778 THE POPULAR SCIEN'CE MONTHLY. 



Jamaica, all the otiiers, with the exception of Spanish Town, be- 

 ing mere hamlets. 



Let us now take a general view of the town as it was a year or 

 two before the earthquake. In the center, approximately speak- 

 ing, built on the solid rock of the original cay, was Fort Charles 

 and about five streets of houses, while all around, but principally 

 to the north, and to the east, where the ship-channel had been 

 when Colonel Jackson visited the island, the greater part of the 

 houses were built upon ground that had been won from the sea, 

 and was retained in position by rows of palisades. These latter 

 were most numerous to the east, and that part of the town was 

 called the Palisadoes, whence we get the modern name "The 

 Palisades." Several batteries and other works had been built on 

 the brink of the water on land similarly won from the sea. Of 

 these the principal were Fort Rupert, a hexagonal work, defend- 

 ing the approach along the sand-spit from the east ; Fort James, 

 which mounted thirteen guns, and was situated at the northwest- 

 ern angle of the town ; Walker's Lines, which commanded the en- 

 trance to the harbor; and Morgan's Lines, which defended the 

 sea front. The ground-floors of the houses were, generally speak- 

 ing, of brick; the upper portions of wood. Four fifths of the 

 town was thus built upon sand, heaped up on the verge of deep 

 water, and it is marvelous how the inhabitants could have been 

 satisfied to live in so perilous a position, for earthquakes fre- 

 quently took place, and they had ample warning of what might 

 at any time occur. On October 20, 1687, a shock of earthquake 

 was felt which caused the bells in the church to ring and a tidal 

 wave to sweep along the streets nearest the harbor, while the 

 sand in other streets, sucked out by the waters beneath, fell away 

 into crater-like pits. Nobody, however, seems to have inquired 

 what would have been the result had the shock been of longer 

 duration. 



The 7th of June, 1692, the day of the great earthquake, was 

 exceedingly hot ; not a cloud was in the sky, and not a breath of 

 air stirred. At about 11.40 a. m. a slight trembling of the earth 

 was felt, and this was shortly followed by a second shock, some- 

 what stronger than the first, and accompanied by a hollow rum- 

 bling noise like distant thunder. At this most of the people began 

 to run out of their houses, but a third shock at once supervened, 

 and in about a minute — for it is said to have lasted nearly a min- 

 ute — four fifths of the town was in ruins and the sea rolling over 

 it. The streets on the north side, on the brink of the harbor, 

 where the sand had been most steeply banked up, were the first 

 to fall, sinking at once into four or five fathoms of water ; next 

 fell the church and tower ; and then Morgan's Lines, on the south 

 side, on the verge of the sea, to which many had fled for safety. 



