The mutton introduced at the table of the gentry is super-excellent—small, tender, and not too fat; something like the Welsh mutton so justly esteemed by the opulent in England. It is generally fed upon the Indian-corn, and gentlemen kill for their own use. That procured at the shambles is generally very indifferent, and not unfrequently goat mutton. Pork is another viand admitted at times to enlarge the table-store. It is considered by some to be the first meat in the West Indies; this, however, I cannot accede to; the warmth of the climate is against it, and makes it appear unseasonable. Goldsmith, in his “Manners and Customs,” mentions that pigs in the West Indies were always fed upon sugar-canes. I have made inquiries upon this _important_ subject, and from the answers received, and my own observations, am inclined to think that the family of grunters are forced to be content with less luscious fare. Upon estates, when grinding, they may, perhaps, get a share of what is termed the _mill-bed_, but that is all the production of the cane they are allowed to participate in, unless they march into a cane-field of their own accord, and stand a chance of getting shot or stuck for their pains, for a watchman is ever looking out for such intruders, to whom he plays the executioner’s part, and, after decollating, takes, by right of law, the head for his own share. Poultry is also a standing dish at a West Indian dinner. Before emancipation, all kinds of feathered stock were very plentiful, and very cheap; fowls could be purchased for from 6d. to 8s. each, and turkeys, geese, guinea-birds, and ducks, in the same proportion; but now it is different, the negroes requiring higher prices for them. Most country gentlemen have, however, a poultry-yard attached to their residence, and thus escape the necessity of having to send, perhaps, half over the island before their want can be supplied.