and the final struggle was not with Elis, but between Scroggins and Bee's-Wing, as to which should be second. Elis maintained the lead, and won easily by two lengths. But it was an admirable race for second place. Bee's-Wing stuck to her opponent "like wax ;" and she ran so fine a race with Scroggins, that he only beat her by a head. Snyders and The Bard were about a length and a half behind Bee'sWing, and made a good race for fourth. The Carpenter was the sixth horse. Then came Wedge, Redshank, Locomotive, Ebberston, Vulture, and Trapball, and last of all The Black Diamond and Carew; but some of them pulled up, on finding that the chance was entirely gone. Many persons considered that, in this instance, three races were combined in one-for the first, second, and fourth places. On the announcement of the winner, great dissatisfaction was felt, and expressed in no measured terms. The judge placed only two. This course of proceeding gave great offence to the owner of Bee's-Wing, and his friends, as well as the jockey himself. She ran the second horse up to a head; but, either from some obliquity of vision or a worse 'because," was deemed unworthy of a place. Mr. Orde became afterwards exasperated, and denounced such "judgeship," as he called it, as wholly unentitled to the least respect. "My filly," he exclaimed, “placed herself! Nearly two lengths separated the third and fourth. She ran Scroggins to a head. I say, she placed herself; and she ought not to have been shut out by the judge, and deemed as nowhere." This opinion was ratified by all racing men; and all who saw the race joined in the condemnation of the judge. The speed, resolution, and bottom evinced on this occasion by this extraordinary mare fully justified the opinion which was then formed, that the racing career of Bee's-Wing would eclipse that of any public runner for a long series of years. The race was run in three minutes twenty seconds. Elis was trained by John Day.

The intelligence of Elis's victory, by express, reached his noble owner at Lichfield, at nine o'clock the same evening, whilst he was witnessing the performance at the theatre in that town. The gratifying news was announced over the foot-lights of the stage by the manager; and the whole audience instantly rose, and greeted the noble earl with three loud and hearty cheers. From this year may be dated the admirable system of "vanning.”

SKETCHES OF LIFE AND CHARACTER IN THE WEST INDIES.

COMMUNICATED TO, AND EDITED BY, LORD WILLIAM LENNOX.

CHAPTER VII.

Marriage, which in the days of slavery, was a rare occurrence amongst the blacks, has of late years not only increased, but become quite fashionable amongst them. How far they fulfil the relative duties of man and wife, I am unable to say: it has been much encouraged by the

missionaries, and must ultimately lead to their adopting regular habits, and probably induce them to remain stationary, wherever they establish themselves, We constantly saw them pass our house, on their way to the church, and always with the same ceremonial. The bridegroom comes first, attended by the bridesmaid of his fiancée, and a male friend escorts the latter. They are invariably dressed in the extreme of the fashion, in very expensive materials, such as white satin dresses, and bonnets trimmed with lace and flowers, not always in the best taste, nor are the colours becomingly assorted.

I remember being very much amused at seeing a party dressed as I have described, on a very wet day, when the ladies were obliged to lift up their petticoats to avoid the mud. The bride shewed a black calf, above a pair of short cotton socks, that contrasted rather ludicrously with an elegant dress and satin shoes. Each of the gentlemen carries a new silk umbrella, parasol, or marquise, which appeared to be quite a sine quâ non on such occasions, having no reference to use, but it is esteemed an emblem of honour, as among the Asiatics and Chinese; and after the ceremony is performed, they parade the town, without ever exchanging a word, looking very dignified, and followed by all the idlers that may happen to be there. Although no carriage-and-four awaits the happy couple, to convey them to their residence, they celebrate their marriage by a grand supper, where a seven storey cake invariably figures,* and to partake of which, they invite all their friends and relatives. The evening is spent in copious libations, and dancing is kept up to a late hour. Official business rendering my presence at Montego Bay necessary, we accepted the invitation of a very amiable family to pass a Christmas with them. The distance from Lucca by land is about twenty-five miles, and nearly as much by water. There is no public conveyance on the road; but a large canoe, formed out of an enormous cotton tree, with eight rowers, leaves that place at one or two in the morning, to avoid the sea breeze from the eastward, that commences an hour after sunrise. I had already tried this conveyance once or twice, but found it by no means an agreeable manner of travelling, because when the wind blew strong on shore, there was no harbour on the ironbound coast, to run to for shelter.

