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Britain. Every thing was clean and comfortable, 

 and the windows looked full upon the sea. This 

 stage was sixteen miles : the next was said to be 

 twenty-five ; but from the time which we took to 

 travel it, I can scarcely believe it to be so much. 

 Our road still lay by the sea-side, till we began to 

 ascend the mountain of Rio Bueno ; from which 

 we at length perceived the river itself running into 

 the sea. It was at Porto Bueno that Columbus 

 is said to have made his first landing on the island. 

 Rio Bueno is a small town with a fort, situated 

 close to the sea. Here also we found a very good 

 inn, kept by a Scotchman. 



The present landlady (her father being from 

 home) was a very pretty brown girl, by name Eliza 

 Thompson. She told me that she was only residing 

 with her parents during her husband's absence ; for 

 she was (it seems) the soi-disant wife of an English 

 merchant in Kingston, and had a house on Tachy's 

 Bridge. This kind of establishment is the highest 

 object of the brown females of Jamaica; they seldom 

 marry men of their own colour, but lay themselves 

 out to captivate some white person, who takes 

 them for mistresses, under the appellation of house- 

 keepers. 



Soon after my arrival at Cornwall, I asked my 

 attorney whether a clever-looking brown woman, 

 who seemed to have great authority in the house, 

 belonged to me? — No; she was a free woman. 

 — Was she in my service, then? — No; she was 



