Stark's Jamaica guide (illustrated) : containing a description of everything relating to Jamaica of which the visitor or resident may desire information, including its history, inhabitants, government, resources, and places of interest to travellers with maps, engravings, and photoprints

Front matter

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TUFTS COLLEGE

Tufts College Library.

Preface

The purpose of the writer in presenting this book to the public is to bring to the notice of those unacquainted with Jamaica some of the many attractions to be found there, and a brief history and description of the same. It may be truthfully said that there are few spots on the globe more beautiful than some parts of this island. The wonderfully blue water that washes its shores ; the stretches of grass land, alternating with the tropical foliage of a vivid green never seen in a northern climate ; the background of mountains, whose tops are lost in the clouds ; and, over all, a tropical sky with its peculiarly soft and voluptuous coloring, — all these combine to form a picture of such exquisite loveliness that they are a revelation to the traveller.

In compiling this work the author is indebted to such works as 4 4 Bryan Edwards’s History of the West Indies,” 44 Government Handbook of Jamaica,” 44 The New Jamaica,” 44 Jamaica at the Columbian Exposition,” 44 Tourist Guide to the

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PREFACE.

Island of Jamaica.” Also numerous magazines and other articles too numerous to mention.

The author has also, by the aid of maps and numerous reproductions of photographs and rare prints, been enabled to present the best illustrated work on Jamaica ever published.

Contents

CHAPTER. PAGE.

I. The Voyage i

II. Discovery and Settlement by the Spaniards . 7

Chapter I. The Voyage

Trips to the Tropics during the winter season are being so generally recommended by physicians, both European and American, and are such an attractive and pleasant means of escaping our bleak and inclement winters, that the writer has been induced to issue this book for travellers wishing to visit and enjoy the genial climate and superb scenery of the fairest of the West India Islands, 44 Jamaica, the Gem of the Antilles.” Nowhere else so accessible to Americans can be found such a delightful tropical winter resort with a summer climate. Unquestionably it is the most picturesque and attractive island of the West Indian group. Lying as it does within the zone of perpetual summer, it possesses a climate unsurpassed for geniality and charm as a winter resort, at a time when the icy north bears its most blustering and chilly aspect. Jamaica also has a varied and at the same time a very equable climate. In the low lands it is tropical, but on the higher lands and mountains it is much cooler, almost temperate, changing from an average of 78° on the seacoast to between 50° and 70° in the mountains ; but it differs from our climate in this — there are none of those sudden changes which are so trying in a northern winter.

No other island in the West Indies possesses such frequent communications with the United States and Canada, and at such a moderate cost, as Jamaica, on an average one steamer a day leaving Jamaica for the American continent. The oldest and best line from New York to Kingston is the Atlas line, and from Boston to Port Antonio the steamers of the Boston Fruit Company. From England the principal line is the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company.

The restorative effect of a sea voyage is recognized so universally that it is not necessary to further emphasize it. The drawback to most sea voyages is that they are either so short as to lose half their salutary effect, or so long as to become monotonous and tedious. A trip to Jamaica strikes a happy medium. It is also entirely free from fog, and the traveller is exempt from the suffering so frequently attending voyages upon the stormtossed North Atlantic. The West India trip is truly “ a voyage upon a summer sea.” Leaving the snow-clad hills and the icy blasts of a coming rigorous winter, the traveller hastens away to the home of sunshine and flowers. Like dreams seem the last farewell, as he sees over the taffrail be-

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neath the chill December sun, the fading form of the well-beloved shores, and turns his head due south to chase the health-giving sunbeams of the Tropics. In two days we are traversing summer seas, and begin to look up our light summer clothing. So far we have probably experienced no rough weather, unless we happen to start during a northwester ; before us we have the more tranquil waters of the South Atlantic and Caribbean Sea. Flying-fish begin now to be a source of interest and amusement, as they skim from sea to sea, dipping their wings ever and anon to plume themselves for farther flight. Then we pass through large masses of gulf-weed, and think of the memorable day when Columbus’s ship first plunged her bows into the tangled ocean meadow now known as the Saragossa Sea, and the sailors were ready to mutiny, fearing hidden shoals. This gulf-weed probably has its origin on the great Bahama banks, and by the great ocean river that flows across them is, thrust away to the northeast, where it lies in a vast eddy or central pool ; here it revolves continually, carrying with it floating wrecks and debris of every description, attached to which are whole families of fish, — crabs, cuttlefish, and mollusks.

