A WEST INDIAN SKETCH. 59 



ever I had poultry for dinner, the liver was missing; and asking the 

 cook (an African) one day the reason of this, he gravely told me, 

 that the poultry in this part of the country had no livers ! 



After we had finished breakfast a slight breeze sprung up, and 

 under easy sail we glided along the coast. St. James's barracks had 

 a beautiful appearance from where we then were ; they are splendid 

 buildings, but unfortunately placed in a most unhealthy situation. 

 Many a brave fellow's valuable life has been sacrificed to the miasma 

 of the Cocorite swamps situate in their neighbourhood. It is lament- 

 able to reflect that a set of buildings, costing some hundred thousand 

 dollars, should be erected on so insalubrious a site, when the medical 

 gentlemen of this island, or even any of its intelligent inhabitants, 

 could have pointed out a situation as healthy as any in the country, 

 and one of much greater convenience for barracks than the present 

 head-quarters of diseases, called St. James ; but such was the reckless 

 waste of public money in those days. A mile lower down the coast 

 are other proofs of the inattention of the engineer department in 

 placing military buildings in improper situations. The arsenal, and 

 establishments connected with it, stand in one of the most pestilential 

 spots in the island. As we sailed along the singular opening between 

 two ridges of the mountains, the valley of Diego Martin presented 

 itself to us in great beauty. This fine tract of country was formerly 

 granted by the king of Spain to an Englishman called James Martin, 

 whose name it still bears. 



We came to anchor in the bay of the principal of the Five Islands. 

 This contains about three acres of land, on which is situated a plea- 

 sant rural-looking house, belonging to Herbert Mackworth, Esq., 

 the " alguazil mayor,' of Trinidad (a situation resembling the high- 

 sheriff of an English county). The Five Islands are his undisputed 

 property I say undisputed; for some years he applied to the 

 governor for a grant of these islands. Sir R. Wood ford referred him 

 to the Colonial-office. On renewing the application in that quarter, 

 Mr. Mackworth was informed that the Secretary for the Colonies 

 knew nothing of the islands requested, as they were not noticed in 

 the official map of the colony. Nothing further was said. Mr. M. 

 conceiving silence gives consent, erected his present dwelling on one 

 of the islands. A situation more beautiful, healthy, tranquil, and 

 picturesque can scarcely be imagined. The house is built on an islet 

 in a delightful part of the Gulf, about two miles from the shore, where 

 the scenery is strikingly grand. A distant view of the Bocas and 

 Spanish main finish the panorama. 



Going on shore, we found that Mr. Mackworth and his family 

 were in town ; and after climbing about the islet, Mr. Du Bois pro- 

 posed killing some birds, but it was intimated that the proprietor 

 discouraged shooting any of the beautiful feathered tribe that visit 

 his isolated domain with the exception of the pelicans, which commit 

 sad ravages on the fish in the little bay. Du Bois, merely to gratify 

 the cruel love of destroying, the characteristic of your true sportsman 9 

 killed three pelicans. These birds have too rank and fishey a taste 

 to be good food. Two he threw away, the third Rattoon begged to 

 be allowed to skin and stuff. Examine a dead pelican, or the drawing 



