A denomination under which is comprehended a large chain of islands,
extended in a curve from the Florida shore on the northern peninsula of
America, to the Gulf of Venezuela on the southern. These islands belong
to five European powers, viz. Great Britain, Spain, France, Holland and
Denmark. An inhabitant of New England can form no idea of the climate and
the productions of these islands. Many of the particulars that are here
mentioned, are peculiar to them all.
The climate in all the West India Islands is nearly the same, allowing
for those accidental differences, which the several situations and
qualities of the lands themselves produce; as they lie within the tropic
of Cancer, and the sun often is almost at the meridian, over their heads,
they are continually subjected to a heat that would be intolerable,
but for the trade winds, which are so refreshing, as to enable the
inhabitants to attend to their concerns, even under a noon-day sun: as
the night advances, a breeze begins to be perceived, which blows smartly
from the land, as it were, from the centre towards the sea, to all points
of the compass at once. The rains make the only distinction of seasons in
these islands. The trees are green the year round; they have no cold, or
frost; our heaviest rains are but dews, comparatively: with them, floods
of water are poured from the clouds. About May, the periodical rains from
the South may be expected. After then the tropical summer in all its
splendor. The nights are calm and serene, the moon shines more brightly
than in New England, as do the planets, and the beautiful galaxy.
From the middle of August to the end of September, the heat is most
oppressive, the sea breeze is interrupted, and calms warn the inhabitants
of the periodical rains; which fall in torrents about the beginning of
October.