evinced the strongest repugnance to the proffered service. In the course of the debate the dreadful truth came out. He had been treacherously entrapped by the villany of one of the numerous miscreants who had settled on the shores of his native country for the sole purpose of betraying into irredeemable bondage its confiding inhabitants: the hope of revenge, the dire indiscriminate revenge of a stern, implacable savage, had alone sustained him under the pressure of his heavy misfortune; but he had not contemplated the possibility of falling into the power of white men who could possess any claims upon his forbearance. To be received into a family to which he already felt himself deeply indebted, was to frustrate his vindictive purpose, and was, therefore, viewed as the greatest calamity that could now befal him.

The avowal filled the soul of the agonized girl with conflicting passions. The desire of preserving the life, alleviating the sufferings, and securing the society of her degraded parent, contended with her duty and attachment to her employer, from whom she could not prevail upon herself to conceal the motives and character of so dangerous an inmate. Bedewed with tears, and bent to the ground, she alternately clasped the knees of each, and in moving strains of natural eloquence appealed to the paternal consideration of the one, and the humane feelings of the other. The generous planter, who felt that he had nothing to fear

besides the risk of burthening himself with an unprofitable servant, was at length induced to yield to her entreaties; and, to the evident disappointment of the inexorable African, concluded, his bargain with the slave merchant.

The work of the new negro, the usual designation of the plantation recruit, is always light: the palpable interest of the owner has uniformly suggested the necessity of securing the complete possession of his slave by very gradual approaches. The captive chieftain was installed in a comfortable cabin, where his only sufferings were those which did not admit of relief, as they flowed exclusively from his own bitter reflections. Ample rations were assigned him; and the gratified Hannah was indefatigable in her exertions, not only to minister to his comforts, but to allay the irritation of his intensely excited feelings. It was impossible, even for a savage, to resist the endearments of so amiable a creature. His more violent passions were by degrees, to all appearances, completely subdued; but he sunk at the same time into a deplorable state of apathetic melancholy, which impaired his strength and health, and effectually precluded all prospect of deriving the least benefit from his services.

The industry o the daughter increased with the increasing indolence of the parent: she felt herself bound to supply his deficiencies; and it was fre

quently necessary to restrain her ardour to prevent her from suffering from too much exertion. More than a year was passed in this way. Moderate exercise would have benefited himself more than any one else; and with this view he was occasionally urged, although with caution, to engage in some light employment. These applications were fruitless; but he was not insensible to the mortification of depending upon the charitable forbearance of his principal, whose salutary directions he was conscious of violating by his wayward supineness.

The weekly rations were distributed to the negroes at the threshhold of the magazine built on an elevated site near the edge of a cliff which projected over the sea. There was usually at the time of the issue a general assembly of the people, when Mr. Mac Intosh attended in person to inquire into their condition, and listen to their applications; but he had considerately abstained from insisting upon the appearance of the old Mandingo, whose allowance of provisions was delivered to his daughte.. On one occasion, however, he suddenly presented himself to the surprise of every body, not with the humble deportment of a slave, or retaining the least trace of his former apathy, but with the proud reckless step of a warrior conscious of his strength, and accustomed to the respect and terror of his friends and foes. The awe-struck crowd gave way as he deliberately approached their common

master, whom he sternly addressed in words, as they were subsequently interpreted, nearly to the following effect:

Infamously wronged by an individual of your nation from the basest of motives, my feelings have been scarcely less tortured by your mistaken kindness. Defrauded of liberty, my mind at least remained unshackled until an unhappy fatality threw me into contact with a being the possibility even of whose existence I had previously doubted—a white man possessed of honour and humanity, interposed my long lost child between me and my just revenge, and left me nothing I could call my own save the horrors of the blackest despair. Who can count the pangs your obtruded benefits have cost me, or describe the bitterness of the bread you have forced upon my acceptance? It was here, and here only that misery overtook me I was comparatively happy under the cruel inflictions of treachery, and while chained to the walls of my dungeon. White man, farewell! Reserve, henceforward, your well meant but pernicious charity, for those who have not learnt, as I have, to consider it in the sight of the direst curse the food of the enemies of my race has already for the last time contaminated my lips!"

A long pause succeeded this passionate and abrupt address: wildly glaring on the various objects around him, he at length snatched his child to his bosom,

and hastily casting her from him, rushed to the cliff, and precipitated himself into the sea. The distracted girl, loudly shrieking, fell almost at the same time, in the vain attempt to arrest his fearful progress. She was without much difficulty rescued from the abyss; but the body of her hapless sire was recovered only after he had breathed his last, as it appeared he had resolutely grasped some fixed substance at the bottom until life was completely extinguished.

The sensitive Hannah had only imperfectly recovered from all the consequences of this calamitous event two or three years after its occurrence, the period of my visit to Fort George. New affections had, however, gained entrance in her breast; and the faithful performance of the duties of a wife and parent had been rewarded with the usual consolations of virtuous conduct, while they usefully diverted her attention from the fruitless regrets of an unhappy daughter.