The Express.
London, England, 1866-03-20 00:00:00

A VISIT TO MORANT BAY.

IN JAluici.l

(noel ous erscus

SPANISH TOWN, Fm. 19.
On Thursday last the royal commissioners paid
a visit to Morant Bay, and I availed myself of the
opportunity afforded by the suspension of their
proceedings in this town to see two of the localities
which figure most prominently in the history of the
late disturbances—via. Morant Bay itself, where
the first outbreak took place, and Stony Gut,
the negro settlement where the rioters assem-
bled, and whence they descended upon the
bay. I was accompanied upon this sive-
ditioni by two gentlemen who bad reasons
similar to my own for desiring to visit these loca-
lities, and therefore in narrating what befell us on
our journeyings I shall, as a rule, drop the egotisti-
cal " I," and speak, not of myself alone, but of the
whole party. . , ,
At one time we bad plenty of occupation in de-
fendiag ourselves against the assaults of a daring
and skilful enemy. Pigs appear to be enure nuae-
rots in JUISSiOS than dogs in the asserts of London.
In the woods, in the Meseta, in the lanes, in the
houses, everywhere, sad at all hours, are they to be
found. Nor are they like the pigs of England, who,*
born of a milder race, or degenerated by much'
feeding, accept blows without resistance, and fky
upon the approach of the stranger. The Jamaile,
pig cannot compare with his English brother as *
bacon-producing quadruped, but his capacity far
bearing bristles is marvellous ; and as he suffers
from no excess of fat, his activity is unsurpassed by
any animal except the hare. He is a mill
but hardy and adventurous animal. *hp
seems to have no owner and no boas, list I
picks up his own living as he any sok
where he can, along the streets of the town and the
highways of the country. If, however, there is one
part of the island in which there are more pigs titan
in any other, lam disposed to think it is the
neighbourhood of Rock Fort, and all the pigs w
reside there, or happened to be staying in that vici-
nity last Thursday morning, gathered together
against us, and for some hour or so subjected nits
the most constant and harassing attack. By w
intentions they were actuated. I aunt nay. It
may have been that, had we suffered them,
would have fallen upon, destroyed, and devo
us. It is, however, possible that, as
residents in the country, they intended, in a Bpi*
of tree Jawedca hospitality, to pay 10/1
some little friendly attentions, and to place their
services at our disposal for our farther true-
port upon our journey. Even upon the en+et
favourable supposition, however, their &dr
necessitated the most determined resistance,
the pigs here have an evil reputation as the
of fleas of a peculiar ferocity, and of other ding*.
able and almost murderous insects which love to
fatten on the blood of man. From all sides we
were assailed by these importunate friends or im-
placable enemies—the pigs I mean, not the fleas,
&c. They marched boldly up to us in a body in
front, they crept secretly towards us from behind
in squads of two or three at ones, they &mantled
upon us in force from the high ground, they at-
tempted surprises from below ; they assailed us at
once in front, on the flank, and in the rear ; in fact,
they executed almost every manoeuvre which could
have been suggested by the most skilful commander,
and as fast as we repulsed them with a shower of
stones in one direction, they came upon us from
another. One of their number was especially cun-
ning and persistent in his assaults. Hewes an ex-
traordinary looking animal, with a long low white
body and an almost equally long black head, and
so rapid was he in his motions and so various the
directions from which he appeared, that he seemed
to be not one pig but twenty. No sooner was he i
repulsed from our front than he descended upon us
from the heights on our right, and immediately
after he bad been compelled to abandon his advance
from that direction we perceived him creeping
slowly up from the low ground on our left. At last
we thought we were rid of him. A large brick-bat
parting within an inch of his nose had caused
him to retire from one of his oft-repeated assaults,
and as we saw him trot steadily out of sight we
congratulated ourselves that he had at last recog-
nised our superiority of force, and had made up his
mind to leave ns unmolested for the future. Hardly
had we exchanged our congratulations upon this
result, however, when an exclamation from one of
my companions caused me to turn round, and there,
advancing steadily upon us from the rear, was this
active and invincible enemy. A simultaneous die-
charge of stones was the greeting with which we
received him, and at last even he desisted from his
hostile operations. By this time the day bad con-
siderably advanced, and its progress was accom-
panied by the appearance of signs of ani-
mation within the walls of the fortress.
First a man made his appearance, and then a
woman. The presence of the latter suggested to
us the possibility of obtaining some breakfast ; and
our application being favourably received we were
soon supplied with a jorum of hot coffee each, and
as much bread as we chose to eat. While we were
discussing this impromptu meal our coachman re-
turned with the buggy, which had been repaired
by the fixing of a new spring ; and by about half-
past eight o'clock we were again upon our way,
having been detained about three hours and a half.
The road from Kingston to Morant Bay is one
of the most picturesque in this part of the island,
and at some points at least the scenery through
which it passes must compare not wholly
unfavourably with any that is to be found
in Jamaica. It runs between a range of hills—
which are spurs or offshoots of the Blue Mountain
ridge—and the sea, and at many points approaches
so nearly to the shore as to permit the traveller
to catch more than glimpses of the wide expanse
of the ocean. For miles it puma through deep
woods, which afford an agreeable shade, and
among the cocoa-nuts, plantains, and mangoes
of which are to be seen the small low huts of the
negroes, and the little patches of land which are
cultivated by their inhabitants. Strange weird-
looking cotton trees, almost bare of foliage, but
clothed with contuse and other parasites ,some oovered
with rich blossoms, and others spreading their
broad green leaves over the withered boughs of the
forest trees, are met with at intervals ; and
here and there, where streams of water
paw through the woods, groups of graceful bamboo
raise their heads like plumes of feathers above the
foliage of the surrounding trees. One of these woods
through which the road passes is the celebrated
four-mile wood, the supposed dangers of which Jet
one time caused so much apprehension to person/
who were anxious to come to Kingston or Spanish
Town from St. Thomas-in-the-East. On Thursday