Montego Bay

Montego Bay defies description: posh resort, package tour playground, market town, commercial centre, seaport, slum, second city, capital of the west ñ its disparate elements co-exist without blending. The result is an atmosphere of schizophrenic energy. Almost all tourists enter Jamaica through the Donald Sangster airport but Montego Bay has long outgrown the label ìtourist townî. It is sometimes referred to as ìthe Republicî a nickname dating back to the last century when independent local landowners criticized the government for neglecting the western parishes. That situation still exists and true Montegonians, born in the bay and known as ìBawn a baysî sometimes still threaten, only half in jest, to secede from the rest of the island.

Christopher Columbus sailed into the bay in 1494 and named it ìel Golfo de Buen Tiempoî ñ Fair Weather Bay. The coast was frequented by Arawaks, traces of whose habitation can still be found in the surrounding hills. The first record of a Spanish settlement here shows it as Monterias. The Spaniards hunted

the herds of wild hogs that used to roam the hills and produced and exported ìhog butterî or lard. The name Montego derives from the Spanish ìmantecaî meaning lard, and Montego Bay is shown on some ancient maps as Lard Bay.

The town, threatened from the interior by the Maroons

and from the sea by pirates, grew slowly but by the end of the eighteenth century it had become a busy port visited by about 150 ships each year ñ more than use it now. The fortunes of

the town were tied to ìKing Sugarî and declined when sugar slumped during the nineteenth century. Relief came with the development of banana plantations and the export of bananas but it was as a tourist resort that Montego Bay really came into its own. As early as 1908, the Montego Bay Citizens Association were advertising the charms of the town with an invitation to: ìCome South . . . to Montego Bay, the most beautiful spot in Jamaica. Here is situated the famous Doctorís Cave bathing place destined to be the favourite bathing resort of the Western Hemisphere. Leave the grim north, come south! Only four and

a half days from New York.î

DOCTORS CAVE, credited with the genesis of the tourist

trade was the property of an eccentric and lovable physician

Dr Alexander McCatty, who donated it to the town as a bathing club in 1906. The curative powers of the sea water were promoted in England by the celebrated chiropractor Sir Herbert Barker. A controversial but fashionable figure, Sir Herbert was also a devotee of the small Casa Blanca Hotel, established by

the matriarch of Montego Bay tourism ìMa Ewenî. A nucleus of small hotels grew up around Doctorís Cave, most of them owned and managed by local families: the Ewens at Casa Blanca, the Edwards at Beach View, the deLissers at Sunset Lodge, the Fosters at Chatham and another matriarch, Miss Ethel of Ethelhart Hotel. During World War 2 a landing strip was built

in the mangrove swamp, partly to provide employment. After the war, an airport was opened and Montego Bay rapidly became a mecca for the rich and famous. Today, the modern Donald Sangster airport (named after a former Prime Minister) handles tens of thousands passengers annually and is continually being refurbished or expanded. Montego Bay has the

greatest concentration of tourist accommodation on the island and offers a wide variety. Luxury properties like HALF MOON, ROUND HILL and TRYALL, large multi-stories like ROSEHALL BEACH AND COUNTRY CLUB, HOLIDAY INN, SEAWIND and FANTASY, apartment hotels like MONTEGO BAY CLUB and SEACASTLES, small inns like WEXFORD INN, BLUE HARBOUR, ROYAL COURT, TOBY INN and READING REEF. All-inclusive hotels (offering pre-aid total packages) are well represented, including three of the international SANDALS chain, CLUB PARADISE, and JACK TAR at Montego Beach.

Before the days of mandatory Environmental Impact Assessment studies, two development projects changed the face of the bay forever. In by-gone days ships were anchored offshore and loaded by deep open boats called ìlightersî. The harbour was vulnerable in bad weather and small boats had to seek safe anchorage amongst the Bogue Islands, a cluster of mangrove keys in the west of the bay. During the 1960s the Bogue Islands were transformed (by dredging and dumping) into MONTEGO FREEPORT with resort, residential and industrial sites plus a deep water pier with 6 berths. The scheme was financed by private capital and ìbawn-a-bayî entrepreneur Tony Hart was the catalyst. Today the government is the major shareholder.

SEAWIND, a self-contained budget hotel with beach including a ëclothes optionalí section is located on the Freeort peninsular. The MONTEGO BAY YACHT CLUB, terminus for the annual Miami ñ Montego boat race in Spring and venue for the Marlin tournament in the fall is an interesting place to observe some local movers and shakers at play. Beyond here BAY POINTE, with twin pools offers a mixture of residential and vacation apartments. As we went to press, another luxury residential complex was planned for the western peninsular and LAGOON LTD was seeking government permission to build Jamaicaís first casino-cum-theme park.

