WEST INDIES.
A denomination under which is comprehended a large chain of islands, extended in a curve from the Florida shore on the northern peninsula of America, to the Gulf of Venezuela on the southern. These islands belong to five European powers, viz. Great Britain, Spain, France, Holland and Denmark. An inhabitant of New England can form no idea of the climate and the productions of these islands. Many of the particulars that are here mentioned, are peculiar to them all.
The climate in all the West India Islands is nearly the same, allowing for those accidental differences, which the several situations and qualities of the lands themselves produce; as they lie within the tropic of Cancer, and the sun often is almost at the meridian, over their heads, they are continually subjected to a heat that would be intolerable, but for the trade winds, which are so refreshing, as to enable the inhabitants to attend to their concerns, even under a noon-day sun: as the night advances, a breeze begins to be perceived, which blows smartly from the land, as it were, from the centre towards the sea, to all points of the compass at once. The rains make the only distinction of seasons in these islands. The trees are green the year round; they have no cold, or frost; our heaviest rains are but dews, comparatively: with them, floods of water are poured from the clouds. About May, the periodical rains from the South may be expected. After then the tropical summer in all its splendor. The nights are calm and serene, the moon shines more brightly than in New England, as do the planets, and the beautiful galaxy. From the middle of August to the end of September, the heat is most oppressive, the sea breeze is interrupted, and calms warn the inhabitants of the periodical rains; which fall in torrents about the beginning of October.
JAMAICA,
The most considerable and valuable of the British West India Islands, lies between the 75th and the 79th degrees of west longitude from London, and between 17 and 18 north latitude; it is of an oval figure, 150 miles long, from East to West, and about 60 miles broad in the middle, containing 4,080,000 acres. An elevated ridge, called the Blue Mountains, runs lengthwise from East to West, whence numerous rivers take their rise on both sides. The year is distinguished into two seasons, wet and dry. The months of July, August and September are called the hurricane months. The best houses are generally built low, on account of the hurricanes and earthquakes; and the colored people’s huts made of reeds, will hold only two or three persons. However pleasant the sun may rise, in a moment the scene may be changed, a violent storm will suddenly arise, attended with thunder and lightning, the rain falls in torrents, and the seas and rivers rise with terrible destruction. I witnessed this awful scene in June last at Kingston, the capital of Jamaica; the foundations of many houses were destroyed; the waters, as they rushed from the mountains, brought with them the produce of the earth, large branches of trees, and their fruit together; many persons were drowned endeavoring to reach their homes from their various occupations; those who reached their homes were often obliged to travel many miles out of their usual way. Many young children without a parent’s care, were at this time destroyed. A poor old woman speaking of these calamities to the writer, thus expressed herself, “not so bad now as in the time of slavery, then God spoke very loud to Bucker (the white people) to let us go. Thank God, ever since that, they give us up, we go pray, and we have it not so bad like as before.” I would recommend this poor woman’s remark to the fair sons and daughters of America, the land of the pilgrims. “Then God spoke very loud.” May these words be engraved on the post of every door; in this land of New England God speaks very loud, and while his judgments are in the earth, may the inhabitants learn righteousness! The mountains that intersect this Island seem composed of rocks thrown up by frequent earthquakes or volcanoes. These rocks, though having little soil, are adorned with a great variety of beautiful trees, growing from the fissures, which are nourished by frequent rains, and flourish in perpetual spring. From these mountains flow a vast number of small rivers of pure water, which sometimes fall in cataracts, from stupendous heights; these, with the brilliant verdure of the trees, form a most delightful landscape. Ridges of smaller mountains are on each side of this great chain; on these, coffee grows in great abundance; the valleys or plains between these ridges, are level beyond what is usually found in similar situations. The highest land in the Island is Blue mountain Peak, 7150 feet above the sea. The most extensive plain is 30 miles long and 5 broad. Black river, in the Parish of St. Elizabeth, is the only one navigable; flat-boats bring down produce from plantations about 30 miles up the river. Along the coast, and on the plains the weather is very hot; but in the mountains, the air is pure and wholesome; the longest days in summer are about thirteen hours, and the shortest in winter about eleven. In the plains are found several salt fountains, and in the mountains, not far from Spanish Town, is a hot bath of great medicinal virtues; this gives relief in the complaint called the dry bowels malady, which, excepting the bilious and yellow fevers, is one of the most terrible distempers of Jamaica. The general produce of this Island is sugar, rum, molasses, ginger, cotton, indigo, pimento, cocoa, coffees, several kinds of woods, and medicinal drugs. Fruits are in great plenty, as oranges, lemons, shaddocks, citrons, pomegranates, pine-apples, melons, pompions, guavas, and many others. Here are trees whose wood, when dry, is incorruptible; here is found the wild cinnamon tree, the mahogany, the cabbage, the palm, yielding an oil much esteemed for food and medicine. Here too is the soap tree, whose berries are useful in washing. The plantain is produced in Jamaica in abundance, and is one of the most agreeable and nutritious vegetables in the world: it grows about four feet in height, and the fruit grows in clusters, which is filled with a luscious sweet pulp. The Banana is very similar to the plantain, but not so sweet. The whole Island is divided into three counties, Middlesex, Surry, and Cornwall, and these into six towns, twenty parishes, and twenty-seven villages.
