as a right, that they should have the pleasure of making the slaves free? She replied, the King had no business to do wrong, to rob one man in order to please another; and she did not believe any of the white men were better for always praying; she was herself going to complain of one who was always pretending to preach God Almighty, and yet was the wickedest villain in all Jamaica-these were her words. We entered the town together, where she was met by some of her friends, among whom was an old black woman, her mother; and I took my way to a tavern, kept by a brown woman, Miss Bessy M'Clean.

CHAPTER XIV.

January 5-Monday,

I STAID all day yesterday at Black River, to repose after my fatigues; for, having passed two nights with but little sleep, I had fancied myself heated and feverish.

The tavern overlooks the sea, which washes the foundations of the house; and the town is situated on the bank of a large river, over which there is a wooden bridge, one hundred feet long notwithstanding this abundance of water, I felt the heat more oppressive than I had hitherto done; and I found also a lack of society, to which I had been unused. I learn. the particulars of the complaint which Miss Flora Ross had made against the white gentleman (I speak of the lady I had overtaken on the road)-it was really too shocking to relate; suffice it to say, that she had some time ago formed a connexion with a young gentle,

man, the son of the person against whose violence she appealed, to whom this circumstance was not unknown. He was bound over to keep the peace.

I rode along the sea-shore for about two miles, and then began to ascend the Pedro plains, a tract of undulating country, sloping towards the sea, with occasional clumps of rocks, which serve each as a nucleus for trees, and give the whole the air of an English park. A red dust driven up by the sea breeze proved very troublesome; it mingles with the perspiration from which one is seldom free, and sticks like paint; otherwise the air is both agreeable and salubrious. This district has a very volcanic appearance; the earth sounds hollow like the environs of the Puy de Dome, in Auvergne; and, like that country, has no water on its surface: it corresponds with it in many particulars.. The only water on the Pedro plains is obtained from tanks, made to preserve the rain; and, to render these imperforable, pieces of plantain-stalk are thrown into the pit as soon as dug, and pounded with rammers, so that the juice mixing with the earth renders it solid and waterproof. The sun's rays are excluded by reeds, laid on a

frame-work, which covers them. The juice of the plantain is very astringent; and yet, so severe is the drought of this climate, that the poultry peck the stalks to quench their

thirst.

The earth seemed to ring beneath the horse's feet as I cantered over it; and while I halted to examine it more patiently, Abdallah asked his comrade whether Duppy did not live there underneath; but Pompeius, with an air of disdain, replied, "that he did not believe Duppy; that Duppy was all lies; that he was gone to the Debbil, who had tied a big chain round about him a thousand years long, and cursed him into a pit, and that he must not come out till Jerusalem should tumble down, and be built up again new." He was going on at this rate, like an enraged bottle of spruce beer, which having blown out its cork, seems resolved to discharge every drop of its contents in froth, when his fury was arrested by the appearance of a lady and gentleman, mounted on two beautiful steeds, covered with nets to keep off the flies, who rode upon' our track at a hand gallop, and soon came up with us.

I made way to let the young lady pass

more easily, for she had hardly sufficient command of her spirited horse, which bounded and curvetted as it approached, and had nearly dislodged its fair burden from her seat. My eyes were fixed on her, and I should scarcely have noticed her companion, had he not reined up his steed to give her time to re-adjust herself. Hereupon a mutual recognition took place; for I had made acquaintance with the cavalier at Mr. Graham's, and now learnt, on comparing notes, that we were bound to the same quarters, the house of a worthy Israelite, a man of very considerable possessions.

The young lady, his niece, was going to pay a visit to a female friend in Spanish Town,. and preferred this mode of travelling, which in the fine climate of the Pedro plains is not only tolerable but agreeable, even at mid-day. She was dressed in a riding habit, with a large straw bonnet, and a green veil; her companion rode under an umbrella and an umbrella hat. One motive of their journey had been apprehension of disturbances in the Island; many families having taken refuge in the towns in real dread of being murdered by the negroes.

Every individual seems to be confident of