Six months in the West-Indies, in 1825

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DOMINICA. snake, or lizard; there is not much in that; but verily to munch and crush and squeeze... gah ! it is downright cannibalism and popery. Dear brethren, have ye not yams, plantains, eddoes ? ye are called Christians ! Upon my return to Government-house the chief Popish priest called on us. I believe his name is Jimeno; he is a South American and speaks three or four languages in parts without apparently knowing even one completely. They tell ludicrous stories of his polyglot jargon in Dominica, and certainly the specimen I had of it was at least very curious. It was something in this style. ' C o m o está, Monsieur ? J'espere que usted se porte vary well. Il fait mucho calor aqui. Es preciso que usted tienne bon cuidado de yoursel, nam sol est violens. Ah ! gracias, señor ! Dulce vinum est quasi lac senis hominis, c'est à dire; entiende usted le Latin ? ' 'Un poco.' ' A h ! j'ait dit que el dulce vino es la leche de un viejo. Le Latin est good ting, muy good knowledge; sin el Latin rien to be done.' ' Usted, señor, loquitur Latin as elegamment como the Español seu French.' ' Ah ! vous me flattez, sir. Todo lo que yo tengo, je l'ai appris en Venezuela; mais ce fut quando la Venezuela estaba floreciente debajo del cetro del gran rey de España; pero toga cedit armis; no hay ninguna ciencia à present dans ces pays-la; sum valde tristis sometimes


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