THE RUINED CITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13392, 22 January 1907, Page 5

THE RUINED CITY.

A TRADIvR'N INSCRIPTION OF KINGSTON". [i!v TKI.Ki;n APM.—OWN" CORRKSI'ONDKM.] Duskdin. Monday. A gentleman who was trading to Jamaica for several years, and who is now in business in Wellington, has supplied the Daily Times with some interesting information regarding Kingston. " Kingston." he said. " is rather an old-fashioned city, standing at the head of the harbour, at the entrance to which is Port Royal, about five miles distant. It is a big shipping and importing place, and the population in 1904 (including Port Royal) was 46.500. The white inhabitants arc mostly tradesmen, and in the suburbs the descendants of the old sugar planters reside. The natives are descendants from the negro slaves. The original inhabitants of the island are the Caribs and Marooiies, but they are very few in number, and live by themselves in the centre of the island, and have lands of their own, which they hold much in the same way as the Maoris in the King Country in NewZealand.

"As it is stated that, the soldiers injured are principally natives, the earthquake has apparently not extended far outside the city. The burrocks occupied by the white troops are about live miles from tlie city, on the bills. The city destroyed was somewhat smaller than Jhinedin. It was builton level land, only a few feet above sea level. There were some very tine buildings, principally of stone and brick, but a large number were built of wood. There were no skyscrapers, the highest building being notmore than three storeys. I have never before heard of Kingston being visited by a destructive earthquake. It has several times been almost decimated with the yellow fever, known .is ' Yellow Jack,' but there lias been no serious outbreak of fever for many years. I should not, however, be .surprised, with the number of dead bodies now apparently lying about, if a fresh epidemic were to break out.

"In 1692 Port Royal was practically destroyed by earthquake, and in the year following the city of Kingston was founded. Port Royal was rebuilt, but was afterwards totally destroyed by a severe earthquake in 1722. It has not* been rebuilt since, and is now simply a naval with a large dockyard. In the previous big earthquake the land at Port Royal sank many feet. The present Port Royal Harbour Hows over the site of the old city, and the old buildings of the submerged city still stand below the water. On calm mornings 1 have often looked down from the ship's side, and seen the buildings standing erect, 20ft or 30ft below the surface of the water. The streets and many of the buildings can be clearly distinguished; in fact, one church, with its spire standing, has a buoy floating over it to warn vessels from striking it when coming alongside the dockyard. Jamaica is a volcanic island, although there are no active, volcanoes, and when !St. Pierre (ill Martinique) was destroyed by an earthquake in 1902 several of the sulphur pools and streams in Jamaica showed great- activity. and the inhabitant? became much alarmed.