Reader, I have written a great deal about the society of Grenada, and I will now say something of the societies which are equally good and pretty

numerous.

They consist of "The Grenada District Committee of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge;” “The Branch Association in aid of the incorporated Society for the Conversion and Religious Instruction and Education of the Negroes;" "The Society for the Education of the Poor;" "The St. George, St. Patrick, St. John, and St. Mark Book Societies;" of "The Agricultural Society;" and "The Cariacou Tree-planting Society." His Excellency Sir James Campbell is the President of nearly all these useful institutions; and the good they have already done is widely extending and universally felt.

Literature, too, flourishes or rather advances in Grenada more than in many of the other islands; its newspapers have more literary matter, and its almanacks are better arranged. There is also a periodical, which appears monthly, and usually contains some interesting original tales, a host of witty anecdotes, and a collection of very clever remarks on passing occurrences its editor, who is, moreover, a delightful poet, dwells in a very pretty cottage built on the road to Hospital Hill.

A short distance up the hill, beyond the residence of this gentleman, is a large burying-ground, containing many respectable-looking enclosed tombstones, overgrown with wild bushes and shrubs. Near the spot is erected a cross, bearing an inscrip

tion in dog-latin, and hither the good catholics of Grenada do often repair to perform their devotions.

Here, reader, I will pause, and bring my long chapter of miscellanies to a quiet conclusion, "for verily and indeed the time of my departure draweth nigh,” and I am about to leave the tropics, if not for ever, for a while.

CHAPTER LVIII.

MY DEPARTURE-MY VOYAGE HOME-AN INCIDENT.

"How hard to part from those who lov'd us well."

Poetical Fragments.

"Beauteous o'er the dark blue sea,

Thy cliffs, oh Albion! rise,

And beauteous on their heights the sun
Shines from these azure skies."

Rev. Dr. Richards.

"This life is all chequered with pleasures and woes, That chase one and other like waves of the deep."

A FAIRER day has never dawned than that which shone upon my departure from Grenada. Some author has asserted that a gloomy morning will depress the spirits, and that sunshine will engender gaiety of heart; but if the brilliancy of that glorious orb could have begotten joyousness, methinks I should have been less mournful on the last bright morning of the May of 1829.

I had been four years in the Antilles, on that day I was about to leave them to return to my native hills. Some would have called those years, years of exile, but kindness, friendship, and hospitality would have made them years of happiness if Laura could have shared it with me.

It is impossible to leave a place where one has

passed many days, and received many kindnesses, without a feeling of regret. I was going to join my betrothed, and in that blissful thought (for it was only a thought) were concentrated a thousand rays of joy. But there are other ties besides the ties of love-hearts are linked together by the chains of friendship, of kindred, of affection. All these were united to bind me to the little island of Grenada, and I could not break them without a sigh of sorrow, I could not tear them asunder without a tear of regret.

If one resistless impulse, if one deep and absorbing affection had not called me to my native land, I would have passed my existence in Grenada. To me it was the loveliest island in the tropics; the azure heaven that beamed above its lofty hills, the deep blue ocean that dashed the foaming wave upon its rocks, the noble majesty that graced its mighty mountains, the soft and smiling verdure of its fertile valleys, did not delight me more than the frank and open hospitality and kindness of its inhabitants, the lively and lovely gracefulness of its fairer inmates.

After receiving from many kind friends-friends who will never be forgotten, parting proofs of their esteem, and bidding a thousand farewells to a few wild rakes, "jolly companions every one," who had entered like myself into the follies as well as the pleasures of the place, my father accompanied me to the wharf, and seeing me safely embarked on board the good ship Mexborough, left me to my reflections and my fate, and returned to do duty in the garrison of Grenada.

L L

properly exerted, must have proved fatal, prevented the general mind from perceiving or adopting the means of eradicating the infection. Almost every house was considered as the abode of death; the intercourse of the inhabitants, therefore, experienced an almost total cessation, except when defence against the common enemy demanded united exertion. Funerals were not permitted, or were not attended; and, in most instances, the bodies of the deceased were dragged out to sea, and deposited in a watery grave."

Such is the account given by a medical officer of the dreadful pestilence, which, together with other calamities, so effectually reduced the population of Grenada. I rejoice to say that the island has long since regained its healthy and prosperous condition, and the diseases which now visit it occasionally may all be attributed to natural causes and a sickly season; while the number of deaths that occur, though great I confess for so small a colony, are trifling when compared with those which take place in the islands of Tobago, Dominica, and St. Lucie.

Its population in the year 1827 was as follows: