Page:A Picturesque Tour of the Island of Jamaica.djvu/65



, the principal town of the parish of St. Mary, on the north side of the island, is famous for having given, as it is supposed, an asylum to Columbus, when his ship was foundering; and somewhere hereabouts authors have placed the town of Melilla, the first which the Spaniards founded. The neighbouring port of Rio Nuevo is likewise remarkable for the decisive victory gained there by General D’Oyley over the Spaniards, which confirmed the English in the possession of the island. The coast differs greatly from that of the south side, being for the most part iron-bound, or protected from the fury of the north winds and the surges of the sea by a wall of rocks. The weather of this parish is extremely wet during great part of the year, and so cold that few if any of the houses are unfurnished with a chimney. The land in general, from its richness, bears a very luxuriant cane, some of which grow to an enormous size: but are unfit for making sugar, and are only grown for the still-house. The greater part of the land on which the town of Port Maria is built is the property of C. N. Bayly, Esq., as was likewise the ground on which the Court-house has lately been erected, but for which an exchange was made by the parish for other lands, which are now attached to Trinity Estate.

The view before us embraces on the left the New Court-house, erected 1821, and Fort Haldane and the Barracks on the point, an eminence which commands the entrance of the harbour. The houses stretch along the seashore, at a short distance from which is Cabarita Island. On the right are the works and negro houses of Frontier Estate, the property of A. Stirling, Esq.