board the little vessel that had brought them thither. During their short stay, many persons, in their rage, had written with chalk on the blank walls, and on the doors of many houses in the Bay ;-"What shall "we do with them?" and dark hints about tar and feathers had been given by more than one of the nontolerating inhabitants.-I am not a methodist myself, heaven forbid! yet I can see no reason why the missionaries should be excluded from Barbados more than from the other islands, where it must be confessed, even if they have mingled with it a slight portion of harm, they have nevertheless done much good. There is much to be done yet, in the West Indies, on the score of morality and religion; and I will maintain that it is better that the negroes should be taught by catholics, or by methodists, than that they should be left untaught; better that they should follow either of these religions, than that they should follow no religion at all; and at present there are not sufficient members of the protestant church to do half that is requisite in the colonies. I think, however, that all persons, whether missionaries or otherwise, who go to the West Indies with a view of imparting Christian knowledge to the slaves, or who are expected to hold any influence over their minds, should be men, not only of good education, but of sound character and judgment; without these, the best motives may be productive of the worst effects, and those who were intended to be taught, may be found to have been misled, and their minds wavering between a sense of right and wrong.

There are now, including all, fifteen or sixteen places of worship in Barbados; a great number for so small a colony: and the Bishop deserves every praise, for his exertions in propagating the Christian religion throughout all the islands.

There is a pretty strong militia force in Bridgetown, consisting of all the free male inhabitants, between the ages of eighteen and fifty. These are regularly paraded and reviewed, at stated periods; and there are several battalions, which in point of equipment and good discipline, do not fall far short of our regiments of the line.

There are others, however, that repair to the ground in tattered garments, of which the original red has changed into a non-describable colour; and who not only are, but promise long to remain, totally unacquainted with the profession of arms.

Often have I been standing near them, when drawn up in line, and the officer in a tolerably audible voice, commanded them to "Right face." Scarcely was the word pronounced, when the major part of the corps, as if by instinct, faced mechanically to the left: and immediately after, when desired to shoulder arms, the same unfortunate individuals, by a sudden and irretrievable motion, allowed their muskets to fall to the ground; nay, on one occasion, I have been told (nevertheless I will not vouch for the truth of the assertion) that they were even known to mistake the words "stand at ease," for "fall on your knees," and whilst some, glad of a few minutes respite, obeyed the command as they should have done; others put

themselves in a posture, by which they were enabled either to resist the cavalry, or to betake themselves to prayer, as the urgency of the occasion might require.

In Barbados, besides the foot regiments, they have also a tolerable body of horse militia, which are handsomely equipped, and cut a good figure on parade. The infantry have formed their square, and they are now galloping on to the charge; in the mean time I will beg my readers to gallop on to the next chapter.

G

CHAPTER XII.

SUGAR MAKING.

"Sugar, the native salt of the sugar-cane, obtained by "the expression and evaporation of its juice."

Johnson's Dictionary.

In compliance with my friend Phillipson's request, I accompanied him a second time on a visit to Colville Estate. The excursion promised pleasure to us both, although our motives for going differed widely. Phillipson's heart had hardly been at ease since he had encountered Mr. Merrythought's amiable daughter; and my reader may attribute his anxiety to pay another visit to her father, chiefly to the effect which the charms and graces of this fairy personage had made upon the mind of the young and gallant captain. As for me, I only desire to witness the process of sugar making; which, though not altogether so interesting as a love scene before marriage, may perhaps be permitted to claim the attention of the reader, as much as a love scene would do after the above-mentioned venerable ceremony had taken place. Well then, we made all sail for Colville Estate, and soon found the port. On this occasion, we rode to the house direct; for Phillipson did not, as before, think we should find the worthy manager at the works.-As fate would have

it, he was right in his conjectures; Mr. Merrythought was "chez lui," and received us with much kindness. He said, they were just going to commence making sugar; and if we would accompany him to the works, we should have an opportunity of observing the whole process. I gladly accepted the proposal; but my friend, who had seen it all before, declared his visit was to the ladies; and preferred remaining with them till our return. I therefore accompanied the manager to the works. of the estate; and now my readers "shall see vat dey shall see!"

The works of Colville Estate, which may be taken as a model of the other properties of Barbados, consisted of a mill, a boiling-house, a curing house, a still-house, outbuildings for the reception of trash, and a place, in which the coopers of the estate manufactured the sugar hogsheads and rum puncheons.

I was first taken to the mill, which was worked by water, conveyed to it from a running stream in the vicinity. They were here grinding the canes very rapidly, as they came from the fields in bullockcarts, where a certain number of negroes were employed in cutting them.-An overseer was superintending and directing the slaves who worked at the mill.

I will here take the opportunity to explain the difference between an overseer and a manager.-There are usually two, and sometimes three overseers, and one manager on every estate.

The manager superintends the whole, and the