The interior of St. James presents a trappean formation, with some overlaying yellow and cretaceous lime-stones. The rest is of white lime-stone

with some alluvial deposits round the coast.

The eastern part of Hanover is chiefly white lime-stone, and the western part black shale, with some metamorphosed rocks and yellow lime-stone."

MOUNTAIN RANGES.

The surface of the island is extremely mountainous and attains considerable altitudes, particularly in the eastern part where the central range is known as the Blue Mountains.

The following table will give a general idea of the areas in square miles embraced in the different zones of elevation, above sea level, in the several parishes:

From the above table it will be observed that a great diversity of climate is obtainable, from a tropical temperature of 80° to 86° at the sea coast the Thermometer falls to 45° and 50° on the tops of the highest mountains, and with a dryness of atmosphere that renders the climate of the mountains of Jamaica particularly delightful and suitable to the most delicate constitutions. The midland parts of the island are, of course, the highest. Through the County of Surrey, and partly through Middlesex, there runs the great central chain which trends generally in an east and west direction, the highest part of which is the Blue Mountain Peak attaining an elevation of 7,360 feet.

From this range subordinate ridges or spurs run northerly to the northside of the island, and southerly to the south-side; these ridges in their turn are the parents of other smaller ridges, which branch off in every direction with considerable regularity and method; and they again throw off other ridges, until the whole surface of the country is cut up into a series of ridges, with intervening springs or gullies.

* For a more complete account of the Geology of the Island see Sawkins's Geology of Jamaica.

Many of these subordinate ridges vie with the main ridge in importance and elevation; such, for instance, as the great ridge starting from Catherine's Peak, above Newcastle, and passing through the Parish of St. Andrew in a south-easterly direction, culminating at great elevations at Newton and Bellevue, and expending itself at Albion in the Parish of St. Thomas. Also the ridge known as Queensbury Ridge, starting from the Blue Mountain Peak, passing by Arntully, Belle Clair and Windsor Castle, where it is known as Coward's Ridge, and extending to the sea at Belvedere and Creighton Hall, to the north of which place it forms the conspicuous mountain known as Yallahs Hill, 2,348 feet high.

On the northern side of the island three great ridges may be mentioned. One extending from the Blue Mountain Peak through the Parish of Portland, dividing the waters of the Rio Grande from those of the Swift River, and expending itself at St. Margaret's and Hope Bays. Another starting from Silver Hill, dividing the waters of the Buff Bay and Spanish Rivers, and the other very high ridge extending from Fox's Gap, at the boundary of St. Mary and Portland, north-easterly, culminating in a conspicuous elevation called Hay Cock Hill, 2,500 feet above the sea, and terminating on the coast near Dover.

The Blake Mountains, which run in a north-westerly and south-easterly direction in the Parishes of Portland and St. Thomas, divide the Rio Grande Valley from the eastern coast of the island. They form a plateau of about 2,000 feet elevation rather than a mountain range. In their higher parts they are a barren, waterless tract of lime-stone formation; much of it covered by the sharp rocks known as honeycombed rocks, over which it is almost impossible to walk. The Blake Mountains may be said to be an offshoot from the great central range which, from the depression known as the Cuna Cuna Gap, north of the Town of Bath, turns suddenly northerly and forms itself into this plateau.

The central range suffers a considerable depression at Stony Hill, in the Parish of St. Andrew, where the main road to the north side crosses it at an elevation of 1,360 feet. Here the range is divided into two ridges; one of lime-stone formation, extending westerly through the district known as Mammee Hill, reaches a conspicuous elevation known as Lunan Mountain, at Highgate, in St. Catherine, and expends itself at Bog Walk; the other, which is the continuation of the central dividing ridge, is of granite formation and extends in a north-westerly direction. It passes the district of Lawrence's Tavern and Mount Charles, where it commences to form the boundary line between the Parishes of St. Mary on the north and St. Catherine on the south side: continuing north-westerly it passes Pear Tree Grove and turns suddenly to the south-west at Windsor Castle and Decoy, and it then joins the lime-stone formation at Guy's Hill and Middlesex township, continuing as a well-defined range to Mount Diablo, where the main road crosses it at an elevation of 1,800 feet. It continues on to Holly Mount, a little beyond which it unites with the St. John's range, which forms the eastern boundary of Lluidas Vale.

From this point, although these mountains continue as a separate range, they become irregular and broken, chiefly on account of their lime-stone character, and with this formation they extend through the Parish of St Ann, expending themselves in the Cockpit country to the east of the distric called "The Black Grounds" in the Parish of Trelawny. To the south

* So called from the rich black soil in contra-distinction to the red soil of Manchester.

of

this locality, along the borders of Clarendon and Manchester, the trappean series is again met with and two great inland rivers flow there.

