This book, published in London in 1778, is a succinct compilation of information about the West Indies, containing, as indicated by the lengthy subtitle, “an authentick account of the first discoverers of those islands, and the parts adjacent, their situation, extent, boundaries, soil, product, trade, commerce, inhabitants, strength, government, and religion: also their principal bays and harbours, the materials for which were collected on the spot during the last war by some of the officers of his Majesty's forces, and diligently compared with all authentick narrators.” Even though the American Revolution was raging at the time the book was published, the “last war” referred to in the subtitle is the Seven Years War (1756–63; known in America as the French and Indian War), which resulted in major territorial changes in the Americas. Under the Treaty of Paris of 1763, Britain, which in the war had captured the French colonies of Canada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Tobago, returned Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Saint Lucia to France, but kept the others. Spain also ceded Florida to Britain. The book describes the mainland and island possessions of Spain, Britain, and France, with a few pages devoted to the colonies of the Dutch and the Danes.