C H A P T E R XI. JAMAICA. 1st Month,
227id, (January,)
1837.
W E came to anchor at Port Royal early this morn ing, having had a fine voyage and very favorable wea ther since leaving Barbados. Being in the " trades," we did not employ the steam till within a day of our arrival. The distant view of Jamaica from the sea is of the same verdant and mountainous character as Do minica and Martinique but on a more stupendous scale. The lofty summits of the blue mountains are usually wrapped in clouds. Our only fellow passengers were Captain BELCHER, and two of his officers, who were going to take the command of a surveying expedition on the Western coast of America. Their intention was to cross the Isthmus of Panama, proceeding in boats up the river Shagrees and thence across the moun tains on mules. As we were entering the harbor, the fleet on this station were leaving it, to blockade the jiorts of the Republic of Granada, which includes the Isthmus. This intelligence threatened an unexpected obstruction to Captain BELCHER'S more peaceable operations, especially as he had many packages of valu able apparatus, M'hich could not be conveyed across the mountains without the aid of the natives. We have met in our several voyages, three officers who have visited Pitcairn's island, in the South Seas, and