The greatest

No census has been taken since 1821, but the population now may be estimated at about the same. bulk is employed in agriculture; the manufacture is sugar, rum, and molasses. The island is supposed to contain 69,299 miles, or 108 square miles, consequently the average population is estimated to the square mile in this island to be about 343.

Number of negroes in six parishes, 30,985.

SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER.

SINCE the foregoing pages have been written, many and great events have occurred in Antigua. St. John's, the capital of the island, has been raised to the dignity of a city, by the mandate of her most gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, (as announced by official letter of his excellency the governor-inchief, Sir Charles Augustus Fitzroy, K.H., dated 10th November, 1842 ;) the church constituted a cathedral church and an episcopal see; and our former worthy archdeacon has become the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Antigua. The rector of St. John's, the Rev. R. Holberton, has most deservedly been appointed archdeacon, (as well as rector,) in the room of Dr. Davis, the present bishop. The first ordination held in the island took place on Tuesday, the 25th July, 1843. The governor-in-chief, Sir Charles Augustus Fitzroy, has ably conducted the government, and made himself universally and deservedly beloved and respected for his zeal and strenuous exertions for the common good. His excellency first met the council and assembly at the court house, on Thursday, the 21st of February, 1842, where he was received by a guard of honour, (of part of the 81st regiment, then stationed in Antigua.) After taking his seat in the council chamber, his excellency delivered in person a most flattering inaugural speech to the legislature; addresses were then returned by the council and assembly, to each of which his excellency made most gracious answers. Upon the breaking up of the meeting, his excellency returned to

government house, where he held a levee, (which was numerously attended,) and received congratulatory addresses from the clergymen of the church of England, the Moravian ministers, the Wesleyan missionaries, and the members of the Presbyterian association.

The Scotch kirk has been nearly completed, and opened for divine service; an able preacher from Scotland, the Rev. A. Brown, is the officiating minister. Until the opening of the new church, the court house was kindly lent to the members of this persuasion to hold their Sunday service in; and where the Rev. Mr. Brown poured forth a strain of pure, unaffected devotion, and delivered a series of sermons, whose beauty lay not only in words, but in the grand religious truths they inculcated.

Agricultural societies have been formed, much to the interest of that useful class of men, the agriculturists. In these societies, prizes have been awarded to the following:

To manager who makes the largest quantity of sugar per acre, on average crop-a silver tea-pot, value 87.

To manager who makes best quality of sugar-a silver cup, value 71. To manager who makes the largest quantity of sugar per acre, from second ratoons, being not less than five acres-a silver ladle, value 41.

To manager who has been most successful with his stock during the year-a silver knife, value 31.

To the overseer who shall produce the best plan of a plantation, pay, boiling-house, and still-house books-a pair of silver spoons, value 21.

To labourers who have worked the greatest number of days in the year on one property-five prizes, from 10s. to two dollars each, currency.

To those parents who have the largest number of children employed in agriculture-five prizes, from 10s. currency, to two dollars each. To stock-keepers who have remained during the year, and have been most successful with the stock-five prizes, from 10s. to two dollars.

A popular institution for intellectual improvement has also been instituted at St. John's, in which several lectures have been given upon various interesting subjects.

On the 12th of June, 1842, a very bright and beautiful meteor passed over the town of St. John's, in a direction from east to west. Its form was globular; and as it passed rapidly along the heavens, it emitted bright spiral flashes of fire, which gilded the sky, and threw deep shadows upon the earth. During its progress, it was attended by a rushing noise, sufficient to call the attention of those who did not even notice its extreme brilliancy. Possibly this meteor might have belonged to the class termed aerolites; many of such phenomena have appeared, from time to time, in this quarter of the globe: one fell at Bahia, in Brazil, which weighed 14,000 pounds, and another, (still preserved in the British Museum,) which fell at Buenos Ayres, weighed 1400 pounds.

The next great event to be recorded, is the awful earthquake, with which Antigua and many of the other Leeward Islands was visited, on Wednesday, the 8th of February, 1843. About half-past ten o'clock A. M., a low, hollow, rumbling sound arrested the attention, and announced, in its own peculiar solemn tone, the coming of an earthquake. Immediately after this awful warning, a tremor of the earth was felt, which gradually increasing in violence, led the frightened inhabitants to rush from their houses, and seek safety in the open air. Heart-rending were the screams, fervent and numerous were the calls for mercy, from the assembled groups. The air was darkened with the dust from the falling buildings, as well as from the sulphureous exhalations which issued from the opening earth, and almost stopped respiration. In Antigua, the extent of damage was immense. Out of fourteen parish churches, (including the chapels of ease,) only two remain uninjured. St. Paul's, situated at Falmouth, was entirely destroyed; as also St. Stephen's chapel of ease, the district church of All Saints, and the chapel schools of St. Bartholomew's and St. Mark's, not long ago erected. The new church of St. Peter's, which has been mentioned in these pages as being in a state of progress at Parham, and which was expected to be com