This Island was originally part of the Spanish Empire in America, but it was taken by the English in 1656. Cromwell had fitted out a squadron under Penn and Venables, to reduce the Spanish Island of Hispaniola, but there this squadron was unsuccessful, and the commanders, of their own accord, to atone for this misfortune, made a descent on Jamaica, and having arrived at St. Jago, soon compelled the whole Island to surrender. Ever since, it has been subject to the English, and the government, next to that of Ireland, is the richest in the disposal of the crown. Point Royal was formerly the capital of Jamaica, it stood upon the point of a narrow neck of land, which towards the sea, forms part of the border of a very fine harbor of its own name. The conveniences of this harbor, which was capable of containing a thousand sail of large ships, and of such depth as to allow them to load and unload with the greatest ease, weighed so much with the inhabitants, that they chose to build their capital on this spot, although the place was a hot dry sand, and produced none of the necessaries of life, not even fresh water. About the beginning of the year 1692, no place for its size could be compared to this town for trade, wealth, and an entire corruption of manners. In the month of June in this year, an earthquake which shook the whole Island to the foundation, totally overwhelmed this city, so as to leave, in one quarter, not even the smallest vestige remaining. In two minutes the earth opened and swallowed up nine-tenths of the houses, and two thousand people. The waters gushed out from the openings of the earth, and tumbled the people on heaps: some of them had the good fortune to catch hold of beams and rafters of houses, and were afterwards saved by boats. Several ships were cast away in the harbor, and the Swan Frigate, which lay in the Dock, was carried over the tops of sinking houses, and did not overset, but afforded a retreat to some hundreds of people, who saved their lives upon her. An officer who was in the town, at that time, says the earth opened and shut very quick in some places, and he saw several people sink down to the middle, and others appeared with their heads just above ground, and were squeezed to death. At Savannah above a thousand acres were sunk with the houses and people in them, the places appearing, for some time, like a lake; this was afterwards dried up, but no houses were seen. In some parts mountains were split, and at one place a plantation was removed to the distance of a mile. The inhabitants again rebuilt the city, but it was a second time, ten years after, destroyed by a great fire. The extraordinary convenience of the harbor tempted them to build it once more, and once more in 1722, it was laid in rubbish by a hurricane, the most terrible on record. Such repeated calamities seemed to mark out this spot as a devoted place; the inhabitants therefore resolved to forsake it forever, and to reside at the opposite bay where they built Kingston, which is now the capital of the Island. In going up to Kingston, we pass over the part of and between Port Royal, leaving the mountains on the left, and a small town on the right. There are many handsome houses built there, one story high, with porticoes, and every convenience for those who are rich enough to live in them. Not far from Kingston stands Spanish Town, which though at present is inferior to Kingston, was once the capital of Jamaica, and is still the seat of Government. On the 3d of October, 1780, there was a dreadful hurricane, which overwhelmed the little sea-port town of Savannah la mer, in Jamaica, and part of the adjacent country: very few houses were left standing, and a great number of lives were lost, much damage was done also, and many lives lost in other parts of the Island. The same writer says, the misery and hardships of the slaves were truly moving; the ill treatment which they received so shortened their lives, that there is no natural increase of their numbers; many thousand are annually imported to supply the place of those who pine and die with the hardships which they receive. It is said, that they are stubborn, and must be ruled with a rod of iron: it must be borne in mind, that their tyrants are themselves the dregs of the English nation, and the refuse of the jails of Europe. In January, 1823, a Society was formed in London, for mitigating and gradually abolishing slavery, throughout the British dominions, called the Anti-Slavery Society. His Royal Highness, the Duke of Gloucester, was President of the Society, in the list of vice-presidents are the names of many of the most