232 SUNSHINE AND SPORT 



homeward trip was about the most enjoyable I 

 ever shipped on. It started in fine weather, pro- 

 ceeded in fine weather and ended in fine weather, 

 with one afternoon's rain at Savanilla (a pier that 

 would look no better in the weather of Paradise), 

 a second of deluge at Port of Spain^ and a third, 

 after leaving Barbados, on which the trade winds 

 moved the steady boat to incipient frolic and 

 several of those on board of her to more than 

 incipient sickness. This fine-weather voyage, with 

 the almost daily distraction during a fortnight of 

 a port of call, lends a charm to the Royal Mail 

 route which is entirely lacking in any more direct. 

 The rest appeal chiefly to those going home on 

 short leave and to other slaves of time. In bidding 

 good-bye to Kingston, I little dreamt of the terrible 

 convulsion that was to make of it a heap of ruins 

 within a few months' time, of the comfortable 

 Jamaica Club levelled with the road, of poor Con- 

 stantine, who looked after me so kindly during my 

 stay in the island, being among the earthquake's 

 first victims! It was a cruel blow to an island just 

 showing signs of recovery after a long spell of 

 commercial depression, and it is to be hoped that 

 its own energy, aided by the rally of an Empire to 

 its needs, will turn calamity to blessing, and that 

 Kingston, which, for all its quaintness, was a 

 capital of very modest design, may, like so many 

 American cities similarly afflicted, have come 

 through the fire to emerge better than its old 

 self. 



