the whole island is a mere swamp, off which the Altamaha is only kept from sweeping by the high dykes all round it.  This seemed to shock and distress the people, and for the first time during the whole ceremony there were sounds of crying and exclamations of grief heard among them.  Their chief expression of sorrow, however, when Mr. ——­ and myself bade them good night at the conclusion of the service, was on account of my crying, which appeared to affect them very much, many of them mingling with their ’Farewell, good night, massa and missis,’ affectionate exclamations of ‘God bless you, missis; don’t cry!’ ‘Lor, missis, don’t you cry so!’ Mr. ——­ declined the assistance of any of the torch-bearers home, and bade them all go quietly to their quarters; and as soon as they had dispersed, and we had got beyond the fitful and unequal glaring of the torches, we found the shining of the stars in the deep blue lovely night sky quite sufficient to light our way along the dykes.  I could not speak to ——­, but continued to cry as we walked silently home; and whatever his cogitations were, they did not take the unusual form with him of wordy demonstration, and so we returned from one of the most striking religious ceremonies at which I ever assisted.  Arrived at the door of the house we perceived that we had been followed the whole way by the naked noiseless feet of a poor half-witted creature, a female idiot, whose mental incapacity, of course, in no respect unfits her for the life of toil, little more intellectual than that of any beast of burthen, which is her allotted portion here.  Some small gratification was given to her, and she departed gibbering and muttering in high glee.  Think, E——­, of that man London—­who, in spite of all the bitter barriers in his way, has learnt to read, has read his Bible, teaches it to his unfortunate fellows, and is used by his owner and his owner’s agents, for all these causes, as an effectual influence for good over the slaves of whom he is himself the despised and injured companion.  Like them, subject to the driver’s lash; like them, the helpless creature of his master’s despotic will, without a right or a hope in this dreary world.  But though the light he has attained must show him the terrible aspects of his fate hidden by blessed ignorance from his companions, it reveals to him also other rights, and other hopes—­another world, another life—­towards which he leads, according to the grace vouchsafed him, his poor fellow-slaves.  How can we keep this man in such a condition?  How is such a cruel sin of injustice to be answered?  Mr. ——­, of course, sees and feels none of this as I do, and I should think must regret that he ever brought me here, to have my abhorrence of the theory of slavery deepened, and strengthened every hour of my life, by what I see of its practice.