The commercial area of Montego Freeport lay dormant for almost two decades but is now growing rapidly. Port facilities continue to be under-utilized, mostly serving cruise ships. A multi-million cruise ship terminal and shopping centre was recently completed. In the Freezone area where export comp-anies can operate without paying local taxes or customs duties there are garment factories and data entry/electronic information companies. The latter are served by the large saucer-shaped antenna of JAMAICA DIGIPORT INTERNATIONAL, a telecommunications facility with satellite hook-up. JDI is a joint venture between AT&T, Cable & Wireless and Telecommunications of Jamaica.

The Urban Development Corporation (government owned and dubbed Urban Destruction Co by its environmental critics) dredged and dumped the foreshore of the town centre to create an extension that includes the Howard Cooke Highway, commercial and hotel sites, WALTER FLETCHER BEACH, the CRAFT MARKET, a fishermanís beach, playing fields and the open air BOB MARLEY PERFORMING CENTRE site in 1993 of

the first homegrown reggae festival SUMFEST. The HOWARD COOKE BOULEVARD was named for a popular local politician who rose to become, and still remains, Governor General, was knighted by the Queen and is now known as Sir Howard. Along the foreshore you will find LOJís pleasant small shopping centre with a mini food court and PIER 1, a popular restaurant.

PLACES OF INTEREST AND RECREATION

SAM SHARPE SQUARE: National Hero Sam ìDaddyî Sharpe is credited with instigating the slavesí Christmas Rebellion in 1831 which expedited the abolition decree. In fact, Sharpe, who

was a house slave and part-time preacher, had planned a non- violent strike. Convinced that the King of England had already freed the slaves he advised them not to go back to work after

the Christmas holidays unless they were paid. Things got out of hand and many of the plantations in the west were set on fire and some of the whites killed. The revolt was quelled with the utmost severity ñ some say brutality ñ and the leaders executed. White missionaries William Knibb and Thomas Burchell were also arraigned and tried for fomenting rebellion but were released for lack of evidence. Sam Sharpe was not so fortunate. He was hanged in the square which now bears his name. His last words were: ìI would rather die on yonder gallows than live as a slave.î In the northeast corner a group of statues by Jamaican sculptor Kay Sullivan, depicting Sharpe preaching to some of his followers. The sculpture blends into the commuters, street people and idlers who customarily throng the square. THE CAGE nearby was once used as a lock-up for drunkards and runaway slaves. The historic Georgian COURTHOUSE was burnt down years ago, its ruin now forms the backdrop for civic functions, political meetings and reggae shows. The elegant fountain in the centre of the square was the gift of a banana baron J.E. Kerr at the turn of the century. It functions sporadically.

Within walking distance,

up MARKET STREET the BURCHELL BAPTIST CHURCH was named for the brave abolitionist the Rev. Thomas Burchell. The original chapel built by him was destroyed by a mob of slave-owners after the Christmas Rebellion. Burchell only escaped death because he was given sanctuary by the captain of a ship in the harbour.

The elegant ST JAMES PARISH CHURCH along CHURCH ST was founded in 1782 and contains several lavish monuments erected by wealthy sugar barons. Among these are two by the famous English sculptor John Bacon, one of them being a memorial to Mrs Rosa Palmer, not to be confused with Annie Palmer, the White Witch of Rosehall. Opposite here is the TOWN HOUSE, a well preserved Georgian mansion which is a

popular restaurant.

If you really want to learn what Montego Bay is all about, try a walk along BARNETT ST ñ the busiest in town and crammed with a kaleidoscope of small businesses, restaurants, bars and vendors.

BEACHES

Famous DOCTORS CAVE remains one of the most popular beaches though Dr McCattyís cave (where ladies and gentlemen had to swim at different times) was destroyed by the 1951 hurricane which also decimated the beach. American engineer Henry Makepeace Wood was engaged to save the beach. He designed three groins to channel the sand bearing currents with the result that the beach is now more than twenty times its original size and still growing. Other additions ñ more changing rooms, a snack bar and beachbar ñ have kept pace with the Caveís increasing clientele. Many of the staff have worked at Doctorís Cave for over twenty years.

