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JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS, 65 
with coffee and sugar, some of them drawn by as many as sixteen oxen. 
The cattle feed on guinea grass. This grass grows all over, and is a 
great blessing. I came upon the ruins of an old sugar estate, every- 
thing showing great age. As I gazed upon this relic of the past, and 
thought of what some people called “the grand old days of slavery,” 
when there were men who estimated glory and grandeur by the gold 
which they heaped up under the curse and cruelty of slavery, as a 
Briton I felt proud that that day had passed, and that the pure and 
stainless flag of our country now floated in Jamaica over a free 
people—free from the shackles of the slave and enjoying the bless- 
ings of schools and colleges—and humble though many of them 
-were, yet having ‘‘ Temples of God o’er all the pleasant land,” the 
people all happy, loyal and contented, feeling that wherever our flag 
floats the subject is protected, no matter what may be the colour of 
his skin or the shrine at which he bends the knee. 
**Tt flutters o’er tropical seas, 
As free as the wind and the wave, 
And bondsmen whose fetters unloosened, 
Neath its shadows no longer a slave.”’ 
The slaves were emancipated in 1834. £6,000,000 was paid 
as a compensation to the planters. Over 300,000 slaves were 
liberated. 
On we go, and reach Run-away Bay. It is said that it was 
near this spot that Columbus landed in 1495. Our road wound up 
through the mountains. We saw a group of young girls resting on 
the roadside, and hearing that the natives were fond of singing, I 
asked them to sing something. At once they responded, and sang 
“Far, far away, in heathen darkness dwelling,” and one or two more 
well-known hymns. We soon reached the lovely home of Rev. and 
Mrs. Johnston. The Johnstons have done and are still doing a great 
work among the natives, not only teaching them the lesson of the 
Cross, but also impressing on them that cleanliness is next to godli- 
ness, and that they must keep themselves and their houses clean 
and pure. In making our return trip to Kingston we took the 
interior road, passing through the centre of the country. There was 
in this drive a combination of pastural and tropical scenes. Whata 
spirit of freshness and beauty there was that morning rising with 
the sun, as we drove along amid perfumed oranges and delicious 
