The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-02
ISLANDS OF ANTILLES
COMPARISON BETWEEN JAMAI-
 CA AND CUBA. ..
Their Resemblances and Dissimi- larities in Natural Features and in Population and Social
 Character.

Kingston, Jamaica correspondent Of The
 New York Evening Post.
 It Is only ninety miles from Cuba to Jamaica, and the smaller island resem- bles the larger in so many natural fea- lures that the visitor expects to find their population and their social char acter following for the differences be- tween English and Spanish rule) gener- mountainous. and the mountains of Ja- maica, which may be seen from Cuba in exceptionally clear weather, are or nearly the same height and covered by equally rich and beautiful forests. The climates are much the same. though that of Jamaica may be trifie hotter. The staple products are the same. Both have rslied upon the sugar cane and in less degree upon tobacco and coffee, though the Cuban cigars have secured higher place in the worlds favor than those of Jamaica. Both produce excellent oranges and bananas. Both are naturally healthy countries and may expect now that sci- ence has shown itself certainly able to reduce and probably able to extirpate yell low fever. to become favorite health re- sorts in winter, to which visitors will flow in increasing numbers from North America and perhaps even from Europe Disparities in Area and Inhabitants.
 Nevertheless there are differences strange after the other, and to give an interest to an examination of the causes of the differences To begin with. Ja- maica is by far the more densely peo- pied. Cuba, with an area of 36,0OO square miles, has only l,575,0O0 people. Jamaica. with 4,O00 square miles. has nearly 100000 that is to say, it is only about one ninth of Cuba in size. with not much less larger isle Of these 100000 only 15,000 are whites, whereas in Cuba nearly two- thirds are reckoned as whites, and little more than one-third as colored. It is true that in Cuba those who are not black are apt to be classed as whites. so that probably there is a good deal more than one-third of negro blood in the population taken as whole. Still. even allowing for this. the African ele- ment Is incomparably larger in Jamaica; and whereas thousands of Europeans are coming every year to settle in Cuba, scarcely any come to Jamaica, whose population Is evidently destined to re- main quite as largely predominantly colored population as 1t is at this mo- ment. Being so much more densely peo- pied, Jamaica is also far more fully cul- tivated. In the forest tracts of Cuba one finds only stray clearing here and ing in seclusion among its bananas, iv- ing on what the patch of land produces and carrying but little to a town which may be many miles distant. Even in the fertile and open lowlands which cover so large a part of Cuba. great tracts lie untouched. by the plough and unstocked with cattle But in Jamaica 1t is only the rough and stony ground and the swamps (not very extensive) that remain unused Among the steep ridges of the Blue Mountains. as high and as rugged as are the hills of Cuba, nearly all the available ground has been turned to ac- count for bananas, or for coffee, or for the cultivation of vegetables by the ne groes for their own use, so that there are tracks all over the slopes. and one seldom goes far without finding houses. This gives quite a different character to the landscape, and has much to do with that variety and richness which Is one of the conspicuous charms of Jamaican scenery. There Is, perhaps, less breadth of effect than in Cuba; and one feels everywhere, with the sea clos ing all the views from high ground. that one Is in a small country. But there Is great richness and finish of detail. the sense of human presence and human labor supplying an element which is fre- quently absent in the more ample land scapes of Cuba.
 The Contrast of the Towns.
 When one comes to the towns the con trast is still more marked. Though Ja- maica Is less distinctly English than Cuba is Spanish, its streets and houses witness to the presence of a very differ ent people. Here the advantage is with Cuba. Small cities like Cienfuegos and Trinidad Manzanillo and Santiago. are cities neatly laid out in Spanish colonial