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“...
Michel) and dwarf (Musa Cavendishii), are known at
home, but the very small fig banana, or Lady’s Finger,
as it is called, is not often seen out of the tropics, and,
while all fruit of this description has a much better
flavour in its native home tiran in England or America,
the latter kind is for taste the acme of perfection.
Grape-fruit is on every well-regulated breakfast table,
and oranges while actually green are exquisite, the West
Indian tangerine variety being infinitely better than any
ever seen at home. The grafted mangoes, for which
Jamaica is especially famous, are exquisitely delicate in
flavour, while a sound Antigua pine-apple, the cultiva-
tion of which has, alas ! almost died out, is something
to dream about. It is not long before the visitor makes
the acquaintance of some of the following fruits,
which are among the most popular in the West Indies:
Custard-, mammee-, and star-apples, citrons, Barbados
cherries, golden apples, granadillas (the fruit of the...”
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“... juice is now manufactured into
what is known as Fancy Molasses, which is marketed in Nova
Scotia and New Brunswick. The area under sugar-cane culti-
vation is about 74,000 acres, and taking 315 gallons of syrup
as equivalent to a ton of sugar, about 50,000 tons of sugar are
secured from half that acreage every year. The Sea Island
cotton industry was revived in 1902 with success, and the acreage
under this form of cultivation amounts to nearly 2,000 acres,
from which about 900,000 lbs. of lint are raised. The Chinese
or Dwarf Banana (Musa Cavendishii) was also cultivated for
export when shipping facilities were available, and in some
years before the Great War 40,000 bunches of bananas were
exported from one hundred acres of land. Manjak or glance
pitch was for some years exported from several mines near the
College Estate to the extent of about 500 tons per annum ; but
the best mines have now been worked out and closed. Petroleum
has been proved to exist in Barbados, and...”
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“.... per acre,
with very easy terms of payment. A few European settlers
have in recent years been attracted to the island as cocoa and
lime planters, and are already doing well. Sugar-canes, cocoa,
coffee, nutmegs, limes, coco-nuts, and bananas thrive in St.
Lucia, and the appliances for the manufacture of sugar are
modern, there being no fewer than four large central sugar
factories there. Bananas are being planted extensively, and
the Swift Banana Company has given an impetus to this in-
dustry. In recent years limes (Citrus acida var. medico) have
also been widely planted, and the local lime industry promises
to prove one of great value and importance. At Castries a
factory for crushing limes for small growers was erected in 1913,
and there is also a factory for expressing oil from coco-nuts and
castor-oil seeds. Castries is an important mercantile coaling
station, a fact to which St. Lucia owes its commercial import-
ance, and a large section of the community makes its...”
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“... to the development of the agricultural
resources of the island. In view of the rapid growth of
the banana and lime industries, it is already probable
that the name of St. Lucia will before long become more
widely known in commercial circles.
ST. VINCENT
Y» - “ Pax et justitia.”
The Colony’s Motto.
St. Vincent, which lies in latitude 130 10' N. and longi-
tude 60° 57' W., 30 miles to the south-west of St. Lucia,
and 97 miles west of Barbados, is 18 miles in length and
11 in width .at its broadest part, and has an area of 133
square miles, being, like Grenada, about half the size of
Middlesex. Its population is 44,447, while those of the
Grenadines, which are its dependencies, have 4,115
inhabitants. The whole of the island is of volcanic
origin, and, like St. Lucia and Grenada, it has a back-
* An account of the gallant defence of the Diamond Rock
is given in " West Indian Tales of Old." London : Duckworth
and Co....”
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“... economic 1
plants besides those of an ornamental nature. Among t
the trees and plants to be noticed are: Arrowroot I
(Maranta arundinacea), banana (Musa sapientum), il
cannon-ball (Couroupita guianensis), cinnamon (Cinna- i
momum zeylanicum), cocoa (Theobroma Cacao), clove <{
(Eugenia caryophyllata), black pepper (Piper nigrum), li
bread-fruit (Artocarpus incisa), india-rubber (Hevea 4
brasiliensis, Ceara, Castilloa, etc.), mango (Mangifera it
indica), mahogany (Swietenia Mahagoni), nutmeg 4
(Myristica fragrans), pine-apple (Ananas sativus), teak [
(Tectona grandis), traveller’s tree (Ravenala madagas- a
cariensis), vanilla (Vanilla planifolia). One old tree, it
Spachea perforata, is the only specimen of its kind at S
present known to botanists. The memorial temple and
the fountain overlooking the lily pond, which is well }
stocked with water-lilies, including the Victoria . Regia, jt
was erected in 1915 in memory of the Hon. J. G. W. I
Hazell, member of the Executive and...”
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“...286 POCKET GUIDE TO THE WEST INDIES
Gibraltar Rock, through which the railway to Ewarton
passes by means of a tunnel half a mile long. The tourist
should drive back to within three miles of Spanish Town-.
Here he can embark on a punt on the irrigation canal—
which, shaded as it is by coco-nut palms and tropical
foliage, is of surpassing beauty—rejoining the car again
within a short distance of Spanish Town. The whole
trip occupies the best part of a day, though, of course,
much less by motor-car.