distinguished philanthropists of the day, and among them, that of the never to be forgotten Mr. Wilberforce; as a bold champion, we see him going forward, pleading the cause of our down trodden brethren. In the year 1834, it pleased God to break the chains from 800,000 human beings that had been held in a state of personal slavery; and this great event was effected through the instrumentality of Clarkson, Wilberforce, and other philanthropists of the day. The population of Jamaica is nearly 400,000, that of Kingston, the capital, 40,000. There are many places of worship of various denominations, namely, church of England, and of Scotland, Wesleyan, the Baptists and Roman Catholics, besides a Jewish Synagogue. These all differ from those in New England, and from those I have seen elsewhere. The Baptists hold what they call class-meetings. They have men and women, deacons and deaconesses in these churches; these hold separate class-meetings, some of these can read and some cannot. These are the persons who hold the office of judges, and go round and urge the people to come at the class, and after they come in twice or three times they are considered candidates for baptism. Some pay fifty cents, and some more, for being baptized. The churches take nothing after they are baptized, they receive a ticket as a passport into the church, paying one mark, a quarter, or more, and some less, but nothing short of tenpence, that is, two English shillings a year. They must attend their class once a week, and pay three pence a week, total twelve English shillings a year, besides the sums they pay once a month at communion, after service in the morning. On those occasions the minister retires, and the deacons examine the people to ascertain if each one has brought a ticket, if not, they cannot commune; after this, the minister returns and performs the ceremony, then they give their money, and go. The churches are very large, holding from four to six thousand, many bring wood and other presents to their class-leader as a token of their attachment; where there are so many communicants, these presents, and the money exacted, must greatly enrich these establishments. I know two who have left their homes to live with their class-leaders, in order to have her prayers; most of the communicants are so ignorant of the ordinance that they join the church merely to have a decent burial; for if they are not members none will follow them to the grave, no prayers will be said over them; these are borne through the streets by four men, the coffin a rough box; not so if they are church members; as soon as the news spreads that one is dying, all the class with their leader will assemble at the place, and join in singing hymns; this, they say, is to help the spirit up to glory; this exercise sometimes continues all night, in so loud a strain, that it is seldom that any can sleep in the neighborhood.—The next day they bury their dead, the corpse is borne by four bearers, some of the deacons preceding, and a great company of men and women following, the women first, dressed in white, with a strip of white cotton bound round the head, and falling to the ground. After they have buried their dead, the company return to the house and have a regular wake: they believe the spirit of the deceased is present with them for nine days, and they leave a place for them at the table, and pay them all the attention they give to the visible guests.
There is in Jamaica an institution, established in 1836, and called the Mico Institution; it is named after its founder, Madame Mico, who left a large sum of money to purchase, (or rather to ransom, the one being a Christian act, the other a sin against the Holy Ghost, who expressly forbids such traffic;) thus having corrected myself, I will resume. Madame Mico left this money to ransom the English who were in bondage to the Algerines; if there were any left, it was to be devoted to the instruction of the colored people in the British Islands; at this institution, six adults, men and women, are prepared for teachers. Whole number taught since the commencement 485—there is a day school for children, 29 is the regular number—whole number 2,491—Sabbath Schools 9, whole number taught 6,654—the adults and the Sunday scholars have to pay one Mack a month. Besides the Mico establishment, there are in Jamaica 27 Church Missionary Schools, where 2,461 children are taught gratis. Adult schools, 5—whole number taught, 475. Sabbath Schools 14—whole number taught, 1,952. London Missionary Society Schools, 16—whole number taught not ascertained. National Schools, 38—whole number taught, 2,500.