Vol. VI r. No. 159. 



THE AGniCULTU'KAL XKWS. 



175 



THE JAMAICA EARTHQUAKE. 



A further extract (see Aqrici'ltaral A^cws, 

 Vol. Vn, pp. 123, 139) from Dr. Vanghan Cornish's 

 article 'TheJariiaica Earthquake, 1907,' which appeared 

 in the Geographical Journal for March last, is given 

 below. In these paragraphs Dr. Cornish fleals with 

 the observed etfects of the earthquake in parts of the 

 island oittside Kingston : — 



1 pass 1)11 now to describe the distribution of earthquake 

 •damage over the island. I myself closely, inspected Kingston, 

 Lower St. Andrew, and Buff Kay Town. I also e.\ainined the 

 damage to the town of Port Itoyal, and, visited Gordon Town 

 and Port Antonio, besides paying cursory visits to some (ither 

 places. For the estimate of damage to other places embcidicd 

 on the map I have relied upon the evidence of others, most 

 of which I obtained direct fr<jm eye-witi)ipsses. I have taken 

 great pains to sift the evidence, and to com|)are where possi- 

 ble the narratives of different persons. The result is far less 

 satisfactory than a complete survey of the island w-ould have 

 been, but it is, at any rate, a much more extensive collection 

 ■of such data than has hitherto been published. 



1 received several narratives from persons who, at the 

 time <jf the earthcpiake, were in the mountains between New- 

 Castle and Gordon Town, and between Silver Hill and Buff 

 Bay ; also from perscms at Gordon Town and near t'astleton. 

 'Their narratives indicate that the shock in these situations 

 was (juite com]jarabk' in intensity to that in Kingston. Particu- 

 larly striking was the experience of a party of tourists, 

 Avho were blocked by a fall of rock on the road leading down 

 to Buff Bay, and had to spend the night in the mountains. 

 The after-shocks were numerous, and each was preceded and 

 accompanied by an aiipalling noise. The severe landslips 

 about Newcastle and on the north of Silver Hill are evidence 

 of as nmch foi'ce as that required to wreck a house, and the 

 complete wreck of the Gardens Hou.se at Gordon Town, of 

 wliich I took a photograph, indicates, I think, an intensity 

 greater than that at Constant Spring or near Paiiine corner. 

 The damage at Buff Bay, of which I also show a photo- 

 -graph, was severe, but the stone buildings do not show 

 -evidence of having resisted the shock to the .same extent as 

 the lirick buildings of Kingston. They -collapsed instead of 

 being Hung to one side, therefore they probably fell at once : 

 for if they had resisted during an appreciable time, the walls 

 would have got up a swing, and then must have been ffung 

 •either one way or the other. I estimate the force at Buff 

 Bay as about e(|ual to that at Con.stant Spring, somewhat le.ss 

 than that at Gordon Town, and considerably less than that in 

 the eastern half of Kingston. The damage to the town of 

 Port Royal was about the same as that in the less damaged 

 parts of Kingston. 



If we consider the points where buildings fell and wlierc 

 new landslips were formed on hillsides, we see that thev may 

 almost l)e included between two straight lines joining Harbour 

 Head -with Buff I!ay Town on the eastern side, and Port 

 lloyal with Entield on the western side. The general iuqaes- 

 sion received at the time was that the earthquake at Kingston 

 •carne from the sea, and the tact recorded by the Port iloyal 

 pilot, ilr. Hunt, that his boat lying by Lime Cay was struck 

 before Port Itoyal, and that the shock was followed (in about 

 •one and a half minutes) by a surface sea-wave from the south- 

 west, strengthens this idea. Looking at the baiul of fallen 

 ■buildings across the i.sland, the idea suggests itself of a. seismic 

 wave coming from beneath the sea ratlier west of south from 

 Kingston, and rushing with scarcely iliminished force ricdit 

 • across the i.sland, the centre of the wave-front passinif chise to 

 •the Penitentiary, the full force of the wave being felt in the 



eastern half of Ki.igstou and in the eastern suburbs. 



On the north side of the island a ' tidal wave ' of 

 considerable magnitude was observed at Hope Bay, (_)range 

 Bay, Butt' Bay, Annotto Bay, Sheerness Bay, Ocho liios, and 

 St. Anne's Bay (that at Port Antonio was quite small), this 

 phenomenon commencing near Buft' Bay on the east, but 

 extending far to the westward. It may have been produced 

 by .sand-slides from the edge of the submarine land shelf 

 shown on the map, which is close inshore all aiong the coa.st, 

 and outside of which lies water of great depth. The ' tidal 

 Avave ' consisted of » recession of water from the shore, 

 followed by its return in waves. At Port Maria this is 

 reported to have occurred a few minutes before the earth- 

 quake. 



< )t: the south coast the breaking, ' bird-caging,' twisting 

 and burying of the ' Direct ' submarine cable all along the 

 line from Bull Bay to Yallah's point, indicate great sand- 

 slides along that steep submarine slope, where, moreover, 

 large quantities of detritus are continually brought down by 

 the rivers which rise in the Blue Mountains. There is no 

 cable under the Healthshire hills, and away along the coast 

 to the west, but the fact of breakage as far east as Yallah's 

 point shows the great effect of the earthquake beneath the 

 sea far to the east of Kingston on the south coast. The 

 eastern bouu'laries of considerable disturbance at sea arc 

 joined by a line running from Hope Bay on the north coast 

 to Yallah's point on the .south, and the western boundaries 

 fiom St. ,\nne's Bay on the north to Fort Clarence, where 

 a ' tidal wave ' was observed, on the south. 



CACAO INDUSTRY IN JAVA. 



Lii Cliniii iqiw C'liloti i.ale of March 8 last discusses 

 in a lengthy article the condition and progress during 

 recent years of the cacao industry in Java. 



From 1900 to 1905 average crops were obtained, 

 except in 1902, which was a very bad year, yielding 

 only a quarter of an ordinary crop. Good returns 

 were obtained in 1904 and 190.5, while 1906 was also 

 a satisfactory year. 



It is stated that the cacao trees have many active 

 enemies in Java, in the shape of insect pests and fungus 

 diseases, and the plantations need constant attention. !Many 

 pkmters, it is reported, have given up cacao growing on this 

 account. On the other hand, many new men are entering 

 tlie industry, and the number of plantations on which cacao 

 is grown is annually increasing. In 190-f there were 1 •")■"< 

 plantations ; the number had increased to 162 in 1905. to 

 KiiS in 1906, and to 1S8 in 1907. It would appear, however, 

 that in the great majority of cases, cacao is a cultivation 

 subordinate to sugar and not the only, (jr even the chief, crop 

 grown. 



In 1901 .lava exported 977,417 kilograms of cacao 

 [1 kilogram = 2-2 B).]. In 1905 the shipments increased 

 to 1,0.30,094 kilos., and to 1,81.5,912 kilo.s. in 1906. The 

 output has therefore increased almost at the rate of 100 |ier 

 cent, during the three years in question. The exports Cor 

 the first six months of 1907, 857,306 kilos., were nearly 

 ecpial to the total output of 1904. 



Holland naturally furnishes the chief market for cacao 

 from .lava. In 1906, that country imported 1,1.38,161 kilos, 

 from the island. The ITnited States in the same year took 

 375,187 kilo.s., 211,437 kilos, were shipped to Singapore, 

 while Greiit Britain imported 69,983 kilograms. 



