which ply between
Barbadoes and Jamaica, touching at several of the intermediate and
surrounding islands, and carrying the mails.]

The being for the most part directly against us, we were seven days in
reaching Barbadoes. Our aversion to the sepulchre-like cabin obliged us
to spend, not the days only, but the nights mostly on the open deck.
Wrapping our cloaks about us, and drawing our fur caps over our faces,
we slept securely in the soft air of a tropical clime, undisturbed save
by the hoarse voice of the black captain crying "ready, bout" and the
flapping of the sails, and the creaking of the cordage, in the frequent
tackings of our staunch little sea-boat. On our way we passed under the
lee of Guadaloupe and to the windward of Dominica, Martinique and St.
Lucia. In passing Guadaloupe, we were obliged to keep at a league's
distance from the land, in obedience to an express regulation of that
colony prohibiting small English vessels from approaching any nearer.
This is a precautionary measure against the escape of slaves to the
English islands. Numerous small vessels, called _guarda costas_, are
stationed around the coast to warn off vessels and seize upon all slaves
attempting to make their escape. We were informed that the eagerness of
the French negroes to taste the sweets of liberty, which they hear to
exist in the surrounding English islands, is so great, that
notwithstanding all the vigilance by land and sea, they are escaping in
vast numbers. They steal to the shores by night, and seizing upon any
sort of vessel within their reach, launch forth and make for Dominica,
Montserrat, or Antigua. They have been known to venture out in skiffs,
canoes, and such like hazardous conveyances, and make a voyage of fifty
or sixty miles; and it is not without reason supposed, that very many
have been lost in these eager darings for freedom.

Such is their defiance of dangers when liberty is to be won, that old
ocean, with its wild storms, and fierce monsters, and its yawning deep,
and even the superadded terrors of armed vessels ever hovering around
the island, are barriers altogether ineffectual to prevent escape. The
western side of Guadaloupe, along which we passed, is hilly and little
cultivated. It is mostly occupied in pasturage. The sugar estates are on
the opposite side of the island, which stretches out eastward in a low
sloping country, beautifully situated for sugar cultivation. The hills
were covered with trees,