CHAPTER VIIT. 



Jamaica. 



ALTHOUGH classed with the Great Antilles, Jamaica is far exceeded 

 in size both by Cuba and San Domingo. But in respect of popu- 

 lation the difference is less, the relative density being higher in 

 the smaller island. Jamaica alone represents nearly one-third of 

 the collective area of all the British West Indies, and nearly one 

 half of their population. It has a supei'ficial area of 4,200 miles, 1-lOth of Cuba, 

 with a population (1890) of 635,000; or considerably more than a third of that 

 of Cuba. 



The name of Jamaica might, at first sight, appear to be of European origin, as 

 if connected with that of Jaime, or " James." But there can be no doubt that it 

 is a native word, its true form being Xaymaca, that is " Island of Fountains," or 

 " of torrents," in the language of the extinct aborigines. When Columbus dis- 

 covered it in 1404, during his second voyage, he called it Santiago, a term that was 

 soon forgotten. 



The Spaniards settled in the island in the year 1509, when they founded a few 

 stations, round which the natives grouped their dwellings. These natives had been 

 reduced without bloodshed under the mild administration of the first governor, 

 Esquivel. But this beneficent ruler was succeeded by ruthless conquerors, whose 

 historic rôle was almost exclusively limited to the work of extermination. A 

 century and a half after the occultation, the whole population had been reduced 

 to 3,000, free and slaves, of whom one-half were Spaniards. Most of these took 

 refuge in Cuba in the year 1655, when a fleet despatched by Cromwell against 

 San Domingo, having been repulsed from that island, indemnified itself by seizing 

 Jamaica. 



The land thus conquered by the English was colonised the next year by 

 settlers of all kinds drawn from the West Indies, and from the coasts of Scotland 

 and Ireland. The population rapidly increased, thanks to the privileges granted 

 to the colonists ; and amongst the immigrants came a large number of Jewish 

 traders. During the next few decades Jamaica became a busy centre of bucca- 

 neering and of the slave trade. It was at Port It03^al that the famous corsair, 

 Morgan, prepared his expeditions, and the same town was the great mart whence 

 the slaves imported from Africa were distributed throughout the West Indies and 

 on the mainland. 