The first land sighted is Watlings Island, which was the first land discovered by Columbus on this continent. On a headland, about two hundred yards from the beach on which Columbus is supposed to have landed, a monument has been erected to commemorate this great event. It was built by the Chicago Herald at the time of the World’s

Fair, held in Chicago to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus. A few hours more bring us to 6 4 Bird Rock ” with its picturesque lighthouse. It is connected with Crooked Island by a low coral reef. This island is one of an extensive group of islands, of which Acklin and Fortune Islands are the largest. Many of the Loyalists from the Southern colonies settled here after the American Revolution. In the course of fifteen years after their arrival here there were forty plantations, with about three thousand acres of cotton and one thousand negroes. Large quantities of cotton were raised here ; but the lands gradually wearing out in the absence of proper fertilizer, the planters finally abandoned its cultivation.1

We next come to a low lying island on our left; this is Fortune Island. It is separated from Crooked Island by a small channel. The Atlas line steamers stop here to leave the mails, and to embark negroes to assist in discharging cargoes in Central American ports. Castle Island, with its lighthouse and flourishing cocoanut plantation, presents a very picturesque appearance. As mariners pass through Crooked Island passage and by the lighthouses, they are thankful that the Bahama Islands belong to Great Britain, for no other country, except the United States, would think of erecting such costly structures as these lighthouses are in such a remote locality.

1 For further information concerning these islands see “Stark’s History and Guide to the Bahamas.”

We do not see land again till we sight Cuba, which is about a half a day’s run from the Bahama Islands. The steamer runs quite close to Cape Maysi as we round the eastern end of Cuba. The lighthouse stands on a low, flat point of land, behind which rise the bold, precipitous shores of Cuba, rising in a series of terraces and beetling cliffs to the mountains, which rear their lofty peaks in the background until lost in the fleecy clouds that drift about their summits. Then we see in the distance on our left the splendid mountains of Hayti, the famed turbulent negro republic. We are now steaming through Spanish waters, the scene of the halting of numerous steamers by the Spanish gunboats that patrol this end of the island, on the lookout for filibustering expeditions, and shipments of arms and supplies to the insurgents. For half a day we steam along close to the Cuban shore, so near that we can see the trees and plantations without the aid of a glass. The mountains of Jamaica now loom up directly ahead, clothed with luxuriant verdure from foot to crest, the latter showing many sharp outlines and peaks. Viewed from any point, Jamaica, as regards scenery and verdure, is a magnificent island, and surpassed by no island in the world. Its volcanic origin gives grandeur and sharpness to the outline of the mountains which is quite unique. Mountains rise one above another, clothed here with the banana and cabbage palm, rent there by the fissures caused by the floods of the tropical rains ; here rises a bold crag, there a wooded hill ; they extend from the

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seashore to the lofty summits of the Blue Mountains. The breeze blowing from the land brings with it a spicy and aromatic odor as we approach the island, and our voyage, so pleasant and wonderful, is at an end ; and it is not without a pang of regret that we hear the rattle of the chain as it spins through the hawse-hole as the anchor plunges to the bottom.

Chapter II. Discovery And Settlement By The Spaniards

The island of Jamaica was discovered by Columbus in 1494. On the 25th of September, 1493, Columbus left the Bay of Cadiz on his second voyage of discovery; and on the 3d of May, 1494, while sailing in a southerly direction from Cuba, he came in sight of “ the blue summit of a vast and lofty island at a great distance, which began to arise like clouds above the horizon.” Two days later he anchored in the harbor off the town, now known as Port Maria, on the northern coast of Jamaica. Some slight resistance was threatened by the Indians who flocked in their canoes around the strange Spanish ship ; but they were soon appeased, and Columbus anchored in the harbor, which he thought the most beautiful of all he had seen, and to which he gave the name of 66 Santa Gloria.” Leaving his anchorage to seek more sheltered waters, he put out to sea, and sailed a few miles in a westerly direction to Ora Cabecca, now written Oracabessa. The landing was not effected without opposition and protest on the part of the natives, who were treated to a shower of arrows from the Spanish crossbows, and terrified into confused flight by a huge bloodhound keen to scent human blood.

