Of the three overseers who were present, not one could be called a respectable man.  Their countenances were the mirrors of all lustful and desperate passions.  They were continually drinking rum and water, and one of them was half drunk.

Our next visit was to an elevated plantation called Peter’s Rock.  The path to it was, in one place, so steep, that we had to dismount and permit our horses to work their way up as they could, while we followed on foot.  We then wound along among provision grounds and coffee fields, through forests where hardly a track was to be seen, and over hedges, which the horses were obliged to leap, till we issued on the great path which leads from the plantation to Kingston.

Peter’s Rock has one hundred apprentices, and is under the management, as Mr. Bourne informed us, of a very humane man.  During the two years and a half of the apprenticeship, there had been only six complaints.  As we approached the plantation we saw the apprentices at the side of the road, eating their breakfast.  They had been at work some distance from their houses, and could not spend time to go home.  They saluted us with great civility, most of them rising and uncovering their heads.  In answer to our questions, they said they were getting along very well.  They said their master was kind to them, and they appeared in fine spirits.

The overseer met us as we rode up to the door, and received us very courteously.  He had no complaints.  He informed us that the plantation was as well cultivated as it had been for many years, and the people were perfectly obedient and industrious.

From Peter’s Rock we rode to “Hall’s Prospect,” a plantation on which there are sixty apprentices under the charge of a black overseer, who, two years ago, was a slave.  It was five weeks since Mr. B. had been there, and yet he had only one complaint, and that against a woman for being late at work on Monday morning.  The reason she gave for this was, that she went to an estate some miles distant to spend the Sabbath with her husband.

Mr. Bourne, by the aid of funds left in his hands by Mr. Sturge, is about to establish a school on this plantation.  Mr. B., at a previous visit, had informed the people of what he intended to do, and asked their co-operation.  As soon as they saw him to-day, several of them immediately inquired about the school, when it would begin, &c.  They showed the greatest eagerness and thankfulness.  Mr. B. told them he should send a teacher as soon as a house was prepared.  He had been talking with their master (the attorney of the plantation) about fixing one, who had offered them the old “lock-up house,” if they would put it in order.  There was a murmur among them at this annunciation.  At length one of the men said, they did not want the school to be held in the “lock-up house.”  It was not a good place for their “pickaninnies” to go to.  They had much rather have some other building, and would be glad to have it close to their houses.  Mr. B. told them if they would put up a small house near their own, he would furnish it with desks and benches.  To this they all assented with great joy.