Christmas time is a great season for merry-making among the negroes. We were fortunate in witnessing a ceremony or procession, of very ancient date, called the Reds and the Blues. The origin of it is not very clearly explained, but it most probably arose from some fête given by an Admiral of the Red or Blue on that station, that in process of time became a national one, sometimes also going by the name of Johnny Canoeing. On the north side of the island it is a splendid affair, but on the south side it is just the reverse. In the latter instance they dress themselves in bull's hides, with the horns on, into which they are sewn, and go bellowing about the streets, butting all the people they meet. This is the remnant, most probably, of some African superstitious ceremony.

At Montego Bay and Falmouth the rival factions of Reds and Blues represent all the great personages of the day, and their attendants. The ladies lend their jewels to be worn by the Negro women who figure in the procession, and subscriptions are made by the residents, to assist in

Many curious reflections arise from the mystical number 7: I have a good deal to say on this subject.

purchasing the paraphernalia and dresses, which are really magnificent. King William the 4th, Queen Adelaide, the Duke of Wellington, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Earl Grey, Earl of Derby (then Lord Stanley), Lords Melbourne, Brougham, and Nelson, Sir Robert Peel, Mr. Wilberforce, Daniel O'Connell, Joseph Hume, and many other well known personages figured amongst them. Queen Victoria had not then been crowned her crown therefore was carried before her, on a velvet cushion, by a handsome richly dressed Negress, who personated the Mistress of the Robes. The Duchess of Kent followed behind her, in the procession.

:

Wearing a blue uniform, I received most gracious words and curtsies, from the party of Blues, who no doubt thought I had put it on in compliment to them. Each set had a champion on their masters' horses, who made a great shew in armour that fitted tight to their bodies, and was composed of gilt basket or livery buttons, closely sewn together; but being armed with lances and swords they became so much excited that the two pugnacious heroes defied each other to single combat in the street, and the affray might have ended fatally to one of the parties if the police had not interfered to put a stop to it.

I was once at Montego Bay when a fine slaver was brought in, with & numerous cargo of slaves, the greater part of whom were boys and girls they occupied less space on board than adults, and consequently a greater number might be taken to the Cuba market, where they were much more valuable than older Negroes. As soon as their arrival became known to the authorities, a large new building then unoccupied, with a spacious wharf attached to it, was hired for the purpose of lodging them, until the Island Government could be made acquainted with the circumstance. I went to visit them, and a more shocking scene I never witnessed. On entering the gates, the first thing that met my eye were about twenty coffins, heaped one upon another, to carry off the dead as they might be required. From the confined space in which they had been stowed, many of the poor Negroes were bent double, and numbers were lying about on the ground, dying of dysentery and exhaustion, brought on by bad food and the impure air of the hold.

It was explained to me, to account for the distorted shapes many of them presented, that they were placed close to each other in three rows against the sides of the vessel, the two front ranks being seated between the knees of those behind; but owing to the lowness of the deck, the upper tier could not sit erect. They were more like skeletons than human beings, and ate ravenously whatever was offered to them.

On a

In the middle of the yard cauldrons of soup were boiling, and a vast number of soup plates and spoons were laid out for their use. given signal, they all ran to receive their portions, with the exception of a party of fifteen or sixteen, who sat upon some planks under a shed: these were the children of African chiefs or princes, and when told to go to dinner they refused, saying it must be carried to them, as they were not in the habit of serving themselves.

It was altogether a painful sight. There was a palpable difference between the chiefs and the other negroes: the wretchedness of the latter was made manifest by the shrunken eye, the beseeching look, and by that subdued exclamation of sorrow, belonging to no particular clime, and rendering the aid of verbal interpretation superfluous. The squalor

K

of their appearance was heightened by a prostration of energy, generated by a consciousness of an utter inability to avert their present and impending fate. But the dignified silence and stern deportment of the captive princes commanded more than pity, and betokened the superiority of mind that abandoned them not, and sustained their claim to respect, even under the doom of the most dreadful horrors in which the delinquency of man can plunge his fellow.

Amongst them was a young female of about fifteen, whose frame was moulded in faultless symmetry, and who in health under other circumstances must have been possessed of considerable beauty. Her complexion was of a clear olive, and I have seen many Spaniards and Portuguese who have been infinitely darker; she was possibly the descendant of some European who had insidiously gained a friendly access amongst the Africans of the interior, the more surely to entrap them into bondage.

