and body by travel and by revolt amongst his followers, disappointed in the treatment he had received from Ferdinand and Isabella, and too anxious about the future to devote much time to descriptive accounts; and the reminiscences of Mendez, one of his companions, are taken up for the most part with that worthy's own achievements. Moreover, to the absence of gold, which metal formed the principal attraction of Haiti in the Spaniards' eyes, is due the comparative inattention with which Jamaica was treated by the Spanish historians. What writers have failed to tell us about the inhabitants of Jamaica, we must, therefore, in part supply from the accounts of the Arawâks in Guiana, where they have survived until to-day.

Columbus gave to the islands which he discovered names in honour of his sovereigns, the saints, some towns in Spain, or the day of discovery; but in some cases the aboriginal names have survived. Jamaica is one of these. The word is thought to be composed of two native words meaning wood and water, implying fertility.

We can, without much difficulty, picture to ourselves the appearance of the island as Columbus saw it, for there are many tracts of virgin forest and uncleared bush which must to-day resemble the features which they presented to the explorers of 1494; and the humblest form of a house to-day is not, when viewed from a distance and through trees, very dif ferent in outward appearance from the habitation of the Arawak. Seen from the sea, the physical features of the island were of course what they are to-day. It is probable that in parts the trees and undergrowth were as thick as they were in Guadeloupe, where Columbus tells us some of his seamen lost their way for days; and this thick growth was conducive to a humid atmosphere, and a less parched appearance in the drier seasons.

Then as now the giant cotton-tree, one of the few deciduous trees in the island, reared its head above its fellow-trees; .and prominent in the landscape were, to name but a few, the coco-palm, the calabash, the antidote cacoon, the locust-tree, the prickly pear, the allspice-yielding pimento, and the guava; in the interior were the wild olive, the lace-bark, the yacca and the mahoe (both beautiful cabinet woods), the mountain guava, and the ramoon; while the seaside grape, with its large, decorative leaves and hanging bunches of dark-blue berries, was a prominent feature on the seashore.

Then, as now, the scene was made gay with the annatto, with its rosy-coloured flowers and purplish pods, the West Indian ebony with its yellow flowers, the pale blue of the lignum-vitæ bloom, the golden bronze of the under-surface of the leaves of the starapple, the hanging purple bunches of the bastard cabbage-bark tree, the yellow and purple portulacas, the yellow "kill-buckra" weed, the pink shameweed, the red and yellow of the Barbados pride, the yellow of the Jerusalem-thorn, the purple pyramid of the mountain-pride, and the brilliant golden candelabralike spike of the coratoe; by the various specimens of ipomoea, with their several blooms of white, yellow, red, and purple, the rose-coloured Jamaica-rose, the white trumpet-flower, the bright red Indian-shot, the blue Jamaica forget-me-not, and many another brilliantlyflowered tree, creeper, and shrub. Some afford excellent woods for cabinetmakers and carpenters, but their practical use is almost nullified by the cost of cutting and carting; others yield dyes, or are useful in cookery and Inedicine.

Amongst the chief food-plants and fruit-bearing trees were the cassava, the Indian's chief staple of food; the mammee, with fruit of a russet brown, larger than an orange: arrowroot: the guava, the fruit of

which, made into a jelly, is world-famous; the naseberry, with a fruit not unlike a medlar both in appearance and taste; and the papaw, with its straight stem and fruits like pumpkins hanging just beneath the crown of leaves.

