The wonders of the West Indies

Front matter

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Preface

RIGHT BEV. THE LORD BISHOP OF JAMAICA.

In an age of more than Athenian curiosity^ an age in which authors and readers are alike intent on " telling or hearing some new thing/^ it is remarkable that of a field so distinguished by novelty, and so exubera^it in beauty, as that afforded by the scenery of the West Indies, very little has been investigated and less made known.

While the pencil of the artist and the pen of the tourist have, year after year, brought vividly to the public eye the most striking features of countries far less beautiful and sublime, the '^Wonders of the West Indies ^^ have been, like the lofty peaks of their enchanting islands, shrouded in their native mist, or have at best had

11 PREFACE.

no prominence in our literature, because, like the anti-Agamemnonian heroes, they wanted the '' poetic chronicle/' which it is the design of the following pages to supply.

Nor when I consider the ample materials for this work, and the qualifications of the Authoress, can I fear that it has failed in its execution, or that it will be found to reveal less matter for the admiration of the reader than its title, however seemingly ambitious, would imply.

If the history of the Antilles is associated with no classical reminiscences — ^if the ideas which that history suggests are still darkened by the deep shadows of a great though not wholly unexpiated national crime, and connected with the rise and fall of fortunes, in some instances iniquitously made and ingloriously expended, and if even its more romantic story turns chiefly on the exploits of the Buccaneer and the Pirate, not forgetting, however, the never-failing bravery of the naval heroes, under the " meteor flag of England," by whom they were exterminated; — it cannot be denied, that the natural endowments of these magnificent islands are of a character to com-

PREFACE. Ul

mand the admiration of every beholder^ and to afford a theme which the most eloquent description could scarcely surpass.

In traversing the broad savannahs and climbing the mountain-passes of Jamaica^ — in fording the glittering rivers which illuminate its retired valleys clothed in the perpetual verdure of the Tropics — ^in penetrating those deep recesses which realize the glorious solitude^

" Where the lone Owl on pinions grey Breathes from the rustling boughs, And down the lone vale sails away To more profound repose i**

I have often felt that the recollections of a long life of travel and observation could supply no worthier topic for painter or for poet than these scenes^ in which I would now leave the reader to the luxury of thought, and to the spirit of pious astonishment which they will undoubtedly inspire, and in which the mind may be recreated and linger with instruction and delight.

AUBREY G. JAMAICA.

London, 1856.

ST. THOMAS