I have as usual allowed this letter to lie by, dear E——­, not in the hope of the occurrence of any event—­for that is hopeless—­but until my daily avocations allowed me leisure to resume it, and afforded me, at the same time, matter wherewith to do so.  I really never was so busy in all my life, as I am here.  I sit at the receipt of custom (involuntarily enough) from morning till night—­no time, no place, affords me a respite from my innumerable petitioners, and whether I be asleep or awake, reading, eating, or walking; in the kitchen, my bed-room, or the parlour, they flock in with urgent entreaties, and pitiful stories, and my conscience forbids my ever postponing their business for any other matter; for, with shame and grief of heart I say it, by their unpaid labour I live—­their nakedness clothes me, and their heavy toil maintains me in luxurious idleness.  Surely the least I can do is to hear these, my most injured benefactors; and, indeed, so intense in me is the sense of the injury they receive from me and mine, that I should scarce dare refuse them the very clothes from my back, or food from my plate, if they asked me for it.  In taking my daily walk round the banks yesterday, I found that I was walking over violet roots.  The season is too little advanced for them to be in bloom, and I could not find out whether they were the fragrant violet or not.

Mr. ——­ has been much gratified to-day by the arrival of Mr. K——­, who, with his father, for nineteen years was the sole manager of these estates, and discharged his laborious task with great ability and fidelity towards his employers.  How far he understood his duties to the slaves, or whether indeed an overseer can, in the nature of things, acknowledge any duty to them, is another question.  He is a remarkable man and is much respected for his integrity and honourable dealing by everybody here.  His activity and energy are wonderful, and the mere fact of his having charge of for nineteen years, and personally governing, without any assistance whatever, seven hundred people scattered over three large tracts of land, at a considerable distance from each other, certainly bespeaks efficiency and energy of a very uncommon order.  The character I had heard of him from Mr. ——­ had excited a great deal of interest in me, and I was very glad of this opportunity of seeing a man who, for so many years, had been sovereign over the poor people here.  I met him walking on the banks with Mr. ——­, as I returned from my own ramble, during which nothing occurred or appeared to interest me—­except, by the by, my unexpectedly coming quite close to one of those magnificent scarlet birds which abound here, and which dart across your path, like a winged flame.  Nothing can surpass the beauty of their plumage, and their voice is excellently melodious—­they are lovely.