the House of Correction for a few days. They were never allowed to be flogged.

The number of Liberated Africans that arrived in the Colony from 1808 to 1826 has been estimated at 21,354, including those who had enlisted in His Majesty's forces, returned to their country, or were otherwise disposed of, so that the Department of the Liberated Africans was not "idlesse all."

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE VILLAGES OR LIBERATED AFRICAN TOWNS

MUCH has already been said in the preceding chapters which will preclude a copious treatment of this subject. It will remain for us to give a brief description of the villages or Liberated African towns. Their formation has been alluded to and the dates of their establishment. It remains to describe them as they were at the close of this period; and in doing so, we can find no better description than that given by the Commissioners of Inquiry. In making use of it we have altered the order in which they are described in the report, omitting much information that would render this description long and tiresome.

It should be observed that most of these villages have remained in statu quo in many respects; others have, from various causes, been left almost desolate and a few have since ceased to be inhabited.

We propose to begin with the nearest village, Kissy.

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'Kissey is three miles from Free Town; it is the only settlement in which the practice of employing individuals to assist in cultivating the farms has been found to exist to any considerable extent;

they are generally the friends and country people of the farmer, to assist whom they assemble for a period seldom exceeding two or three days, during which their food is their only remuneration, it being understood that they, in their turn, are to receive the like assistance. In one instance, indeed, it was stated by the Liberated African Sendawa, that he hired a man for twelve weeks, to whom he paid four dollars a month, besides his food; but, in another case, he said he had hired twelve men for one day, to assist in sowing his rice, and only gave them their food. From the statement of this man, who appeared to have made greater progress in agriculture than the generality of the Liberated Africans, some idea may be formed of the difference between the manner in which they labour when their work is desultory, and when it requires continued and steady application; for he states that the twelve men employed by him sowed four bushels of rice in one day, while it required eighteen days of his own labour to sow the remaining two bushels, which at the rate at which the twelve men laboured, he should have performed in six days.

"The houses at Kissey are all of the kind usually occupied by Liberated Africans, with the exception of three stone houses belonging to masons who had been brought up as apprentices in the Engineer's Department, and of two framehouses; these frame-houses are of one story, with a gallery on each side; the stone houses are of the same plan above, but have a half-story below, which is made use of as a store. The persons to whom these stone houses belong appear to be industrious tradesmen; they are employed as masons on the public works at Free Town, to which place they repair before the working hour every morning.

"The public buildings consist of a church, a superintendent's house, a school-house, and a small house built for a teacher; this last was occupied by a Frenchman, whom Major-General Turner had invited to the Colony with a view to introduce the cultivation of indigo which, under the directions of the Acting-Governor, he was then endeavouring to establish, but had only just commenced the attempt. The church has never been finished, and is now much out of repair; this is a large stone building, and it was intended that it should have a spire, which, however, has not been erected. The superintendent's house is also of stone, two stories high, with galleries on all sides; it requires some repairs, but is in other respects a comfortable dwelling, although unnecessarily large.

"Wellington is situated on the left bank of the Bunce River, a short distance above its junction with the River Sierra Leone, and consequently has the advantage of communication with Free Town, distant about seven miles.

"Mr. Macfoy, a man of colour, born and educated in the United States, is superintendent of the settlement, and his wife has charge of the female school.

"The only public buildings are the house of the superintendent, and a store attached to it, both of which are new and appear to be good; the house is of stone, two stories high, with galleries on every side. The girls' school is held in a very inferior wattle house, where the girls sleep also; it is much too small, and in every way unfit for its purpose. The boys' school is also held in a wattle house, where they sleep at night, and where divine service is performed by Mr. Metzger.

"The soil in the vicinity of Wellington is a medium between that of the mountain villages and the more alluvial soil around Hastings. Many of

the villages have extended themselves towards Hastings on the one side and Kissey on the other, in quest of better or more retired situations; in the rear, their progress has been confined by a considerable hill, at the bottom of which the village of Wellington lies.

"The houses in the village, superior to those usually occupied by Liberated Africans, are four in number and all the property of disbanded soldiers. There was also an unfinished stone house belonging to a man who had been originally a Liberated African, but had served in and been discharged from the African Corps. He was a sawyer by trade, and stated that as long as he received wages as a sawyer, he applied the surplus to the erection of his house; but the suspension of public works having put a stop to his wages, his house was at a stand, and he continued to occupy his former habitation.

"As Hastings is approached the soil becomes gradually deeper, and the situation of the village appears considerably more eligible for an agricultural settlement than any other in the peninsula. The mountains to the southward are, as elsewhere, covered to the summit with wood; and the village, which lies at the foot of these, has an extent of several miles good level land stretching to the northward and eastward, where it is bounded by the Bunce River, which forms a water communication with Free Town, distant by this route not more than nine miles. The only public The only public building is that intended for the superintendent, which is large, and if completed, would be a comfortable house; it is of stone, two stories high, with galleries on every side; but it is quite uninhabitable, the work having been suspended by Major-General Turner. The superintendent, therefore, occupies at present the building intended for a kitchen. There are one