Of trees and plants now common in the island which we know were not here when Columbus landed may be mentioned the sugar-cane; the pindar nut and cherimoyer, which came from South America; the jack-fruit and ginger, from the East Indies; the everuseful and beautiful bamboo, which came from the neighbouring island of Española (or Haiti, as we now call it); the orange, lime, lemon, and citron from Spain; coffee and kola and akee from tropical Africa; various kinds of yams from Africa and the East Indies; coco from Polynesia; the shaddock from China; the cinnamon and the mango, now one of the commonest trees on the island, which came to Jamaica in 1782; genip, a native of Trinidad; logwood from Honduras, guinea-grass from West Africa; the nutmeg, rice; and the bread-fruit, which was brought in 1793 by" Breadfruit" Bligh, who possibly also brought the banana, although it was in the Leeward Islands at the time of the English occupation of Jamaica; and the plaintain was in the island when Blome wrote in 1672. It is not certain whether the coco-nut palm was here or not.

That in the exchange of trees and fruits between the old world and the new, the gain was not all on the side of the old, was evident to Acosta, who published, about 1590, his Historie Natural y Moral de las Indias, a work full of valuable information about the state of the new world at the close of the sixteenth century; he says: "The Indians have received more profit, and have bin better recompensed in plants that have bin broght from Spaine, than in other merchandize, for that those few that are carried from the Indics into Spaine, growe little there, and multiply not; and con

trariwise the great number that have beene carried from Spaine to the Indies prosper wel and multiplie greatly." And it is interesting to note that, of the principal crops of Jamaica of to-day, that of the pimento is the only one from an indigenous plant.

Of animal life in Jamaica, there were amongst the mammals only the coney, which is fast becoming extinct; a mute, dog-like animal, which the Indians called alco, and of which no trace exists to-day, and possibly the rat. It is said that the armadillo was once found in all the West India Islands, and the raccoon was there as late as Sir Hans Sloane's visit in 1687. But the opossum and the peccary, though formerly in the Caribbean Islands, were not known in Jamaica.

The coney, which is very shy and difficult to catch, is now only seen in the rocky recesses of the mountains of Portland and St. Thomas, and is seen there but rarely. In appearance, it is something between a rat and a rabbit; it is about six inches high at the shoulder, and dark brown in colour.

The natives used as food, besides the coney, the iguana lizard, and probably the mountain crab, which is still considered one of the delicacies of the island; but it is thought that they did not eat the flesh of the manatee and only rarely that of the turtle; the former is not now nearly so common as it was.

There were no horses, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, or poultry in the island when Columbus discovered it, all of which were introduced by the Spaniards at a later date.

Of bird-life there were the same specimens as we know them to-day, only in greater profusion—the parrots being especial favourites with the Indians, who kept them in their huts. But Columbus was probably exaggerating when he said that flocks of them hid the sun.

Forty-three of the birds of Jamaica are presumed

to be peculiar to the island: the chief are the quail, the mountain partridge, the Jamaica heron, ducks and doves and pigeons, several of which are very good eating, the ring-tail pigeon being considered one of the island's chief delicacies.

The humming-birds are perhaps the most noticeable, from their beauty and graceful movements, as well as from the fact that they do not hesitate to hover around the flowering creepers that grow on almost every dwelling.

One of the most interesting features in the natural history of Jamaica has been the introduction of the mongoose, which was imported in 1872 to keep down the rats which were so harmful in the cane-fields. The mongoose did his work well, but unfortunately he did not stop there. He then turned his attention to the snakes, lizards, small birds, turtle eggs, domestic poultry and their eggs, and ground provisions; and became almost as great a scourge as the rabbits in Australia or the historic rats of Hamelin. By the destruction of the small birds, the mongoose is said to be the cause of the immense increase of ticks, the

greatest pest in the island. Although the mongoose is not now perhaps such a nuisance as he was a few years since, the history of his introduction into Jamaica is a warning to any who would lightly upset the balance of nature in any country.

Then, as now, the sea around the coast held a fair supply of food fishes, excellent in their way, but lacking for the most part the flavour of fishes in temperate waters. An experiment made in 1898 proved conclusively that neither the sea-bottom nor the supply of fish is conducive to successful fishery operations on a large scale. The mountain mullet, the finest of the river fishes, rivals many English fish in delicacy.

As in Haiti, the natives of Jamaica were ruled