A true & exact history of the island of Barbados

In Short

This book functions as both a colonial guidebook and an industrial report, capturing the early days of English settlement in Barbados. It balances wonder at a strange, tropical environment with the cold, meticulous calculations required to turn that environment into profit. Through descriptions of flora, fauna, and the mechanics of sugar-making, the text reveals the brutal labor systems that sustained the island’s economy. It remains an essential primary source for understanding how early settlers viewed, exploited, and reshaped the land to serve the demands of global trade.

The Story

The narrative begins with a long sea voyage, capturing the traveler’s initial awe at the natural wonders of the ocean. The author describes the variety of fish, the strange behavior of the "Carvill," and the anticipation of arriving at a new, promised land. Upon reaching Barbados, the author is immediately struck by the island’s topography—its refreshing breezes and the orderly, tiered appearance of the plantations. However, this romantic introduction is quickly tempered by the reality of the island's condition. The settlers arrive to find a place ravaged by disease and famine, where the living struggle to bury the dead.

As the author settles into life on the island, the focus shifts from the initial observations of nature to the development of the colonial enterprise. The narrative details the infrastructure of survival, explaining how settlers fortified their homes against both internal and external threats, and how they managed their meager resources. Central to this account is the emergence of the sugar industry. The author tracks the transition from primitive farming methods to a sophisticated, industrial process. He describes the engineering of the "Ingenio"—the mill house—and the precise, grueling steps involved in boiling, cooling, and refining sugar for export.

Throughout the text, the author highlights the human environment, creating a sharp contrast between the opulent lifestyle of the plantation elite and the wretched existence of the laborers. He documents the arrival of servants and enslaved people, describing the harsh reality of their daily routines: the early-morning bells, the exhausting field work, and the lack of proper clothing or shelter. He discusses the "debauched" behavior of the men and the systemic cruelty inflicted by overseers upon those who could not meet the relentless quotas.

The narrative reaches its conclusion by grounding its observations in hard data. The author provides detailed financial ledgers, calculating the costs of clothing, housing, and maintaining both servants and enslaved laborers over a year. By presenting these figures alongside his earlier reflections on the island's beauty and the "miraculous" sweetness of sugar, he lays bare the cold logic of the plantation system. The island, once described as a place of natural abundance, is fully revealed as a commercial machine, where every resource—human and botanical—is measured against its capacity to generate wealth. The book ends not with a reflection on the landscape, but with a final, rigid accounting of the plantation’s operational expenses.

How It Unfolds

The voyage begins The author recounts the journey across the Atlantic, cataloging the strange sea life and the anticipation of discovering a new, fertile territory. He captures the wonder of the open ocean, contrasting the majesty of whales with the intricate, self-sustaining life of the small "Carvill" fish.

Arrival and crisis The landing in Barbados is marked by a sudden confrontation with reality as the travelers find the island plagued by disease and food scarcity. The settlers must immediately navigate a hostile social and physical environment, defending their positions against potential local unrest.

The mechanics of survival The author details the domestic and defensive architecture of the island, including how water is stored and homes are fortified to serve as refuges. He describes the reliance on local crops like cassava to supplement a diet that lacks the familiar staples of England.

The sugar machine The narrative turns to the industrialization of the island, providing a technical breakdown of the mills, furnaces, and boiling rooms required to refine sugar. The author celebrates the efficiency of the top plantations while noting the clear hierarchy of success among the landowners.

The ledger of labor The final section moves away from descriptive prose into the realm of accounting, providing specific, detailed tables regarding the annual cost of clothing and maintaining the workforce. This shift highlights the transformation of the island from a colonial experiment into a standardized, profit-driven enterprise.

The People

The book is populated by a stark hierarchy of figures who embody the rigid social structure of the colony. At the top are the "great husbands," such as Colonel James Drax and Colonel Walrond. These men are the architects of the island's wealth, possessing the capital and ruthlessness necessary to master the cultivation of sugar. They are depicted as the ultimate authorities, whose mercy or cruelty dictates the survival of everyone beneath them.

Opposite them are the servants and enslaved people, whose lives are defined by labor. The servants, often brought from the fringes of English society, find themselves trapped in a cycle of physical exhaustion and abuse. The author acknowledges their suffering, noting the beatings and the lack of basic necessities, though his perspective remains that of an observer documenting a system of assets. The enslaved people are also presented through the lens of their utility, with the author detailing their daily routines and even their capacity for skilled activities, such as swordplay. While the author expresses a degree of intellectual curiosity about the cultural practices of these groups—such as their use of the moon for timekeeping—he never challenges their status within the plantation machine. The tension between the masters, who demand efficiency, and the laborers, who are crushed by it, remains the central, unresolved conflict of the account.

In Its Own Voice

The author describes the intense, almost miraculous nature of the sugar cane, which he views as the ultimate gift of the plantation.

"The Sugar-Cane, which though it has but one single taste, yet, that full sweetnesse has such a benign faculty, as to preserve all the rest from corruption, which, without it, would taint and become rotten."

Reflecting on the stark, often brutal reality of colonial labor, the author notes the vast disparity in how the plantation owners treated their servants.

"Truly, I have seen such cruelty there done to Servants, as I did not think one Christian could have done to another."

What It's Really About

At its core, this book explores the collision between natural beauty and industrial ambition. The author is obsessed with order—whether it is the arrangement of trees, the layout of a mill, or the scheduling of labor. The underlying argument is that the environment is a resource to be tamed, and that through engineering, technology, and strict management, the wilderness can be forced to yield a high-value commodity. The book grapples with the question of how a society justifies the human cost of its own prosperity, ultimately settling on a cold, quantitative answer. It is a study of how trade and profit become the primary lenses through which a new world is perceived and defined.

Why Read It Today

This book is essential for readers interested in the foundational mechanics of the Atlantic economy and the grim reality of early colonial life. You will find it a fascinating, if sometimes harrowing, read because it does not attempt to sanitize the past. The author possesses a keen, scientific eye for the natural world, and his descriptions of flora and the technical processes of the era are remarkably precise.

However, readers should be prepared for the period’s casual acceptance of extreme cruelty. The author moves seamlessly between praising a beautiful flower and justifying the conditions of those who work the land to death, reflecting the detached, colonial mindset of the seventeenth century. The prose is archaic, requiring patience, but it rewards the reader with a visceral sense of time and place. It stays with you not just for its historical importance, but for the chilling contrast between the "sweetness" of the sugar that would transform the global economy and the bitter, mechanical suffering required to produce it. It is a work of immense historical integrity that offers no apologies for the era it documents, making it a powerful and challenging experience for anyone looking to understand the origins of the modern plantation system.