NOTES ON THE BOTANY OF JAMAICA, 279 
abundance of Rubus Jamaicensis and Pteris caudata, that hang over 
some of the lanes, might easily transport one to the green lanes of 
Europe. I speak of the north side of the great dividing ridge. 
Within this ridge and the north coast, aspect makes no difference in 
the vegetation. The sun is always so nearly vertical, that the same 
plants are seen in the same proportion, and the same cultivation is 
followed equally on all sides of a hill. Houses are usually built on 
isolated peaks, chiefly for the sake of the breeze, and partly perhaps 
from an idea of greater immunity from malaria ; although on this point 
most Jamaicans are very incredulous, and believe (at least they tell the 
stranger so) that he runs no greater risk of fever in Kingston, Spanish 
Town, St. Ann’s Bay, or Bath, than on the hills,—that the immigrants 
and soldiers have killed themselves with new rum and exposure to the 
sun, and that, in short, there is not a healthier spot in her Majesty’s 
dominions than any one of these four towns. A very general opinion 
prevails that there has been much less rain of late years, and that in 
proportion as the island has become drier and more barren, it has 
become healthier in every part. The fresher appearance of this 
northern side of it would seem to be owing to the dry wind blowing 
from the north-east, and depositing abundance of moisture during all 
the winter months; while the Kingston side, receiving its wind from 
the south, is dry. Yet, widely different as the vegetation appears 
on a cursory glance in first travelling from the one side to the other, 
still the species, when collected and placed in the herbarium, are nearly 
identical. It is the relative proportion in which they occur that makes 
the difference. The ordinary traveller supposes he sees no plant the 
same on the two sides of the mountain. The collector, on the contrary, 
is disappointed that a day’s toil rewards him with but some ten or twelve 
new species. It is thus that catalogues and collections lead to very false 
inferences in regard to the climate and character of a country. 
The effect of the greater and less moisture of the two sides respec- 
tively, is exhibited in two articles of great commercial importance— 
coffee and pimento. The coffee of the Port Royal mountains in the 
south-east is of the finest description that comes to the London 
market :—about Moneague the berries are allowed to drop on the 
ground and rot, not even paying the expense of gathering. On the 
other hand, pimento, on the south side, is not worth rearing. You see 
a solitary bush here and there; one of the handsomest that I have 