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On reaching the shore, Columbus, in the name of Ferdinand and Isabella, took formal possession of his new discovery, which he named Santiago, though it has always been known by its Indian name of Xaymaca, modernized in spelling and pronunciation into Jamaica. A few days sufficed to repair his ships and to establish friendly intercourse with the Indians, and again the voyage was continued as far as Montego Bay.

Two months later he sailed leisurely along the southern coast of Jamaica, receiving kindness and hospitality from the natives, but making no attempt to explore the country. At Old Harbor Bay the chief, or cacique, boarded his ship, accompanied by many members of his family and staff, and in the course of an interesting interview, proposed that he himself and all his family should return with Columbus to Spain. The offer was courteously declined ; and the journey was continued till, on the 19th of August, Columbus passed out of sight of Jamaica to the southeastern extremity of what is now known as Morant Point, to which he gave the name of Cape Farol. Thus ended the first visit of Columbus to Jamaica.

On the 9th of May, 1502, Columbus started on his fourth and last voyage, with a fleet of four ships, and crews of a hundred and fifty men. He was then sixty-six years of age, and his body bore traces of the toil and trouble of a hard life.

But more trouble was to come, and Jamaica was to be the scene of its patient endurance. With the details of the earlier portion of the voyage we are

IO not here concerned, and pass on to the 23d of June, 1503, when, as he himself wrote, with 44 his people dismayed and down-hearted, almost all his anchors lost, and his vessels bored as full of holes as a honeycomb,” driven by opposing winds and currents, Columbus put into Puerto Bueno (Dry Harbor). On the following day, failing to find either sufficient food or fresh water, he sailed eastward to another harbor, since known as Don Christopher’s Cove. His forlorn and desperate condition is thus described by his greatest historian: 44 His ships, reduced to mere wrecks, could no longer keep the sea, and were ready to sink even in port. He ordered them therefore to be run aground within a bow-shot of the shore, and fastened together side by side. They soon filled with water to the decks. Thatched cabins were then erected at the prow and stern for the accommodation of the crews, and the wreck was placed in the best possible state of defence. Thus castled in the sea, he wished to be able to repel any sudden attack of the natives, and at the same time to keep his men from roving about the neighborhood and indulging in their usual excesses. No one was allowed to go on shore without especial license, and the utmost precaution was taken to prevent any offence being given to the Indians. Any exasperation of them might be fatal to the Spaniards in their present forlorn situation. A firebrand thrown into their wooden fortress might wrap it in flames, and leave them defenceless amidst hostile thousands.”

Fortunately the natives turned out to be well dis-

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posed to their visitors ; and for a time there was little difficulty in obtaining, by exchange of ornaments and other trifles of European manufacture, sufficient food to support the shipwrecked crews. But the supply was not inexhaustible. The country indeed was fertile ; but on the other hand, the population was large, and Columbus’s men were both hungry and fastidious. Dreading the time when the supplies of the district should be exhausted and his followers reduced to famine, Columbus determined on what we may consider the first exploration of Jamaica. Diego Mendez, one of the bravest and most loyal of his officers, was sent on a foraging expedition with three other men. They travelled along the coast, and a few miles inland, through th,e present parishes of St. Ann, Trelawny, St. James, and Hanover. Friendly terms were made with different chiefs, — the names of two of these, Huarco and Ameyro, are preserved ; and a regular supply of food was guaranteed in exchange for fishhooks, knives, beads, combs, and such like articles. The food to be obtained would largely consist of cassava bread, fish, birds, and small animals somewhat resembling rabbits.

