THE JAMAICA EARTHQUAKE 



3§7 



Fig. 2. Photograph of Comd'r Barti,ett's Relief Map of the Caribbkan Sea. 



has noted some twenty-six minor shocks that occurred from 1880 

 to 1886, and this number might he regarded as typical of the seismic 

 phenomena in that region. A slight shock was noticed by many in 

 November last, hut the memories of the destruction of Port Eoyal by 

 the historic earthquake of 1692 had been dulled by the interval of two 

 centuries, and the Jamaicans had begun to think themselves in a region 

 of comparative safety. Slight tremors and shocks caused but scant 

 attention or notice on the part of a few of the people. Consequently, 

 when the real cry of ' wolf ' came, for the first second or so but few 

 realized the danger. The slight tremor, however, instantly increased 

 to a terrible vibration of the earth that threw clown great walls and 

 buildings and inside of a minute transformed the city of Kingston 

 from a prosperous metropolis to a place of destruction and mourning. 



In order to appreciate their relative importance and possible influ- 

 ence upon seismic activity, let us notice the topographic, geologic and 

 bathographic conditions that exist at Jamaica. 



The etymology of the word Jamaica, originating in two descriptive 

 Indian words meaning ' well wooded and watered ' and modified by the 

 Spaniards to ' Xaymaca,' 2 is interesting, taken in connection with the 

 historic topographic description of the island given by Columbus to 

 Queen Isabella on his return from the West Indies — ' a crumpled hand- 

 kerchief picked up by the middle.' 



The aptness of the simile can not be questioned when one sees the 

 many steep knife-edged divides (typical 'bad-land' topography) rising 

 abruptly in fifteen miles 7,400 feet to the misty Blue Mountain peaks 

 that tower above the small inland valleys or the narrow plains that 



2 ' Handbook of Jamaica,' 1906, p. 23. 



