The times., 1898-11-06

wretch left to die by slow torment as a
terrible warning to his fellows. The pia-
card says that when this cage was found
there were three human skeletons in 1t.
Probably 1t is unnecessary to state thai
these and other historic horrors. which
rivaled those of the same period in De-
merara and Santo Domingo, occurred
during the Spanish occupancy of Jamaica,
and that their English successors soon
abolished slavery.
For a city of more than 1000 inhabi-
tants Kingston has remarkably few at
fractions. Though one of the largest GEN.
ters of population in the British posses
sions in tropical America, ii is the most
down-at-the-heel and for:orz. cooking of
Southern cities. Even shabby old Santi-
ago de Cuba before the war was not so
badly paved and lighted and its sanitary
conditions more utterly neglected The
longer you remain in this island which
nature made so lovely. the more you are
impressed with the fact that so far as
yet exemplified, Anglo-Saxon civilization
is failure in the tropics, compared with
that of the Latin races.
Everything Is AneIicized.
Everything in Kingston is extremely
English, or rather colonial, Eeminding you
of Quebec-from the Vice Admiralty and
Chancery Registrars Office to the big law
library dedicated to II. R. NJ. the Prince
of Wales, and the Victoria Hospital with
its 300 beds. The best building, architec-
turally, is the court house. and that is
ugly as a nightmare. In one of the colon
ial offices you may see a curious piece
of tapestry, representing the royal and
island arms, which used to be carried
| as banner before the governors on state
occasions. Following King Street through
ha do m ft.raf inf
English Episcopal Church. the oldest on
the island, erected in 1892. In the quiet
Gods acre behind 1t is the grave of Ad-
miral Benbow, who died nearly two CEN
lures ago Another odd-looking tomb,
like Dutch bake-oven, bears the name
of William Hall and the date of 1899.
The streets of Kingston, especially
those in the vicinity of the broad, open
space formed by the intersection of King
and Queen Streets. are swarming with
negro soldiers, the First West India Reg
iment, in brilliant zouave uniform, all
with faces as black and shining as though
freshly polished with "Bixby's best
They are noticeaby understood men, as
compared to the American army-not un-
like the French chasseurs d Antique in
appearance small but hardy and reputed
to be most savage fighters. Their bar
racks, on the hills just outside the city,
are spacious buildings with extensive
grounds. The white troops. a regiment
of her majestys Royal Scots, are in can
tonment at New Castle. a picturesque
nook far. up in the mountains, inaccess-
, ible to wheeled vehicles, and said to be
SO delightfully."- cool that blankets are
needed up there every night in the year.
Blankets Not Required.
Certainly. blankets are not required in
the sweltering city, where the thinnest
clothing seems a superfuity. and people
are longing to "sit in their bones" The
thermometer seldom registers less than 50
degrees in the shade at any time of year,
and today 1t stands at 90. Kingston's up
hill streets are as full of inequalities as
were those of Chicago before the great.
beneficial fire; therefore, If you persist in
sightseeing, it is best to take a cab-or
''keb,' as the common vehicle of trans
port is locally called. They are rather
shaky-looking concerns, with rheumatic
springs and melancholy horses. but they
possess the merit of cheapness, the legal
tariff being only an English shilling to
any part of the city, and dollar an hour
for country excursions
If time is not pressing, it might be well
to go out to kings House, as the resi-
dence of Queen Victoria's governor gen.
eral of Jamaica is undemocraticalIy call
ed, and which corresponds to "Queen's
House" in Barbados. 1t is situated
about four miles from Kingston, in a fer
tile plain among the hills which somehow
reminds you of rural England notwith-
standing the vast difference in climate
and vegetation. Driving is not an un-