The largest of the British West Indian islands, is situated in the Caribbean Sea, between latitude 17 deg. 43 min. and 18 deg. 32 min. N., and longitude 76 deg. 11 min. and 78 deg. 30 min. W. It is 90 miles south of Cuba, 100 west of Haiti, and 554 miles from Colon. The nearest point of the continent of America is about 400 miles southwest of the island. The name Jamaica is said to be derived from Arawak words denoting water and wood, signifying a fertile land. The island is 144 miles long, and from 21.5 to 49 miles broad. Its area is 4207.5 square miles, of which about 646 are flat, consisting of alluvium, marl, and swamp. There are some mineral deposits in the island, the most abundant being copper. The surface of the island is very mountainous, almost 2000 square miles of it being above an altitude of 1000 feet. The culminating point, Blue Mountain Peak, is 7360 feet high.

FLORA AND FAUNA

There are over two thousand distinct species of flowering plants and some four hundred and seventy varieties of ferns in Jamaica. The economic woods include: logwood, lignum-vitae, cedar, mahogany, mahoe, fustic, bullet-wood, yacca satin-wood, and cashaw. The medicinal woods and plants are quassia, cinchona, gamboge, sarsaparilla, senna, belladonna, castor-oil, ginger, tamarind, and tobacco. Dietetic: coffee, cocoa, arrow-root, pimento, cane, plantain, yam, and sweet potato. Among the fruit trees, all the citrus family abound, mango, star-apple, bread-fruit, banana, cocoa-nut, custard-apple, avocado pear, pineapple, etc.

TOPOGRAPHY

The island is divided into three counties: Surrey, Middlesex, and Cornwall, and each into five parishes: Portland, St. Thomas, St. Andrew, Kingston, Port Royal; St. Mary, St. Ann, St. Catherine, Clarendon, Manchester; Hanover, St. James Trelawny, St. Elizabeth, Westmoreland.

POPULATION AND VITAL STATISTICS

The first recorded attempt at enumerating the population of Jamaica was in 1660, when "the relicts of the army" were stated to be 2200, and the planters, merchants, and others about the same number. In 1775, there were 13,737 whites, free coloured 4093, slaves 192,787. In 1834 - the year of negro emancipation - it was computed that there were 15,000 whites, 5000 free blacks, 40,000 coloured, 311,070 slaves, making a total of 371,070. In June, 1844, the census gave whites 13,816, coloured 81,074, and blacks 346,374; total 441,264. The population in 1891 was 639,493 of whom 14,692 were white, 121,755 were coloured, 486,624 black, 10,116 coolies (East Indians), 481 Chinamen, and 3623 not described. The total estimated population in 1907 was 830,261. The Registrar-General's statistics show that upwards of 65 per cent of births were those of illegitimate children. Many of these are the offspring of consistent or permanent concubinage rather than of promiscuity. In this connection it must not be forgotten that the ancestors of the majority of this people some two generations ago were permitted and encouraged to breed like cattle, and were denied admission to the marriage state. In 1881 there were over 10,000 Catholics in Jamaica; in 1891 there were 12,000, and at the present date (1908) about 14.000. The average annual birthrate for ten years 1896-7 to 1906-7, was 36.5 per 1000 of the estimated mean population. For the same period the mean average death-rate of population per 1000 was 23.2. The population of Kingston is some 50,000, Spanish Town 5690, Montego Bay 4760, Port Antonio 2500, Falmouth 3100, Mandeville 1500.

CLIMATE AND METEOROLOGY

Intimately associated with vital statistics comes the question of climate. Jamaica, being a tropical island, was formerly looked on as injurious as a residence to the inhabitants of northern latitudes. This theory has been completely refuted, and for many years past the invalid and tourist is resorting in increasing numbers to this "Riviera of the West," which is an ideal sojourn for the health-seeker. The diversity of surface, from the plains to the plateaux and mountain slopes, affords a variety of climate suitable to any requirement. The table of 1899 given in the next column will illustrate this fact, at varying altitudes and localities.

Meteorological records are wanting for Manchester and St. Elizabeth highlands, which are much drier than other hill districts of the island. There are many mineral springs valuable for the cure of acute and chronic diseases, especially gout and rheumatism. Two of them possess very remarkable curative properties: the hot sulphurous springs of Bath, and the warm saline spring at Milk River.