One troupe of demons in a pantomime, the ship was full of negroes. Swarming like ants, they penetrated into every hole and corner of the vessel. You found them in your cabin; you found them in the saloon. One caught up your portmanteau, and another your dressing-case. Grinning, laughing, shouting, quarrelling, the perspiration pouring off their sable faces, they strove and fought and squabbled over our trunks and packages. Before I knew where I was, my cherished travelling bag had disappeared over the gangway; and I record with pleasure my obligations to that most excellent of men, my bedroom steward, for rescuing myself and the remainder of my property from the clutches of the rapacious crew. by one our little travelling society began to disperse, each on his or her different course of life. There was the little Cuban lady with her short dress and her high heeled boots, and her chattering not unmusical voice. There was the pair of Spaniards who sat opposite to us at dinner and devoured the dessert before their neighbours had finished their soup. There was the sullen passenger whom, it was reported, our good captain, for sundry high crimes and misdemeanours, had threatened to put in irons. There was that long, lank, sallow Brazilian, who seemed "to carry some great sorrow next his heart," which he could only assuage by eating prodigious quantities of cheese and marmalade at breakfast-time. There was the fat English lady with her Skye terrier, her patent washing machine, and her pots of drooping fuchsias and geraniums. There was the Mora vian "brother" and his lot-selected helpmate; and the two planters, evidently "born near the plantain root," who thought Jamaica was going to the devil; and the country shopkeeper-he called himself a merchant and wrote J.P. after his name in the address we presented to the captain; and lastly there were our noble selves, with whom we trust the reader will in due time become better acquainted. Scarcely had the last passenger left the ship when began that most useful but most disagreeable of processes-the coaling of the steamer. This service, which is entirely performed by negroes, is said to cost the Company, at Kingston alone, no less than £2000 a year. One after another in a long line, men and women, black as the coals they carried, chanting a wild recitative, and walking with that peculiar swing which is characteristic of the black race all over the world, they trooped up the gangway to empty their baskets in the hold. These "coal boys," and still more so the "coal girls," are a peculiar class. Lazy, idle, dissolute, they do nothing between the departure of one ship and the arrival of another but loaf round the gates of the Company's wharf, or under the piazzas of the houses in the neighbouring streets, eating oranges and abusing each other in the most obscene of language. We had the fortune to witness a fight between two of these interesting maidens. Catching her opponent by the neck, vixen No. 1 commenced the attack by delivering a vigorous "buck" with her head right in front of her antagonist-a compliment which was instantly returned. Now both were wrestling on the ground, legs twined with legs, and arms with arms, and the blood flowing pretty freely on either side. How long this might have lasted we cannot say, for nobody seemed to think it his duty to interfere. But just at this juncture a constable was seen approaching, and the two termagants bleeding, wounded, almost naked, hurling abuse at each other all the time, with many tears and many objurgations, were incontinently marched off to "the cage." Our Our first business on leaving the ship was to provide ourselves with lodgings. So hailing a ""bus," as the Kingston cabs are called, we started to seek the hotel to which we had been recommended. This "'bus" of ours was certainly a most curious and rudimentary structure. It was, in fact, nothing more than a seat on wheels with poles attached to each corner, over which a shabby piece of tarpaulin was stretched by way of protection from the sun. driver was an impish-looking boy, apparently about fifteen, with a scarlet sash tied round his waist, and a roll of white cotton festooned with blue calico twisted round his somewhat indefinable head-gear. He smoked incessantly, all the time viciously tugging the ropes which served him for reins, and almost sawing open the mouth of his miserable horse, which, with bones projecting through its skin, and a weary beseeching look in its lustreless eyes, was doing its best to drag the over-laden vehicle through the unpaved streets. Like almost all its fellows our 'bus had its name-" The Lukkey "—(Query, lucky?) con spicuously painted on its back. Some of these names were very amusing. On our short journey up East Street we passed "The Pride of the East," "The People's Favourite," with a rather handsome coloured girl seated in it; "It shines for all," "The Army and Navy," "Something must be done," "Self-help," and "The Good Time Coming." In due time, and after a prodigious amount of tumbling and jolting, we were landed at the door of a large and desolate-looking building, which the driver informed us was the "Hall" (for by this grand name are inns known in Jamaica) to which we were bound. We entered upon a court-yard paved with brick, around which half-a-dozen men and women were idly sitting. Two wall-eyed horses were being rubbed down; sable damsels seated on the ground were washing ewers and basins and towels. A shaken from a balcony overhead. keys, three enraged Guinea fowls, some poultry, two goats, and a lean dog were wandering about at their own sweet wills; and the filthy condition of the courtyard justified the presumption that this litter had not been removed for a week. As we were wonderingly looking around to see whether we had not made a mistake and entered the " curtilage" of a private dwelling-house, one of the women, whom we afterwards discovered to be the proprietrix of the establishment, without rising from her chair, wished us an indolent and indifferent "good morning." We were about to commence an apology for our intrusion, when she suddenly interrupted us by calling to a dirty black boy who was passing, "Thomas, show the gentlemen into the hall, and tell the house-woman to put water into No. 24." Then, without taking further notice of us, she turned to her next neighbour and commenced a tirade upon the "vileness" of servants in Jamaica, and of her own in particular. Following our guide up-stairs we were ushered into a large room, where an old negress, on her knees, smoking the stump of a cigar with the lighted end in her mouth, was cleaning the polished floor. Off this central apartment the bedrooms diverged in all directions. Into one of these we were inducted by the sulky boy. The room was gloomy as a vault. A bed, a chair, and a basin-stand constituted all the furniture. A little strip of matting by our bedside was all our carpet. There were few traces of that West Indian luxury of which we had heard so much before leaving home. Breakfast was served to us in a broad verandah overlooking the street. We had oysters from the mangrove trees at Port Royal, a brilliant scarlet "snapper," an excellent fish, but, like all tropical fishes, soft and flabby in substance; brain fritters, a small biscuit called "crackers" soaked in butter, stuffed "garden eggs," a most delicious vegetable, roasted plantains, a piled-up plate of golden oranges and a pine-apple. Our drink was iced water, but tea and coffee were to be had for the asking. Such was our first meal in Jamaica. |