APPENDIX.] THE MAROONS. 381 



SECTION IV. 



The general assembly was convened the latter end 

 of September, and their first deliberations were di- 

 rected to the subject of the Maroon rebellion, with 

 a solicitude equal to its importance. On this occa- 

 sion it was natural to recur to the experience of for- 

 mer times, and to inquire into the measures that had 

 been successfully adopted in the long and bloody war, 

 which previous to the treaty of 1738, had been car- 

 ried on against the same enemy. The expedient 

 which had then been resorted to, of employing dogs 

 to discover the concealment of the Maroons, and pre- 

 vent the fatal effects which resulted from their mode 

 of fighting in ambuscade, was recommended as a fit 

 example to be followed in the present conjuncture ; 

 and it being known that the Spanish Americans pos- 

 sessed a certain species of those animals, which it 

 was judged would be proper for such a service, the 

 assembly resolved to send to the island of Cuba for 

 one hundred of them, and to engage a sufficient num- 

 ber of the Spanish huntsmen, to attend and direct their 

 operations. The employment to which these dogs 

 are generally put by the Spaniards, is the pursuit of 

 wild bullocks, which they slaughtered for their hides; 

 and the great use of the dog is to drive the cattle 

 from such heights and recesses in the mountainous 

 parts of the country, as are lefcst accessible to the 

 hunters. 



