seafighter, Admiral de Grasse himself. That huge vessel was the pride of Louis XV, and its flag had been lowered by Admiral de Grasse only when none but himself and a few seamen remained unwounded after a day's fighting. Thus had Britain avenged her humiliation of the year before at Yorktown, when the heroic de Grasse had aided Washington to achieve the independence of his country. So much. for the necessary historical background of Jamaica's first real port.

But we must get back on our own journey toward Summerland. A brief sail brings us from old Port Royal to the dock at Kingston, the Jamaican capital, born of Port Royal's misfortune. For after the second great earthquake at Port Royal in 1692, followed by disasters of fire and hurricane, its people, fearing further revolt of Mother Earth, moved to the mainland and established Kingston, with its great harbor, nine miles long and about two miles broad.

Photograph from the Institute of Jamaica

KINGSTON THE CAPITAL

As you pass overside and set foot on the dock there is a subconscious realization of change and a feeling that you are indeed in the Tropics, for the very atmosphere seems different and there are strange and not unpleasant odors of fresh fruit, spices, and the cloying smell of sugar. In the background wait groups of white-clothed figures, each crowned by nondescript headgear, from under which gleam black, smiling faces, bright eyes with an expect

ant look of the hope that springs eternal in the breast of the Afro-Jamaican that each arriving American is destined to be his banker, from whom he shall garner a latter-day piece of eight for some service rendered. The mob of expectant beneficiaries is held in statu quo without seeming effort by a lordly figure, smartly garbed in a black uniform ornamented with bright-red stripes as to trousers and topped with a white solar helmet. sports a swagger stick of authority, representing His Majesty's law and order in the body and person of a Jamaican policeman of ebon hue!

He

A FULL LOAD

of enlisting under your flag. It is well to accept their offer, for, although but a short distance from the splendid Myrtlebank and other smaller hotels, the voyager from the frozen north quickly realizes that El Sol is both high and hot, and, until one becomes acclimated, a few minutes' walk at sea-level brings the pearly gleam of moisture to the brow and a desire for the shady side of the street-if any!

GETTING LOCAL COLOR

To garner a maximum of enjoyment from a stay in Kingston one must know a good deal of her tragic history and romantic past, for the city, as such, does not rival Paris in beauty, even though creature comforts are at hand. Like most tropical settlements, Kingston has learned by experience that, while the skyscraper may be something to gaze at in wonder, its pride might descend with a Charleston step of Mother Earth. Therefore hewers of wood and stone use excellent judgment in constructing their rooftrees, both for business and home, hotel, or theater, quite near to the ground, so that the dwellers within, when an earth tremor comes, will not be put to the trouble of taking a high dive out of a window on the tenth floor and trusting to luck that a hay wagon is passing conveniently along at the important and needed moment!

The customs officials are quick and courteous in their bird's-eye examination of the luggage, and out you step into the warm sunshine with the keys of the isle in your pocket in the form of travelers' checks or greenbacks. Then you are pleasantly startled by hearing yourself addressed from a dozen directions in a beautifully modulated and generally grammatical English: "Sir, may I have the honor of conveying you and milady to your destination? Your carriage awaits."

You recover sufficiently to grasp that the expert services of chauffeurs, surrey drivers, and baggage carriers are desirous

Luckily there are seldom indications of earth nervosity these days and no one in Jamaica seems to give the subject a thought.