222 
DOTTINGS ON THE ROADSIDE. [Chap.XIII.-B.P. 
eyes of ghoul-like portent. Such is the pig familiar 
to the eye all over the West Indies and the Spanish 
Main. The property of the negro on the islands, and 
the Spanish creole on the main, the wretched animal 
has no friendly assistance either in filling its stomach 
or improving its appearance, and has to derive its 
principal sustenance from the burial-grounds, and 
pass its spare time in picking up the refuse thrown on 
the seashore. The men only notice him at the time 
of his dismissal from the world, and the women when 
converting his horrid flesh into sausages, which, for 
some inexplicable reason, are esteemed, when well- 
seasoned with garlic, as great delicacies. There is 
really no accounting for tastes, but I for one never 
think of touching pork in a hot country, and would 
strongly advise all travellers there to follow my ex¬ 
ample. 
We are glad to be off, no doubt; sailors always 
were and always will be a restless race, or, indeed, 
they would not be sailors, but, nevertheless, no one 
could part from beautiful Jamaica without a lingering 
feeling of regret. 
With such physical advantages as the “ Land of 
Streams ”* enjoys, what might not be accomplished 
there, were it not for the blight which has hung over 
its political fortunes ever since that fatal Friday, the 
4th of March, 1494, when it was discovered ! In the 
first place, the Spanish conquerors never rested until 
they had utterly exterminated the natives, for we find 
* The meaning of Jamaica in the aboriginal dialect was “ the land of 
streams.” 