Adjacent CORNWALL BEACH has the same fluffy sand and limpid water. Also located here are the JAMAICA TOURIST BOARDíS OFFICES (for advice and information) and the headquarters of the MONTEGO MARINE PARK ñ a partnership between USAID, the government of Jamaica, and local friends of the sea who are hoping to rehabilitate the marine environment. WALTER FLETCHER BEACH has changing-rooms, snack bars and tennis court.

WATER SPORTS are available at all the above and at most ocean-front hotels.

TENNIS: Many hotels have tennis courts ñ some lighted. Half Moon where the pro is Jamaican champion Richard Russell has 13 courts, seven of them lighted, and 4 squash courts. Tryall also has a resident pro.

GOLF: 4 championship courses include Rosehall, Half Moon, Ironshore and Tryall which is the venue of the annual Johnny Walker Championship for ìthe best

of the bestî.

TOURS

Information on a variety of tours and cruises can be obtained at hotel tour desks

or from any of the many tour companies with offices along the hotel strip. Durable favourites include: Evening on the Great River, Hilton High Day, Croydon on the Mountain, Belvedere Estate, Mountain River Rafting, Rafting on the Martha Brae, and cruising on ìCalicoî. Popular new tours include YS Falls, Homes of the Rich and Famous ñ and day tours to Santiago, Cuba arranged by Sunholiday or Caribic. Unfortunately, the very popular Appleton Express is defunct, due to the closure of the railway in 1992, but you can still visit Appleton by bus.

GREAT HOUSES

ROSEHALL: This magnificent great house cost 30,000 pounds sterling to build in 1770 ñ an enormous sum in those days ñ and was considered the finest in the island. It was damaged during the 1831 slave rebellion and uninhabited thereafter, perhaps because the ghost of the White Witch of Rosehall was rumoured to be in residence. Stripped of its doors and mahogany staircase it fell into ruin. During the 1960s it was purchased by American millionaire John Rollins and restored at vast expense to its present elegance. Restoration of the great house was part of

a development scheme that included the construction of the Holiday Inn and Rosehall hotels. Conducted tours are available.

The story of the White Witch of Rosehall, Jamaicaís most popular legend, was perpetuated by H.G. de Lisserís novel. Annie Palmer is reported to have been beautiful, lascivious and diabolical. She dabbled in voodoo, tortured her slaves, murdered her husbands and lured into her bed any man, black or white who took her fancy, boasting: ìIf I survive Iíll marry fiveî. Annie, it is said, was eventually strangled, by a slave, during an uprising. There is no historical evidence to substantiate this tale. The facts are that the Hon. John Palmer, Custos of St James acquired Rosehall through marriage and built the great house. He was indeed the fourth husband of Rosehallís mistress, Mrs Rosa Palmer, but a memorial to her in St James Parish Church attests to her virtue and the fact that she died peacefully at age 72, predeceasing her husband. A subsequent Ann Palmer, wife of James Palmer, grandnephew of the Custos and heir to Rosehall, was also, research proves, a model wife. But the legend of the White Witch persists, losing nothing in the passage of time and encouraging attempts by various spiritualists to raise Annieís ghost. One attempt in 1978 took place before a large crowd which returned home very disappointed. Clairvoyant ìBambosî claimed to have conjured up a stout ìcafe-au-laitî lady who led him to her grave behind the house where he discovered an incense burner and voodoo doll inside a termite nest.

GREENWOOD was built in the early eighteenth century by

Sir Richard Barrett, cousin of the famous English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, author of ìSonnets from the Portuguese.î Sir Richard built Greenwood for lavish entertaining, hence the

large ballroom. Custos of the Parish, Member of the Legislature, sportsman and bon vivant, he died suddenly in somewhat

suspicious circumstances in a ìrooming houseî in Falmouth.

Not a pious man, he nevertheless gave permission for his slaves to receive instructions in Christianity murmuring, ìI daresay it may help to tame themî.