From Spanish Town a branch Of the Government Rail-
way runs by a circuitous route to Port Antonio on the
north side and towards the eastern end of Jamaica. The
line runs up Bog Walk on the right bank of the Rio Cobre,
crosses the island to Annotto Bay (see below) through
large areas under banana cultivation to its destination.
Port Antonio, on the north side of the island, 75 miles
by train from Kingston, is the headquarters of the United
Fruit Company of Boston, Mass. It is...”
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“... monuments to John Hodges
(1787), a member of a well-known West Indian family,
and James Blake (1753).
From Falmouth to Montego Bay (see page 286) the
distance is 22 miles.
From Bog Walk on the Port Antonio line a branch line
of the railway runs to Ewarton (17J miles, one hour).
From there an enjoyable expedition can be made over
Mount Diablo (10 miles) to Moneague, whence a drive
may be taken through the famous Fern Gully to Ocho
Rios and the Roaring River Falls. The road over Mount
Diablo, or Diavolo, affords superb views of the Blue
Mountains. Fern Gully is a natural gorge of surpassing
beauty, with steep sides covered with ferns, through
which a winding road runs towards Ocho Rios. Sir
Harry Johnston described the gully, which he was largely
instrumental in saving from vandal banana growers, in
the following terms, to the writer: “ It is an amazing
botanical exhibit, with about twenty-five different species
of ferns, tree-ferns here and there at the top, ferns with...”
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“...JAMAICA 289
like curled wire or Carved green bronze, an epitome, in
fact, of the fern sub-class.”
Roaring River Falls is the largest waterfall in the
island. The water descends in a series of foaming white
cascades and is broken in its course by rocks, on some of
which plants and palms have maintained a foothold.
St. Ann’s Parish is deserving of more than a brief stay.
Hollymount Hotel on Mount Diablo is itself well worth
a visit; the views from it are of exceptional beauty.
There are pretty walks through the forest amid orchids
and ferns, and many butterflies, also parrots, parakeets,
and other strange birds, are seen.
After leaving Spanish Town, the main line of the rail-
way proceeds through a fertile banana district to May
Pen, the junction for the Clarendon branch.
From there an expedition can be made to the ruins of
Colbeck Castle, which dates from the seventeenth century.
At Milk River, 13 miles from May Pen station and
12 miles from Clarendon Park, there is...”
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“...BRITISH HONDURAS
399
fully put under banana cultivation, but unfortunately
the industry languished owing to the appearance of the
dreaded Panama disease. Indications are not wanting
that the valley is suitable for the raising of citrus and
other tropical fruits. Now grape-fruit is being suc-
cessfully cultivated in the neighbourhood.
On the Rio Grande in the Stann Creek District some
ancient pyramids faced with cut stone, filled with stone
and brick and standing on a stone-faced platform, are
preserved as historic monuments. They have been
identified as relics of the ancient Maya civilisation and
are now the subject of investigation by experts of the
British Museum. In the Cayo District, near Benque
Viejo, there are also some interesting ruins. Here there
is a three-storied temple, the ground floor of which is
still in a good state of preservation. Near it is a fine
sculptured stele. An account of these ancient remains
is given in the British Colonial Report...”
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“... refers to
this incident in “ Westward Ho ! in which he describes
with surprising accuracy—considering that he never saw
it—the beautiful bay of Santa Marta, and the exciting
episode of the capture of the rich galleon Santa Maria,
and the carrying off of the Bishop by Amyas Leigh and
his companions. Santa Marta is now an important
centre of the banana industry. The town stands on the
shore of a small land-locked bay, at the entrance to
which there is a high conical rock called the Morro,
surmounted by some ancient fortifications and a light-
house. It has an ancient Cathedral, and an object of
pilgrimage in the neighbourhood is the Hacienda where
Simon Bolivar, the Liberator _ (see page 401) died on
December 17th, 1830, which is now preserved as an
historic monument by the Government of Colombia.
Santa Marta has a pretty park and a promenade along
the beach where rank and fashion congregate in the
evenings. The offices of the United Fruit Company
stand on what are believed...”
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“...SOME WEST INDIAN INDUSTRIES 443
Canada [see page 438) British West Indian cacao is given an ex-
clusive preference of $2.00 per ioo lbs. in the Dominion.
THE BANANA INDUSTRY. In Jamaica the banana in-
idustry has assumed enormous proportions, no fewer than
’17,000,000 bunches having been exported in a year. The bulk
’of them go to the United States, and the development of the
trade has been almost entirely due to American enterprise and
capital. Many years ago the late Captain Baker, commander
'of a schooner trading between Jamaica and America, was in
the habit of taking back to his native town a few bunches of
bananas. He found that they stood the journey so well, and
[were so much appreciated by his friends, that he decided to
extend a business in this direction; and from such small be-
ginnings has arisen the United Fruit Company, with its large
; fleet of steamers, one or more of which sail from Jamaica nearly
jevery day to American ports with a full complement of...”
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