"King William's People'' 111 



were no coacbmen ; there was probably not a wheeled vehicle in Berbiee. 

 The 17 biatmcn are ekquent of the fact that beyond a little 

 riding, all Ir veiling in the ce>lony was by water. No mention ie made 

 of huntsmen. Bush meat no doubt was brought in by the Indians. 



Reverend gentlemen of :*n evangelical persuasion were not welcome 

 in a slave colony as a general rule, and Mr. Wray encountered opposition 

 which no doubt he expected. His photograph shows us a burly Yurk- 

 shireman, not readily daunted. His chief dibappointmeut, perhaps, was 

 the Negro himself. The spirit was willing but the flesh weak. He 

 made an emotional convert, but — with striking exceptions — a bad "stayer." 

 At times the good missionary lamented the turpitude of his flock. "It 

 is possiHe to instil more evil into their minds in five evenings,'' he 

 records in a report to my Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, '• than 

 good in five years. 1 have been obliged to repeat an answer in Dr. 

 Watt's catechism a thousand times before some of hem could learn it, 

 and I have too often found to my sorrow that what I taught them one 

 evening theyfcrgot before the next." 



Nevertheless there was \ rogress ; and the wonder is that in a colony 

 where — as it was said — ''few had ever heard a church bell," so much 

 was achieved. Mrs. Wray started a school among the girls, and tai ght 

 them to make clothing for the Crown Negroes. No doubt the following 

 advertisement — published in the " Berbice Gazette" of AJarch 21, 1821 — 

 may be traced to Mrs. Wray whose pupils by then — greatly to their 

 delight — must have been gettiug somewhat " forrader" : — 

 Needle Work. 

 Is taken in at the Winkel School. It will be executed at 



moderate terms. The Schoolmistress will wait on any Family to 



take their orders. 



Negro Clothing also, for men, women and children is made up at 



th Winkel Establishment where every endeavour will be made to 



give satisfaction to the Public. 



It is pleasant — in Mr. Wray's biography — to read the memories of 

 the Winkel Village by Mr. Wray's daughter, Mrs. Tucker. "The 

 Winkel " was " only a pleasant walk " from the Mission House, then, as 

 now, on the " Back Dam." " My mother was in the habit of sending us 

 when we were children, accompanied by a servant, to the village to see 

 the poor old people, and to convey to the sick some little comfort, such 

 as wine, &c. I remember them well. Daddy Tom, Daddy Gabriel, and 

 a good many more." 



On June 8, 1837, Mr. Wray died. He was fifty-eight. He is buried 

 in the old Stanleytown Cemetery. It is probable that the good work of 

 Missionary VVr.iy — " a' we Parson " — and of Mrs. Wray is yet visible in 

 the recent life and common faithfulness in small things of some of the 

 descendant-; of the old Wiukels 



In 1823 a second proposal h id been made to hire the N groes of the 

 Winkel Department as a body. Now. it came from a Mr. H. Armstrong. 

 Nothing came of it, partly, as it would appear, from the anticipated 



