MARCH 4.
I set out to visit my estate in St. Thomas's in
the East, called Hordley. It is at the very furthest extremity of the island, and
never was there such a journey. Something disagreeable happened at
every step. My accidents commenced before I had
accomplished ten miles from my own house ; for in passing along
a narrow shelf of rock which overhangs the sea near Blue-fields,
a pair of young blood-horses in my carriage took fright at the
roaring of the waves which dashed violently against them, and
twice nearly overturned me. On the second occasion one of
them actually fell down into the water, the the off-wheel flew
up into the air, and the curricle remained suspended, balancing
backwards and forwards, like Mahomet's coffin. Luckily, time
was allowed the horse to recover his legs ; down came the whell
once more on terra firma, and on we went again. We slept at
Cashew ( an estate near Lacovia ), and the next morning at daylight
proceeded to cllimb the Bogr. a mountain so difficult of
ascent that everyone had pronounced the attempt to be hopeless
with horses so young as mine; but those horses were my only
ones, and therefore I was obliged to make the trial. The road
is bordered by tremendous precipices for about twelve miles; the
path is so narrow that a servant must always be sent on before
to make any carts, which may be descending, stop in recesses
hollowed out for this express purpose; and the cartmen are
obliged to sound their shells repeatedly, in order to give each
other timely warning. The chief danger, however, proceeds
from the steepness of the road, which in some places will not
permit the waggons to stop, however well their conductors may
be inclined; then down they come, drawn by twelve or fourteen,
or sometimes sixteen oxen, sweeping everything before them ;
and any carriage unlucky enough to find itself in their course
must infallibly be dashed over the precipice. To-day, it really
appeared as if all the estates in the island had agreed to send
their produce by this particular road ; the shells formed a complete chorus,
and sounded incessantly during our whole passage
of the mountain; and at one time there was a very numerous
accumulation of carts and oxen, in consequence of my carriage
coming to a complete stop. As we were ascending,—" It is very
well," said Mr. Hill, who was travelling with me, " that we did
not come by this road three months sooner. I remember about
that time travelling it on horseback, and an enormous tree had
fallen over the path, and hung so low that a chaise with a canopy could not
have passed ; but , of course, the obstacle must
now be removed : if I remember right, this must have been the
very spot.....and, as I hope to live, yonder is the very tree
still !" And so it proved : although three months had elapsed,
the impediment had been suffered to remain in unmolested possession of
the road, and to pass my carriage under it proved an
absolute impossibility. after much discussion, and many fruitless
attempts, we at length succeeded in unscewing the wheels,
lifting off the body, which we carried aalong, and then built the
curricle up again on the opposite side of the tree. However, by
one means or other, we found ourselves at the bottom of the
mountain ; but the fatal tree, and the delay occasioned by taking
unavoidable shelter from the tremendous storms of rain, had cost us
so much time that night surprised us when we were still eight
miles distant from our destined inn. The night was dark as
night could be ; no moon, no stars, nor any light except the
flashing of myriads of fire-flies, which, flapping in the faces of
the young horses, frightened them and made them rear. The
raod, too, was full of water-trenched, precipices, and deep and
dangerous holes. As to the gorund, it was quite invisible, and
we had no means of proceeding with any chance of safety except
by making some of the servants lead the horses, while the others
went before us to explore the way, while they cried out every
moment, " Take care ; a little to the left, or you will slipp into
that wate-trench—a little to the right, or you will tumble over
that precipice." Into the bargain, there was neither inn nor
gentleman's house within reach ; and thus we proceeded crawling along at
a foot's pace for five
wretched miles, when we at
length stopped to beg a shelter for the night at a small estate
called Porous. By thistime it was midnight—all the family was
gone to bed—the gates were all locked ; during which I sat in an
open carriage, perspiration streaming down from my head to my
feet, through vexationm impatience, and fatigue, while the nightdew fell
heavy and the night-breeze blew keen ; which (as I had
frequently been assured) was the very best recipe possible for
getting a Jamaica fever. On such I counted, both for myself
and my white servant, when I at length laid myself sown in a
bed at Porous ; but, to my equal surprise and satisfactio, we
both rose the next morning without feeling the slightest inconvenience.
On Friday, the 5th, I eached Spanish Town ; and
the next night slept at Kingston.
