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between the plank-house and the beach, which had been raised from the four shooting nuts: the time was most propitious to vegetation. We were all busy to-day in airing things that had been wetted by the rains; also in getting various provisions on shore from the ship: and the evening was finished by a great take of mullet with torch-light, to the great amusement, if not astonishment, of our negro friends.

Sunday, 26th. We all met in our Sunday dress at divine service; and, after my dear wife had sung the hymn, we made the people say the Lord's prayer after us, which they tried to do. It could not be explained to them at once; but we made them understand that the God to whom we prayed in the address, "Our Father in heaven!" stood in the same relation to us all, that Diego stood to Mira; and this was a great point gained, as they now had some idea of the object of our worship. We also succeeded in making them comprehend, that all we eat or drank, and all the fruits of the earth, were his gift; and that we therefore prayed for

daily bread." We went through the greater part of the service in their presence this day: and at night, when we retired to rest, we fervently poured forth our thanks to the Lord of heaven and earth, for blessing our endeavours so far, in opening the minds of these kind-hearted creatures to a knowledge of God.

Monday, 27th.- After the women had finished their Monday morning's task, they put themselves under Diego's direction; for we had now deter

mined, that Xavier should henceforward be chiefly employed in the erection of our long-projected habitation, on the glade beyond our dear hospitable silk-cotton-tree. To this end, I furnished him with a plan forty-four feet by sixteen; height of walls fourteen feet: the interior to be divided into three parts; the centre great room, sixteen feet; with one at each side fourteen feet. There were plenty of materials for the projected edifice — squared uprights, planks, boards, laths, and shingles; and I mentioned before, that thirteen trees of the cabbage-palm had been felled, and brought to the spot; seven of which were from sixteen to eighteen feet long, and the other six from fourteen to sixteen feet each, when cleared of their cabbage head. These trees, when squared, were to form the base of the frame-work. I therefore hoped, with occasional assistance, as all materials were so well prepared to his hand, that he might finish the building in six months.

Xavier having received my grand architectural plan for our new palace, I sent for Diego, and furnished him, for his agricultural department, with all the yams and coccos that had been preserved for the purpose of planting: I also gave him about two bushels of the old Indian corn, and some of all the seeds we had collected from time to time from our fruits as we eat them; also more than one half of the tobacco seeds, which I had not yet sown. He was delighted with this kind of supply, as they were more fit for vegetating quickly than the proceeds of the late growth. He took them away carefully to the

storehouse near the cotton-tree, in which plantation the chief of his operations were to centre ; though we had minor nurseries for a few melons in the neighbourhood of the cave-spring, and in other places, to be handy on occasion.

CHAP. X.

THE HE men worked steadily at their respective avocations, and in three months the labours of each made a respectable appearance. Diego had laid out the grounds well, and every plant had attained its full growth. The house was up: the roofing and flooring, and interior work, only remained to be done. We all enjoyed good health during this period, and preserved great harmony, and proper subordination. Our negro friends began to speak with us, on all ordinary matters, in our own language; and we hoped they now knew something of their Redeemer, and the moral duties that should bind man to man. In July there was some rain: these refreshing showers fell generally in the night, and especially after a great display of sheet lightning in the horizon, whose brilliant yet silent coruscations can scarcely be imagined by those who have not resided in intertropical regions.

Monday, August 26th.- My dear wife and myself had much reason to be well satisfied with the prospect of being comfortably lodged before the winter, which, although not much colder than an English summer, yet, in this climate, is attended frequently with stormy, disagreeable weather. We beheld every thing around us prosperous and pro

mising. Our young goats were nearly full-grown, and our three broods of chickens had nearly attained maturity. The old hens were again laying; and now we ventured on their prolific nature, to regale ourselves occasionally with a few of their delicious eggs at breakfast. Some of the young ducks had been lost, but there remained an abundance; so that now and then we treated ourselves to a roast duckling, as a delicacy. The chocolate plants had sprung up to half a foot in height in several places in the woody region, where we had put in the nuts ; and the capsicums aud bird-peppers were every where full of fruit. Diego's plantation was gratifying to look on. The large red leaves of the coccos had a brilliant effect; and the majestic Indian corn, with its feathery top, and great bulging cobs protruding, leaf-covered from the stem, looked nobly. The yams, with their small stalks, claimed little attention from the eye, but their great usefulness stamped a value even on their homely appearance. The tobacco, thinned out to give it vigour, spread its broad dark-green leaf on a stem four or five feet high, exhibiting a yellow crown of clustering seed capsules, here and there on a plant destined for seed, the tops of the others being cut off, to give an increase to the magnitude of their leaves. Our pine-apples had just begun to form; while the six sugar-canes had attained a height of nearly eight feet, with stalks and upper leaves of vivid green. All our fruit trees, too, had advanced considerably; so that we might eventually live to see the orange grove and shaddocks in full bearing, adding to the beauty and comfort of our plantation residence,

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