like de ship ven she stay tranquil," he exclaimed, spreading
out his hands horizontally, and making them slowly move round. "But ven
she tumble bout, den," he put his hands on his stomach, exhibiting with
such extraordinary contortions of countenance the acuteness of his
sensations, that we all burst into hearty fits of laughter.

Indeed the colonel was a never failing source of amusement to us. From
the wonderfully prolonged cackles in which he indulged, he also
evidently enjoyed the jokes himself. The schooner, which required but
little refitting, was soon ready for sea. It was understood that
Perigal was to have the command, and Grey and I hoped to be allowed to
accompany him. The captain had not as yet let us know his intentions.
We should have been ready enough, probably, to have spent our time on
shore; but as we should have but little chance of that, we fancied that
we should prefer sailing in search of adventures on the ocean. There
are few more beautiful spots on the earth's surface than Jamaica, with
its exquisite verdure, its lofty hills, known as the Blue Mountains, its
round-topped heights covered with groves of pimento, its vast savannahs
or plains, its romantic vales, its rivers, bays, and creeks, and its
dense and sombre forests, altogether forming one of the most lovely of
tropical pictures.

Entering the harbour, we had Port Royal on the starboard hand, at the
end of a long spit of land called the Palisades. On the opposite side
of the narrow entrance was Rock Fort, just under a lofty hill, and as
the batteries of Fort Charles at Port Royal bristled with guns, while
those of Fort Augusta faced us with an equal number, we agreed that an
enemy would find it no easy task to enter the harbour.

The dockyard was at Port Royal, opposite which we brought up. The
Palisades run parallel with the mainland, thus forming a vast lagoon,
not running inland, but along the coast as it were. Towards the upper
end, the commercial town, called Kingston, with its commodious harbour,
is situated. Some way inland, again, is Spanish Town, the capital,
where the residence of the Governor and the House of Assembly are to be
found. It is a very hot place, and the yellow fever is more apt to pay
it a second visit than strangers who have once been there, if they can
help it.

The admiral on the Jamaica station lives on shore, at a house called the
Admiral's pen, on the Palisades, whence he commands a view of the
h