where prizes are publicly exhibited for such of the girls as continued virgins. The old men who resided in the temple proclaimed that whoever was yet a virgin should come forward and touch the bough and take the prize. The young men were, moreover, required to declare against any one who should attempt it, all they knew. The daughter of the interpreter, a beautiful girl of 16, came forward, but before she could ascend to touch the bough, a young fellow stepped out, and begged her to remember a certain place. She withdrew, confused and abashed. “There was a pause," Mr B. adds, "for a considerable time. I began to tremble for the maidens of Arikara (a village on the Missouri,) when a girl of 17, one of the most beautiful in the village, walked forward and asked, 'where is the Arikara who can boast of having received favours from me?' then touched the bough, and carried off the prize."

Rather than pass through an ordeal, such as I have above described, and submit to a punishment so degrading, so arbitrary, so absurd, and so unchristian, inasmuch as it was at direct variance with the example of Christ himself, the founder of the Bathgate Academy left his native country. His destiny was Jamaica, which, under the system of slavery then prevailing, was in a more flourishing condition than it is now, and where, from his superior talents, wonderful energy and perseverance, and highly honourable conduct, he soon raised himself to great eminence, obtained several government contracts, and realised a large fortune; a portion of which he left as an endowment for the above academy, having never, amidst all his wanderings, lost sight of the place of his nativity.

As good sometimes comes out of evil, I think it may be safely said that we are indebted for our Academy to

this adventure in early life on the part of its benevolent founder.

John Newlands died in Jamaica in July 1799, in the 63d year of his age. Some parts of Jamaica are rather unhealthy, but most parts of it, though hot, are as healthy as any other country. No less than 700,000 of the unfortunate aborigines fell victims to the cruelty of the Spaniards within the first fourteen years of its discovery by Columbus in 1494.

It is fortunate that he had the wisdom and the courage to make a will, otherwise the whole of his fortune must have gone to his heir-at-law and executors, to whom he was unknown; and he left no legitimate issue.

Some folks are so weak they can scarce avoid crying,
And think when they're making their will they are dying,

'Tis surely a serious employment—but still,

Who e'er died the sooner for making his will?

The island of Jamaica, on which the founder of the Bathgate Academy resided for upwards of 40 years, is 165 miles long, and about 40 in its average breadth, giving an area of four million of acres. Nearly one-half of it is under cultivation, the remainder being mountainous. Its staple productions are sugar and coffee, though indigo, cotton, and rice, are cultivated to a small extent. In 1833 when slavery was abolished, the population consisted of 400,000. The commissioners of compensation placed the number of slaves at 311,692, the free coloured and black people being estimated at 40,000. The proportion of the general compensation assigned to this colony was £6,161,927, which gave an average allowance for the slaves of a little more than £20 sterling. It appears from these statistics, that about one-half of the slave population in the British West Indies belonged to Jamaica; and that nearly one-third of the whole compensation fund was ap

propriated to that island. These facts shew the great comparative importance of this colony. resident proprietors in Jamaica than in islands.

There are fewer any of the other

In 1832 an insurrection broke out among the negroes in Jamaica, when martial law was immediately proclaimed, and the bloody work of execution commenced. No less than 200 negroes were killed on the field; and about 500 were executed by the sentence of a court martial.

Although Boston be reckoned the most moral city in the whole of the United States, yet the following extract from the Boston Journal of 12th October 1850, proves that the Bostonians, with all their pretended sanctity, are not altogether exempt from the vices which prevail in other cities of the Union.

DOINGS OF THE NIGHT WATCH.-During the three months ending September 30. 1850, the night watch of this city, under charge of Captain James Barry, have taken in charge no less than 3,355 persons, for the following causes:-Common drunkards, 123, of which number 63 were females; drunkenness, 1480, of which number 232 were females; lodgers, 728, of whom 213 were females; found drunk in the streets and conducted to their homes, 350; fighting, 46; firing Indian crackers, 15; noisy and disorderly persons, 20; vagabonds, 20, of whom 3 were females; assaulting watchmen, 25; assaulting citizens, 51; assaulting females, 17; night walkers, 73 females; larceny, 61, of whom 4 were females; house and store breaking, 27; abusing their families, 9; creating false alarms of fire, 2; disturbances in the street, 175; arrested on warrants, 5; males in female attire, 2; females in male attire, 1; attempt to rescue prisoners, 7; persons taken out of the docks, 8, of whom 2 were females; taken as witnesses, 2; robbery from the person, 9; wounded persons, to whom physicians were called, 11; truant children, 9; females taken from houses of ill-fame and restored to their friends, 7; fornication, 18; insane, 1; suspicious persons, 22; assuming to be a watchman, 1; keeping houses of illfame, 2; boys taken from stables, 8; children taken to the poor house, 6; pulling down shades, 1.

During the quarter, the watch found 110 stores open, and properly secured the same. They were called 296 times to quell disturbances in

houses and bar-rooms; discovered and extinguished three fires without creating alarms; found four stray horses and carriages in the streets and took proper care of the same. They also discovered six dangerous places in the streets, and took measures to have the same put in safe condition; and in ten instances they have found goods in the streets, which they have taken to the station-house and adopted measures to return the same to their rightful owners. Of the 3355 persons taken in charge by the watch during the quarter, only 532 were committed to jail, and 586 of the whole number were females.

Verily here is a goodly quarterly catalogue of crime. Assuming that the remaining three quarters of the year were in the same proportion, we have the melancholy fact that in this the most moral city of the most enlightened republic on the earth, with a population of only 150,000 individuals, there are no less than 13,420 among that number annually given, or as the Americans more delicately express it, "taken in charge." If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?

Though they have once or twice steamed it from Boston to New York in 17 hours, yet the average is 20 hours.

CHAPTER XII.

Lowell and its Manufactures-Spinning and Weaving Ladies-Slave-factories Wonderful trade between Britain and America-Railway anecdote-Burlington-Lake Champlain-Arrival at Montreal.

On leaving Boston I proceeded by railway to Lowell, (26 miles,) a town which has had a most rapid rise, inasmuch as its population, which in 1820 was 200, and in 1828 only 3,532, amounts now to 50,000.

It is situated at the confluence of the rivers Merrimack and Concord, and derives its name from Francis Lowell of Boston, who first introduced the manufacture of cotton into the United States.

Lowell, as well as the other cotton manufactures in the United States, at one time rivalled England in the Indian, Chinese, and Brazilian markets for the coarser kinds of cotton cloths, where a large quantity of the raw material and comparatively but little labour was required; but in the fabric of the finer sorts, and in the printing of all, they could never compete with the manufacturers of this country. They may be said, however, to rest on an artificial foundation, being kept up by the highly protective duties of from 25 to 35 per cent., which the Americans impose on foreign goods in order to foster their own manufactures, though imposed ostensibly for purposes of re