NAMES OF THE STREETS.

227

freedom was bestowed upon you and your children," all united in loud and successive cheers, followed by singing in chorus two or three verses of the National Anthem. The circumstances attending the naming of the street in honour of Prince Albert were similar, as were also those which accompanied the naming of the remainder, among which was "Gurney-street," in remembrance of Joseph J. Gurney, Esq., who, as described in his Winter in the West Indies, in 1841,' visited the settlement and was delighted both with its appearance, and the manners, intelligence, and hospitality of the people.*

At the conclusion of the business of the day the two ministers who conducted the ceremonies, together with the friends who accompanied them, retired loaded with caresses and followed by benedictions until the interesting spot had vanished from their sight. The writer could not help speculating, as he paced the winding solitary ascent to his home, on the emotions of which the venerable Clarkson and his noble coadjutors in the cause of African liberty would have been the subjects had they but witnessed the scene—had they beheld the activity and light-heartedness manifested both by young and old, from the earliest dawn. of day. Had they heard their mutual salutationstheir hearty cheers and enthusiastic benedictions on the instruments of their deliverance from temporal and spiritual bondage! Had they but seen the evidences of their industry and providence of their contentment and happiness-these noble-minded men and women would have required no other recompense, they could

* Winter in the West Indies, p. 116.

228

NUMBER OF SETTLEMENTS.

have desired no higher honour. Nor will their names or their deeds ever be forgotten-they will descend to succeeding generations embalmed in the grateful recollection of the whole posterity of Ham, when the memorials of the tyrants that oppressed them shall have perished.

The number of similar settlements that have been established since the period of emancipation, and the extent of such freeholds, is almost incredible. It is difficult at present to ascertain the precise number of either, but on a rough calculation the villages can scarcely be estimated at fewer than from 150 to 200, or the number of acres of land purchased at less than 100,000. Equally imperfect must be any general statistics respecting them. As nearly as can be ascertained, the number of heads of families who have purchased land is about 10,000, and the number of cot

* As a proof that the above calculation is not exaggerated, an extract from a speech delivered, in the House of Commons, March 22, 1842, by Lord Stanley (the present Colonial Secretary), is here inserted :—“The next statement he (Lord Stanley) would read to the House, was by a Stipendiary Magistrate. He said it would appear wonderful how so much had been accomplished in the island, in building, planting, and digging, and making fences, without a cessation of labour on the part of the population. The reason was, that the emancipation from bondage to new hopes, new desires, and new responsibilities, strengthened the exertions of the negro, and enabled him to labour in his own plantation, and to spare time to labour in the plantations of others. And to that statement was attached a most singular document, which showed the number in one parish, not of those who had landed possessions, but of those who had entered their names as being the owners of property liable to taxation, and who had stated their willingness as free men to bear their proportion of the public imposts. In that parish, in 1836, there were 317 names; in 1840, 1321; and in 1841, 1866: and the number of freeholders, who had become freeholders by their accumulations and industry in the island of Jamaica, was in 1838, 2114; and in the space of two years, in 1840, their number had increased to 7340."

NAMES OF NEGRO HOUSES.

229

tages erected about 3000. The amount paid for land thus purchased is estimated at 70,0007., and the value of the houses 100,0007., thus making the total cost of land purchased by the peasantry in the course of four years, and of cottages erected by them, 170,0007.

The names which these simple-minded villagers attach to their unpretending dwellings, though a trifling incident, is not without interest, as one of the lighter indications of their progress in social taste and improvement. A specimen of these is here given.

Among the appellations by which the villages them

selves are distinguished are the following:

Becase him have 'casion. On asking a good man who had given this designation to his freehold its meaning, he replied-" If any person have business wid me, him can come in; but if him don't want me in pottickler, me no wants him company, and him no 'casion to come."

"If you don't come to trouble me, I don't go to trouble you."