The times., 1898-12-04
A SprightIy Letter About the
English Island.
MANY FACTS AND FANClES
Prosaic Travellers ON the Trip to
able Eden-A Town ExtruvngantIy
Britis yellow Jack amd jack
Frost Unknown.
.port ROYAL. Jamaica. Nov. 26


by carriage, in the saddle. In canoes and
coasters, interviewed everybody come-at-
able and religiously garnered every scrap
of information: but the whole months
experience dwindes to insignifcance in
the line of data-gathering when COM
pared with our last week on the island.
By rare good fortune We fell in with two
indisputable authorities-the confidential
clerk (.ciark," they call it here, OF Co.
lonial Secretary Chamberlain, and a Bos-
ton fruit buyer, who for years has been
as familiar as A c with every rod If
this corner OF the Queens domain. 1t
happened that both were going to Man
deville on the day of our excursion there
to, and the slow. sixty-mile railway tide
afforded unrivulled opportunities for in
teryiewing.
Talk of women's tonguesi Nothing un-
corks a man garrulity and sets 1t flow
ing in steady stream. like long days
journey through scenes which are to him
familiar by repetition AS the train jolt
ed along at an average rate of seven miles
an hour, your correspondent proved her
self model compagnon de voyage
that is, an attentive listener, silent hut
for an occasional judicious question; and
meanwhile her trusty pencil was busy.
tracing shorthand quail-traeks on the
margins of her guidebook- The amount
of information gained that day would
enable me to write an encyclopedia on
the West Indies in general and Jamaica
in particular, While the Engiishman was
naturally conservative In speech and said
nothing preiudicial to British methods,
the trader from the land of the Stars and
Stripes-who has not been doing well of
late-seemed glad to unburden his mind
Travellers Too Analytical.
1t is always instructive to travel with
practical people-though sometimes pain
full to see natures splendid pictures ur-
red by too critical analysts. Neither Of
the gentlemen aforesaid discerned any
thing Impressive in the shadowy noun
tains around whose bases we were wind
ing-'.Aiway Kirk" the Scotchman's
Bonnet and other rugged peaks with
Scottish names, or in the tropical val
leys that lie between. and the Span sh
Main, on the other hand, st &c ing away
TO the horizon.
Visions that filled my impractical soul
with joy--of green hills marshaled in
close ranks by the master hand; OF tow
ering palms and Jungle forest. cocoanut
groves and golden cane-fs.ds-meEely
furnished them with text for discourse
on the respective merits of highland and
lowland soil and the adaptab,hty Of e-eh
to certain crops. Silvery cats;-acts dane
ing down to the sea, and torrents rearing
through deep. fern-fringed rayines. called
forth an array of statistics on the exact
measurement of the annual rainfall
Lofty bamboos, touching finger-tips over
tranquil streams and mirrored in the wa
ters below inspired 4 minute account of
the manifold uses OF the bamboo and its
commercial value. Chaiky patches on the
mountain sides. where the dark jungle
had been cleared away, giisfening white
as the eternal SHOWS of the Andes and
fiecked by every passing cloud. led TO
lecture on the porous properties of lime
stone and the exact proportisn in which
1t should be employed In bodybuilding.
And so on, from the duck-haunted
marshes that surround Kingston, through
the tunnels that pierce the hlIltops, and
down through sun-kissed slopes the
other side.
The Lovely Ncrth Const.
The north coast of Jamaica is incom-
parably lovely with little bays between
bold bluffs. and everywhere an abundance
of springs and streams. TIE shore is
dotted with peaceful havens-Saint Ann's.
Rio Bueno, Montego and ocho Rios-each
a miniature Garden of Eden, with green
meadows, soft as velvet, odorous groves,
tangled creepers, birds. blossoms and but
terflies galore. The road to Vaudeville
crosses the Rio Cobre. between long lines
of trees standing in the water, waist
deep. SO to say, their lower limbs Gu
riously decorated with clinging oysters.
ra1, t.. lt
Kingston Harbor, near Passage Fort,
where the English soldiers landed in the
conquest of the island "Rodneys Look
out Fort Henderson and its celebrated
mineral spring, Fort Augusta, the Apos-
ties Battery and the Lazaretto, or quar-
antine station, are in the immediate
vicinity
The last-named institution lies on tall
cliff at the mouth OF Kingston Harbor,
surrounded by twelve acres of pleasure
grounds. Its facilities for fishing and sea-
bathing, tennis, cricket and other amuse-
ments are said to render life in quaran-
tine a thing to be desired; and We are
quite willing to take anybody's word for
it without experimental knowledge.
Then the road climbs slowly up to graz
ing lands, which are well stocked with
fat English cattle and studded with
clumps of splendid cedars, ike the far
famed 'cedars of Lebanon" Spanish
Town, the ancient capital, is passed: but
little of it can be seen from the car win
dows, except the roofs of the deserted
state buildings. Ascending higher the
scenery becomes more and more broken
Raging torrents are crossed by pictur-
esque bridges. Masses of hills appear to
be piled up and scattered careessly in
every direction, as if Thor's children had
been making block-houses with them
Some of the hills are steep and rugged;
others with gently-slopina, sides and
rounded submits; and all are clothed
with dense vegetation from base ito
crown. their sides rent with innumerable
rayines, down which streams play leap
frog over messy boulders. Then the for
est Is reached where the squatters are
burning out the underbrush for their yam
patches
Garden Farms of the Blacks.
These garden farms of ue highland
blacks have become a distinct. and not
always pleasant feature of Jamaica. A
negro secures from the government an
acre or two of uncleared forest at an all
most nominal quit-rent. His first move Is
to set it on fire, thereby wasting the TIM
ber of a dozen acres while clearing one.
Among the ashes he plants his yams and
melons, and perhaps a little corn, grow
ing the same crops over and over until
the soil is exhausted. when he secures
another acre. which ne treats with the
same sinful wastefuiness. leaving the
first to go back 10 serubs
Finally Porus Is reached an old town
whose name reminds you Of plasters
How it came by such cognomen l do