36
ANTIGUA.
indeed of the success of freedom. Befoi-e 1 8 3 4 , there were one hundred and ten slaves on the property, of whom he could sometimes scarcely muster seventeen or twenty in the field. Their average weekly expense of clothing and allowances was twenty-seven pounds. He has now double the amount of effective labor ; namely fifty-seven persons whose wages amount only to fifteen pounds weekly.* The estate derives a con siderable profit also from the sale of ground provisions to the laborers. He observed to us that the other colonies would have done well to have followed tlie ex ample of Antigua ; but complained bitterly of the small thanks they had received from the Home Govern ment. It appears to be a general sentiment here that Antigua is in disgrace at the colonial ofiice in conse quence of the rejection of the apprenticeship. We called at Willoughby Bay upon CHARLKS T H W A I T E S , the venerable father of education in Antigua. He has lived thirty-nine years in the island, the last twenty of which have been devoted to this work. We visited with him a large school of one hundred and twenty children ; of whom only twenty are in the alphabet class. The rest can i-ead in one or two syllables ; and some of them in any part of the Bible. The prin cipal teacher, a negro young man, governed the school, we were told, successfully, and in the spirit of love : yet it appeared to us that he taught the children rather by rote than intelligently. The children spelt correctly ; and were quick in reply to scripture questions proposed by ourselves, or C. TIIWAITES. In the evening we pro ceeded to Grace Hill, another Moravian station, where, though entire strangers, we were kindly received by * See Appendix A . Sec. II.