The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-11-10

ly marked paths, each of which leads by
equally devious ways to some lonely
white mans house upon the scattered
peaks There is no sign-post, and nobody
from whom to ask the road. After a
while one gets accustomed to this solitary
mode of travelling, and one learns to dis
tinguish the landmarks afforded by the
higher peaks. But just at first, l must
confess, the solitude somewhat appals
one. There are no tigers or other wild
beast, it is true, lurking in the dense jun
gle of fern which surrounds the path on
either side; but have come to Jamaica
with my head filled with frightful stories
of the last rebellion; and have not yet
learnt to recognize the tame negro for
the helpless, inoffensive, kindly, chris
tianized savage that he really is. Now
and then, at long intervals, we meet a
solitary cultivator returning from his
work, murderous-looking cutlass in his
hand, and a child-like smile upon his
broad black face; and though he salutes
me with friendly Marnin, sah,' and in
quires of Clemmy for the health of her
picknies, must allow that he impresses
me with vague sense of my utter loneli-
ness. Vast unpeopled nature lies around
me; narrow horse-path in front and be-
hind me; precipice above and below me;
and two of my black fellow-creatures by
my side. In week or two /
shall have learned to smile at
my own simplicity in imagining
that these peaceable people could ever de-
wise any harm against me; but just at
present l am glad enough to dismount
from my wild animal at my friends
door, and to see the patient Clemmy lay
down my portmanteau, as milling and as
fresh as when she first took it up at Cor
don Town.
Mango Top, the house where am to
pass fortnight, stands on the very sum-
NIT of minor hill, some four thousand
feet above the sea. st. GATHERINGS Peak,
the highest point in this part Of the
range, rises two thousand feet higher in
the background, and forms the limit of
vision northward. Mango Top itself is a
typical Jamaican mountain residence.
Wooden, low, one-storied, it looks exter-
nally mere mass of Venetian blinds,
bound together by framework Of posts.
You enter, and large square piazza runs
all round the building forming a sort of
shade for the inner rooms, which are dark
or even gloomy. But from the piazza it.
self you get series of magnificent pano-
ramic views, spreading like a map on
every side. This is really the diving
room' in every mountain house. You
retire to the dining-rOom for meals, and
to the central apartment of all for little
music; but day and night you sit in the
piazza with all the windows open, and
the Venetian blinds flung wide On either
side. There is no wall; the blinds make
up the whole outer frame of the house.
Thus the building is cool and breezy,
though in other respects trifle too pub
lie. There are no doors, except to the
bedrooms; all.the other rooms communi-
cate directly with one another--a cir
cumstance which renders Jamaican
houses pecnliarly ill-adapted for engaged
couples. But as my host and are the
only occupants of Mungo Top, this diff
Guilty does not afford us any serious dis
comfort
The hospitality of the hills is un-
bounded. Once you have passed through
the desolate tract at the bottom, you
find yourself suddenly once more in the
midst Of European society. A little
colony of officials has occupied the
heights on every side Of Mango Top.
The Governor lives in a low wooden cot.
tage on the knoll just in front of US; the
Chief Justice and the puisne Judge have
bungalows on hills to the right and left;
the Attorney General and the colonial
Secretary inhabit other structures of
Venetian blindwork at slightly greater
distances. Every house is perched fol
coolness on the very top of little hill
so to get from one to another, you must
ride down into valley, and up again on
the other side. Horses are, alas! indis.
pensable conditions of existence; but
barring this one disadvantage, life moves
easily and smoothly enough in these
cool abodes. can not say we have much
variety; for we spend our time mostly
in calling on one another, and returning
one another's calls; in dining with ouI
neighbors, and asking our neighb0rs to
dine with us. Still, after the heat, the
dust, and the ennui Of Kingston, these
green hills, with their shade, their cool
ness, and their exquisite scenery, are
certainly very refreshing Then we can
ride across to Newcastle now and again,
to visit the young fellows in the canton.
ment, or to dine at mess, of which have
been instantly installed an honorary mem.
ber. Even croquet, which forms my pet
aversion at home. becomes almost endu-
rable as part Of this lazy life.
| Our simplicity, indeed, is nearly as
striking as our freedom. Everybody lives
in wooden house, or rather in casing
of Venetian blinds; everybody knows
all about everybody else; and everybody
can tell exactly what his neighbors have
had for dinner, since we kill sheep by
subscription, and divide the legs and
shoulders between us according to official
superiority.
For my part, being but a humble citi
zen, with no other handle to nv name