up, causGMi by the fall of nearly all tiie business houses, in- 

 cluding the Colonial Bank, considered the most substantial 

 building in the city. This was followed by a few moments 

 of int-ense darkness, in which the sun was blotted out, and 

 I could not see the men who' stood only a few feet awaj'. 

 The darkness was partly due to the gi"eat cloud of dust 

 which rose from the crumbling city, but for the moment 

 we were all stricken dumb and wondered if the great judg- 

 ment day had come. Shock followed shook, completing 

 the destruction." The death roll reached over 1,000, and 

 scarcely a house or building in the city escaped serious 

 injury, and in many eases total ruin. 



The scenei'y and climate of Jamaica were next de- 

 iscribod — mountains jising to 7,000 feet, and a temperature 

 of 50 to' 90, according to altitude and locality. Mention 

 was made of the excellent road system, to which is devoted 

 the revenue from spirit licenses, the lecturer remarking 

 that "it is perhaps fitting that a traffic which is apt to 

 deTelope unsteady stops and a. disposition to stumble, 

 should by a strange administrative irony, furnish the com- 

 munity with the means whereby the danger to the way- 

 farer, Vv'ho ha/g indulged his taste for the liquid refreshment 

 it offers 'net wisely but too well,' is considerably mmi- 

 mised." Besides the road system, the railway service and 

 other moans of tra">.'clling were fully explained. 



A description of a Jajnaicai sunset must not pass un- 

 noticed. "When the great orb of day, with invisible hands 

 gathere about him, os he majestically descends towards 

 the horizon, clouds of every conceivable and inconceivable 

 sliapo and color — purple, and red, and pink, and rose, 

 amber, and opal, and white — fSuiTounding himself as one 

 might imagine the Great White Throne of tiio celestial city 

 encircled with glory. Lower he descends, and long, slender 

 strips of v/hito fleecy cloud half veil his face, and are trans- 

 figured into bars of silver and curiains of a wondrous pat- 

 tern, gradually changing into pale, and then flaming red 

 gold, which dissolves, leaving the v.diolc surface glowing 



43 