The kindness of the inhabitants of Montego Bay to these poor creatures, in ministering to their necessities, was truly praiseworthy; it was an ample refutation of the absurd stories circulated in England, to excite the minds of the people against the Jamaica planters, on the score of inhumanity to their negroes; but so unaccustomed were the slaves generally to such kind treatment, that many of them thought they were only fattened to be killed and eaten afterwards. A report was spread, which gained so much consistency, that the Governor, Sir Lionel Smith, sent an order to have it strictly inquired into.

It was said that after having left the coast about three weeks, they met with calms or adverse winds, and thus their stock of provisions was considerably shortened. One day, when the greater part of the slaves were down between decks, the captain and some of the crew called a man (who had been usually employed as a cabin servant), to the fore part of the schooner, and deliberately cut his throat, throwing his head, hands, and feet overboard. This horrid murder was distinctly seen under the sail which partly concealed the actors in the tragedy, by a young black who was sweeping the after-part of the deck, and he particularly stated that to prevent his blood flowing upon the deck, they held his head over an iron pot to receive it. They then put the rest of the body into a barrel with pickle, after cutting it into small pieces, and began to serve it out the following day to the slaves with their usual allowance of rice; but on the cruiser bearing down, the barrel with its contents were thrown into the sea.

Incredible as this story may appear, I had every reason to believe in the truth of it, for I attended the Court of Inquiry, and heard the evidence of several of the unfortunate negroes. They all told the same plain tale of what had happened, and this gave great weight to their statement, for they were brought from the various estates where they were located, and could have had no communication with each other. A sister of the murdered man, by name Zuleia or Zutica, when questioned on the subject, burst into tears, and was a long time before she could give any answer: she said she distinctly heard her brother calling her, and saying "They are murdering me, Zuleia," as he vainly struggled to escape from his murderers; that his voice became gradually less audible, although she still heard his groans, and that from that time she had never seen him again. I did not hear the result of the investigation;

but many thought with me, that there was every reason to believe in the correctness of the statement made by the slaves. It was asserted, too, that in consequence of the great surveillance excercised by our cruisers on the coast of Africa, the vessels employed in the slave trade are built so sharp, for the purpose of fast sailing, that there was little room for the stowage of provisions. The voyage might occasionally be prolonged by variation of weather. It is impossible to say from whence all the capital comes, that is employed in this infamous traffic; but many supposed that there were persons even in Kingston implicated in it, and that small vessels from thence and elsewhere went at stated periods into certain latitudes to meet slavers, and provide them with rice, salt meat, and water. I do not say that I ever heard any proof given of this, but it was mentioned to me by a person likely to be well informed, and it does not seem altogether improbable, for it must strike every one who has seen a slave vessel, that there is but small space in which provisions can be stowed, from the entire hold being appropriated for negroes. When these slavers have made the eastern end of Jamaica, they run across to Cape Antonio, and there I myself saw a cargo landed. A fisherman resides in the woods near the Cape, close to a little creek, and near his hut is a flagstaff, on which he hoists signals to slavers to warn them off or to shew that the coast is clear. Once landed, the slaves are conveyed into the interior, by persons who are sent to receive them, and the authorities of Cuba, in numerous instances, can never even know of their arrival.

Not long before I left Jamaica, in the year 1840, some pirates had established themselves between Cape Antonio and Cape Corrientes, and had plundered and sunk two vessels bound from Kingston to North America. An old freebooter who titularly became an honest man, and was in command of a small coasting vessel, happened to be becalmed close in with that coast, and was visited by the pirates, who recognized in him an old acquaintance. When veterans in rascality meet together, any inconvenient twitches of conscience are stifled by the exuberant boasting of past success, and in joyful reminiscence of the cut-throat doings of former times. The disciple of virtue traded under his new colours much in the same manner as heretofore the cause was changed, but not the man. His brethren of the wide sea were entertained with scrupulous hospitality; they fared sumptuously. Bumpers were drained in honour of their old ally, and in token of the new alliance between vice and virtue. The feast took place below deck. By previous arrangement, the crew had been cautiously distributed, and in the midst of the boisterous hilarity, the captain suddenly withdrew and came upon deck. The hatches were put down, and the whole party secured. Resistance was vain, remonstrance was useless; the pirates were safely conveyed by their former comrade to the Havannah, and there, seven in number, paid the forfeit of their lives, on as many gibbets erected on the battlements of Moro Castle.