JAMAICA AS A WINTER RESORT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2719, 25 April 1906, Page 74

JAMAICA AS A WINTER RESORT.

" Jamaica for nerves" is the cry which, started in America, has gathered volume until it makes itself heard pretty" loudly to-day in Belgravia and Mayfair. It is - surprising how many sociely_people have chartered passages "to the Weet Indies. , And Irulv there is a great deal. to be said in favour" of Jamaica. Jamaica >is beautiful enough and healthy enough to win to itselfa large share of favour when once it becomes know ii. The climate Js delicious. One can find hotels high on the hills where j the breezes aro cool, though the sunshine iis the huneuine of the far south. The foliage on those hills and in the ravines, where the torrents come thundering .to the sea, is. something difficult for those to imagine who have not actually beheld what tropical vegetation can be under like conditions. The tree-ferns, the bamboos, the mighty palms, the begonias, the creepers flung "from tree to tree — huge masses of I glorious bloom— the orchids, the lilies— | all theee ramp and riot in the sunshine, I and throw, dense perfumed shade which' enchants while it refreshes. The place is not merely a tropical £ar- ;^ den either. One can find interesting relics Cj _ ' of past glories, when the island ,was held ; ;. i to be, ':the' pearl of the' Spanish main.":.;, ! One can' find in ,the old • cathedral^ of- j_i ! Spanish town the monuments icijd, epitaphs "- ; of the grandees and their- ladies, and , stroll into- the ancient" ballroom _ where ._, these same stately folk danced their courtly minuets, and watched while men and maidens threw themselves into all the i contortions of the tarantella. 1 Modern amusements are not lacking. ' Lady Norman, who ruled at Government ' House some 25 years ago, made various beautiful courts and greens, which have been supplemented by the courses now' so . needful for outdoor games. No one need ' fear boredom in Jamaica ; except, indeed, those unlucky ones who carry blase and " contemptuous minds wherever they may , go. Ajid even these will be as iappy on the .skirts of the Blue Mountains as they could be anywhere else on the face of the globe.