Henry Kirke (1842-1925) was educated from 1860 to 1866 at Wadham College, Oxford and was then called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1868. He was successively Sheriff of Demerara, Police Magistrate of Georgetown, Supreme Court Judge in British Guiana, Attorney-General of Jamaica and Magistrate for Derbyshire. The extracts that follow also include a description of capital punishment, 'obeah' or witchcraft, the Church and education and, in a clear indication of his long-term residency, the practice of dentistry. The black population of British Guiana are descended from the old slaves, who were brought from Africa to work on the cotton and sugar estates in the West Indies. The negro is one of the few aboriginal races which can live side by side with the white man and hold his own; in fact, in countries which suit his constitution and habits, he is gradually ousting the white element.