This vivid account of the missionary work of the Rev. Hope Masterton Waddell in the West Indies and Central Africa was first published in 1863. During his sixteen years in Jamaica he witnessed the slave revolt and the aftermath of the abolition of slavery. The mission helped former slaves adapt to freedom in new communities. In 1846 he left Jamaica for Calabar in West Africa (now part of Nigeria), and his narrative is one of the best European accounts of pre-colonial Africa. The mission was concerned with ending local practices such as polygamy, human sacrifice and witchcraft, and Waddell formed a close relationship with King Eyo. The book gives considerable detail about the history and culture of the area, as well as on the work of the mission. His work in Calabar is still commemorated there in the Hope Waddell Training Institute, Duke Town.
This is a vivid account of the slave uprising that started in Jamaica on 25th December 1831 and which lasted into the first weeks of 1832. The revolt was also called the Baptist War because many of the rebels were of the Baptist denomination. Hope Masterton Waddell was a missionary on the island at that time and witnessed what would be the largest slave rebellion in the British Caribbean. His recollection of the historic rebellion is considered to be one of the most accurate documents of that period.