357 



and walked out of court. That nothing might be 

 wanting, this fellow had even a decided talent for 

 hypocrisy. When on my arrival he gave me a 

 letter filled with the grossest lies respecting the 

 trustee, and every creditable negro on the estate, 

 he took care to sign it by the name which he had 

 lately received in baptism ; and in his defence at 

 the bar to prove his probity of character and 

 purity of manners, he informed the court that for 

 some time past he had been. learning to read, for 

 the sole purpose of learning the Lord's Prayer. 

 The nick-name by which he was generally known 

 among the negroes in this part of the country, was 

 Buonaparte, and he always appeared to exult in 

 the appellation. Once condemned, the marshal 

 is bound under a heavy penalty to see him shipped 

 from off the island before the expiration of six 

 weeks, and probably he will be sent to Cuba. He 

 is a fine-looking man between thirty and forty, 

 square built, and of great bodily strength, and his 

 countenance equally expresses intelligence and 

 malignity. The sum allowed me for him is one 

 hundred pounds currency, which is scarcely a 

 third of his worth as a labourer, but which is the 

 highest value which a jury is permitted to mention, 



March 1. (Sunday.) 



Last night the negroes of Friendship took it into 

 their ingenious heads to pay me a compliment of 

 an extremely inconvenient nature. They thought, 



a a 3 



