32
ANTIGUA.
being made to pass through a transition state.' It was in the power of the proprietors to revert to such a state, and it might be desirable to do so by giving the people their houses and grounds on lease, on condition of their paying a rent of so many days labor in the year. This would attach them to the soil. We proceeded from thence to Newfield. In the course of the day, our kind host, Brother M O R R I S H , accompanied us to seve足 ral of the neighbouring plantations. The first gentle足 man to whom he introduced us, who had always been esteemed an indulgent master, carried us to see his negro village, part of which has been rebuilt, and other足 wise improved, since 1 8 3 4 . The houses are now very comfortable ; consisting of one, and sometimes two rooms, of from ten to fourteen feet square, and kept very clean, a few of which are furnished with a fourpost bed, and other household goods. Each kitchen is a little detached shed, thatched, and without chim足 ney, apparently so ill adapted to culinary processes, that it is difficult to imagine how the villages escape an occasional conflagration. The huts are also thatched with cane-trash, thrown on in a very slovenly manner, but the interior roof is constructed of strips of palm leaves neatly plaited. In one which we entered, a young woman was sitting on the ground, with a very young child in her lap, which had on an obi necklace of horsehair, because its neck was " limber," as she expressed it. The minister took off the necklace, and spoke to her very appropriately on her sinful habits and superstition. She was not married. We made inquiries of this gentleman respecting the comparative cost of cultivation under the present and former system, and subsequently received two letters from him on that subject. He was unable to furnish us j