Jamaica as it is, 1903

by B. Pullen-Burry

I am still at the first volume, and I shall only get to the end of the third when I have explored some of the Blue Mountain scenery, which, being admittedly the best thing in Jamaica, I am, in the spirit of the schoolboy who is promised cake after bread and butter, leaving to the last.

There is one small guide-book to the island which I have found out here, written by an American. It is entitled “Side Trips in Jamaica,” by Mary F. Bradford, Boston and New York, Sherwood Publishing Company, and is already in its third edition. The booklet certainly carries out the object for which it was compiled, namely, to supply the need of a practical guide for tourists. There are a series of trips given for those making only a short tour, and a brief account of the historical and physical features of the island, its agriculture and government. But what is even more useful, it contains reliable information regarding trains, hotels, boarding-houses, distances, and expenses in general.

The books most generally read by visitors to these islands are Kingsley’s “At Last,” and Froude’s “West Indies,” but people find them disappointing, and say the former greatly overrated the islands. Of course, unless one is a naturalist, or, as the Americans designate that calling, a “bug-hunter,” one can scarcely share the ecstasies of an expert in that branch of science. Again in these days of universal travel we cannot all visit at Government Houses, and have horses and carriages placed at our disposal. Here, one is more or less dependent upon one’s own efforts, for there have not been sufficient tourists to these islands to establish any system of coaches, and one must hire one’s own buggy and horse. Moreover, since the West Indies have fallen upon evil times, one hesitates before accepting proffered hospitality. Years ago things were not so; travellers were few and far between, the prosperity of the sugar-planter was proverbial, but the old order has changed owing to the decline of the sugar trade. The spirit may be, and is indeed willing, but the purse-strings are limited.

CHAPTER II

THE DIRECT LINE—THE LAZINESS OF THE NEGRO—FELLOW-PASSENGERS ON THE PORT ANTONIO

I have found during my short stay in Jamaica that it is not wise to pin too much faith to the gospel of the West Indies, according to J. A. Froude, nor is it discreet to quote it to the inhabitants thereof. His book was published in 1888, and the conclusions he arrived at upon colonial problems are called Froudisms. The moral is that there is another side to West Indian questions than that of government officialism, and that these two do not hunt in couples is apparent to the most casual observer.

I must, however, refrain from discussing the subject since I intend to devote this chapter to other topics. Having yielded to the conviction that it was my bounden duty to enlighten people at home as to the easy accessibility of Jamaica, as well as to inform them what they lose by not putting in six weeks at least of one winter in this charming island, for nowhere can one see tropical scenery better than in Jamaica, I pass on to tell them the best way to get here. This they can do most directly by the Elder, Dempster steamers, which run fortnightly between Avonmouth Dock, near Bristol, and Kingston, the chief town in Jamaica. Formerly the Royal Mail Service had the monopoly of the West Indian trade, but within the last two years Mr Chamberlain has arranged with the firm of Elder, Dempster to carry the mails directly to Jamaica, which is the largest of our island possessions in these waters. These ships are called the Fruit Boats, for they return with cargoes of bananas. I believe by contract they have to bring from Jamaica 25,000 bunches every fortnight. This is the reason of the recent cheapness of this particular fruit; one may often see them on costermongers’ barrows in London and elsewhere sold for a halfpenny each.

I left Avonmouth Dock 8th November 1902, in the Port Antonio, and a very comfortable ship I found her. Having paid a little extra, I was fortunate enough to secure a deck cabin to myself; this is quite worth the money, especially when one is approaching Jamaica. My first-class return ticket available for nine months cost £40, but there were good first-class cabins at £32. Very good stewardesses are carried on all these ships. Now the Royal Mail steamers go first to Barbadoes; at present, on account of an outbreak of small-pox last autumn, they go to Trinidad. Here they trans-ship passengers, cargo, and mails for the Leeward and Windward Islands into small inter-colonial steamers which ply between the islands, after which they proceed to Jamaica.

One avoids all this by taking the direct steamers, and, as I have said before, this island is more accessible than any I have so far visited. There are capital roads, good conveyances, and good saddle-horses, a central railway connecting the most important towns. In winter the climate is perfection, whereas nobody mentions Trinidad but to groan over their experience of the moist heat and the incessant tropical rain which makes travelling about that island too fatiguing for words, to say nothing of the risk of getting fever by not being able always to change your drenched clothing. Nor do any of the islands between Trinidad and the Danish island of St Thomas, which I have visited, possess facilities for tourist accommodation. In some of them roads practically do not exist beyond the outskirts of the little town where the mail steamers land passengers. If horses are wanted they have to be hired from the inhabitants. The hotels, such as they are, and still more, the food, one would hardly care to take the responsibility of recommending.