River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1885-04-16
SEEING THE WEST INDIES.
Jamaica-The Blue Mountains and the Carib.
bean Sea.

We had been spending few DAYS NJ
st. Kits, writes a Kingston core
spondent to the NeW York San, and
then took the intercolonial English
mail steamer to St. Thomas, on our
way to Jamaica. The ship was sig
nailed after dark. We went down to
the custom-house, and, until it was
time to go on board, waited in the
midst of crowd of negroes, cock
reaches, and travellers Just landed.
Among the travellers was one old lady
who alone would have filled the Gus
tom-house. She had lost a trunk, she
had missed an umbrella, her husband
had proved most incompetent in the
management of the luggage, and the
one refrain to all these complaints was
that they arranged all these things
much better at Antigua. Afterward
we heard that in leaving the ship she
had met with as many difficulties as
| she encountered on reaching the shore.
By midday of the following dav we
were anchored off st. Thomas, and
here we remained on the ship for sew
eral days, waiting for the small steam
er direct from Southampton, England,
to take us on our way. We were very
comfortable on the Esk, the intercolo-
NAL steamer, but the Don, the Eng
fish ship on which we afterward en-
barked, was a great contrast to her
We met on the latter with poorer food,
worse accommodation, and more mis-
yrable service than we encountered
anywhere else on the journey.
The hills of St. Thomas are not so
! ~ &c 4 i
in the West Indies, but they are still
sufficiently picturesque, and the situa-
ton of the town IS quite peculiar. 1t
is built on three low hills which lie
side by side along the waters edge
Behind them is the higher range which
runs through the island. The three
hills are so steep that you see each
house distinctly as it mounts above it's
neighbors; and at night, when they
are lit up, the three glittering pyra-
mids have fairy-like effect.
We left St. Thomas on Monday af-
sernoon, and early on Tuesday morn
ing were sailing past the shores of
Hayti. When we came on deck we
had reached the western coast. Its
mountains were higher than any we
more continuous and sleeper toward
the sea. About midday we came to
Port-au-Prince, and very impressive
was the sail up the noble bay on which
1t stands. The appearance of Hayti is
so full of charms, and her natural re-
sources, according to the guide books,
so rich and varied, one can not help
wondering that the white race should
have INDUCED the cruelty and stupidity
which caused it to fall into the hands
Of an inferior people.
Although the beauty of the approach
TO Port-au-Prince can scarcely be sur
passed, the appearance of the place it
self is most unattractive. A few boats
put out from it to bring some passen-
gers on board; one brought oranges
and bananas for sale, dilapidated
lighter took some boxes ashore, pas
sengers and boatmen being all alike
Jet black, and all their appointments
alike inadequate and wretched. Hav-
ing left boxes and mail, we started
again for Jamaica and watched the
mountains of Hayti row dim behind
as with vague res greet
The next morning early we were in
sight of the equally beautiful noun
tains of Jamaica, still higher and of
finer outlines than those of Hayti. This
whole region is certainly the chosen
abode of beauty. 1t is a constant sur
prise to feel the warmth and delicious
softness of the air, to see the brilliant
sky, and to watch the succession of
verdure-clad mountains on these ex-
quisitely picturesque islands, which
are perpetually caressed by the rest"
less sea on whose bosom they are set.
1t is painful surprise, though, to see
! that such enchanting natural lowell
ness has become the home of such
an unsatisfactory phase of hui
man life. The ship comes to an
Choir before the town of Kingston,
landing at the foot of plain which
slopes downward from the magnificent
hills to blue and shining sea. As
soon as you disembark you ind the
streets filthy, lined with wretched
novels and poorly-built houses, the
black inhabitants, dirty, with torn
clothes, lounging along the streets, yet
laughing and contented in the midst of
dirt and degradation. Even the white
people who have lived here long seem
to have become affected with the pre-
vailing spirit or to be unable to cope
with it, for they are contented to have
such disor0er around them as they
would never have submitted to in their
native countries. No one expects to
have orders exactly carried out or any
thing done at the time set. At the
best hotel, universally so considered,
the food is wretched, the tablecloth
dirty, the company extremely mixed,
and the walters seem to get along as
well as they can without brains. The
whole appearance of the city and its
inhabitants is depressing. You won
der if such forlorn condition of af-
fairs is the necessary result of life in a
hot climate, or whether it may be ow-
ing to errors of government or to the
reputed exhaustion of the soil of
Jamaica, and consequent decay of the
stands prosperity, or even to the
enormous preponderance of the black
:ace. For here, as in the other islands,
white faces are the exception; the
mass of the population are black, with
certain proportion of colored peo-
Die, as those of mixed blood are called.
On the whole island, by the last census,
here were IA, 432 whites, 100, 946 color
I'd people, and 444. 1856 blacks. What
aver the cause may be, the result is
,epellent, and the aspect of humanity
here does all it can TO offset the at
.ractiveness of the land.
But that attractiveness, at any rate
N the winter season, is wonderfully
great After a few days at the best.
lotel, we decidedtha in order to spend
1 winter in Jamaica with any comfort.
It would be necessary to keep house,
and so went to look at furnished houses
In the mountains back of Kingston.
To do this we had to drive to the foot
hills, and then go on horseback over
the narrow bride paths which led to
the summit of the mountains. We
wound about through the mountain
gorges, thickly planted with broad
eaved bananas and occasional orange
groves Perched above them on the
steep sides we saw solitary negro huts,
matched with palm, with sides woven
Of rude wicker work. | had read so
often of travellers who felt thrill of
delight at the first sight of tropical
vegetation that | had come to distrust
them, and was amazed to find that
there really was something thrilling in
the sight of even such a mildly tropi-
cal vegetation as we saw that day.
There were myriads of hibiscus shrubs
with glowing scarlet blossoms, poin-
settias waved across the way like red
flags, purple passion flowers twined
along the patch, and strange orchids
and ferns nodded from it's sides. Long,
shin cacti crawled over the rocks like