Mr. R. furnished us with a written communication, from which we extract the following.

Quest. Are the apprentices desirous of being instructed?

Ans. Most assuredly they are; in proof of which I would observe that since our establishment in Bath, the people not only attend the schools regularly, but if they obtain a leaf of a book with letters upon it, that is their constant companion.  We have found mothers with their sucking babes in their arms, standing night after night in their classes learning the alphabet.

Q. Are the negroes grateful for attentions and favors?

A. They are; I have met some who have been so much affected by acts of kindness, that they have burst into tears, exclaiming, ’Massa so kind—­my heart full.’  Their affection to their teachers is very remarkable.  On my return lately from Kingston, after a temporary absence, the negroes flocked to our residence and surrounded the chaise, saying, ‘We glad to see massa again; we glad to see school massa.’  On my way through an estate some time ago, some of the children observed me, and in a transport of joy cried, ’Thank God, massa come again!  Bless God de Savior, massa come again!’

Mr. R., said he, casually met with an apprentice whose master had lately died.  The man was in the habit of visiting his master’s grave every Saturday.  He said to Mr. R., “Me go to massa grave, and de water come into me yeye; but me can’t help it, massa, de water will come into me yeye.”

The Wesleyan missionary told us, that two apprentices, an aged man and his daughter, a young woman, had been brought up by their master before the special magistrate who sentenced them to several days confinement in the house of correction at Morant Bay and to dance the treadmill.  When the sentence was passed the daughter entreated that she might be allowed to do her father’s part, as well as her own, on the treadmill, for he was too old to dance the wheel—­it would kill him.

From Bath we went into the Plantain Garden River Valley, one of the richest and most beautiful savannahs in the island.  It is an extensive plain, from one to three miles wide, and about six miles long.  The Plantain Garden River, a small stream, winds through the midst of the valley lengthwise, emptying into the sea.  Passing through the valley, we went a few miles south of it to call on Alexander Barclay, Esq., to whom we had a letter of introduction.  Mr. Barclay is a prominent member of the assembly, and an attorney for eight estates.  He made himself somewhat distinguished a few years ago by writing an octavo volume of five hundred pages in defence of the colonies, i.e., in defence of colonial slavery.  It was a reply to Stephen’s masterly work against West India slavery, and was considered by the Jamaicans a triumphant vindication of their “peculiar institutions.”  We went several miles out of our route expressly to have an interview with so