Author Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1834 edition. Excerpt:... THE WEST INDIES. CHAPTER I. First impressions--Negro Sunday market--An evening ride on shore. I beheld the West Indies for the first time when, at sun-rise, on the last day of December 1820, we anchored in the lovely bay of Calliaqua, in the island of St. Vincent. I am not about to enlarge in the way of description;-- man, rather than nature, is my object; but I may be permitted to say, that the scene which rose before me that morning with the sun, was of the most captivating kind. I saw a succession of small valleys, covered with canes and pasturage, intermingled with slight elevations in the fore-ground, upon which here and there a dwelling-house could be distinguished, while the prospect was terminated by mountain heaped upon mountain, in that wild confusion that told of those awful convulsions of nature to which these tropical regions have been subject. The sea, too, --such a sea as in the temperate latitudes is rarely seen, held the island like a gem in its pure bosom; and mirrored there, the anchored ships, the moving boats, and the varied shores. vOL. I. B It was Sunday morning, and a novel spectacle soon awaited me. I saw, for the first time, bands of negroes proceeding from the different estates, some with baskets, and others with wooden trays on their heads, carrying the surplus produce of their provision-grounds to market. Accustomed to a devout observance of the Sabbath-day, I could feel little pleasure in gazing on a scene which in other circumstances would have given me unfeigned pleasure --for it was something to learn that negro slaves were in possession of, and could sell, the loads of surplus produce which I saw, and receive their cash in hand; and it was also something to see that they were, with the exception of very..