Mendez returned from his mission only to be called upon for more important services. The supply of provisions was of course an immediate necessity ; but the greatest need was that of means to get back to Spain, or at any rate to get into communication with Spaniards who could send ships to the rescue of the wrecked mariners. Accordingly, with a small mixed crew of Spaniards and

Indians, Mendez was sent in a canoe to Hispaniola, to seek assistance from Ovando, and to continue his journey to Spain with despatches from Columbus. The first attempt to accomplish his hazardous undertaking was a failure. Mendez was captured by Indians, and barely escaped with his life, his companions being put to death. The second attempt was successful, but many weary weeks elapsed before Columbus heard of its success. In the meantime his troubles rapidly increased. In addition to the ordinary infirmities of old age and the effects of a life of peril and exposure, he lay helplessly crippled with gout on board his stranded ship. His men lost faith in him. He had been banished, they said, from Spain. His ships had been forbidden to anchor in the harbors of Hispaniola. Mendez, it was true, had gone ; but he had been sent on a secret mission to procure pardon for Columbus, who was otherwise exiled for life to Jamaica. If he were willing to attempt to escape, his age and sickness incapacitated him from risking a voyage in an Indian canoe, the only available vessel of transport. They must take the matters into their own hands, and at any rate secure their own personal safety. They were beyond doubt ungrateful and unreasonable, but men contemplating mutiny take little account either of gratitude or of reason. The mutiny was headed by two brothers, Francisco and Diego de Porras, the former of whom was captain of one of the caravels, and the latter occupied the position of purser and accountant-general of the expedition. It is useless to argue with determined

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men. Columbus was for a moment in personal danger, but his life was saved by the intervention of his brother. The mutineers were permitted to embark in ten canoes, which had been purchased from the Indians. They coasted the north of Jamaica, sailing in a westerly direction, landing here and there, pillaging, and outraging, representing themselves as acting under the orders of Columbus. Two attempts to cross to Hispaniola failed ; and the mutineers ‘ 6 wandered from village to village, a dissolute and lawless gang, supporting themselves by fair means or foul, according as they met with kindness or hostility, and passing like a pestilence through the island.” To return to Columbus, the weight of his troubles was daily increasing. No news came of or from Mendez ; the supplies of provisions began gradually to decrease, until actual starvation was within easy reach. Under these circumstances it was that Columbus had resort to what has since become in fiction, if not in fact, a hackneyed and familiar trick. His knowledge of astronomy enabled him to predict that an eclipse of the moon would take place at a certain hour. This eclipse, he represented, was to be a sign that his great Deity was angry with the people for not continuing to supply him with food. The eclipse came ; the Indians were amazed, alarmed, terrified. Later on, apparently in reply to the prayers of Columbus, the moon resumed her wonted functions, and a plentiful supply of provisions was secured for the future.

Months passed before news came from Mendez.

At last a ship anchored some distance from the shore, and put off a boat. It promised badly for Columbus when, as the boat approached his wreck, he caught sight of the ill-omened features of Diego de Escobar, whom years ago he had condemned to death, who had been pardoned by Bobadilla, and partly in consequence of whose false and vindictive evidence Columbus had been displaced from his command in 1500. The ill omen proved true; for Escobar’s relief consisted of a cask of wine, a flitch of bacon, and a letter containing vague promises of future succor. The wine and bacon were finished long before the promises were kept. Escobar’s functions, in fact, had been those of a spy, not of a friend.

Columbus took advantage of this reopening of communications with the outer world to bring back into allegiance his rebel followers, who were disheartened and worn out by the miseries and toils of a lawless and predatory life. Most of them would long before have willingly returned, but they were prevented from doing so by the elder Porras.

A sort of conference was held at the Indian village of Maima, now known as Mammee Bay, — a conference which ended in a free fight, in which the rebels were defeated, and Francisco de Porras was taken prisoner.

At last suspense was at an end, as two vessels were seen entering the harbor, — one sent from Spain by the faithful Mendez, and the other from Hispaniola by the treacherous Ovando, whose neg-

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lect of Columbus had so roused public feeling against him that he was driven to assume a virtue, if he had it not, and to send genuine help to the unfortunate discoverer.

