His Excellency Sir Charles M‘Carthy, who had just arrived from England, was then about visiting some of the liberated negro establishments in the country towns, accompanied by all the civil and military staff of the colony. I felt too much concern in the welfare of those truly interesting objects not to make one of the party, and therefore had an opportunity of witnessing the wonderful improvements that had taken place in every town since I had before seen them, indeed some having all the appearance and regularity of the neatest village in England, with church, school, and commodious residences for the missionaries and teachers, had not in 1817 been more than thought of. Descending some of the hills, I was surprised on perceiving neat and well laid out villages in places where, but four years before, nothing was to be seen except almost impenetrable thickets, but arriving in those villages the beauty and interesting nature of such objects was much enhanced by the clean, orderly, and respectable appearance of the cottages and their inhabitants, particularly the young people and children, who, at all the towns, assembled to welcome with repeated cheers the return of their Governor and daddy (father), as they invariably stiled His Excellency, who expressed himself highly pleased at their improvement during his absence, in which short period large pieces of ground had been cleared and cultivated in the vicinity of all the towns, and every production of the climate raised in sufficient abundance to supply the inhabitants, and furnish the market at Free-town. His Excellency visited the schools at the different towns, and witnessed the improvement which all the students had made, but particularly those of the high-school at Regent-town, whose progress in arithmetic, geography, and history, evinced a capacity far superior to that which is in general attributed to the Negro, and proves that they may be rendered useful members of society, particularly so in exploring the interior of the country, having previously received the education calculated to that peculiar service.