EXPLANATORY INDEX. 383 



i-eep or pepper-pot of the West Indies. The pot is never 

 cleaned, so that, as it is very thick, very soft, and very 

 porous, it absorbs the juices. When Cassava bread is eaten, 

 it is generally dipped in the cassareep, -which often contains 

 pieces of meat, &c., and which, when the palate has become 

 accustomed to the inordinate amount of red pepper, is not 

 only nourishing, but appetizing. A newcomer, however, will 

 run the risk of starving altogether, for the native cook is so 

 very heavy-handed with her red pepper, that the lips and 

 tongue of a novice are scorched as if with red-hot iron. 



The illustration of the matappi and cassareep pot is taken 

 from specimens in my collection. A considerable amount of 

 Cassava is consumed in this country under the names of 

 tapioca and semolina. 



Cassiques. — -These birds, of which there are several species, 

 all belonging to the genus Gassicus, are popularly called 

 Merles in Jamaica. The word is evidently the same as our 

 Merle (Lat. Merula), which distinguishes the common black- 

 bird. 



According to C. Kingsley, the Merles are "birds the- size 

 of a jackdaw, brown and yellow, and mocking-birds, too, of 

 no mean ability. The pouches (nests) two feet long and more, 

 swayed in the breeze, fastened to the end of the boughs with 

 a few small threads. Each had, about half-way down, an 

 opening into the round sac below, in and out of which the 

 merles crept and fluttered, talking all the while in twenty 

 different notes. 



" Most tropic birds hide their nests carefully in the bush : 

 the merles hang theirs fearlessly in the most exposed situa- 

 tions. They find, I presume, that they are protected enough 

 from monkeys, wild cats, and gato-melaos (a sort of ferret), 

 by being hung at the extremity of the bough. So thinks 

 M. Lestaud, the accomplished describer of the birds of 

 Ti-inidad." 



Some writers call the Merles by the name of mocking-birds. 



Castor-oil (Eicinus communis). — Another of the plants 



