Jamaica

ja-ma'ka, the largest of the British West India Island. It lies ninety miles south of Cuba. Length, 150 miles; breadth, fifty. A range of mountains runs from east to west. The highest peak is 7,400 feet above sea level. The name Jamaica is Indian, meaning a "Land of Springs." A limestone plateau occupying the center and west is full of fertile "cockpits" or sinkholes. One of these is ten miles in diameter. The limestone is carved and dissolved by tropical rains. Many streams find their way to the sea under ground. There are numerous limestone caverns containing Indian antiquities.

The climate is tropical and equable. Frost is unknown. At sea level the temperature rarely falls below 75 deg. At Kingston the limits are 70 deg. and 88 deg. Fahrenheit. The interior is higher and cooler. The greater the height, the lower the temperature. The temperature on the plateau varies only from 67 deg. F. to 75 deg. F., a variation of nine degrees. The average rainfall is sixty-six inches. The area of the island is 4,200 square miles. There are 246,615 acres under tillage: 553,656 under pasture. The chief exports are bananas, oranges, sugar, pimento, dogwood, and cacao. Jamaica rum, ginger, and coffee are famous. Cassava and cotton are produced. Tobacco grows fairly well, but does not rival that of Cuba. In 1607 Hans Sloane visited Jamaica and collected no less than 800 plants then new to science. The island is rich in ferns.

Jamaica was settled by the Spaniards in 1509. It was wrested from them in 1655 by a force sent by Cromwell, since which time it has remained in the hands of the British. The population in 1907 was reported at 830,000, of which the whites number but 16,000. The rest are negroes and mulattoes, with a few thousand coolies and Chinese. The negroes are the descendants of former slaves.

The island is ruled wisely by a resident British governor and a council of twenty-nine members. The governor has a salary of $25,000 a year. Kingston, a city of 46,000 people, is the capital. There are 185 miles of railway; 683 of telegraph; and numerous telephone lines. The legal money is British, but American coins are current. There are over 700 schools with 85,000 children in attendance. There are three normal schools, as well as a number of high schools and industrial schools.