try, to see whether we have a flag or not; which is probably true.

The lieutenant-governor received us with marked distinction on the steps of his house. He is an old man, venerable for his white hairs, sore eyes, and lack of teeth; affluent in the undoubted possession of two coats and one dimity waistcoat, with regimental buttons attached to them. His hospitality was as sincere as his entertainment was spare; wine, poor soul! he had none, and rum we could not drink; but there was water, and as much as we liked of it from the aforesaid well. But the

frost of age melted away when the glorious deeds of Anguilla were mentioned; how the old warrior reared himself up on his chair! how he girded his loins and took up his parable! "I told the men, I'll tell ye what, I know nothing about marching and countermarching, but my advice to you is to wait till the enemy comes close, and then fire and load and fire again like the devil." Whereat we all looked grave as was proper; but his Honor was sublimed beyond all consideration of infernal similes. Victor Hugues himself would have trembled to beard such a soldier in his den, if he had known of his existence.

That murderous ruffian never did any thing more wantonly atrocious than ordering the attack of Anguilla in 1796. It could serve no warlike or colonial purpose, especially as, it is said, his instructions to the officers were

The French

to exterminate the inhabitants. burnt the little town, pulled down the church, stabbed men in their houses, and stripped women of their clothes. In such a case it is a real satisfaction to know that punishment followed hard upon the crime. Every man in the expedition was afterwards killed or taken prisoner by the Lapwing, and the two French ships were destroyed.

The council presented an address to the bishop, which was very creditable to the good taste and feeling of the principal people of this unjustly forgotten colony. Indeed, they seem a good sort of folks, though they have been living for a long time in a curious state of suspended civilization. They acknowledge the English laws, but the climate is said to induce fits of drowsiness on them, during which Justice sleepeth, and Execution tarrieth. These periods of dormancy are occasional, and arise from no very definite cause. In the book of the deputy provost marshal, after recording that a writ received at the office in 1809 was executed in 1818, it is thus written :

"The reason the above execution was not previously levied is, that there was no place of confinement, and that the laws of this island were lying dormant from the period of granting the writ, until instructions were received by the lieutenant-governor from the captain-general to proceed in execution of the laws and customs of the island, which occurrence took

place in 1818, when the marshal was ordered to do his duty, and made this attachment accordingly."

The laws having awaked, they were troubled with such an immense number of writs again, that the poor creatures had no time to eat or to drink; whereupon after a few months' wakefulness, they became dormant again, and so have continued for the last six years. In 1822 indeed, the board of council formally declared, "that it was useless to erect themselves into a court of judicature for want of a jail."

nullo contentam carcere Romam !

One small Methodist chapel is the only place of religious worship in Anguilla. The minister is a colored man, with a stipend, as I was informed, of 2001. per annum from the Society in England, and is consequently the richest man in the island. He has two hundred and fifty admitted members, and his congregation rarely exceeds four hundred souls. There remain, therefore, about two thousand six hundred human beings without, or only with the name of Christians. This gentleman has been eleven years in his situation, and in all that time has never dreamed of establishing a school for the young. The serenity of the neighbourhood was disturbed in the evening when I was there, by the worse than Popish mummery of class meetings: the young women and children were screaming out by rote some hymns

and songs, with an asperity and discordance of tone which seemed to make Nature angry, and exhibiting a scene of such mechanical superstition and senseless perversion of Christian worship, as might well have caused a wiser man than me to weep for the possible absurdi ties of mankind.

But brighter prospects are opening in Anguilla. Its state has been thoroughly examined by commission from the governor of St. Kitt's, and a system of reformation in consequence undertaken. The Anguillans now send a representative to the assembly of St. Kitt's, and the island is to be bound by all laws enacted in his presence. These laws are not to be allowed to go to sleep upon any pretence whatever. A court is to be erected and juries impanelled. A church and a chapel will be built, partly by government and partly by themselves, and a clergyman and catechist will reside on the island; one or two schools are to be opened forthwith under proper masters, and the colony will be periodically visited by the Archdeacon of Antigua and the Bishop himself. The great curiosity of Anguilla is the salt This is a shallow lake surrounded by little hills, except where it is divided from the sea by the beach alone. The salt forms a crust on the clay under water, whence it is

pond*

*A few English families first settled themselves about this pond in 1650. They shortly afterwards planted tobacco, which was highly esteemed.

scraped off and laid up in stacks on the shore, which being thatched with branches of the tierpalm present at first sight the appearance of an Indian village. The salt which I saw dug out for use was very white, strong and beautifully crystallized. The pond is common property, and every one may take as much of it as he can get. The natives talk of their crop of salt, as planters do of their canes, or as we should do of our corn. In favorable years three

hundred thousand bushels of this article have been exported. If the poor folks had a free port, they might get on tolerably well. Unrestricted commerce, which is munificence and stimulus to London and Liverpool, would be charity to Anguilla.

By the by, they make very good hats here from the leaves of the tier-palm, the smallest and most delicate species of that great family of trees which I have seen.

There are three hundred and sixty-five whites, three hundred and twenty-seven freecoloured, and two thousand three hundred and eighty-eight slaves in Anguilla.

The colony is very poor; an inconsiderable portion of it is cultivated, and that with so little capital that much improvement in the present state of things seems improbable. I fear the slaves suffer a good deal from want of certain and adequate provision, and the mode of meeting the scarcity by giving them one, two, or three days' liberty to seek it any where, is de