Hogs were introduced into Cuba from Spain by the early Spanish settlers, but no effort was made either to improve the breed by selection or even to prevent its retrograding through lack of care and good food. Nearly all hogs raised in Cuba, even at the present time, are permitted to run in droves in the forests and foothills of the thinly settled sections, as did their ancestors four centuries ago. Even the owners of these droves have but little idea of the number of hogs belonging to them. Monteros, or forest men, are hired to herd them, which is done with the assistance of dogs. The hogs in this way are followed from place to place where the forests may furnish natural food for the mothers and their progeny. As a rule, at evening each day, the montero or herder, in order to keep up a partial contact between him and his drove, carries a few ears of corn slung over his shoulder in a sack, or to the saddle of his horse. This he shells and drops as he rides along the narrow trails of the forest, uttering at the same time a peculiar cry or call, heard in the mountain jungles of the hog districts, when the monteros are coaxing their herds out into the open, so that they may catch a glimpse of them before they dodge back into the leafy glades of the interior. This semi-savage breed of hogs of course would cause a smile if seen on a first-class stock farm in the United States. He is usually black in color, long and lank, resembling very much the “razor back,” once common in the southern part of the United States. He is prolific, a good fighter, and hustles for his own living, since nothing is provided for him excepting what he picks up in the forest. This, however, is pretty good feed. The royal palm that covers many of the hillsides and slopes of the long mountain chains throughout Cuba, produces a small nut called palmiche, which furnishes a never-failing food and aids the stock man greatly in raising hogs. The palmiche, picked up by the animals at the base of the palms or cut by the monteros, who with the assistance of a rope easily climb these tall smooth barked ornaments of the forest, will keep animals in fairly good condition throughout the year. The palmiche, however, although only about the size of the kernel of a hazel nut, is very hard, and much of it is rather indigestible. This nut, when ground and pressed yields about 20% of excellent oil, either for lubricating or commercial purposes, while the residue of the nut, or pressed cake of the palmiche, from which the worthless part has been separated previous to grinding, owing to its rich content of protein and oil, furnishes an easily digested and splendid food.