Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-01-30

Sir Henry bldke lnab Oho SoioHi"i Va
bibition was given in Jamaica couple
of wears ago, the object of which was
TO advertise to the world, and espec-
ially of Europe, the industrial resources
of the British West Indies, Jamaica
in particular. for the purpose OF at
tracing capital and immigration to a
long neglected quarter of the empire.
The exposition did not prove a finan-
cial success. but involved large deficit
in running expenses, which the sub
scribers to the guaranty fund were re.
auired to make good, but 1t was attend
ed by upward of 200, 900 foreign visi-
tors and its projectors are yet hugging
themselves, metaphorically, for the
/ brilliant idea.
To Sir Henry Blake the travelling
public is also indebted for the fact that
there are plenty of commodious hotels
all over Jamaica. Acting upon the
theory that the reason why the tide of
winter travel which sets so strongly
towards some of the neighboring
islands, has long passed Jamaica by
almost unnoticed, was owing to the
lack of proper accommodations, he
caused good many costly hotels to be
erected and equipped with every m dern
convenience. The consequence is that
this small island has more big caravan
saries than any other place of its size
and population in the world, most of
which are mere empty barracks, which
did not pay current expenses even dur
ing the exposition. Among the dozen
or so hotels in Kingston, which were
opened with flourish of trumpets and
have managed to sustain precarious
existence one of the most ambitious is
that near the landing wharf, which
our visiting countrymen generally
patronize. Another makes special
claim to being quite Northern" in
style and cuisine; but we have not
come so far to get what can be had
every day at home, and prefer to put
up at smaller inn ON the outskirts of
the town, surrounded by high wall
in the midst of tropical garden, where
the cooking is Creole, and the ways
typically jamaican.
A few years ago the colonial govern
ment took up the neglected cause of
education in earnest. There are now
$40 elementary schools in the island,
with about 10000 pupils enrolled,
good showing considering that the en-
tire population is only 100000. The
government aids these schools by an
annual grant of Els, 1873, exclusive of
departmental salaries. Among higher
educational institutions there are sew
eral training colleges for teachers, a
Church of England high school,
Baptist college, the Mico School, the
Calabar Institute, the Wolmer Free
School, founded by John Wolmer in
1929, for the free education of poor
children, and several other free schools,
industrial, parochial, and private; and
yet the majority of the people, more
or less colored with the blood of Africa,
can neither read nor write.
! Black babies are as thick as fleas in
Jamaica, and that is saying a great
deal, and nowhere else are seen so
many woolly-headed old people, bent
nearly double with rheumatism and the
weight of years, but still clipper"
as the youngest and likely to keep right
ON living for another half century.
And no wonder. By nature care-free
and contented, their tranquil lives have
none of the wearing excitements and
ambitions that age North Americans
so rapidly. Half an acre of this boun
| f,,1 soil 70,
ly more manages, bananas, figs, and
bread fruits than can be gathered, is
enough to raise family on, requiring
only the planting of few yams and
melons and little labor to buy the
much-loved sugar-eane, pork, and salt
fish. Nowadays every Jamaican negro
prides himself ON direct descent from
the Maroons who murdered the French
and detied the English in 1861, and
claims old Cudjoe as one of his ances-
tors, recognizing no blood in his skin
but black or brown. Yet the blood of
almost every nation mingles in his
veins While the cocoanut head,
crowned with stiffest wool, predomi-
mates, every kink of the hair and every
color of the eyes may be found, and
almost every shade of complexion not
lighter than good Jersey cream. The
queerest of all are the colored Jews
who unite the dark skin and protruding
lips of Cudjoe to the sharp features and
twinkling eyes of Isaac. There is
very large Jewish element in Jamaica
over 1900 in Kingston, where they
control most of the mercantile trans
actions and are ever ready with their
customary accommodating spirit, to
lend helping hand. under the sign of
the three golden balls, to Creole fami-
lies bent ON running themselves. The
exceptional social Importance of the
Israelites in Kingston is due to the
fact that Jamaica was settled while
Cromwell ruled in England, and the
protector sympathized with the refugees
from inquisitorial persecution in Spain
and Portugal There are two flourish
ing synagogues in Kingston, one for