THE JAMAICA STATION *.

FROM THE JOURNAL OF A NAVAL OFFICER.

Ir is a very common idea among our young naval officers at their arrival in this climate, that the use of spirituous liquors is so extremely pernicious as to occasion, without any other cause, the fatal distemper of the country; and that, to prevent the dreaded effect, it is absolutely necessary to abstain altogether from their use; and, as a means of security, to drink water or lemonade. In almost every case where this absurd notion has been adhered to, the consequence has been, that disease which they wished to evade is brought on from the impaired state of the digestive organs. The first sensation of internal disarrangement alarms them,-their minds become agitated, and their spirits depressed; so that in a short time they begin to fancy that death "stares them in the face,"-and eventually, in nine cases out of ten, they do in reality become sick, and soon fall martyrs to an ill-timed prudence. On the other hand, there are many who, despising the sober dictates of reason, fall into an opposite extreme; and, by dissipation and excess, hasten the close of their existence,-becoming victims to their own imprudence and folly. The total disuse of brandy and rum is as unnecessary as the too free use of those liquors is pernicious.

There is a quality in new rum that acts as a poison on the human system;-the taffia, or taffy of the sailors, destroys hundreds of those valuable men, whilst employed in the merchant service: the spirit, however, which is supplied to the King's ships is, in general, and indeed. ought, according to contract, always to be good; the contractors being bound to provide that only which has been twelve months in the cask. Of this article I do not recollect to have heard any complaints, whilst I have known it of very old and excellent quality. But the wine supplied to our ships, under the denomination of "black-strap," is execrable stuff; the white wine, brought principally from the Canaries, is certainly far preferable, although to a refined palate it will not " pass muster;" it may keep better in temperate climes, but in this all white wines become more or less acidulated; even the Madeira is far inferior, from this circumstance, to what the same wine would be if drunk in a northern clime: I am speaking of it in the cask,-brought out in bottles, it preserves its good quality, and probably the same may be said of other wines.

After refitting, and completing stores and provisions, we quitted Port Royal, having on board fifty soldiers, which were to be landed at Port Antonio. In our way up we came in sight of those solitary and treacherous rocks, called the Morant Cays, which lie about thirty miles from the land. They are very low, and surrounded by shoals and reefs; many vessels have struck upon them, and some have been wrecked.

We were four days working up against the sea-breeze to our first place of destination. There is no part of this delightful island that presents a more beautiful prospect, if we except the land about Lucia, than the environs of Port Antonio: the extensive line of cultivated lands; the bright verdure of the cane-pieces, bordered with woody hills,

* Concluded from Part 1st, p. 209.

rising in succession, and backed by the lofty peaks of the Blue Mountains, form an association of objects which at once partake of the sublime and the beautiful. It would, perhaps, be difficult to describe, in adequate terms, the pleasing effect this view has upon the mind of a European when he first beholds it, after an absence of some weeks from his own more dreary clime and less imposing scenery.

The transition from a cold and cloudy region to that of a milder one, where all nature glows with the full effulgence of a tropic sun, is indeed very great, and the charms of novelty add not a little to the pleasure felt on such an occasion. To Columbus and his associates the view of the luxuriant isles of the Caribbean Sea must have been enchanting; and the more especially as their minds were unprepared by any previous account to expect such a succession of terrestrial beauty and grandeur, as is displayed throughout this fascinating archipelago-surpassing even the fine islands of the Egean sea, and the scenery of Columbus's own native land in the Bight of Genoa. The mention of this great man's name draws us into the contemplation of the achievement he accomplished; perhaps one of the boldest, under all circumstances, that man ever undertook and successfully performed: yet some have endeavoured to detract from his merit. One thing is certain-it is much easier to condemn than to perform;-but even admitting that there was some foundation for the account of that illustrious navigator having received information of the situation of the new world previous to his undertaking the voyage, it could diminish nothing of that respect and admiration which all men must feel for the bold and determined spirit of the seaman, who, in those days of comparative ignorance, pursued his course through an unknown and vast ocean, in defiance of storms and the rebellious conduct of his crew, with unshaken fortitude and perseverance, until he had accomplished the great object of his great mind! Even in our times, when the sailing through unknown seas has lost much of its terrors, we cannot recur to the circumstance of the discovery of America*, without an involuntary feeling of applause, in which it is admitted, without a question, that the brilliancy of all subsequent discoveries are eclipsed! However just, therefore, the praises bestowed on the crowd of illustrious names which have since been recorded as maritime discoverers-from Magallanes down to our enterprising countryman, Sir W. E. Parry-still the name of Colon must ever stand foremost

"He best deserves the palm who wins it."

