d villages. On your right is the town of Port Royal, lying
almost on a level with the water, and strongly protected by
fortifications, whilst in various other directions are castles
and batteries, adding an appearance of security to that of
plenty. The banks, though not lofty, slope gently upwards,
with occasional falls or glens, and the background is composed
in general of the rugged tops of distant mountains.

Having waited till the ship dropped anchor, I put myself into a a
sort of barge rowed by four negroes, and proceeded to Kingston.
Though not the capital of the island, Kingston is the largest
town in Jamaica. It stands upon the brink of a frith, about nine
miles above Port Royal, and thence enjoys all the advantages of
the chief mart in this trading country. Like most other
mercantile seaports, it is built without much regard to
regularity. The streets, though wide, are in general the reverse
of elegant, being composed almost entirely of wooden houses, and
by no means remarkable for cleanliness. Of public buildings it
possesses none worthy of notice. Its inns are, however,
excellent; and though certainly not moderate in their charges,
they are at least more so than those of Bermuda. In a word, it
is exactly such a town as one would expect to find holding the
principal commercial rank in a colony where men's minds seldom
aspire beyond the occupations of trade.

Of the intense heat in this place, none but those who have
experienced it can form a notion. It is impossible to walk out
with any comfort, except before the sun has risen, or after he
has set; and even within doors, with the aid of thorough draughts
and all the other expedients usually adopted on such occasions,
it is with the utmost difficulty that you can contrive to keep
your blood in a moderate degree of temperature. In the town
itself, therefore, few of the higher classes reside, the
closeness produced by a proximity of houses being in this climate
peculiarly insupportable. These inhabit for the most part little
villas, called Pens, about three or four miles in the country,
the
master of each family generally, retaining a suite of apartments,
or, perhaps an entire mansion, in some open street for his own
use, when business obliges, him, to exchange the comfort of fresh
air for the suffocating atmosphere of Kingston. Towards the
outskirts, indeed, in one direction, a few gentile families
inhabit one or two handsome houses, surrounded