Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/576

 550 JAMAICA The population was returned in the census of 1844 as 380,000, of whom 16,000 were white, 68,000 coloured, and the rest black. In 1861 it was returned at 441,000, of whom 14,000 were white, 80,000 coloured, and 347,000 black. In 1871 the numbers were 13,000 white, 100,000 coloured, 393,000 black; total 506,000. The census of 1881 will probably show a total of 600,000, a large in crease in the black and coloured population, and a sta tionary if not reduced number of white people, The total value of imports was 1,492,722 (including 757,077 from the United Kingdom) in 1878, and 1,347,342 in 1879 amounts considerably below the values for the preceding six years, in four of which it was above 1,700,000. The imports consist principally of provisions for consumption, a considerable proportion coming from the United States. The total value of exports in 1878 was 1,210,705 (954,584 to the United Kingdom), consisting of 9,572,714 lt&amp;gt; of coffee (an extending industry), 908,603 tt&amp;gt; of ginger, 6,195,109 Ib of pimento, 18,115 puncheons of rum, 26,066 hhds. of sugar, and 35,157 tons of logwood. The total value is below that of the six preceding years. The sugar exported was below the average of preceding years ; but in 1879 sugar exports rose again to 29,000 hhds. The value of the fruit exported (principally to United States) had risen from 9337 in 1875 to 39,451 in 1878. The total exports for 1879 were 1,357,571 value. The area under crops in 1878 was 121,457 acres, in guinea grass 120,264, in pasture 318,549, iu wood and runate 1,217,596, leaving 942,134 acres of the total extent to be accounted for as unpatented primeval forest or rocky land of no value. One of the newest industries, besides cinchona, is the growth of excellent tobacco ; Jamaica cigars are now becoming well known in England. The public revenue for 1878 was 438,564, and the appropriated revenues from roads, poor rates, &c. , 74,900, making a grand total of 512,465, or about 18s. per head of the population. The estimates for 1880 showed a public revenue of 469,875 and appropriated 72,580, total 542,455. 245,000, or more than half the public revenue, is raised from import duties, and 94,000 from rum duties ; the railway re ceipts (Government having purchased the line by loan with a view to extension) for 1 880 were estimated at 23, 000. The remainder comes from licences, postal revenues, and other sources. The public expenditure for 1879 Avas 460,154, the appropriated 73, 050, total 533,204, and the estimated expenditure for 1880 public 485,655, appropriated 72,580, total 558,235. The main items of expendi^ ture are debt charges and sinking funds and redemption, 73,000 ; administrative departments, 33,000 ; revenue departments, 33,000 ; judicial, 36,000 ; ecclesiastical, 10,000 (the church has been disestablished, and the expenditure will be gradually less as vested interests disappear) ; medical, 55,000 ; constabulary, 50,000; penitentiary and prisons, 25,000; education, 25,000; railway managing, &c., 14,000; public works and irrigation, 58,000. In 1878, 617 schools underwent inspection by the Government ; 51,488 children were on the books, the average attendance being 29,679. Of these schools, 54 passed first class, 176 second class, and 343 third class. The average Government grant to each school aided during the year was 29, and the total education grant, exclu sive of departmental salaries, was 18,572. Elementary education has made progress during the eleven years the present system has been in operation. The collegiate school in Kingston offers higher education. Among educational institutions, the Church of England high school, the Calabar institution or Jamaica Baptist College, and &quot;Wolmer s free school, founded in 1729 by John &quot;Yolmer for the free education of poor children, as well as the Mico school, require mention. The ecclesiastical establishment is regulated by Law Xo. 30 of 1870, which provided for gradual disendowment. This law created a synod, to consist of clergymen and lay representatives, and it continued to each existing rector, island curate, and stipendiary curate the payments from the state so long as they ful filled their functions. Under this law the estimates for 1880 show as still on the establishment five rectors, twenty island curates, and three stipendiary curates, the total amount for the Church of England being 9749 ; this, with 367 to the Church of Scotland, and 100 to the Chnreh of Rome, makes up the ecclesiastical estab lishment. Besides the state paid clergymen, there are about forty clergymen paid out of the Diocesan Church Fund. Besides three American church missionaries at Kingston, there are about twenty Presbyterian ministers, thirty Wesleyan, eight of the London Mis sionary Society, fifty Baptist, one Independent, six United Metho dist Free Church. The Moravians have fourteen stations and seventeen missionaries. There are two synagogues. Kingston, the capital, is on the south coast. It was founded in 1693, and is built on