Thus on the 28th of June, 1504, after a visit which was almost an imprisonment of upwards of twelve months, Columbus left Jamaica. There is much that is pathetic about this twelve months’ stay in Jamaica. It is extremely doubtful whether Columbus ever left the shelter of his stranded ships. He was an old man when he came ; toil, injustice, anxiety, disappointment, had intensified the natural infirmities of old age ; gout kept him crippled in his cabin; and, leaving Jamaica, he went home to die.

Coldly received by the people for the pride of whose nationality he had done so much, almost friendless, poverty-stricken, his health ruined, and his spirits crushed, he lingered for two years before death mercifully set him free to embark on the last and greatest of his voyages.

Columbus died at Seville on the 20th of May, 1506, in the seventieth year of his age, not knowing, even to the last, that he was the discoverer of a new and vast continent, which was to take its name not from him, but from one of his companions.

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Chapter III. Conquered And Settled By The English

Jamaica, thus discovered and acquired, remained in the possession of Spain for upwards of a century and a half. It has been said that the transactions of the Spaniards during this period, as far as Jamaica is concerned, have scarcely obtained any notice in history ; to this may be added, that, when the island was added to the British possessions in the west, there were few traces that any solid and reasonable effort had been made by the first conquerors of Jamaica to utilize their opportunity for the good of the conquered province. This period is mainly memorable for the complete annihilation, often by methods pitilessly cruel and revoltingly ruthless, of the aboriginal inhabitants of Jamaica, of which more will be said in another chapter.

Turning now from the original inhabitants to the first conquerors of Jamaica, the actual remains at the present day of the Spanish occupation are almost entirely confined to a few names and a few stones.

The site of the first capital of the island, Sevilla Nueva, founded by Diego Columbus, son of the discoverer, is marked only by a few stones on the estate of Seville, near St. Ann’s Bay. In the town of Porus we have perpetuated the name of the two

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1 7 brothers Porras, who headed the mutiny against Columbus. In the Pedro Plains and the Pedro River survives the name of Don Pedro de Esquimel, one of the most brutal and cruel of the oppressors of the Indians ; and many other names, both of Spanish and of Indian origin, remain, among the latter being the name Jamaica itself. The abandonment of Sevilla Nueva, for reasons which can only be conjectured, led to the settlement and building of Spanish Town, or, as it was then called, of St. Jago de la Vega; but the Spanish Town which we now know contains few traces, if any, of its original buildings.

The Spaniards themselves seem to have been happy and contented. The climate was pleasant and unoppressive ; the soil was rich, and yielded delicious fruits in abundance. If the Spaniards in Jamaica did not make the huge fortunes acquired by their countrymen in Cuba or Hayti, or by those who settled in the mining districts of Mexico and South America, at any rate they were satisfied to live a lazy, luxurious, lotos-eating existence, far away from the home troubles and turmoils, looking on Jamaica rather as their actual than as their adopted home.

In 1590 Sir Anthony Shirley, an Englishman, attacked the island and burned St. Jago, the capital, but did not choose to follow up his conquest. Upon the retirement of the English, the Spaniards repaired Spanish Town, and were then unmolested by foreign foe till 1635 . That year Colonel J ackson sailed with a small fleet to the Windward Islands, i8 and thence to Jamaica, where, with five hundred men, he attacked a garrison of two thousand Spaniards at Passage Fort, and after a hot fight, in which seven hundred Spaniards are said to have been killed, utterly routed the settlers.

Having visited Spanish Town and extorted ransom, Jackson followed Shirley’s example and retired. But a few years later Jamaica was again taken, and this time to remain in possession of the English.

To inquire minutely into all the causes which led to the acquisition of Jamaica by Great Britain, would necessitate a close review of the relations between England and Spain during the first half century of the Stuart dynasty. It is enough here to state, that James I. and Charles I. had both given way too tamely and too timidly to Spanish claims and pretensions, and that the honor of England, the protection of her commerce, and the safety of her subjects, made it imperative on Cromwell’s government to protect British interests and lives in the West Indies. Accordingly an expedition was equipped and armed, and left England in the fall of 1654. The general instructions given to the leaders of this expedition were “ to obtain establishment in that part of the West Indies which is possessed by the Spaniards.”

