e Rev. Mr. Wooldridge, one of the Independent
missionaries. He thinks the conduct of the planters is tending to make
the apprentices their bitter enemies. He mentioned one effect of the
apprenticeship which had not been pointed out to us before. The system
of appraisement, he said, was a _premium upon all the bad qualities of
the negroes and a tax upon all the good ones_. When a person is to be
appraised, his virtues and his vices are always inquired into, and they
materially influence the estimate of his value. For example, the usual
rate of appraisement is a dollar per week for the remainder of the term;
but if the apprentice is particularly sober, honest, and industrious,
more particularly if he be a _pious man_, he is valued at the rate of
two or three dollars per week. It was consequently for the interest of
the master, when an apprentice applied for an appraisement, to portray
his virtues, while on the other hand there was an inducement for the
apprentice to conceal or actually to renounce his good qualities, and
foster the worst vices. Some instances of this kind had fallen under his
personal observation.

We called on the Rev. Mr. Gardiner, and on the Rev. Mr. Tinson, two
Baptist missionaries in Kingston. On Sabbath we attended service at the
church of which Mr. G. is the pastor. It is a very large building,
capable of seating two thousand persons. The great mass of the
congregation were apprentices. At the time we were present, the chapel
was well filled, and the broad surface of black faces was scarcely at
all diversified with lighter colors. It was gratifying to witness the
neatness of dress, the sobriety of demeanor, the devotional aspect of
countenance, the quiet and wakeful attention to the preacher which
prevailed. They were mostly rural negroes from the estates adjacent
to Kingston.

The Baptists are the most numerous body of Christians in the island. The
number of their missionaries now in Jamaica is sixteen, the number of
Chapels is thirty-one, and the number of members thirty-two thousand
nine hundred and sixty. The increase of members during the year 1836 was
three thousand three hundred and forty-four.

At present the missionary field is mostly engrossed by the Baptists and
Wesleyans. The Moravians are the next most numerous body. Besides these,
there are the clergy of the English Church, with a Bishop, and a few
Scotch clergymen. The Baptist missionaries, as a body, have been most
distinguished