“ON BOARD THE ‘ANN,’ (Captain Tucker,) _bound from Charleston to Bermudas, March 6, 1748_. “MY VERY DEAR, DEAR BROTHER,――Just as I was coming on board, yours, dated October 16, was put into my hands. I have read it, and now believe I shall see you sooner than I expected. I have a great mind to come to you from New England. But what will _Sarah_ say? I have left her behind me in the tent; and, should I bring her to England, my two families, in America, must be left without a head. Should I go without her, I fear, the trial will be too hard for her; but, if the Lord calls, I can put both her and myself into His all-bountiful hands. “I am now going, on a fresh embassage, to Bermudas, after having had a profitable winter in these southern parts. Congregations in Charleston have been greater than ever; and Jesus has helped me to deliver my soul. Had I ten thousand lives, He should have them all. Excuse this scribble; I am just come on board. “GEORGE WHITEFIELD.”[186] As every one knows, the Bermudas are a cluster of small islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, nearly four hundred in number, but, for the greater part, diminutive and barren. They were discovered by Juan Bermudas, a Spaniard, about the year 1522; but were not inhabited till 1609, when Sir George Somers was cast away upon them, and established a small settlement. The length of the colony is less than thirty miles, and the population, even at the present day, is not more than ten thousand, one half of whom are black and coloured persons. The soil of the inhabited islands (about five in number) is exceedingly fertile; vegetation is rapid; spring may be said to be perpetual; and fields and forests are clad with unfading verdure. In these clustered islets Whitefield landed on March 15; and here he spent eleven weeks, generally preaching once, and often twice, a day. In England, it was reported that he was dead. The _Gentleman’s Magazine_, for the month of May, in its “List of Deaths,” had the following:―― “April.――Rev. Mr. Whitefield, the famous itinerant preacher, and founder of the Methodists in Georgia.” Fortunately, the rumour had afterwards to be corrected.