610 



Stewart''s Past and Present State of Jamaica. 



he prescribes, performs operations, and 

 compounds his own medicines, 



EDUCATION. 



One of tlie most important wants in 

 Jamaica is that of proper seminaries for 

 the instruction of youth of the better 

 class, who are on that account sent to 

 Great Britain to be educated. In 

 Kingston, and in some of tlie parishes, 

 there arc tolerably good public founda- 

 tions, where the elements of education 

 and some of ihe languages are taught, 

 and in every parish there is a free 

 school ; but no parent, with the means 

 of giving his son a Jirilish education, 

 would think of placing him in these 

 seminaries. 'J'he masters arc generally 

 inferior in talents and attainments to 

 those who are at the head of the 

 public schools in England ; there is not 

 that discipline and order maintained in 

 the former as in the latter, and, if there 

 were, it would be a cause of perpetual 

 discontent to the indulgent parents, 

 many of whom would rather that their 

 children should remain for ever in igno- 

 rance, than be subjected to any thing in 

 the shape of correction. The usual 

 plan is, to give the male cbildren the 

 elements of iustruclion in the island, 

 and then send them to Great Britain to 

 have their education finished ; but the 

 females are usually sent at five or six 

 years of age, tiiere being only one semi- 

 nary in the island (in Kingston) where 

 young ladies can receive any thing like 

 an accomplished education, and even 

 there it cannot be expected that their 

 mindj and manners can be so well 

 formed as in a wcli-conductcd seminary 

 in Great Britain. 



LITERATURE. 



AVitli the exception of some medical 

 tracts, and a very coinpiehensive Hortus 

 published a few years ago, no work of 

 any note has issued lions i;ie press here. 

 Periodical works have been repeatedly 

 tried, but without success. Nine-tenths 

 of the inhabitants never think of 

 reading any thing beyond a newspaper, 

 business and pleasure engrossing too 

 much of their attention to leave much 

 leisure for reading. Six newspapers are 

 pidilislied here, viz. four weekly and two 

 daily p;ipers; about half of these are 

 usually filled with advertisements, and 

 the other half with political matter, 

 chiefly copied from the English papers 

 and literary extracts. In Kingston 

 there is a tolerably good circulating 

 library, but none in any of the parishes 

 that deserve the name. Intellectual 

 pleasures are not so much suited to the 



taste of tlic inhabitants as somcliiing that 

 will create a bustle, and bring a crowd of 

 well-dressed persons together in pursuit 

 of amusements of a more tangible na- 

 ture — such, for instance, as the parish 

 races, where, in one week, tliere is as 

 much money spent as would establish a 

 superb public library. 



LUXURY. 



The Creoles are not extravagantly 

 expensive in the furniture of their 

 houses; it is generally plain, but gen- 

 teel. Their sideboards and beaulets, 

 however, display a costly brilliancy, in 

 unison with the plentiful and spleixlid 

 che(r which is spread on their diinicr- 

 tables. In a large hone, conisting 

 of many apartments, the labour of 

 six or eight female slaves is required 

 for two or three hours every murning 

 in burnishing the floors, which for 

 brilliancy of polish rival the finest fur- 

 niture. They are formed of mahogany, 

 wild orange, or other hard wood. 



About the house of a wealthy pro- 

 prietor there are usually about twenty- 

 five or thirty black and mnbitlo ser- 

 vants, including grooms, a gardener, 

 laundresses, and persons attending 

 cows, sheep, hogs, and poultry. Be- 

 sides the ordin iry servants of Ihe family, 

 the ladies have each one, and some- 

 times two wailiiig-maids, whose sole 

 employment is t() allend on their re- 

 spective nlistr!.■s^(■s. 'I'lie oeenpatioii 

 of the other female servants consists 

 in keeping the house in order, making 

 the household linen and servants' appa- 

 rel, running of errands, attending at 

 table, &.C.; while the bidies' maids, 

 squatted down on the floor by their 

 mistresses, are employed in various 

 kinils of needle-work. The e(piipago 

 of such a family consists of a coach or 

 landau, and one or two covered gigs or 

 chaises, and fifteen or twenty horses 

 and mules, with their jiroper attendants, 

 'i'he whole may be worth about ^2,000 

 currency. 



When a private entertainment is to 

 be given, no experise or pains are 

 spared to render it as sumptuous as 

 possible. The table is spread with a 

 costly jirofusion of all the viands and 

 delicacies which industry er money 

 can procure. The dinner is not gene- 

 rally divitled into separate courses, 

 but the table is at once loade<l with 

 superabundance; flesh, (ish, fowl, game, 

 and various vegetables, appear at (juee 

 to view, in a style ratlser indicative of 

 a liberal display of hospitality than taste 

 and selection. The dessert, (onsisting 



of 



