A WEST INDIA ISLAND. 
481 
912 schools, 287 belong to the Church of England, 243 to the Baptists, 
131 to the AVesleyans, and 77 to the Moravians. All these schools 
are subject to inspection and supervision by the inspectors of schools 
on whose reports grants in aid are given under fixed rules, and grants 
are also given in aid of building. There is a training college for 
schoolmasters, and another for female teachers. There is a high 
school for boys near Kingston ; and there are several schools In 
different parts of the island of a superior class, which are conducted 
by religious bodies, or are helped by funds left in trust for the purpose. 
A scholarship in England of the value of £200, tenable for three Years' 
is open to competition each year. 
The judicial system comprises a Supreme Court with three 
judges, fourteen paid resident magistrates, with a large number of 
justices of the peace; and there is a police force of 770 of all ranks 
organised much on the footing of the Boyal Irish Constabulary! 
There is a regular prison department, and there are industrial and 
reformatory schools for boys and girls. 
1 must not omit to mention that there is a botanical department 
in the island, with large gardens and plantations at different eleva- 
tions, where much experimental cultivation is carried on. It is no 
doubt, greatly owing to the exertions of this department that the fruit 
trade has become so important, and there now seems a prospect of tea 
being grown in some quantity. The cultivation of cinchona, which 
was commenced with some spirit several years ago, has not been so 
successful as was anticipated. This, no doubt, has been in some 
measure due to the great fall in the price. 
It is interesting to note that nearly all the valuable trees and 
plants which now abound in Jamaica have been brought from other 
parts of the world. The sugar-cane, coffee, the logwood, the mango, 
the nutmeg, the bamboo, and many others have all been imported, & as 
well as the guinea-grass, which enables large quantities of good cattle 
and horses to be raised and nourished. 
It is not right to omit to allude to what is one of the greatest 
drawbacks of the island — the plague of ticks, which prevails more or 
less all over the island; and the mongoose, which was originally 
introduced to kill the rats that destroyed the cane, has now become a 
formidable enemy to the poultry and to all ground game. 
Jamaica is singularly destitute of wild animals and beasts of prey. 
Neither deer, nor bears, nor wolves, nor hyenas, or jackals, or leopards,' 
or larger beasts of prey, or monkeys are to be found; and one animal 
peculiar to Jamaica and one or two other parts of the world, and 
which is mentioned in Scripture as the cony, is very scarce. There are 
snakes, but none of them have deadly poison. 
Birds are numerous, and prominent among them are various kinds 
of beautiful humming birds and the very handsome Jamaica robin. 
Perhaps the most useful of the birds is the John Crow, a bird which 
as a scavenger is most painstaking. 
Fishes are numerous all round the island and in the rivers, but 
this source. of food supply is not made sufficient use of in Jamaica,’ any 
more than it is in other countries that we know of. 
The main roads throughout J arnaica are maintained in excellent 
order, and are 1,800 miles in length. There are also good parochial 
2 a r 
