JERKED PORK. 393 



homeward-bound ships ; that it was considered as 

 the granary and victualling place of the traders ; and 

 that 80,000 hogs were every year killed for their 

 lard alone, for which a constant market was found at 

 Carthagena, on the South American, main. When 

 Sloane journeyed to the ' north side^ of the island, 

 the cattle which the settlers had reclaimed in the 

 southern plains, stored so abundantly with neat-kine 

 the Savanna pens, that a single settlement possessed 

 forty thousand head. The north side was the ex- 

 clusive field for wild cattle and horses ; and wild 

 swine were plentiful in the same remote districts. 

 Sloane, describing the two sorts of Hogs, one run- 

 ning wild in the woods, the other fed in crawles, 

 says, ' the wild swine are brought out by hunters 

 with gangs of dogs, and chiefly found in the most 

 unfrequented, woody inland parts of the island. 

 After pursuit, and they are wearied by the dogs, 

 when they come to a bay, they are shot or pierced 

 through with lances, cut open, the bones taken out, 

 the flesh is gashed on the inside into the skin, 

 filled with salt, and exposed to the sun, which is 

 called jerking. It is so brought home to their 

 masters by the hunters, and eats much as bacon if 

 bi'oiled on coals.' The hunters were both whites 

 and blacks. The Indians, of whom there were then 

 some in the colony, chiefly imported from the Indian 

 coast, were ' exquisite at this game.' They pursued 

 their business of hog-hunting far remote from the 

 settlements, building huts ' in the places where swine 

 came to feed on the fruits,' and where they re- 

 mained marooning for several days, and preparing 



