316 THE FOREST AXD THE FIELD. 



barn, with a square castellated tower at one end. 

 We spent the afternoon and dined with Colonel 

 Hill, at Government House, enjoying ourselves 

 very much. He is deservedly a very popular 

 governor, and has done much to benefit the settle- 

 ment; but his efforts are much crippled by the 

 constraint placed upon his actions by the Govern- 

 ment, who are, I am sorry to say, much influenced 

 by the strange infatuations of Exeter Hall. If 

 that body, which appears to have a certain influ- 

 ence, would only confine their attention to matters 

 that they understand, and of which they have had 

 personal experience, they would do far better than 

 by injudiciously meddling in affairs the nature of 

 which they are profoundly ignorant. I believe that 

 the greater part of the crowd who assemble at 

 these " ranting gatherings " are actuated with a 

 wish to do good, but they go the wrong way about 

 it. Instead of listening to the garbled accounts of 

 Africa and the Africans from those who have an 

 interest to serve — generally that of abstracting 

 money from other people's pockets and transferring 

 it to their own — if they really want to benefit the 



