Travels and adventures of an orchid hunter

TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES OF AN ORCHID HUNTER m: ,# ^*^frWt MANSEl TLEffi MENDELIL Vap: EMPRESS OF INDIA COLLECTED BY THE AUTHOR Travels and Adventures 216 Arabs and there are also hordes of Chinese, a few a coolies, company of Frenchmen, a few English and Americans, Spaniards, Cubans, and Colombians occasionally a band of may be interior ; and Indians from the half-civilised seen moving about amongst the stores, making purchases, always in Here every- company thing has an air of neglected dissipation, and the motto of Jew and Gentile seems rum selves with The make or be either to to a fortune much from place has suffered very of the town adjoining the entrance to called the Quartier Francais palms, which were planted An The employed neat are situated in vided with a from Paris can ocean distant other side to in or built for the use of the of the water, is their sunny canal ; they wood, and pro- the new imports hammocks France on and the Just at the point of the entrance the canal two spacious de Lesseps, while of where verandah the Frenchmen the work of the built swine is In this neighbour- houses of cottages, the canal some years ago, now form directing the little contemplate the part avenue of cocoanut- a pretty and an agreeable shade are having fire, been twice almost entirely swept away hood them- kill wooden houses have been famous engineer, M Ferdinand in front of these, on the very edge placed a beautiful bronze statue of Christopher Columbus protecting an Indian This was of an Orchid Hunter presented to Colon by the Empress Eugenie Although time of her power capital, the the in we passed at the time Colon the actual work of the canal was suspended want of i seven miles already open for for traffic were busy with boats and small steamers, while the were stocked with machinery and workshops sides As the Royal Mail ships lie here three or four days, have time to take the train across travellers the isthmus to the town of Panama, the Pacific entrance to formed of the work of excavating which done ; and the scenery is much more commodious homeward-bound Essequibo, soon on way its ss excellent Captain to is The Buckley Jamaica merely mention the soon come port in sight of for and disorder filth that me stay here written from the to of Jamaica more than Sailing along the coast, we the shallows and the jutting projection with the fortifications called As Tagus was The mosquitoes and So much has been no need here the to and kindly captain of time to time about the beautiful island that there very Tagus, everyone being made everyone glad was not loneer tranship to the bad climate, together with the of Colon, is than Colon mail, the sorry to leave the bein^ is good, while the town At Colon we were obliged the may be In the journey a good idea the canal Port Royal the waves dash up on the sandy beach the strong Travels and Adventures 218 of this climate gives the water a most lovely light transparent blue colour which seldom seen is northern latitudes Kingston Harbour most important the always well filled in West Indian in more one of the is Islands, and is with ships of every kind and nation, from the magnificent modern man-of-war and merchantship to the tiny sail-boat that trades along the coast with The appearance fruit of this island from the sea very much improved by a range of hills the whole length of the interior is which extends These are very rightly called the Blue Mountains, as they are mostly covered with a thin mist which looks from the sea like a pale-blue gauze thrown over them, changing with the rays of the sun to the most fantastic colours As the ships are at liberty alongside lie to stroll interest in the ments the of in ship, the on shore to passengers visit the places of Some town of Kingston take apart- hotels to avoid the uncomfortable heat of make others island business quay, the excursions The town activity, hot is itself, and various to although dusty parts full The of most favourite resorts in the country are the lovely model Botanical Gardens, which occupy one of situations half a day's journey tains, and the military side of the mountain, Last year the station, up the Blue which where the Exhibition of the lies far air is cool best Mounup the and pure manufactured o-oods ; of an Orchid Hunter 219 and products of the islands was a great attraction to Kingston Tram-cars run Spring, stant to one of the suburbs called Con- about an hour's passing on the way many wealthy inhabitants of A business pretty the commodious ride Kingston, villas, in which the town take refuge from hotel has been built at this offering every convenience place, from The for visitors beautiful park, called the Victoria Park, is rich with a wealth of tropical plants which every foreigner covets the keeping and arrangement of the plants are carried Although a lar^e out with the greatest crood taste part of the island there are many is fine mountainous and uncultivated, sugar estates, and the growing of sugar-cane and making of sugar and of the labour of the island fruit is many Some lavish in of the Every variety of abundance, of which find their way especially to the Oncidiums grow Many climate of Jamaica rum occupy most in tropical pine-apples, London market profusion in the of the cottages have quite a quantity of plants, which flower very freely and look extremely pretty Although the negroes are generally averse to hard work, find a it would probably be difficult to more peaceable, law-abiding community than the coloured population of the island of Jamaica the country their tiny hovels are sheds, often miserably little In removed from neglected, but in the towns Travels and Adventures 220 many of the houses are furnished with the greatest care and comfort The inhabitants of the outlying hamlets are occupied largely market of Kingston, and in producing fruit for the season of the ripening in the of the mangoes they seem, like the South American Indians, to subsist almost entirely on this fruit; while Papaw (Carica papaya) and the Avocado pear of Kingston are narrow and badly kept, the houses are built so as to the (Laurus Persea) form the dessert Although many of the streets ensure the greatest comfort to the inhabitants The climate large, airy saloons, of a hot which are often on the second floor, are formed of partitions of lattice- work, which exclude largely the dust and insects, and at the same time admit of a free circulation of air, and so keep the dwellings as cool and agreeable as possible As we had been two more at Jamaica, four days delayed at Colon, and anyone having a valuable cargo of plants from the cool regions of the naturally be uneasy about their safety heat of these ports, so we steamed of Haiti I in the roasting was only too pleased when past Port Royal on our The Tagus Andes would way to the island coasted along the island, and then put into the harbour of Jacmel, only to deliver mails and passengers, time The which occupies a very short sight from the sea is very picturesque, but \*" "jy, ~*"~r ~*' of an Orchid Hunter, 22 no one lands here excepting those who have business, and, however seems my to beautiful this island be known about part, after the it to be, journey thus described, undertake the very to the outside world DECK OF THE mood may I call to in no TAGUS The Tag us task put into way of see our friends, and then betook herself to the eleven days' journey across the Atlantic the large For was the harbour of Bridgetown, Barbadoes, just by a little As a rule, company of Colonials who come on board the various islands are not the at best of sailors, and ; Travels and Adventures 222 there the usual period of sea-sickness to get over is we reached but long before the Azores everyone was on deck enjoying the beautiful passage, which continued until we reached the many an exile land reached lovely harbour who had was glad enough Lizard the of Finally Plymouth, we where lived a stranger in a strange to again set foot on Old England THE END Printed by Cassell & Company, Limited, La Belle Sauvage London, E.C " :' v** % * r / % ... TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES OF AN ORCHID HUNTER m: ,# ^*^frWt MANSEl TLEffi MENDELIL Vap: EMPRESS OF INDIA COLLECTED BY THE AUTHOR Travels and Adventures OK AN Orchid Hunter An Account of Canoe... with the figure of a and the features of a nymph, and a pair of Venus large, black fathomless eyes that would grace an Andalusian, whose melancholy was softened by dimpled cheeks of the most delicate... superiority of sailing over her other river companions by passing large ships, which seemed to me to many be encumbered by a superfluous arrangement of poles and white cotton ; an Orchid Hunter of and