A fine fleet was fitted, aboard of which were 4 4 two thousand old Cavaliers and as many of Oliver’s army.” The commanders were Colonel Venables and Admiral Penn, the father of William Penn, who got one thousand three hundred more l9 adventurers at Barbadoes and the Windward Islands. With such an army, good ships, and able officers, they attacked St. Jago, after an unsuccessful expedition against Hispaniola. In May, 1655, St. Jago capitulated to this force, its forts and defences proving all inadequate against the munitions of the invaders. But while parleying and amusing the English with fair speeches and presents, the Spaniards contrived to remove much of their treasure from St. Jago; and the same is supposed by treasure seekers and other romantic people to be hid to this day in wells and other safe places in the neighborhood.

After the English had gained the city, they were afraid of the foe, who still retained possession of the country, and greatly harassed them by sudden sorties and skirmishes. At length, however, the conquest was complete. The last Spanish governor fled to Cuba from a point on the north side of Jamaica still known as Runaway Bay. From this time British rule was permanently established.

When Admiral Penn and Colonel Venables returned to England, they left in charge of the colony Colonel D’Oyley, whose command included nearly three thousand men and twenty war vessels. D’Oyley was a brave and excellent leader. It was through him that the last remnant of the Spaniards was driven from the island. But they left behind them a number of slaves, probably of mixed Indian and African blood, who, being fierce and warlike, took to the mountain fastnesses, and became bandits, preying upon the fields, and endangering the per-

STACK’S ILLUSTRATED sons of the new settlers. D’Oyley succeeded in subduing them for a time ; but he left a few individuals, who in later years grew to be powerful, and greatly harassed the colony. A remnant of them is still left, peacefully enjoying the privileges and immunities which they formerly wrested from the government. They are known as the Maroons.

Cromwell fitted a second squadron, and sent Major Sedjwick to relieve Colonel D’Oyley. Before Sedjwick’s arrival, D’Oyley suppressed a mutiny among his men, shooting the ringleaders.

The new governor lived but a few days after his arrival, and the popular Cavalier again resumed the direction of affairs.

Cromwell then appointed Colonel Brayne of Scotland, with orders to colonize one thousand Roundheads from Port Patrick to balance the Royalists of D’Oyley’s party. But Colonel Brayne followed Sedjwick, and for the third time D’Oyley ruled. He was a wise and energetic leader, governing with forethought and prudence. Having been twice supplanted by Cromwell because he was a Royalist, he was finally removed by Charles II. upon his accession to the throne to make place for the royal favorite, Lord Windsor ; leaving so good a reputation, however, that he was long looked upon as the best of the governors.

The new governor did little ; but to quote Charles Leslie’s venerable history, “ In my Lord Windsor’s government the Island was in a very flourishing condition, for by this time the buccaneers had begun their trade of pyrating and made inoney 'plen-

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tiful About this time, too, there were many wealthy men who came from other islands to settle in Jamaica. Among these was Sir Thomas Moddiford, afterwards governor.

Sir Charles Littleton followed Windsor, the latter being removed finally at the earnest protest of the Spaniards, who complained bitterly of the part he took in protecting the pirates. Under Littleton the first concessions were made to the Maroons, grants of land and magisterial power being given to Juan de Bolas, their leader. The governor also issued writs for the first general assembly held upon the island.

Members were returned from twelve districts, and met at Santiago de la Vega (now Spanish Town), where they indulged in great conviviality, if we may trust the older histories.

This first assembly was dissolved by Deputy Governor Sir Edward Morgan. Following him came Moddiford, whose rule, says one of the chronicles, “ brought the Island to its greatest perfection.” The population was then 17,298 inhabitants. Money was plenty, immigration increased, and affairs were generally in a prosperous condition. Writs were issued for a new council, which proved to be rather combative in its temper than deliberative. One of its members murdered another at a state dinner.