SOUTH AMERICA. 



281 



her own mind the probable consequences of this la- Fourth 



'■ ^ Journey, 



inentable traffic, it is likely she would not have been 

 owner of two vessels in sir John Hawkins's squadron, 

 which committed the first robbery in negro flesh on the 

 coast of Africa. As philanthropy is the very life and 

 soul of this momentous question on slavery, which is 

 certainly fraught with great difficulties and danger, per- 

 haps it would be as well at present for the nation to turn 

 its thoughts to poor ill-fated Ireland, where oppression, 

 poverty, and rags make a heart-rending appeal to the 

 feelings of the benevolent. 



But to proceed. There was another thing which added 

 to the dulness of Barbadoes, and which seemed to have 

 considerable effect in keeping away strangers from the 

 island. The legislature had passed a most extraordinary 

 bill, by virtue of which every person who arrives at Bar- 

 badoes is obliged to pay two dollars, and two dollars 

 more on his departure from it. It is called the alien bill; ■ 

 and every Barbadian who leaves or returns to the island, 

 and every Englishman too, pays the tax ! 



Finding no vessel here for Trinidad, I embarked in a Embarks for 



Demerara. 



schooner for Demerara, landed there after being nearly 

 stranded on a sand-bank, and proceeded without loss of 

 time to the forests in the interior. It was the dry season, 

 which renders a residence in the woods very delightful. 



There are three species of Jacamar to be found on the 

 different sand hills and dry savannas of Demerara ; but 



2 o 



