333 



The negroes are so obstinate and so wilful in their 

 general character, that if they do not receive the pre- 

 cise articles to which they have been accustomed, 

 and which they expect as their right, no compens- 

 ation, however ample, can satisfy them. Thus, at 

 every Christmas it would go near to create a re- 

 bellion if they did not receive a certain proportion 

 of salt fish ; but if, in the intervening months, 

 accident should prevent their receiving their usual 

 allowance of herrings, the giving them salt fish to 

 the amount of double the value would be con- 

 sidered by them as an act of the grossest injustice. 



February 5. 



On Saturday, about eight in the evening, a large 

 centipede dropped from the ceiling upon my dinner- 

 table, and was immediately cut in two exact halves 

 by one of the guests. As it is reported in Jamaica 

 that these reptiles, when thus divided, will re-unite 

 again, or if separated will reproduce their missing 

 members, and continue to live as stoutly as ever, I 

 put both parts into a plate, under a glass cover. 

 On Sunday they continued to move about their 

 prison with considerable agility, although the tail 

 was evidently much more lively and full of motion 

 than the head : perhaps the centipede was a female. 

 On Monday the head was dead, but the tail con- 

 tinued to run about, and evidently endeavoured to 

 to make its escape, although it appeared not to 

 know very well how to set about it, nor to be per- 



