ces; but for the present, their labours among the few negroes, who had been introduced into the island, were attended with little or no effect; and after some time, only nine of the colonists remained, some of whom returned home, and some repaired to the island of St. Thomas.*

But though the mission to St. Croix was relinquished for the present, it was not long before it was again renewed. Some of the negroes who had been converted in St. Thomas having been sold and transplanted to this and other islands, spread the good news of salvation among their fellow slaves; and in consequence of this, they were visited by the missionaries from St. Thomas. At length, in 1739, Albinus J. Feder and Christian G. Israel were sent from Europe to settle in St. Croix. The latter was born of poor parents, and was so lame, that he mostly walked with a crutch; but, at the same time, so full of zeal, that he could not be restrained from going as a missionary to the Heathen. When near the end of the voyage, the ship was stranded in a storm on the island of St. Thomas. The sailors took to the boat, leaving the missionaries with the vessel on the rock. Feder ventured to drop down by a rope into the sea, in order to swim to the shore, which was scarcely the distance of a stonecast, thinking to procure assistance for his lame brother. But such was the violence of the storm, that he was overwhelmed by the waves and was drowned. Meanwhile, Israel was obliged to remain on the wreck, over which the billows were continually breaking; but after the storm ceased, he got safe on shore. He afterwards proceeded to St. Croix, where he is said to have laboured for four years with great success.f

After Israel's departure, there was no missionary on the island for some years; but, in the meanwhile, the negro helppers were very useful among their countrymen. At length, in 1753, George Ohneberg came to settle in St. Croix; and the brethren in St. Thomas purchased a piece of land, consisting of four acres, on which a church and dwelling-house were afterwards erected.‡

* Crantz's History of the United Brethren.

+ Ibid.

Ibid.

In 1755, the Danish islands, in the West-Indies, were transferred from the West-India and Guinea Company to the crown of Denmark; and a governor-general was appointed, who took up his residence in St. Croix. In him the missionaries found a kind friend and protector, especially when, a few years after, a dangerous plot was discovered among the slaves, who had bound themselves to murder all the white people on the island in one night. Certain malicious persons gave out, that some of the negroes, baptized by the missionaries, were concerned in this conspiracy; but their innocence was soon vindicated, even by the criminals themselves. As long as the disturbances lasted, the Brethren, by the governor's advice, omitted the large meetings of the negroes; and when he authorized them to begin them again, he and some other gentlemen were present, and encouraged the negroes in their attendance. On another occasion, when an order was issued that no negro should be seen on the streets or roads after seven o'clock in the evening, he made a regulation, that such negroes as had frequented the meetings of the Brethren, and could produce a certificate to that effect, signed by their teacher, should pass unmolested by the watch. Such was the confidence which the governor placed in the missionaries, and the slaves under their care. *

In St. Croix, the Brethren have now three flourishing settlements, Friedenstal, Friedensberg, and Friedensfeld, in all of which they have very large congregations. From the commencement of the mission to the year 1788, they had baptized no fewer than 6162 negroes on this island; and since that period, the number has been greatly augmented.† In the year 1812, the three congregations consisted of the following members:

Crantz's History of the United Brethren.

† Period. Acc. vol. i. p. 16.

SOON after the commencement of the mission in St. Thomas, some of the converted negroes were transplanted to this island. There was no missionary, however, settled among them; but they were visited as often as possible by the Brethren from St. Thomas. The congregation on this island consisted at length of about three hundred negroes; but afterwards it dwindled away to fifteen. At length in 1754, John Brukker went to settle among them; and by means of his labours, the number of the baptized increased considerably. The congregations in St. Jan, however, have never been near so large, as in the two other Danish islands, St. Thomas and St. Croix.

