4oS JAMAICA. 



another, one may obferve their efTorts diredled by iiiallce, fo Toon as 

 their fury is raifed. When they have been .employed again ft the re- 

 bellious Oaves, each party meeting in a wood, have difpcrfed in an 

 inftantj and every man iingled out his tree, brhlnd which he fhel- 

 tered his perfon, and fired. After the nrft volley, one party gene- 

 rally fled ; but, if both (lood their ground, the next conflict was 

 made with cutlafles, in the management of which they are lurprifingly 

 active and iliilful, ufing cither hand alternately, as they fee occjhon. 

 But they would never be brought to withftand horfe, platoons, or 

 fcrewed bayonets ; nor to engage in an open place. Wlicn they did 

 not fucceed at the firlt fire, they trufted to the lightnefs of their heels, 

 rallied at fome diftance, if not too clofely purfued, and returned again 

 to the bufh-fight. They are remarlsr?ble, like the Norih American 

 Indians, for tracking in the woods ; difccrning the veftige of the per- 

 fon, or party, of whom they are in qutft, by the turn of a diie^i leaf, 

 the pofition of a fmall twig, and other infignifica t maiks, which an 

 European would overlook ; but I have known fome white Creoles not 

 lefs expert at this art, which they acquired, as they laid, by frequently 

 ranging the woods after wild hogs or runaways. The Neproes know 

 each other's haunts and artifices, much better than the Whites ; and, 

 probably, iorm their conjectures, by refl.tfting which way they would 

 fteer their courfe, if they were purfued themfelves. In marching 

 through a wood they walk in enfilade, but i^iK) not always keep filence. 

 Sometimes, when engaged with ciltlafles, they will fight very deipe- 

 rately, and ftand to it with the infenfibility of pofts, till ihey almoft 

 hack one another to pieces, before either will furrender. 



They are in general excellent markfmen at a landing (hot, their 

 eye quick, and fight fo clear, that they feldom mifs ; yet their vilion 

 (as I have before remarked) is the worfl: poffible for the regular pofi- 

 tion of any thing. They cannot place a dining-table fquare in a 

 room ; I have known them fail in this, after numberlefs endeavours ; 

 and it is the fame in other things. So that fuch as are bred carpenters and 

 bricklayers, are often unable, after many tedious and repeated trials with 

 the rule and plumb-line, to do a piece of work (Iraight, which an ap- 

 prentice boy in England would perform with one glance of his eye in 

 a moment. It is fomevvhat unaccountable, too, that they always 

 mount a horfe on th.e oif-fide. Their ideas feem confined to a very 



few 



