BARBECUED PIG. 395 



the farms were well supplied with the several va- 

 rieties of poultry — turkeys, hens, and mallards, and 

 Muscovy ducks, with occasional geese — Swine's flesh 

 was the ' most frequent dish at the table of the best 

 inhabitants.' The ' barbecued pig,' which neces- 

 sity had taught the huntsman to prepare in the 

 forest, roasted in a rude oven of heated stones, and 

 flavoured with native spices, — a more refined taste 

 had transferred from the herdsman's hut to the plant- 

 ation hall. Monk Lewis, whose taste was luxu- 

 rious and fastidious, declares it to be one of the most 

 delicious of viands. ' Several gentlemen of the 

 country,' he relates in that very agreeable gossip- 

 ing Diary, his ' Journal,' * dined with me to-day ' 

 (January 26. 1816). ' We had at dinner a land 

 tortoise and a barbecued pig, — two of the best and 

 richest dishes that I had ever tasted, the latter in par- 

 ticular. It was dressed in the true Maroon fashion, 

 being placed on a barbecue, or frame of wicker work, 

 through whose interstices the steam can ascend, 

 — filled with peppers and spices of the highest fla- 

 vour, wrapped in plantain leaves, and then buried 

 in a hole filled with hot stones, by whose vapour it 

 is baked ; no particle of the juice being thus suf- 

 fered to evaporate. I have eaten several other good 

 Jamaica dishes, but none so excellent as this.' 



" When the Spaniards with their slaves retired to 

 the north side of the Island on the conquest by the 

 English in 1655, they left their negroes to hold* the 

 mountain fastnesses, and harass the conquerors and 

 new settlers. These became the body of independ- 