In August 1793, there was a most tremendous hurricane in the West-Indies. It was felt in various islands, but it appears to have raged with peculiar violence in St. Jan. Of the Brethrens' two settlements, Emmaus and Bethany, the latter was most exposed to its fury. It began in the evening, and before morning, the missionaries, and many white and black people, who had fled to them from the neighbourhood, could scarcely find shelter in any of their buildings. About eight in the morning, the wind changed to the south, and all the negro houses were swept away in a moment. Shortly after the church fell with a dreadful crash, and was broken into a thousand pieces. Beams, shingles, rafters, boards,

Period. Acc. vol v. p. 868.

St. Jan or Juan de Porto Rico, is the capital or principal town of the island of that name. It is situated on the N. coast of the island, about 67 leagues from St. Domingo, and in latitude 18 deg. 29 min. north; and longitude 69 deg. 1 min. west. # Crantz's History of the United Brethren.

were carried to a great distance in the air; and no person durst venture out of the house, but at the most imminent danger of his life. The dwelling-house was filled with seawater, which being driven by the violence of the wind upon the roof, ran in streams into the apartments. The whole building trembled, and cracked, and threatened every moment to bury the inhabitants in its ruins. Meanwhile, they were assisted by the negroes, in fastening the roof with ropes and in nailing up the doors, windows, and every crevice; but they were, at last, quite overcome with fatigue and hunger, for they had only a loaf and a half to divide among twentysix persons, while a little water, sweetened with molasses, was their only drink. Having spent the following night in a most distressing situation, the wind abated early in the morning, and in the course of the day, the sky cleared, and the sun shown so warm, that they had an opportunity of drying their furniture, clothes, and bedding. In other parts of the island, the planters had their dwelling-houses, sugar works, stores, &c. destroyed. The thickest trees in the woods, were broken in the middle; all the cassabi plantations were torn up, and the garden crops totally laid waste. Numbers of vessels were wrecked on the coast, and many people lost their lives. At Emmaus, the second settlement of the Brethren, the church and dwelling-house were safe; all the other buildings were destroyed.*

In the year 1812, the congregation of the Brethren, in St. Jan, consisted of the following members:

Baptized, &c. Communicants.

ARTICLE IV. JAMAICA.*

Some gentlemen from Jamaica, who possessed considerable estates on that island, having been much impressed by the preaching of the Brethren in London, and being informed of their labours among the Heathen, especially in the Danish West-India islands, requested count Zinzendorf to send some missionaries to instruct their negroes in the principles of religion, and they mentioned in particular Zechariah G. Caries, whose sermons and conversation had been useful to themselves.†

Agreeably to their request, Zechariah G. Caries was sent to Jamaica, in October 1754, with two others of the Brethren, as his assistants. The gentlemen who made the proposal, were at the expense of supporting them. They built a house for them, on a spot of ground which they appropriated to the use of the mission, and they encouraged their slaves to come to them for instruction, by granting them full liberty for this purpose. In consequence of this the Negroes flocked to the Brethren in such numbers, that within little more than a year after the commencement of the mission, they amounted to about eight hundred, and of these twenty-six were already baptized. On the part of the white people, the missionaries scarcely met with any opposition; and even those few who were, at first, inclined to oppose them, had their prejudices removed, as soon as they heard them preach. They came in considerable numbers, to hear the discourses of Caries to the negroes; but as this was often a hindrance to him, in speaking to these poor untutored creatures, he began to preach to the white people separately; and there

* Jamaica island in the West-Indies, is about 37 miles to the southward of the island of Cuba, and about 50 to the west of Hispaniola; being 160 miles in length, and 50 in breadth. The island is divided by a ridge of hills, that runs nearly from E. to W. the whole length of the island; in which many fine rivers have their rise, and flow from both sides in gentle streams, refreshing the vallies through which they glide, and supplying the inhabitants with sweet and cold water.

The situation of the S. E. point of this valuable island is 17 deg. 58 min. of N. lat. and 75 deg. 38 min. of W. long. The N.W. point is in lat. 18 deg. 46 min. N. and long. 78 deg. 31 min. W.-Malham's Gazetteer.

tCrantz's History of the United Brethren.