Dr Andrew Turnbull and the New Smyrna colony of Florida . X. p. 27. 93 DR. ANDREW TURNBULL fully watered, such an extensive irrigationscheme as can now be clearly traced in thecanal system at New Smyrna should have beenthought necessary, and visitors to the old siteof New Smyrna have always thought themsolely a drainage plan. But TurnbuU had seenthis method work marvels in the Nile coun-try, and knew of it as a practical agriculturalaid, for in 1763, just before he came to Florida,the great canal between Cairo and the Red Seahad been repaired to supply fresh water to thetowns on the Suez Canal
Dr Andrew Turnbull and the New Smyrna colony of Florida . X. p. 27. 93 DR. ANDREW TURNBULL fully watered, such an extensive irrigationscheme as can now be clearly traced in thecanal system at New Smyrna should have beenthought necessary, and visitors to the old siteof New Smyrna have always thought themsolely a drainage plan. But TurnbuU had seenthis method work marvels in the Nile coun-try, and knew of it as a practical agriculturalaid, for in 1763, just before he came to Florida,the great canal between Cairo and the Red Seahad been repaired to supply fresh water to thetowns on the Suez Canal. At any rate, in thisletter Turnbull expressly stated that hiscanals were originally for the purpose of irriga-tion and not of drainage,^^^ though of coursethey accomplished the double purpose of drain-ing the marshes and watering the high a recent survey of the vicinity of NewSmyrna, these canals were pronounced a fineengineering feat and designed in the best pos-sible way to irrigate and drain that country. (1) Ivans. Mss. Vol. 88, f. 157. 94. CHAPTER VIISPANISH INTRIGUE fHERE was no middle class inFlorida at this time. Slaves werebrought in shiploads direct fromAfrica, and some of the plantersalong the St. Johns River ownedthousands of them. Thus the colonists atNew Smyrna were an isolated class, ignoredby their wealthy white neighbors as poorand small farmers, and looked upon bythe negroes as poor white trash, just asthe few poor people of the Carolinas andVirginia were regarded by the slaves, all ofwhich was naturally resented by the Minor-cans. This was the feeling as well, of the in-dentured colonists in Georgia and Virginia, 95 DR. ANDREW TURNBULL only not so pronounced, because their nation-ality was the same as those about them, and ina few years they could not be marked out;while the Minorcans remained a distinct classin Florida for many years. Yet, the Minorcansproved themselves vastly superior to the rest ofTurnbulls colonists at New Smyrna in indus-try an
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