Some of them had been informed of our intention to visit them, and took pains to have every thing in the best order for our reception.

The negro village on this estate contains one hundred houses, each of which is occupied by a separate family.

Mr.
H.next conducted us to a neighboring field, where the _great gang_[B] were at work.

There were about fifty persons in the gang--the majority females--under two inspectors or superintendents, men who take the place of the _quondam drivers_, though their province is totally different.
They merely direct the laborers in their work, employing with the loiterers the stimulus of persuasion, or at farthest, no more than the violence of the tongue.
[Footnote B: The people on most estates are divided into three gangs; first, the great gang, composed of the principal effective men and women; second, the weeding gang, consisting of younger and weekly persons; and third, the grass gang, which embraces all the children able to work.] Mr.H.requested them to stop their work, and told them who we were, and as we bowed, the men took off their hats and the women made a low courtesy.

Mr.Howell then informed them that we had come from America, where there were a great many slaves: that we had visited Antigua to see how freedom was working, and whether the people who were made free on the first of August were doing well--and added, that he "hoped these gentlemen might be able to carry back such a report as would induce the masters in America to set their slaves free." They unanimously replied, "Yes, massa, we hope dem will gib um free." We spoke a few words: told them of the condition of the slaves in America, urged them to pray for them that they might be patient under their sufferings, and that they might soon be made free.