JAMAICA.
161
replied, " that the child was free, and she did not wish to hind him." The effect of the apprenticeship on these children, is, in many respects, very injurious. The overseer treated us during our stay with great courtesy, and offered to accompany us to visit several neighbouring estates if our time had permitted. We returned in the afternoon. The sides of the mountains are devoted to coffee, which grows here without any protecting fence. All the original forest has disap足 peared, having been at one time cleared for cultivation. The estates are of great extent, and it is customary when the soil is worn out, or rather washed down by the heavy rains, to plant in new ground ; as the steep mountain sides cannot be restored to fertility by til足 lage. The scenery of this part of the island, though often grand and beautiful, has not the freshness which characterises Dominica and St. Lucia. Other parts of Jamaica are yet uncultivated, and covered with primitive forest. The waste lands belong to the crown, but may be patented by any individual at a nominal rent. Many thousand acres have recently been taken up by various persons, which is a proof that the general confidence in the stability and increased value of real estates, is not diminished by the anticipation of com足 plete freedom. In the course of the evening, a negro came in great distress to the magistrate, to complain that his wife residing in this district had been taken to the court of a neighbouring magistrate. Captain BROWNSOX, and sentenced to the treadmill for eight days. A letter was given her to the Governor. Though the Special magis足 trates are appointed each to a particular district, yet their commissions extend over the whole island ; and one who has the reputation of impartiality with the app 3