I had an opportunity of witnessing lately the delight experienced by several young gentlemen, who for the first time had been in this clime, on going on shore at Port Antonio. The boat had to sail three or four miles through an uneasy swell before she reached the harbour, having left the ship in the offing. During the approach, the distant view was greatly admired; but there was no exclamation of surprise and admiration until the boat had fairly entered the calm bosom of the harbour,then it was, on the sail which had obstructed the near view being lowered, that a burst of admiration escaped the whole party, in which I heartily joined, although I had before often witnessed the scene: from

*Which, in justice to the memory of one of the greatest men that ever lived, should be changed to Colonia,

long absence, however, its features had been somewhat impaired in my recollection; a material alteration in the barracks having lately been made, may have prevented my immediate recognition, but they soon became renewed afrer the first view. Just without the harbour, a long narrow canoe came close to the boat; in her sat a tall and well-looking mulatto man, two youths of lighter complexion, but evidently not white, and two blacks: these were the pilot, his two sons, and two slaves. The dexterity with which they managed the frail canoe was admirable, and drew forth the praise of the new comers. Our boat passing over what is here termed "white water," where the bottom was plainly seen, and close to the breakers of a reef, gave a little alarm to our young landsmen, which served to draw their attention until the whole scene burst upon them in all its tropical magnificence and beauty. The cocoa-nut tree, of which I have already spoken in praise, was the first thing that claimed their notice; many of those trees hanging obliquely from the brow of the cliffy shore, and their feathery tops rustling in the breeze, whilst in the boat immediately below not a breath was felt. The tasty and picturesque style of the buildings; the flower-bearing trees and shrubs, all beautiful to behold; the rustling of the canes; the song of the seamen on board their canopied ships, and the assemblage of black faces on the wharves, waiting to catch a view of the strange buckras—were objects and sounds at once novel and interesting to our new comers. Almost the first remark that was made, after gazing around them, was on the beauty of some of the young negresses, and the graceful step of the fairer mulatto. Our voyagers had had no idea that a black face could be handsome; on the contrary, they had always considered in imagination that it was not only "as black but as ugly as the devil;" they were, therefore, most agreeably surprised. The next remark, which was general, was on the cleanly appearance, and cheerful countenances, and happy condition of every negro seen, (in number about one hundred)—a contrast most striking with the filthy and wretched appearance of the working classes of England and Ireland. One of the gentlemen, a native of North Britain, could scarcely credit what he saw with his own eyes; his mind having been biassed in an extraordinary degree by the grossly exaggerated, and in some instances false, statements in the pamphlets so industriously disseminated by the anti-slavery societies at home. He very justly observed, that if those who enrolled themselves on the list, from a conviction of all being true which has been stated by les amis de noirs, were to come and view things as they really are, their ardour would be cooled in a very short time, and their benevolence be turned into a more legitimate channel, nearer their own doors, where in fact it is more needed.

The land about Port Antonio was the first I saw near enough to distinguish its features, when I came to this station in the year 1802; and the impression of delight I then experienced, at the rich and magnificent scenery that lay before me, is quite fresh in my recollection,it seems but as yesterday; and the recollection brings back much of pleasure, mixed with no small portion of pain. We may review the endearing associations of times gone by, but cannot recall from the tomb the friends and companions of our youth.

