The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-27

than one-half of the popule>Ion 6f the larger isle. Of these TABOO only. l f5.0eo are whites. whereaF inP Cuba l nearly two-thirds are reckoned ss I whites. and little mora sfhap one third as coiored, It is true stIiat in '
 Cuba those who are not biAck are apt
 ably there is q good deal more than
 one-third of negro blood. in the popu-
 iation taken as q whole. Still even
 allowing for this, the African element
 s incomporably larger in Jamaica: and
 whereas thousands of Europeans are iscpming every year to settle in Cuba. searceIy any come to Jamaica whoee f population is evidently destined to re-
 nam quite as largely a prcdoniinantiv
 -mert. -. s'@ - -.',' l Jamaica's CuItfvatics.
 Being so much more tdenxeiy. raopvsd aanaica Is also far more fully cuIti- vated. In the forest tracts of C.uhs
 one finds only a stray clearing here ard
 there. With negro family or two uWeiing In seclusion among It's be- nahas. living on what the patch of iaho produces. and caring but little to 1 carry vegetables or fruits or poultry to 1 town which may be many miles dis tant Even in the fertile and open low f n snos wnich cover 90 large q part of ! the blow and unstocked with cattic
 Sut In Jamaica IL ts only the rough and stony ground and the swampe fYot very extensively 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 fo account for bananas. or for coffee. or for the cultivation of vegetables by the negroes for their own use, so that there are tracks all over the slopes and one seldom goes far without Ind Ing houses. This gives quite a differ- ent character to the landscape, and has
 much to do with that variety and rich ness wAich is one of the cosiscipuous charms of Jamaica nscenery. There is perhaps less breadth of effect than in Cuba; and one feels everywhere.
 with the sea closing 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 i presence and human labor supplying an element which is freqhentfy absent in the more ample landscapes Of Cuba ! When one comes to the towns. the contrast Is stiil more marked Thoueh Jamaica is less distinctiveiy Engiieh than Cuba Is Spanish. its streets and houses witness to the presence Of q very different people. Here the ad- vantage is with Cuba. small cities
 like cicnfuesos and Trinidad. Man- zanillo and Santiago, are cities neatly
 laid out in Spanish colonial fashion. each with several large churches. tive
 or possibly three centuries old. each solidly built. either of stone or of
 bricks, covered with plaster painted Tn |, bright colors. There is always a cen ' trai plaza, and probably 1t is planted with handsome trees and Towering shrubs. with walks. and 1t may De fountain Usually there Is also an
 Alameda Oh the outskirts. The whoie place has a certain afr d& dignity. 1t
 seems to feel itself a city. with re- epectable past, even if 1t has sno aiis cient buildings. and # 1t entirely lacks the tail piles and picturesque irregn- larity of the towns in old Spain
 The City of rxinsstsa.
 There is scarcely anything of this n
 Jamaica. for. even iu the ancfeut capi-
 taI,. which the SpAniards called San , tiago de la Vega, and which now gpef
 by the maine of Spanish Town. moi
 many traces remain of the once dom. , inaut race The towns of Jamaics
 have much less of a city air. Kin9stoB,
 which Is far the largest. with. popu,
 lAtion of 5000 (the others are little
 more than viilases). is entirely built
 of brick and wood. The brick. often .diIapJdated, Is Of an ugly color. ant 1.-the wooden houses have tumbledoWf ls look. There is a general air. of sqsia laIor in the meaner streets apdAln tht poorer suburbs. while even .fn the bur
 lness partA of the town and in ths
 villas of the richer people little hai
 been done forN beauty. One does no
 see the pretty patio which is charar-
 teristic of the Spanish house. an In
 ternal court with It's tiny garden. apt
 perhaps its fountain. The English
 being a severely practical people
 have built their wareho ouses and of
 ficess and even their villas. with
 view solely to business and to com
 fort. They keep the streets In better
 order than the Cubans do, or did be- 2 fore the reforming energy of the Uni-
 ted States began to work upon places
 like Havana and Matanzas and Santia-
 Ro They provide a better surface for
 the cab driver. and the wheelman.
 But Kingston. though the style in
 which the houses are built with a
 Sort of brick veranda, or piazza raised
 above the street. gives 1t kind of
 picturesqueness is rather mean
 looking town. far less attractive than such places as Santiago or Cienfue- gos.
 The one merit of the Jamaican fowh ls the extreme beauty of the trees many of them showing brilliant flow 6rs, which line the roads that lead out of it; and this merit belongs rath- CT to nature than to the English Yet 1t Is fair to add, when one speaks of tho neglected and semi. sualid air of the poorer parts of the Jamaican towns, that something Is due to dlf- ference of population. These towns are, except the war houses and stores and the few villas of the EuropeamB in reality negro towns. The negro even when toierabiy we'll on, has no care for neatness, and lives anyhow. Tn Cuba the negroes are the country foiks Tn Jamaica they.are the towns folk also. Whether they are as some say. more lazy and less Intelligent than their Cuban brethren may be doubted. They are somewhat batter educated. for the English have taken more trouble to Arovide instructfon for them and the Protestant mission aries have been more active among them than the Catholic priests have been in Cuba. But they dohF seem. taken all in all. to be superior 10 the dolored people Of Cuba. though they have enjoyed freedom much longer.