the solemne exercises of Eight Duties, and attendance upon God s
holy ordinances.” Also carefully to avoid the “ odious smnes of pro-
phane swearing and curseing or commonly takemg the holy name ot
the Great Glorious God in vaine, and to abstaine from Drunckenness,
stealing, thieving, and other horrid vices and wickednesses.
Transgression of such laws was soon followed by punishment,
for we read that one “ Sarah Marshall had one-and-thirty lashes on
her naked body at the flagstaffe for scandehzmg Captain Benda) ,
And “ Parnum was fined 5.s. for working on the Lord s day, and his
wife Is. for cursing the Island.” But the severe determination to
maintain order is more apparent by the following :-Sottoe, a slave,
being chastised by his master, retaliated by attacking him with his
knife; he did not murder or do his master much harm, but there
being some dread of an insurrection amongst the blacks at the time,
poor Sottoe was destined to be made an example of. H U H e
pleaded that a fellow slave named Eowland had instigated the
attack on his master, and that he was urged on while under the
exciting influence of a pipe of tobacco which he had «tol®n a^
smoked I t was ordered that his hand, wherewith he attacked his
master, was to be cut off; he was then to be hanged, and when dead
his head cut off and placed on the top of the Market-house as a
caution to all other transgressors. Eowland was not allowed to
escape either; he was to be led, with a rope round his neck, to
witness his companion’s execution, and after forty stripes a -
ministered on his naked body to have a pair of iron pothooks
riveted round his neck until further orders. This frightful sentence
was not, however, fully carried out. Sottoe’s hand was cut o in
presence of all the blacks, but his life was spared. The most
common military punishment adopted was riding the wooden horse,
as we see in the case of a soldier named William Mellmg, who; for
swearing and incivility, “ doe ride the wooden horse two houres
with a bag of shott at each heele;” also, “ Eichard Honeywood who
doe rid ye wooden horse halfe an houre wft two musketts at each
heele for slighting the Government and malitiously revenging him-
selfe.” Slaves were punished by seventy-five lashes, with five drops
of burning sealing-wax dropped on the naked body, for attempting
to get away from the Island; while other terrible measures were
dealt out to similar offenders.
The English occupation of the Island was never again disturbed,
by foreign powers, and it has remained a British possession ever
sinpe. Governor Field was succeeded by Major John Blackmóre, a
man of great piety, who unfortunately, in consequence of the bad
roads existing at the time, slipped off the path near Chubb’s Spring
and was killed. This did not happen, however, until after he had
done much for the improvement of the place; a court of justice,
assembling four times in a year, was established ; a similar code of
laws as that in force at Bombay was adopted; but trial by jury, in
consequence of the smallness of thè community, was only allowed
where life, limb, or land were concerned, all other cases being
decided by the Governor and Council by vote. At this time,
coroner’s juries sat and brought in such verdicts as this—“ That all
unanimously agree and verily believe that the said Denning dyed a
naturali death, he haveing bin long under a lingring distemper of
the fflux and his body wornd to a perfect anathomy.” In the year
1676, the Island was honoured by a visit from the celebrated astronomer
Hailey, for the purpose of observations ; he pitched his tent
on a high mountain ridge, still bearing the name of “Hailey’s Mount,”
but tradition says that clouds and mist so surrounded the position of
the savant as to materially diminish his opportunities for observation.
Governor Blackmore was succeeded by the Deputy-Governor,
Captain Joshua Johnson. For upwards of twenty years the little
colony had thrived and prospered. There were certain times when
all the inhabitants were required to assemble, like one large family,
at Fort James, to be inspected.. Crime seldom exceeded the very
easy one of getting into debt, or slander, or such trivial offences.
Governor Johnson was notably a good man, but there had been
certain feelings of dissatisfaction growing up amongst the soldiers
which he had failed to observe, and which, for waut of being nipped
in the. bud, terminated fatally for him. On the 21st April, 1693,
he retired unsuspectingly to rest as usual within Fort James.
Amongst the State guard, on that night, was a soldier named
Jackson, who, with three of his comrades, had planned a scheme to
rob the Treasury and escape from the Island. When all was quiet
in the dead of night, and the Governor slept soundly, they let
several soldiers from other guards who were in their secret into
the fort, and then sent messages, one by one, to all the other
guards, calling them in also. On imparting their plans, any
who objected to join them were immediately imprisoned without