FACILITIES FOR TRAVELLING. 



69 



The facilities for transportation in Jamaica are exceed- 

 ingly limited. With the exception of the fifteen miles 

 of railroad, there is not, to my knowledge, a stage coach or 

 regular periodical conveyance to be found in Jamaica ; nor 

 does any steam or other boat ply at stated periods between 

 any of her ports. Of course, therefore, the expense of get- 

 ting about is very great, and the intercourse between the 

 opposite extremities of the island, quite limited — more 

 so than between the Atlantic shore of the United States 

 and the Mississippi valley, and rather more expensive. 



While man has done so little for the internal improve- 

 ment of the island, Providence has benignantly indented its 

 shore with sixteen secure harbors and some thirty bays, all 

 affording good anchorage, as if it were designed to provide 

 against the indolence and stipineness of her inhabitants by 

 inviting to her shores the enterprise and capital of other 

 nations. 



Besides the productiveness of its surface, this island un- 

 questionably abounds in mineral wealth. As slavery never 

 can beget or procure mechanical skill, the mineral regions 

 have never been thoroughly explored or worked, nor their 

 Value understood ; but I have good reason to believe that 

 its copper mines are inferior in richness to none in the 

 world, and that coal will be mined here extensively before 

 many years* 



Such are some of the natural resources of this dilapidated 



