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being kept sufficiently long to become tender ; so 

 that when a man sits down to a Jamaica dinner, he 

 might almost fancy himself a guest at Macbeth's 

 Covent-Garden banquet, where the fowls, hams, 

 and legs of mutton are all made of deal boards. I 

 ordered a duck to be kept for two days ; but it was 

 so completely spoiled, that there was no bearing it 

 upon the table. Then I tried the expedient of 

 boiling a fowl till it absolutely fell to pieces ; but 

 even this violent process had not the power of 

 rendering it tender. The only effect produced by 

 it was, that instead of being helped to a wing of 

 solid wood, I got a plateful of splinters. Perhaps, 

 my having totally lost my appetite (probably from 

 my not being able to take, in this climate, sufficient 

 of my usual exercise) makes the meat appear to me 

 less palatable than it may to others ; but I have 

 observed, that most people here prefer living upon 

 soups, stews, and salted provisions. For my own 

 part, I have for the last few weeks eaten nothing 

 except black crabs, than which I never met with a 

 more delicious article for the table. I have also 

 tried the soldier soup, which is in great estimation 

 in this island ; but although it greatly resembled 

 the very richest c ray-fish soup, it seemed to be 

 composed of cray-fish which had been kept too 

 long. The soldiers themselves were perfectly fresh, 

 for they were brought to the kitchen quite alive 

 and merry; but I was told that this taste of 

 staleness is their peculiar flavour, as well as their 



