THE FirsT TWO YEARS OF THE “ SOCIETY.” 225 
food from foreign markets as it was formerly when plan- 
tain cultivation was in a flourishing state. 
They could not report favourably on the cattle farms, 
for notwithstanding the vast extent and excellence of 
the pasture lands between Mahaica and Abary the 
number of tame cattle had greatly diminished as com- 
pared with that of a few years before, This had arisen 
in a great measure from the scarcity of labour and the diffi- 
culty in procuring cattle-minders, as well as the im- 
poverished circumstances of many of the cattle farmers, 
‘The consequence had been that the greater portion of 
the herds had run wild in the savannahs aback, and 
even these had become reduced to a very small 
number by the indiscriminate system of catching and 
slaughtering which had been praétised for some time. 
The difficulty in procuring cattle-minders induced many 
to sell their herds ex masse to the more opulent of the 
butchers whose immediate interest lay in slaughtering 
and turning them into money, thus destroying all chance 
of natural increase on those farms. From information 
they had received it appeared that in the year 1843 
fifteen per cent more cows than bulls had been slaugh- 
tered in Georgetown, while during the past year the 
market had to a great extent been supplied from foreign 
countries. Many of the cattle slaughtered in 1843, and 
even up to the time of the report, were procured from 
wild herds, and as there was great trouble in catching 
them with the lasso, no discrimination was used and 
young and old were alike secured as opportunity served, 
the result being that the younger were most frequently 
captured. This system appeared to them likely at 
no distant period to lead to the entire destru€tion of the 
