266 
WEST INDIES AND SOUTH AMEEICA 
Eight ahead, lying abreast of the shore and well in the breakers, 
almost alongside the light-honse, was the wreck of the huge Nord- 
dentscher Lloyd “ Konigin Luise,” a handsome new ship painted 
white. Her skipper ingloriously blew out his brains within a 
quarter of an hour of striking, and before he had landed his 
passengers! 
As we passed the reef at Port Eoyal we were told of the great 
earthquake of 1692, when it is said that Port Eoyal, for its sins, 
was engulfed and 3000 persons perished. We were also told of 
houses and churches that might be seen deep down in the harbour. 
When walking in Kingston the poor quality of the buildings 
struck me, and recollections of my chairmanship of the Building 
Act Committee of the L.C.C. made me say to myself that Kingston 
greatly needed a Building Act; but this was only a passing thought, 
for was I not on entomology intent ? 
It is needful to bear in mind that the aboriginal forest in Jamaica 
has in most places disappeared long ago, and that in the palmy days 
of the island the land was covered with sugar estates. The area 
under cultivation has, however, greatly shrunken since then, and 
much of the land is now covered with forest of second growth, 
termed in Spanish rastrajo ; but land that has gone out of cultivation 
is in J amaica officially described as ruinate— a sufficiently expressive 
term. As in other quarters of the world, this second growth is, for 
the most part, of poor quality and consequently little worth; more¬ 
over, it is often smothered with a pall of creepers, chiefly species of 
Convolvulus and Ipomoea. Two of these Bind-weeds, with bright 
yellow flowers, are most effective, but at the time of my visit all, or 
nearly all, were dead and gone-to-seed, and the general appearance 
of the rastrajo was most untidy, and even depressing. If J amaica has 
given to the East two vegetable plagues in the shape of Lantana 
camara and Mimosa joudica, Africa has in retaliation given to J amaica 
Thunbergia alata , a well-known green-house creeper, of which the 
commonest variety is orange with a dark eye, though another variety 
is paler, with a green eye. This creeper now covers the hedges in 
Jamaica, and invades the ruinate lands, making a strong fight of it 
with the indigenous bind-weeds. 
Though there are many Coco-nuts in some districts, it cannot be 
said that Palms are a striking feature of the vegetation. Speaking 
generally, trees of any size are loaded with Epiphytes of many kinds, 
chiefly members of the Natural Order Bromeliaceae (which includes 
the Pine-apple), but also many Orchids. The trees which we most 
admired were a marked contrast to one another—-the Bread-fruit 
