JAMAICA 189 



in the rocks. From one to four thousand feet, planta- 

 tions of coffee are numerous, because of the congenial 

 temperature and moisture which this most fastidious 

 shrub demands. At live thousand feet the government 

 has used a suitable environment for a cinchona-farm. 

 Above six thousand feet, in an atmosphere of perpetual 

 humidity, tree-ferns, the most exquisite of tropical plants, 

 appear and clothe the summit. In this climate alpine 

 heights and slopes offer no obstacle to human occupation, 

 and to an altitude of four thousand feet they are well 

 populated. On the summit a hut has been provided for 

 the tourist to camp in for the night. 



There are many other conspicuous peaks of the Blue 

 Mountain ridge, but few of them have received local 

 names. Sugar-loaf Peak, which lies just east of Blue 

 Mountain Peak, is a part of the latter. To the west are 

 Sir John's Peak, John Crow Hill, Silver Hill, and St. 

 Catherine's Peak (503G feet). These high summits are 

 situated near the central portion of the main ridge, which 

 is crossed by five passes with altitudes varying between 

 three and four thousand feet. 



East of Kingston there are few practical openings 

 through the Blue Mountain ridge which are passable on 

 horseback. One of these is that of Cuna-Cuna, between 

 Port Antonio and Bowden, which traverses some of the 

 most rugged and beautiful scenery on the island. Its 

 altitude is 2698 feet. A good highway crosses the island 

 through a pass in the ridge cut by the waters of the Wag 

 Water (Agua Alta), between Kingston and Port Maria. 



The Blue Mountain ridge is not a rock-ribbed projec- 

 tioii of granite, lava, or other enduring rock, like our 

 New England hills, but is composed of friable or loosely 

 consolidated shales, clays, and conglomerates, with here 

 and there an exceptional local bed of limestone or an 

 occasional dike or mass of soft and decomposed igneous 

 rock. The result is a configuration of wonderful knife- 

 crests, slopes, and points, rather than cliffs and table-lands. 



