276 
WEST INDIES AND SOUTH AMERICA 
gives the needed stimulus, and sends some of the best labourers to 
the Panama Canal, 
When the negro women are seen on the high road going to 
Kingston market with piles of produce upon their heads, one almost 
forgets their coarse features in their proud carriage as they swing 
along with their stalwart limbs. When clad in white, or better still 
in red or yellow, one feels that there is much to be said for a black 
skin, but blue (of which they are fond) is not becoming to their 
peculiar style of beauty, making them look •pale. 
I met a centenarian black, who seemed proud of having been a 
slave, and did not remember anything to complain of in his former 
life. When Queen Victoria died the negroes got the idea into their 
heads that Edward VII. would re-enslave them. I asked the lady 
who told me this, whether they anticipated cruelties, etc., but she 
said, “ Oh dear, no ! They seemed to fear the indignity of the con- 
dition; at any rate, that is what they complained of.” 
And now, after these long digressions, some account must be 
given of my entomological experiences. 1 
The Island of Jamaica is 144 miles long by 49 miles wide, and 
comprises an area of 4207 square miles, so that it is about equal in 
size to the counties of Devon and Somerset taken together. It lies 
well within the tropics, being between the latitudes 17° 45' and 
18° 35' N. 
Rather more than half the total area of the island is below the 
1000 ft. contour line, but some 60 square miles have an altitude of 
4000 ft. and upwards, the Blue Mountain Peak attaining 7360 ft. 
My most remote points were separated by 120 miles of longitude, 
and 40 miles of latitude, but though three weeks were spent at an 
elevation of 2000 ft. and upwards my highest point was but 2900 ft. 
As regards geological formations, I collected upon almost all those 
of which the island is made up, with one important exception—I did 
not explore the Blue Mountains, indeed there seemed to be little 
inducement to do so at that time of the year. 
My remarks naturally enough apply to the places visited, and to 
the times of my visits, limitations which should not be forgotten. 
My collecting was confined to ten weeks (December 31 to March 8) 
of the dry season, the tropical winter. However, the general aspect 
of the country towards the end of the dry season does not suggest to 
1 The form of the account which follows differs from the earlier part of the work, 
and appears (so far as Butterflies are concerned) nearly as it was first published in 
the Transactions of the Entomological Society of London , 1908, pp. 37-51. 
