JAMAICA 1201 



quarantine, the island is remarkably healthful and ordinarily 

 as free from epidemics as our own Southern seaboard, the 

 death-rate being only 20.9 per 1000 for the island. These 

 figures, when contrasted with the vital statistics of Cuba, 

 Haiti, and Martinique, where no serious efforts are made 

 to offset the natural drawbacks of tropical climate, show 

 that the mortality of the Antilles can be greatly reduced. 



The quarantine establishment is most thoroughly 

 organized. Competent officials guard every port, and a 

 fine lazaretto has been constructed at Green Bay, opposite 

 Port Royal, with first-class accommodations for those who 

 may be detained. The quarantine laws are enforced with 

 the greatest severity, so much so that intercourse with 

 Cuba, Haiti, and other places where yellow fever per- 

 manently exists through neglect, is almost prohibited, 

 although this practically isolates Jamaica commercially 

 from near-by lands with which much trade might be 

 developed. 



Not only is every precaution taken to guard against 

 the introduction of disease, but the island is kept in a 

 thoroughly sanitary condition. Cleanliness is stringently 

 enforced and the water-supply carefully guarded from 

 pollution by a central board of health, with district medi- 

 cal officers in every parish, assisted by the constabulary 

 and backed by the support of public opinion. 



Notwithstanding these stringent precautions, yellow- 

 fever is occasionally introduced into the island, as it is in 

 our own Southern cities. In 1897 an epidemic of this 

 disease was brought by Cuban refugees who smuggled 

 themselves into the country. Ordinarily the island is free 

 from this scourge, which is in no manner indigenous. 



