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Show 32 ST. THOMAS AND TORTOLA. the information, that crime had vastly decreased since the period of full emancipation. I looked over the list of commitments to the jail, which, for the most part, are summary for petty offences, and observed that in the last six months of 1837, the number committed was 186, and in the last six months of 1839, only 75, making a difference of Ill in favor of freedom. With regard to heavier offences, the three preceding courts of session (embracing a period of nine months) were occasions of perfect leisure-not a single criminal indictment at any of them. In the afternoon we presented one of our letters to William R. Isaacs, a most respectable old gentleman, who was once President of the Island. He was confinPd to his bed with a sprained ancle, and kindly allowed me the use of his excellent riding-horse, during our stay at Roadstown. He is himself a con· siderablc proprietor, and was then acting as attorney to Reid, Irving, and Co. of London, owners, by mort· gage tenure, of a large part of the island. In these two capacities, our elderly friend had fifteen hundred free negroes under his care; and since all his habits had long been associated with the old system, lfe could not but regard his testimony as of peculiar value. He speedily informed us, of his own accord, that his laborers were working well. " I have," said he, "no complaint to make." The fact that so large a proportion of the island had passed out of the hands of the proprietors, into those of the merchant and money lender, was a conclusive evidence against sla· very. With this evidence we could now contrast the happy testimony of our friend, in favor of freedom. ST. THOMAS AND TORTOI.A. 33 The next morning we mounted our horses at an early hour, and, in company with Dr. Dyett, and R. V. Shew, an influential planter, visited President Isaac's principal property. I observed a large company of negroes, male and female, at work on the brow of a lofty hill. I rode up to them, in company with the ~verseer, and found them heartily at work. They were engaged in the laborious occupation of holing -i.e. digging holes with the hoc, for the reception ~f the canes; and protecting each hole (as was necessary on that steep declivity) with a firm embankment. Th~se who best understood the subject, freely acknowledged that their work was excellent. We afterwards witnessed similar scenes, and recei vee! accounts equally satisfactory, on the sugar plantations belonging to R. V. Shew, and Judge Wigley. The wages of these laborers are small, only sixpence sterling per day, with a trilling increase during crop time; but I was assured that the privileges which they enjoy, of a cottage, with good provision grounds, rent free, and plenty of pasture for their stock, at least double the amount of their wages. The present condition of the planters in Tortola is not very favorable, from long continued droughts, and a consequent short crop; but I hope that more prosperous seasons will soon lead to an increase of wages. This is obviously the best method of preventing the migration of the peasantry to Trinidad, to which colony many of them have been lured by emissaries sent out for the purpose- under the hope of larger retums for their labor. In the mean time I am fjUite willing to acknowledge, D |