For example, in March, 1837, there were but twenty-four persons punished, and in March, 1835, there were as many punished in a single week.

He explained this by saying that the apprentices had become _better acquainted with the requirements of the law_.

The chief offence at present was _absconding from labor_.
This magistrate gave us an account of an alarming rebellion which had lately occurred in his district, which we will venture to notice, since it is the only serious disturbance on the part of the negroes, which has taken place in the island, from the beginning of the apprenticeship.
About two weeks before, the apprentices on Thornton estate, amounting to about ninety, had refused to work, and fled in a body to the woods, where they still remained.

Their complaint, according to our informant, was, that their master had turned the cattle upon their provision grounds, and all their provisions were destroyed, so that they could not live.

They, therefore, determined that they would not continue at work, seeing they would be obliged to starve.