The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-11-10
horsef,esb between the shafts. and Jolly.

boy as driver and compagnon de voyage;
for since l insisted ON the buggy, we
must needs share the same seat. The
eight or ten surrounding negroes there
is always little crowd collected where
ever white man is doing anything UNI
der the sun. however trivial-greet him
affectionately as Isaac; and Isaac, being
sternly reproved for the delay, proceeds
to enumemte its principal causes as due
to the fact that the mare wanted shoe
ing, that one trace broke, that the hood
had to be mended, that the axle required
splicing, and that he was for some time
occupied in binding together the box
with an eEd of rope-all which surgical
operations he details at considerable
length, in a language only partially UNI
derstanded by the insignificant fraction
of the people who had the honor OF at
present addressing you.
We get in amid an admiring chorus OF
"NIind de boccra's bag!" "Put in de
boecra's portmantew" "Yah, dribe de
boccra careful in de ole buggy, Isaac"
and other remarks not tending to increase
my confidence in the stability of our
craft. But Isaac mods a cheerful assent,
takes the whip in his hand with much
alacrity, and starts off with such q
bounce and such trot as no one would
have supposed the ancient mare capable
Of performing.
For some distance from Kingston the
road winds between tumble-down negro
huts, which gradually yield place TO
dusty cactus-hedges. Anything more
picturesque in sound, anything more dis
reputable in real life, than cactus
hodge, it has not been given to the mind
OF man to conceive, Imagine a gaunt
growth of dry and spiky poles, grey
green in hue, an inch deep in dust,
sprawling irregularly upwards ten or
twelve feet toward the coppery or lsaden
sky, and shutting out all view on either
side, and you have some faint concep-
ton of the hideous barricade known as a
hedge in Jamaica. No living creature
could break through it. An elephant
would stand appalled, before its thickest
row of prickles and thorns, projecting
on every side from che close bundles of
cactus poles. Between two such grace
less barriers we wend our way for mile
or two from Kingston, the road seeming
like the travesty of a Devonshire lane or
tropical representative of a Jealous
landlords path, beset on either side by
brick walls. Not a glimpse of nature
anywhere. Dusty road in front, dusty
road behind, dusty hedge to right, dusty
hedge to left, and dusty heaven over
head. If this is the country, even the
bankrupt town was trife better. Add
the fact, that the sun is already getting
up in the sky, and you can easily guess
that the drive to Gordon Town is not at
first sight pleasant one.
Suddenly, after mile or two of this
dismal prospect, turn in the road brings
me out of the grimy hedges into an open
space. In one moment the whole scene
has changed as If by magic You have
noted how the Dismal Cavern in paIitv-
mime is shifted at single twist 50 as to
reveal the Dazzling Halls of Splendor
with the Magnificent Cataract of Real
Water viewed through the vista in the
background. In somewhat the same man.
ner, though with less theatrical tinsel,
the caetus-banks unexpectedly subsided;
the road displayed itself as running close
by the edge Of beautiful gorge; the
mountains rose majestic in the distance; Z;
and silver stream plunged in little cas-
cades through the smiling valley at our
feet. The contrast was almost too scenic
in its effect One could hardly believe
that moment would suffice to pass from
the grim prison of the cactus-walls to the
exquisite panorama which spread before
me- For the first time in my life / saw
the tropics at their best. They can be
very beautiful when they choose, / will
allow, although / love them not; and GER
tainly this first drive from Kingston was
enough to convince me of the fact.
Thenceforward, as far as Gordon Town,
there was no lack of interest. We
mounted by slow declivity, along the
banks Of the little river-which grew into
pretty brawling torrent as we got
deeper and deeper into the mountains s
heart-throngh overhanging crags and
steep hill-sides, covered with tangled fern
and huge circular aloe plants. There was a
little verdure, perhaps, upon the sheer
precipices, but that is the prevailing fault
OF tropical scenery. Bare rocks are rare
or almost unknown, because dense creep
ers and other hardy vegitation spread ey-
ervwhere, even over the scantiest SOIL
Thus an eye accustomed to the barren
grandeur of European mountain passes is
a little wearied by ahe monotonous green
ness of the outlook. There is nothing to
parallel the stern solemnity of Glencoe,
the terrible desolation of Pfaffers. or even
the gray crags and boulders of Llanberis.
From Ceylon to Nicaragua, the tropics
display everywhere draped figure. Ma
ture is choked and strangled, as
Comus puts, with it her waste fertility.
We miss the grateful interchange of rock
and meadow, OF naked sandstone and
wooded height, of chalk cliff or granite
boulder with overgrown-slope or smiling
cultivation. All alike is one rich and
tangled mass of verdeur, which spreads its
unvarying mantle over the whole face
of Nature.