a plain which rises from the shore with a gradual ascent to the foot of the Liguanea mountains. This plain is covered with country residences and sugar estates. The town population in 1871 was 4393 whites, 13,291 coloured, and 16,630 blacks. It is now estimated at over 40,000. The seat of government was recently transferred from Spanish Town to Kingston, and the principal civil and judicial business is transacted there. The chief retail business street is Harbour Street. Port Royal Street is the chief thoroughfare of the wholesale merchants, who keep wharves which line the seaboard of the town. The public buildings possess little architectural interest. The Victoria Market (opened in 1872) and public landing place at the foot of King Street (where Rodney s statue was brought from Spanish Town), form a very fine market-place. The court house in Harbour Street is a handsome building. The public hospital (with 170 beds), the law library, the chancery registrar s office (with its piece of tapestry of the royal and island arms, which used to be carried before the governor on state occasions), the court of vice-admiralty, the public library and museum in East Street, are also worthy of mention. The parish church in King Street is one of the oldest churches in the island, dating probably from 1692. It contains the tombs of William Hall (1699) and Admiral Benbow (1702). The only bank is a branch of the Colonial Bank, besides the Government Savings Bank. Up-Park Camp, to the north-east of the city, is the head quarters of a West India regiment. Jamaica was discovered by Columbus and possession taken in the name of the king of Spain on the 3d of May 1494. He called it St Jago, but it is known by its Indian name Jamaica, &quot;the isle of springs.&quot; It is sometimes written Xamayca. The inhabitants belonged to the gentler Indian tribes, not to the fierce Caribs. In June 1503 Columbus was driven by a tempest into a bay on the north side, now St Ann s Bay. After his departure the island remained unvisited until 1509, when his son Diego, having estab lished his right in the council of the Indies to the governorship of Hispaniola, sent Don Juan d Esquivel to take possession of the island, in opposition to Alonzo d Ojeda, who claimed it under a royal grant. Thenceforward, under the rule of the Spaniards, the Indian population diminished, until in 1655, when the island fell into the possession of the English, the race was practically extinct. The controversy respecting the rights of the descendants of Columbus continued for a long time. About the year 1523 Diego Columbus founded St Jago de la Vega, St James of the Plain, which was the official capital, under the name of Spanish Town, until Kingston was recently selected. Attention had been gradually given to agri culture, the cotton plant, sugar cane, and various kinds of corn and grass having been introduced. In 1596, during the alliance of Queen Elizabeth with the LowCountries, and the consequent war with Spain, Sir A. Shirley, a British admiral, invaded Jamaica, but made no attempt at occupation. In the reign of Charles I. Colonel Jackson defeated the inhabitants at Passage Fort. Shortly afterwards the island was divided into eight districts in the nominal possession of eight noble families, and the total population became extremely small. The next important event was the expedition sent by Cromwell, under Admirals Penn and Venables ; failing against Hispaniola, they took possession of Jamaica on the 3d May 1655, the island having been in the possession of the Spaniards one hundred and sixty-one years. Under Cromwell emigrants were sent from Scotland and Ireland and other places. But the Spaniards and their negroes harassed the new coiners, who died in considerable numbers. On the 8th May 1658 an attack from Hispaniola was defeated, and soon after the remaining Spaniards were driven from the island. The slaves called Maroons, however, who had fled to the mountains, continued for midable. Down to the end of the 18th century the disaffection of these Maroons caused much trouble. In 1661 a regular civil government was established, Colonel D Oyley being appointed governor-general with an elective council. Next year he was succeeded by Lord Windsor, who was instructed to summon a popular assembly to pass laws. Jamaica became the resort of the buccaneers, who carried on a profitable piracy on these seas during the war with Spain. In 1670 peace was made with Spain, and the English title &quot;was recog nised by the treaty of Madrid. The buccaneers were suppressed. In 1672 the Fourth or lioyal African Company was formed to carry on a monopoly of the slave trade. From 1700 to 1786 the number of slaves imported was estimated at 610,000, of whom about one- fifth were re-exported. In 1673 the governor sent home the first pot of sugar to the secretary of state ; at this time there were 7768 whites and 9504 negroes on the island. In 1678, while the earl of Carlisle was governor, an attempt was made to saddle the island with a yearly tribute to the crown, and to restrict the free legis-