fter this specimen of animosity, which was duly reported to Mr
Berecroft, on his return on board, by the seamen, who detested Jackson,
and any thing like foul play, his protector determined that Newton
should no longer be subjected to further violence. At the request of
Mr Berecroft, Newton was invited to stay at the house of Mr Kingston,
the gentleman to whom the vessel had been consigned--an offer which was
gladly accepted.

Newton had not been many days on shore, when Mr Kingston, who had taken
a strong interest in him, proposed, in answer to his many questions
relative to the slave trade, that they should make a party to visit a
plantation, the proprietor of which had been a resident since his youth,
and judge for himself as to the truth of the reports so industriously
circulated by those who were so inimical to the employment of a slave
population.

VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

"_Aboan_.
The innocent.
_Oronoko_.
These men are so, whom you would rise against.
If we are slaves, they did not make us slaves,
But bought us in the honest way of trade,
As we have done before 'em, bought and sold
Many a wretch, and never thought it wrong.
They paid our price for us, and we are now
Their property, a part of their estate,
To manage as they please."

At an early hour the party, consisting of Mr Kingston, the master of
the brig, and Newton, set off upon mules for the habitation of the
planter. The sun had illumined the sky, but had not yet made its
appearance, although the golden fringes upon the clouds which floated in
broad belts in the horizon, indicated his glorious yet withering
approach. The dew moistened each leaf, or hung in glittering pendant
drops upon the thorn of the prickly pears which lined the roads. The
web of the silver-banded spider was extended between the bushes, and,
saturated with moisture, reflected the beams of the rising orb, as the
animals danced in the centre, to dazzle their expected prey. The mist
still hovered on the valleys, and concealed a part of the landscape from
their view; and the occasional sound of the fall of water was mingled
with the twittering and chirping of the birds, as they flew from spray
to spray. The air was fresh, even to keenness, and any one suddenly
wafted to the scene would little have imagined that he was under the
torrid zone.

"How different this is from the ideas generally formed of the climate in
the West Indies!" observed