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Show 110 JAMAICA. dom, the want of labor, on many properties, is obviously to be traced merely to the want of money to pay for it. Th1s ev1l will be rectified by the gradual influence of freedom ; as has already been so remarkably the case in Antigua .. A tl1ird estate, near Mount Carey, called "Anchovy," was g1ven up, as a bad concern, at the first date of freedom, but IS now resumed, and by virtue of free labor, bas already nearly recovered itself. Third-month (March) 18th.-Early in the morning we left Mount Carey, and in the company of our friend Burchell, drove, through a cultivated country,· to Bctheltown, another station, where the Baptists have a large congregation, four hundred and fifty members of their church, and a school for one hundred and .fifty children. The neighboring village, consisting of little freehold settlements, occupied and well cultivated by the negroes, had proved to mru1y of them a place of refuge from oppression, and now presented a scene of quiet prosperity. It was here that we first observed the cultivation of ginger. The plant has long grass-like leaves, m1d the root which forms the article of commerce, is prepared for sale, by the simple process of cleaning, and drying in the sun. It certainly affords the neo-ro cultivator a short and easy method of realising money. w: now took our leave of Thomas Burchell; and, provided with one of his obliging people, as a guide, pursued our journey over rough narrow roads, until we arrived at Kepp, a romantic pcnu or park, in the parish of " St. Elizabeth"-the estate of George Marcey, one of the most respectable resident proprietors of the island. He is a pious member of the Church of England, and although declining in years, devotes his time and talents to the gratuitous education of nearly a hundred negro children. Though we were total strangers-five in number, with six horses, and three drivers-he received us with cordial good-\vill, gave us an excellent dinner, summoned the people, in the neighborhood, to a religious meeting in the evening, lodged us most comfortably, and dismissed us, the next morning after breakfast, with as hearty a blessing as any one could bestow. He seemed, however, a good deal discomforted 1AMAICA, 111 ~y the difficulty which was experienced, in that neighborhood, In pro~unng labor; and although he acknowledged that a gradual Improvement was taking place, complained rather bitterly of the state of thwgs around him. On subsequent inquiry, we had reason to belJeve that the difficulty in those parts, as in other places, was very much connected with extravagant charges of rent. 'l'hat our friend himself was somewhat too prone to discouragement, appeared from a circumstance of which he informed us,-that a few years since, he had sold a certam sugar estate, called G--, for the trilling sum of £1500. "And what dost thou suppose to be the value of that property now, friend Marcey?" said one of our company. u Ten thousand pounds," was his immediate reply-an assertion which afforded us a fresh and palpable evidence that notwithstanding occasional and temporary difficulties, J~m;ica is on the road to solid prosperity. Another item of information with which this gentleman favored us, was equally satisfactory. Few persons are so well acquainted, as he is, with the people Ill the ne1ghborhood, and we were therefore glad to hear him say, that their numbers, under freedom, are increasing, in a geometncal milo. Compare this statement, with the wellknown fact, that, under slavery, the population of Jamaica was constantly decreasing. The old system was a killing onethe new system, when fairly carried out, is in its very nature life-giving. ' . 3rd M~nth (March) 19th. We parted from our friend Marcey With feelmgs of grateful respect, after which, a long and somewhat te.dwus stage, brought us to Lacovia, a very small village, contrunrng a chm-ch and two taverns. It had once been the u capital" of St. Elizabeth, but the court house havino- been lately opened at Black-river, on _the coast, Lacovia seemedbmuch deserted. We were, however, glad to make the acquaintance of the valuable curate of the district, who gave us a generally favorable account of the state of the population · and although 0 . ' ur accommodatwns at the tavern, were miserable enough we concluded to continue there over the night, in order to hold |