estates are on the opposite side of the island, which stretches out eastward in a low sloping country, beautifully situated for sugar cultivation.  The hills were covered with trees, with here and there small patches of cultivated grounds where the negroes raise provisions.  A deep rich verdure covered all that portion of the island which we saw.  We were a day and night in passing the long island of Guadaloupe.  Another day and night were spent in beating through the channel between Gaudaloupe and Dominica:  another day in passing the latter island, and then we stood or Martinique.  This is the queen island of the French West Indies.  It is fertile and healthful, and though not so large as Guadaloupe, produces a larger revenue.  It has large streams of water, and many of the sugar mills are worked by them.  Martinique and Dominica are both very mountainous.  Their highest peaks are constantly covered with clouds, which in their varied siftings, now wheeling around, then rising or falling, give the hills the appearance of smoking volcanoes.  It was not until the eighth day of the voyage, that we landed at Barbadoes.  The passage from Barbadoes to Antigua seldom occupies more than three days, the wind being mostly in that direction.

In approaching Barbadoes, it presented an entirely difference appearance from that of the islands we had passed on the way.  It is low and level, almost wholly destitute of trees.  As we drew nearer we discovered in every direction the marks of its extraordinary cultivation.  The cane fields and provision grounds in alternate patches cover the island with one continuous mantle of green.  The mansions of the planters, and the clusters of negro houses, appear at shore intervals dotting the face of the island, and giving to it the appearance of a vast village interspersed with verdant gardens.

We “rounded up” in the bay, off Bridgetown, the principal place in Barbadoes, where we underwent a searching examination by the health officer; who, after some demurring, concluded that we might pass muster.  We took lodgings in Bridgetown with Mrs. M., a colored lady.

The houses are mostly built of brick or stone, or wood plastered.  They are seldom more than two stories high, with flat roofs, and huge window shutters and doors—­the structures of a hurricane country.  The streets are narrow and crooked, and formed of white marle, which reflects the sun with a brilliancy half blinding to the eyes.  Most of the buildings are occupied as stores below and dwelling houses above, with piazzas to the upper story, which jut over the narrow streets, and afford a shade for the side walks.  The population of Bridgetown is about 30,000.  The population of the island is about 140,000, of whom nearly 90,000 are apprentices, the remainder are free colored and white in the proportion of 30,000 free colored and 20,000 whites.  The large population exists on an island not more than twenty miles long, by fifteen broad.  The whole