XAYMACA; THE ISLAND OF MANY RIVERS 309 



with our rugs, and fared well on a cup of coffee, 

 eggs, biscuit, and jam. In the early morning we 

 drove on for breakfast at Spring Garden. It is 

 a large estate, formerly a sugar plantation, the 

 land now leased to the Boston Fruit Company 

 for the culture of bananas. We spent a couple 

 of hours with our kind host and hostess on the 

 terrace, overlooking the sea, and then continued 

 our journey. 



Twice in the last four hundred years vast wealth 

 has been concentrated in Jamaica, and twice this 

 wealth has been dissipated. Both stories are in- 

 teresting. When the " gentlemen of fortune " 

 of all nationalities consorted in companies to- 

 gether and plied their vocation, the Spanish Main 

 was the El Dorado they sought, and ultimately 

 the city of Port Royal became the rendezvous of 

 many of them — the haven of rest of the bucca- 

 neers. Here they lived in the most magnificent 

 luxury, and here their orgies became so notorious 

 that Port Royal was a synonym for the most wan- 

 ton waste and wickedness of all kinds. 



" On the 7th of June, 1692, the great earthquake occurred 

 which almost destroyed the opulent city. Whole streets with 

 their inhabitants were swallowed up by the opening of the 

 earth, which, as it closed again, squeezed the people to death. 

 Of the three thousand houses, but about two hundred, with 

 Fort Charles, remained. The whole island felt the shock. 

 Chains of hills were riven asunder ; new channels formed for 

 the rivers ; mountains dissolved with a mighty crash, burying 