I know not if others have made the same observation, but I found, on

many occasions, that the scenes and places I had seen in my youthful days, when reviewed after a lapse of years, have appeared much less in space and extent than my recollection had led me to believe. The same in distances of places; for I have found that in going over the same ground, trod many years before when I was a lad, the distance was much shorter than I recollected it to have been. After manhood, my recollections did not err in like manner when reviewing scenes I had seen before; and it is singular enough, that the memory should be stronger with respect to the events and occurrences of early life, than those of a maturer age. On entering Port Antonio, after a lapse of twenty-two years, I was greatly astonished at its smallness, appearing a mere cove to what my recollection had formed it—a spacious basin! Having disembarked the soldiers, we stood across for the Cuba shore, and next morning saw the land about Cumberland Harbour. The appearance of the coast is here very remarkable, forming in hummocks or small round mounds, of a reddish-brown colour to the eastward; and to the westward, a low sandy beach of a few miles in extent, with high land in the interior. This harbour, noted for the unsuccessful expedition of Admiral Vernon, is justly considered one of the finest in the world; the anchorage is spacious and secure, with from ten to thirteen fathoms water. There are many lagoons running into the interior levels and intersecting the hilly parts; those to the N. and N.W., are the most extensive. At the head of the latter, about twelve miles from the anchorage, is a small river, where water for a ship's use is obtained. This little stream has a bar of mud across its entrance, which, as we were unacquainted with the fact, caused our watering-party a great deal of trouble. Having passed it with light boats without obstruction, we were a little annoyed on returning with them ladened, to find our egress stopped. The fact was, that we had arrived at high water, and were departing when the tide was low; but as the rise and fall of the waters in this part of the world are so trifling as seldom to attract attention, we had not in this instance given the subject a thought. Experience, however, taught us the utility of bestowing a little more care in these matters, as we found, that although rising but eighteen or twenty inches, that was sufficient to admit our loaded boats passing the bar without obstruction. On the first occasion we were obliged to throw overboard several full casks, and after passing the bar, to parbuckle them inboard outside of the lade of the river; which was not a very agreeable duty, surrounded as we then were by several very large alligators. These unsightly animals are met with, generally, basking on the fresh-water about this place; indeed, they appeared to be as much at their ease in the salt-water; we saw them two or three hundred yards from the entrance to the river in the lagoon, lying like logs upon the surface; and whilst we were in the water getting the launch over the bar, I kept three of the largest of these animals that were near us, in play, by heaving bits of sticks towards them, which they snapped at as a water-dog would have done. I must acknowledge, however, that I did not feel altogether at ease in the vicinity of such dangerous company. Before we had completed our task, I caught a young one, about four or five inches long, which had been playing between my legs; it slipped from my hands, however, and escaped.

After passing the bar, the water deepens to ten or twelve feet; but it is necessary to proceed some distance up to obtain it sweet and unmixed with that of the sea. The entrance is hid from view by the luxuriant foliage of the mangrove trees that border its banks, so that a stranger will not easily discover it; we found the white curlews the best guide, as these birds, in great flocks constantly hover about the entrance, and often are seen perched on the branches of the trees in that particular spot only, probably watching for the small fry driven out by the current of the river. The difficulty of finding the entrance, and the passing of the bar being accomplished, another presents itself: the narrowness of the stream and the overhanging bows of the mangrove prevent the oars from being immediately used. The utility of providing all boats with paddles as well as oars became here very apparent; but being without any, the hand was substituted, until we had advanced a few fathoms farther up, when we availed ourselves of innumerable pendent stalks, which shoot from the upper branches of this singular plant, and like those of the Ficus Indicus, or banyan tree of the East, strike down to the earth, and there taking root produce a succession of new trunks, which in time throw out branches, and by these means those interwoven groves, which line the banks of rivers and lagoons in this country, are formed. These appendicles afford you the means of propelling your boat forward with as much expedition as by the aid of the oars, the crew standing upon the thwarts, and passing them from hand to hand. To these extraordinary shoots the sailors affixed the term "bell-ropes;" and, to do them justice, in this instance it must be acknowledged that there is a striking resemblance, many of these aphyllous appendages hanging twenty and thirty feet perpendicularly, perfectly smooth and without joints.

I had never before, nor have I since, entered a more secluded and romantic stream, or indeed, every thing considered, a more extraordinary one: the branches of the border trees entwining, form a complete canopy overhead, and throw a sombre shade around, which is only here and there relieved by the enlivening rays of the sun penetrating through little pervious openings. Such is the first part (or more properly speaking the last): higher up, the river widens, and the trees no longer overlap above. All is here still;-the "death-like silence" and the "dread repose," were particularly striking to us as we entered from without, where a rough sea-breeze was blowing; the sudden change from the frothy lagoon, and the effect of a high wind, to the smooth calm surface of this Rio Escondido, where all was quiet, lonely, and dark, excited a burst of admiration from our party. In these deep solitudes, Echo has taken up her peaceful abode: sounds, the most trifling, are heard repeated in every direction; and the merry voices of the wooding-party we had landed, reverberating through the recesses of the forest, seemed to animate into life and song the very haunts of Muta herself: the wood-pigeon, the macaw, parrot, and parroket, in full chorus, now began to proclaim aloud their domain invaded! The sturdy stroke of the axe, multiplying its sounds throughout the woody entanglement, told that the work of destruction had began ; and the hollow-rolling reports of the deadly gun, spread far and near on the vibrating air,-the repelled sounds increasing almost to infinitude,sealed the doom of many an innocent tenant of the grove.