accompanied by a party of his friends, made his appearance at Clarence the next morning, and preferred his complaint in strong terms against the luckless Kroomen, whom, it appeared, he knew perfectly well.  The Kroomen were accordingly mustered, and the very four, who had gone on this unfortunate expedition, were pointed out with exultation by the natives.  The law took its course, the Kroomen each received one hundred and fifty lashes from the African drummer, usually employed on these occasions, while the natives stood by, to see that the punishment was duly performed.  This they did to admiration, by counting the number of lashes each received; and having witnessed the last punished, with eyes sparkling with brutal satisfaction at the tortures of the unfortunate sufferers, they went away quite satisfied.  The place where this disagreeable operation is performed, is in the barrack yard, on Point William, between the officers’ house and the hospital.  The culprit is tied up to a kind of strong gallows, erected for the purpose.  Two stout pieces of timber, about seven or eight feet high, are driven perpendicularly into the ground, about four feet apart from each other, a piece is secured firmly across them at the top, and another at a short distance from the ground.  The hands of the man who is to be punished, are tied at each end of the upright pieces, and his legs are secured to the same on each side below, in which position he is exposed to the merciless scourge of the drummer, which is a common cat-o-nine-tails.  It is painful even to think of such scenes as these, and when they take place at the mere whim and caprice of the hardened slave merchant, such a picture is revolting in the extreme.  Here, however, severe as it may appear, it must be looked upon in a different point of view.  The punishment is great, but with the certainty of receiving it, if discovered, the negro will run the risk of incurring it, by what may be termed the breach of the first law of civilized society.  In addition to the tendency it has to keep the free blacks in control, such a proceeding convinces the natives of the island, that their depredations are not sanctioned by the colony.  Were some punishment not instituted to curb the restless, pilfering propensities of these people, no order could be maintained; they would return to a worse condition, than that which they were in at first, and the colony would no longer be secure; for the natives of the island, finding their homes invaded, and their property carried off, unable to obtain redress, would soon take the law into their own hands, and would either murder the colonists, or drive them from the island.  Therefore, although a severe one, it is a salutary measure, and it has no doubt done much towards keeping the natives themselves honest.  What punishment is adopted by the natives, the Landers were not able to ascertain.  The chiefs appear to possess considerable authority over them, and it is not improbable that the custom of the settlement is imitated in some shape or other.