In this book, first published in 1862, Edward Bean Underhill gives an engaging account of a journey to the West Indies on behalf of the Baptist Missionary Society. He visited Baptist churches in Trinidad, Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba and the Bahamas in order to evaluate the religious state of the many congregations that were established there after the Emancipation Act. Underhill emphasizes that the religious and social consequences of the Emancipation for the people of the West Indies cannot be viewed independently of one another. He finds that the islands, on their own terms, have made the best possible use of the freedom obtained. Underhill gives an elaborate and vivid description of his impression of the islands, but his main focus is on Jamaica, which he finds has benefited most of all.
Edward Bean Underhill (1813–1901), the energetic and much-travelled secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society, was active throughout his life in publishing and researching Baptist history. This 1881 biography of his recently-deceased friend James Phillippo (1798–1879) is based on diaries, a manuscript autobiography and papers made available to Underhill by Phillippo's family. Phillippo devoted over fifty years to Baptist missionary work in Jamaica and was a fierce advocate for the abolition of slavery. He landed in Jamaica in 1823, and developed a strong following, despite being banned from preaching to slaves on several occasions. In the 1830s he helped to establish free villages where newly emancipated (and now homeless) slaves could settle. Underhill's thorough account of Phillippo's eventful life focuses specially on the missionary's hard-won victories over his wealthy and powerful opponents. The book includes a list of the many schools and churches established by Phillippo in
