214 HISTORY OF THE [BOOK n. 



lity; of the first is made exceeding good hay, but not 

 in great abundance ; this method of husbandry being 

 practised only in a few parts of the country; and it is 

 the less necessary, as the inhabitants are happily ac- 

 commodated with two different kinds of artificial grass, 



o ' 



both extremely valuable, and yielding great profusion 

 of food for cattle. The first is an aquatic plant called 

 Scot's grass, which though generally supposed to be 

 an exotic, I have reason to think grows spontaneously 

 in most of the swamps and morasses of the West- 

 Indies. It rises to five or six feet in height, with 

 long succulent joints, and is of very quick vegetation. 

 From a single acre of this plant, five horses may 

 be maintained a whole year, allowing fifty-six pounds 

 of grass a day to each. 



The other kind, called Guinea grass, may be consi- 

 dered as next to the sugar-cane, in point of importance ; 

 as most of the grazing and breeding farms, or pens, 

 throughout the island, were originally created, and are 

 still supported, chiefly by means of this invaluable 

 herbage. Hence the plenty of horned cattle, both 

 for the butcher and planter, is such, that few mar- 

 kets in Europe furnish beef at a cheaper rate, or of 

 better quality, than those of Jamaica. J Perhaps the 



J Mutton is also both cheap and good. The sheep of Jamaica, accord- 

 ing to Sioane, are from a breed originally African. They have short 

 hair instead of wool, and in general are party-coloured, chiefly black and 

 white. They are small, but very sweet meat. The swine of the We?t 

 Indies are also considerably smaller trnn those of Europe, and have short 

 pointed ears. Their flesh is infinitely whiter and sweeter than the pork 

 of Great Britain, and that of the wild sort, of which there are great num- 

 bers in the wood?, still better. 



