The West indies in 1837

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JAMAICA.

Mohammedan negros speak the worst English. They are less frequently converted to Christianity ; and in cases where they have become nominal believers, they have been found to blend it, with the superstitions of their forefathers. The employment of this old man was to keep his master's garden in order. A stream ran through it, one part of which he had made wider and deeper, and had thrown a bower over it. In this shaded reservoir he kept some mullets which came at his call to feed out of his hand. One of the most interesting objects in this neigh­ bourhood is a silk cotton tree, of an extraordinary size, growing on the bank of a rivulet. It is about one hundred feet in circumference and each of its branches is equal to a large tree. The trunk of the silk cotton tree is frequently smooth and rises gradually tapering to a great height, at which it throws out its arms at right angles. When the tree attains, as in this instance a very vigorous growth, the trunk near the root gradually expands into angular buttresses, which support the weight of its immense limbs. Two oppo­ site arms of this tree extend to a distance of one hun­ dred and seventy-three feet ; and its huge roots, stretch­ ing out above the surface in every direction, appear to cover a rood of ground. 9th.—The Sabbath. We were awakened this morning by the notes of the mock-bird, which is the only one that can be properly termed a bird of song.. It is a species of thrush, though universally in the West Indies known as the nightingale. The early morning, at a distance from town, is delightful. The fierce heat of a tropical sun is abated by the cool and refreshing dews of night, and all is hushed, but voices and sounds expressive of the happiness of animated


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