118 JAMES' TOWN. 



public buildings are " the Castle/' or governor's 

 town residence, with a garden or public prome- 

 nade attached ; an excellent church ; a barrack, 

 and military hospital ; officers' mess-house ; 

 post-office ; and infant-school ; together with a 

 few good boarding-houses and taverns* A thea- 

 tre formerly existed, but it is now in ruins. A 

 small plot of ground, near the centre of the 

 valley, is devoted to the purpose of a Botanic- 

 garden. When viewed from its surrounding 

 heights, and its size reduced by vertical dis- 

 tance, the town has a novel appearance ; not un- 

 like that of a deep channel of a mountain tor- 

 rent, densely covered with pigmy dwellings ; 

 while the light construction of many of the 

 houses, and the diversity of colours, as red, yel- 

 low, blue, or white, with which they are painted, 

 convey the gaudy and fantastic effect of a toy- 

 village. 



Rows of shady trees, chiefly of the Banian 

 family, planted on the esplanade, as well as in 

 the principal streets, tend to relieve the sterile 

 appearance of the soil near the coast, and to 

 communicate an air of verdure which it does not 

 naturally possess. Some scattered ornamental 

 villas, more remote from the sea, are surrounded 

 by gardens, tastefully disposed, and containing 

 a few plantain, cocoa-nut, date, and other orien- 



