A PAPER CHASE IN THE WEST INDIES. 



Mrs. Julian Hawthorne. 



(See Frontispiece.) 



T 



he card of invitation reads as fol- 

 lows : 



MAJOR GENERAL H—B-. 



Fnday, 2d March, 1894. 

 Paper-Chase. 



• Meet at Up Park Camp Finish 



at 5 P. M. At Trafalgar Park. ; 



: p.t.o. • 



and when you turn over accordingly, 

 you read on the reverse : 



A Rosette will be presented to the Lady 

 and Gentleman first Up at the Finish. 



Up Park Camp is the station of the 

 West India regiments, about three 

 miles from Kingston. It is at present 

 occupied by the 2nd W. I., the 1st 

 being at Sierra Leone. The two 

 regiments exchange stations every three 

 years, thus having three years of 

 fighting and fever in Africa, alternating 

 with three of peace and health here. 

 The camp is beautifully situated on a 

 plain of some thousand acres, lying at 

 the foot of Long mountain, which rises 

 over two thousand feet on the east. 

 The plain is high enough to command 

 a view of the blue Caribbean sea, and 

 a strong breeze blows continually 

 across it. 



Some of the younger members of our 

 family decide to ride ; others of us go 

 on bicycles, or in carriages (there are 

 ten of us, so that excluding the very 

 youngest, we need a good deal of ac- 

 commodation). It is our first experi- 

 ence of a tropic hunt, and we look for- 

 ward to it with interest. 



At half-past four, we start for the 

 camp, our house being several miles 

 from it. After a short drive along the 

 hard, white limestone road, we join a 

 throng of carriages and equestrians all 

 tending in the same direction. Greet- 

 ings are exchanged on all sides ; and as 

 our pace is necessarily slackened by the 

 increasing crowd, we all become more 

 and more impatient to reach the camp. 

 Finally, we enter the grounds, and the 

 carriages scatter, some taking one road, 

 some another. On a broad lawn near 

 the villa of the colonel in command, a 

 hundred or more riders are grouped ; 

 a few ladies are among them. None 

 wear the pink ; Norfolk jackets or 

 light tweed coats surmount the cords 

 and tops ; the women wear the usual 

 cloth habits as a rule — one or two only 

 being habited in brown linen. 



The carriages draw up in close ranks 

 along the drives, prepared to follow the 

 hunt as closely as possible. 



At five, the tall general winds the 

 horn, and off dash the two " hares," the 

 best pair of riders in camp, carrying 

 their bags of fine-cut paper to leave as 

 a trail for the hounds to follow. Over 

 the water-jump, neck and neck, they go, 

 on over the hurdles and five-barred 

 gates which are placed at intervals 

 along the course. One of them funks 

 a hurdle three or four times, but is 

 finally taken over in good shape, and is 

 spurred on to catch up with his brother 

 hare, now far in the distance. At length, 

 both are hidden by a low, dense wood 

 at rear of camp quarters. 



And now, the five minutes grace al- 

 lowed them have expired ; and a second 

 winding of the horn starts off the 

 hounds, represented by all the rest of 

 the horsemen and women. Our carri- 

 age has been placed as near the water 

 jump as possible ; it is a nasty bit, that 

 usually brings a good many to grief. 

 We await their approach. 



