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WEST INDIES AND SOUTH AMERICA 
others, not in the least frightened, but was surprised at my own 
coolness. Also, like many others, I found that the succeeding trifling 
vibrations disturbed my equanimity more than the initial severe 
shock. Indeed, a slight but somewhat sustained shock, which I 
experienced at Mandeville eight days after the great earthquake, 
produced sensations unpleasantly akin to fear. I seemed to see 
passing before me in a ghastly procession all the injured persons 
that I had helped to tend on that memorable afternoon, and in¬ 
voluntarily I ejaculated: “ Good God! when will it stop ? ” 
The wooden houses of Jamaica are easily shaken by the move¬ 
ment of luggage or furniture, or even by a heavy footstep; but 
curiously enough one never had the slightest doubt as to the cause 
of a vibration. As I lay awake in bed after one of the numerous 
slight shocks, I pondered much, seeking an explanation of this 
curious fact, and believe that I found one. The vibration caused, 
for instance, by dropping a heavy weight on the floor of a room 
above, or by the banging of a door, is of a diminuendo character, 
whereas that of an earthquake is either sostenuto or actually crescendo. 
Now, the human nervous system has much experience of vibrations 
of the first description, so that none but exceptionally nervous 
individuals are put out by them; but, on the other hand, our 
organism is not sufficiently familiar with vibrations of the second 
class to regard them with equanimity. I was confirmed in the truth 
of this theory many months afterwards when seeing a lady off for 
the Continent. Before the Victoria Station was rebuilt I fancy that 
the wooden platforms had got somewhat rickety, and as I was stand¬ 
ing by the carriage door, the platform began to shake so violently 
that I seriously considered which was the safest place to stand in, 
but before moving I realized that a porter was rapidly pushing 
towards me a truck piled up with heavy baggage. The vibration 
was crescendo , and my diaphragmatic region was correspondingly 
uncomfortable. 
The earthquake emphasized in a remarkable manner the dis¬ 
tinction between the Black and White races. In the case of the 
Blacks terror seemed to be unreasoning and unrestrained ; they gave 
way to their emotions and yielded to a sauve qui pent. Of course a 
few Whites were little better, but they were quite the exception, 
and as a rule White men turned at once to help, their idea being to 
do something. It would scarcely be fair to say that the Blacks were 
more selfish than the Whites, still less that they were deficient in 
kindness; it seemed to me rather that the difference was like that 
between children and grown men. Nothing could have exceeded 