Running in an irregular north-westerly line, almost parallel with the last range of mountains described, is another lime-stone range which may be said to commence from the western bank of the Rio Minho or Dry River above Lime Savanna, and, forming first the range known as Mocho Mountains, it includes the Whitney Valley and joins the Manchester Mountain range at Cumberland. Thence trending north-westerly it passes through the northern district of Manchester and enters the Parish of St. Elizabeth at Hector's River Sink; thence it continues on to Accompong Town and becomes lost in a peculiarly wild formation of what is usually known as Cockpit Land. In this quarter, and extending for a considerable distance into the Parishes of Trelawny and St. James, the Cockpit Land bids defiance to the traveller.

This formation is of white lime-stone, sharp, irregular and jagged, with little earth, and formed into a series of circular arenas like inverted cones with extremely irregular sides, but preserving the circular formation throughout and terminating in most instances with a sink hole at the apex.

These arenas are of all diameters, from half-a-chain to two and three chains The ridges or edges where these cones unite are, of course, very irregular and sharp, presenting very steep or vertical rocks of considerable height. Such a country may be said to be inaccessible.

The May Day and Carpenter's Mountains pass through the Parish of Manchester in a diagonal direction. Commencing at the Round Hill in Vere, at the south-east extremity of Manchester, they traverse the parish to its northwestern angle, where they join the main ridge near the Hector's River Sink; one off-shoot forming the Nassau Mountains of St. Elizabeth.

The Santa Cruz Mountains in the Parish of St. Elizabeth run parallel with the Manchester Mountains. They commence at the sea at the precipice called "The Lover's Leap," 1,660 feet high, and terminate near Lacovia, where the passage of the Black River produces a break in the hills. These mountains, as well as those of Manchester, are considered generally very salubrious.

Another range of mountains, a continuation of the same line as the Santa Cruz Mountains, commences above Lacovia, to the north, and extends to Mulgrave near the line of St. James, and traverses the Parish of St. James in a northerly direction, terminating in the hills south of Montego Bay.

The last and most westerly range of mountains, extending through Westmoreland and Hanover, commences about the locality called "Middle Quarters" and extends northerly, with some irregularities, to Chesterfield at the head of the Great River, which forms the boundary between St. James and Westmoreland; it then trends north-westerly to Chester Castle and Knockalva, near the boundary of the Parishes of Westmoreland and Hanover, and then westerly, culminating in a conspicuous hill called "Dolphin Head," with an elevation of 1,816 feet, and terminating in several small ridges towards the west-end of the island. There is also a coast line in Westmoreland called "The Blue Fields or Surinam Range," commencing at Middle Quarters in St. Elizabeth and extending towards Savanna-la-Mar.

ELEVATIONS.

The following are a few of the elevations, above the sea, of the principal mountains and passes through them, commencing from the eastern end of the island, most of which are taken from Sawkins's Geology of Jamaica :—

The numerous rivers and springs which abound along the coast in most parts of the island to a considerable extent justify the name of "The Land of Springs," although there are extensive districts in the midland and western parts of the island singularly barren of water.

When it is remembered that the chief range of mountains, or back-bone of the island, runs generally east and west, it will be easily understood that the chief rivers, starting from the northern and southern slopes of this range, would generally have a north and south direction; that is, those streams rising on the northern side of the great ridge flow northerly to the northside, while those which emanate from the southern slopes run southerly to the southside. There are some exceptions to this general rule, the chief of which is the Plantain Garden River in the Parish of St. Thomas, which, rising in the Cuna Cuna Mountains, runs southerly in its upper course, but suddenly meeting the coast range of hills turns easterly, and flowing through the fertile district to which it gives its name, empties itself at Holland Bay. Another is the Montego River, which, although it flows northerly in its upper course, turns westerly through the greater part of its flow, discharging at Montego Bay.

There are interior rivers (which have no outlet) which are also exceptions to this general rule, such as the Cave and Hector's Rivers.

While most of the rivers have generally northerly and southerly directions, it must not be forgotten that the subordinate ridges which are nearly at right angles to these lines will produce subordinate streams, meeting the rivers on their eastern and western bank.

In consequence of the great elevations from which most of the rivers flow they are very rapid in their descent, and, in times of flood, become formidable torrents, sweeping everything before them and operating as dangerous obstructions to the traveller. It may, however, be mentioned that many of these rivers are now having substantial bridges erected across them.

Some of the chief of these are the Plantain Garden River already mentioned, and the Morant and Yallahs in the Parish of St. Thomas. The Rio Grande, in the Parish of Portland, is one of the finest rivers in the island; it flows from the northern slopes of the Blue Mountains. The Back and Stony Rivers, two of its great affluents, furnish not only some of the loftiest and most picturesque waterfalls but the wildest and most romantic scenery in the island.

It was on one of these naturally fortified ridges, nearly surrounded by the Stony River, that the notorious Nanny, the renowned Maroon leader, held out against the regular troops about the year 1739.