 1756. I am not sufficiently acquainted wilh cacoa to judge on this subject; my informant bas spent the whole of bis long life on cacoa estâtes.

Whatever was the cause of the decay of the cacoa plantations, the efifects were ruinous to the colony. It w^s abandoned by the greater part of its inhabitants; and there are many lellers and other documents in existence which speak of the misery et those who rernained behind : they had to dispose of their few articles of plate, and even of their negro slaves, to supply themselves with such necessaries as they could not raise on their plantations.

La traduction anglaise des minutes du cabildo que nous possédons est l'œuvre de M. James Meany, qui fut chef de police sous Tadministration du gouverneur sir Ralph Woodford.

On lit dans les archives de la corporation, à la du 19 février 1816:

A translated abstract in english of the Autos or minutes of the Illustrious Board of cabildo from the year 1733 to the

commencement of the month of june 1813^ extracted by M. Meany ^as, by His Eicellency the président, ordered to be laid before the Board ; and, being approved of, it was directed that it should undergo a revision, be abridged and sent to Ëngland to be printed. The sum ôf € 1,200 was voted and directed to be presented to Mr Meany in testimony of the thanks of the Board for the correct manner in which he executed the same.

Non seulement ce précieux document, le seul registre authentique qui nous reste des actes de Tadministration espagnole, n'a jamais été révisé, ni abrégé, ni imprimé, mais il s*est égaré pendant près de quarante ans, et n'a été heureusement retrouvé dans une malle de vieux papiers appartenant à un particulier qu'en 1878, par M. Lionel M. Fraser, à qui nous devons toute notre reconnaissance.

3^ HISTOIRE OS 14 TPJNIDAD.