St. Thomas, St. Bartholomew, or some other free port, where they were
shipped in English bottoms, and thence conveyed to the English islands.

There being no opportunity to go directly to the United States from
Grenada, I sought the means of proceeding to some other port, where I
should be likely to fall in with an American vessel. I called on Mr.
Budge, a merchant of St. George, with whom I had some acquaintance, to
make inquiries. He informed me he was on the point of chartering a small
vessel in which to proceed to St. Pierre in Martinico, should sail in
the course of a few weeks, and would cheerfully give me a passage to
that port.

I returned to the interior of the island in fine spirits, and commenced
making the necessary arrangements for my departure. In due time, having
received information from Mr. Budge that his sloop would sail on a
certain day, I took leave of my numerous friends, bade farewell to the
plantations; to the lonely glens and deep gorges in the mountains,
which for me, had many charms, and took the "Grand Etang" route for
the capital. I could not bid adieu to my kind Scotch friends without
emotion. Several of them expressed an intention to visit the United
States before the lapse of many years, perhaps to settle there for life,
and promised to look me up. But I have never seen them since. With
the sight of a Scotchman, however, is associated many pleasing
recollections; and a Scotch accent has ever sounded grateful in my ear
since I left the shores of Grenada.

During my residence in Grenada my duties were neither arduous nor
difficult. Had I complied with the advice of friends and remained, I
might have succeeded as a planter, and led for a number of years a
lazy, monotonous, vegetative kind of life. Nevertheless, my stay was
not unproductive of advantages. I found much to interest and occupy an
inquiring mind; and my situation gave me an opportunity to gratify a
thirst for information, to gain an intimate knowledge of tropical life,
usages, and productions which has often since proved of signal service.
I was brought into communication with people of different nations,
different characters, and different modes of thinking; of different
politics, philosophy, and religion; all of which has a tendency to
eradicate or weaken early prejudices, liberalize opinions, and inculcate
charitable views of human nature. While such a relation with people
of other countries can never diminish the feeling of