Six months in the West-Indies, in 1825

Page 231

ANGUILLA.

217

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


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