Life and adventure in the West Indies : a sequel to Adventures in search of a living in Spanish-America / by "Vaquero".

  • Vaquero, pseud.
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Life and adventure in the West Indies : a sequel to Adventures in search of a living in Spanish-America / by "Vaquero". Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    7 Ewarton where the railway line ends. I was now in the heart of smiling Jamaica and was well satisfied with the look of the interior of the Island, which, if not coming up to the high-flown description of the guide-books, is quite pretty enough to satisfy an ordinary mortal, with its rapidly running rivers, fertile valleys and profusion of tropical foliage, amongst which the coco-nut palm, the plantain, the bread- fruit and the mango are the most prominent. It must have been after four in the afternoon, too late to go. on to Gayle the same evening, for I was not one of those fortunate individuals who could afford long buggy drives by night, but by walking as far as a settlement called Moneague, some eight miles farther along my road, the next day’s journey would be considerably shortened. Jamaican roads are generally very good, and, as the heat of the day had now passed, it was a pleasure to tramp along, bag in hand, enjoying the solitude of my first walk through the pretty country. The mile-stones allayed any apprehensions about losing the way by informing me of my progress towards Moneague. Now and then I passed a few black or coloured natives, some of whom stared at the unusual sight of a white man walking on the roads of Jamaica. There are, indeed, no whites of the peasant class and even a light-coloured man of any pretensions would probably ride or drive nistead of making a journey on foot. Under present conditions in the best known British islands it is perhaps natural that the negro should resent seeing a white man walk, because such a traveller is likely to be a poor person who has no spare money to throw away. The welcome visitor is the rich tourist who stops at the dearest hotels, hires a buggy food n$T°ft h°5uSt’- an+1 lf °ut for a lonS drive carries abundant thence dl Such h hlm> hG eXCCSS °f W,hich is §iven to the Pe°P]e of chUH S r °ne may occasionally be seen with a string of ^1U-ing af ^ the, buggy> ^ the hopes of receiving a shower hp/+ k \ J16 cV6a thy whlte man 1S a “ buckra ” 1 after their own earts, but they have no use for the poor one, who in the rare cases « mean wh?te in the^h UP°n f ?Th the Same manner as the mean white in the southern parts of the United States each '”s° tall11 .passed were two stalwart young countrywomen, it z . good-sized man, and comely into the bargain These b-uty I had sefn.'andwS y ppi eciated. (Jne of them smilingly asked me for a “ nnattip ” he meamag °( which was unknown to me at the time but sue in’e broad sZfe aS°aey-1 tendered a Penny. which was received with f MAST C0U.rteSy fr°m ‘he knees’ after the manner apeCo°rrf01' thetW0^ a^enTmudj'used by LTot^ and? Lding Srin T' the roadsk>e' beinggtoId in time, unwillingly to seek its hospMty y M°neague Hotel, had 1 Buckra—a white man.