2-791-287 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

St Thomas's West Indies, from Weight's Wharf, 1844. 'The New York American publishes an extract of a letter dated from this island, April 14, which states that the negroes had broken into Aux Cayes, and murdered the whites and coloured; that the President Herard had been murdered; and that a similar attempt at Port-au-Prince was apprehended...everything was in confusion - civil war raging through the country. There had been a battle in the neighbourhood of Aux Cayes between the Government troops and the insurgents, which resulted in the defeat of the former; and subsequently the principal part of the town was in the possession of the rebels. There was great distress and terror experienced. The women and children had taken refuge on board the American and English vessels in port. It was supposed that they would fire the town, the whole island being in a state of uproar...St. Thomas is one of the three Danish Virgin Islands, and is about twelve miles long...Most of the white inhabitants are of Dutch origin, and Dutch is the common language. The plantations have yielded in one year 20,000 cwt. of sugar, 54,000 gallons of rum, 18,000 gallons of molasses, and some cotton. But as large tracts are unfit for the production of colonial articles, maize, ground provisions, and fruits are cultivated to a considerable extent...Our illustration has been engraved from an effective drawing, by Lieutenant Bellairs, R.N.'. From "Illustrated London News", 1844, Vol I.