2o8 HISTORY OF THE [BOOK. . 



for instance, to which it was compared by Columbus), 

 it must be pronounced an unfruitful and laborious 

 country, as the following detail w r ill demonstrate. 



Jamaica is one hundred and fifty miles in length, 

 and, on a medium of three measurements at different 



admits of no interlopers, nor allows any of his family to stray. The 

 breed is remarkably hardy, but somewhat restive from their wild nature^ 

 The air of this country (particularly at Tophill, which approaches to 

 mountainous) is wonderfully salubrious. As one proof of this, there 

 was living so late as 1780, a negro man, named John Comelast, who had 

 resided on this spot as shepherd for upwards of 30 years. He had for- 

 merly been the coachman of a Mr. Woodstock, who had given him per- 

 mission in his old age to go where he pleased. At the time I saw him his 

 woolly hair had become perfectly white, and his body was shrivelled be- 

 yond any thing I had ever beheld ; but at the same time his muscles were 

 full and firm, and he could run down any sheep in the savanna j for he 

 had no dog to assist him. We took him as our guide down to the sea: 

 he ran before us, keeping our horses on a hand-gallop, to the beach, and 

 he maintained the same pace on our return (though up-hill) a distance of 

 about 10 miles. Of one family of the name of Ebanks, who lived ofi 

 these plains, there were threescore persons living, all descended from one 

 man, who was himself living in 1780. The air of this district, though 

 not cold, is wonderfully dry and elastic, and so temperate withai, that 

 even a European sportsman may follow his game the whole day without 

 feeling any oppression from the heat ; and he will meet with good sport in 

 pursuing the galena or wild Guinea-fowl, which is found herein great num- 

 bers. The mutton raised here is equal to the finest down mutton in Eng- 

 land, and the fruits and vegetables of all kinds are excellent. The water- 

 melon in particular ranks with the first of fruits. Its coolness, crispness 

 and flavour, are rivalled only by the beauty of the rind, which is mottled 

 in shades of green, and bears a gloss like the polish of marble. On the 

 whole, for beauty of prospect, for purity and dryness of air, and a 

 climate exempt from either extreme of heat and cold, Pedro Plains may 

 vie with any spot on the habitable globe. 