Greenwood was one of the few great houses to escape damage in the 1831 Christmas Rebellion and has been occupied continuously. The present owners, Bob and Anne Betton use the stately master bedroom where their TV set is carefully concealed in a cupboard. Bob Betton returned to Jamaica in the late 1970s to go into farming. Instead he bought Greenwood at the insistence of an elderly English millionaire, John Binns, who wanted to see his priceless collection of antiques in loving hands. Among the treasures here are a sixteenth century court jesterís chair, a Spanish brazier, an inlaid rosewood piano (a betrothal gift from Edward VII to his fiancee), the library of the Barrett family, many fine portraits, and a rare collection of antique musical instruments including a barrel organ that plays ìDaisy, Daisyî. The huge variety of items substantiates Greenwoodís claim to having the largest collection of antiques and musical instruments in the Western Hemisphere. There are off-beat items like the Barrettsí boudoir china (basins, jugs and chamber pots made by Wedgwood and bearing the family crest) ñ antique carriages and fire- fighting equipment and even an original 1778 advertisement offering a handsome reward for the return of runaway slave Mary Gold. The view from the upstairs veranda stretching from Rosehall to Discovery Bay is so extensive that you can actually identify the curve of the horizon. Tours are available 7 days a week and there is a pleasant pub-style bar in the old kitchen.

BIRDING

Rocklands Bird Feeding Station is a unique spot where Miss Lisa Salmon has been entertaining her feathered friends for over 40 years. Quits, doves, nightingales, finches, orioles and hummingbirds are just a few of the different birds that can be seen here. Tea time lasts from 3:30 to dusk. Accredited members of birdwatching clubs are admitted through the day. You can sit on the verandah ñ but be careful not to sit on a bird ñ and have them hopping on your shoulder and eating out of your hands. Quicksilver hummingbirds ñ doctor birds (Jamaicaís national bird), bee hummingbirds (only slightly larger than a bumble bee), or mango hummingbirds will perch on your finger to

sip sugar and water from a feeding bottle. Ornithologists will delight in Miss Lisaís repertoire of bird stories. Her knowledgeable assistant ìFritzî deputizes ably for the bird lady when she

is unable to entertain.

EATING AROUND

Montego Bay restaurateurs complain that the all-inclusive syndrome is wrecking their business ñ but restaurants continue

to proliferate. Almost every type of cuisine is available at prices from moderate to outrageous. When doing your own research do not forget the many restaurants lining the highlevel road e.g. Rotis, Brigadoon, The Native, The Diplomat and Mickeyís Montegonian. Durable favourites along the hotel strip are the Pelican, Wexford Grill, Margueriteís and the Greenhouse. Opposite Cornwall Beach, the open air Pork Pit specializes in ìjerkedî snacks and if you are searching for Sushi, you should try Sea Shell! Popular spots in town include Pier One, The Town House and Lychee Gardens. If you have a big appetite and small pocket, try rootsy Tigers or Smokey Joeís on St James St or Harbour Lights Grill and Restaurant on the corner of Habpir and Union Streets. Or stand in line for patties and ìboxî drinks from Butterflake on Harbour St or Jucibeef on St James St. The Houseboat at Montego Freeport is a floating fondue restaurant. Popular pubs include: Hemingwayís and Walters on Gloucester Avenue and a tourist friend of mine recommends the police canteen at Sunset Arms.

FESTIVALS: After 16 years in Montego Bay, Synergy, the promoters of Reggae Sunsplash decided to move to Kingston (and from there onto Dover). To fill the gap a group of Montego Bay businessmen including Godfrey Dyer and Mickey Morris got together to launch Reggae Sumfest. With the help of international publicist (and ìbawn a bayî) Byron Balfour, Sumfest was born in August 1993 and has become an annual affair.

Tour 9

Through Seaford Town to Accompong

Note: A full dayís tour. Start early and take a picnic. If you want to travel at a more leisurely pace you have the option of an overnight stop. Countrystyle, the Mandeville-based company has listings of comfortable rural bed and breakfast accommodation.

By the Catholic church at Reading turn L up LONG HILL, climbing as the road winds along the side of a steep hill. About

6 miles out turn R for LETHE and MOUNTAIN RIVER RAFTING. Midway a sign points R to BUSHAíS COUNTRY RESORT a rambl-ing house set in a lush peaceful garden on ìBushaî Addisonís family farm. It has comfortable moderately priced bed and breakfast rooms, self-catering studios, restaurant, bar and

swimming pool.

At a fork in the road another sign points R to NATURE VILLAGE FARMS well worth a visit despite almost 2 miles of bad road. This very secluded site is almost encircled by the Great River with campsites, water and electricity. As we went to press a restaurant and bar were almost complete and there were plans for kayaking on the river. The proprietor, Leroy ëDuggoí Dunkley, a local Robin Hood is one of the main sponsors of SEBA, a champion football team. He bulldozed a hill to build their home pitch ñ an international sized football field with hills on either side providing the grandstands. Weekly matches are attended by crowds of fans. Another site is sometimes used for open-air reggae festivals.

The village of Lethe shows unmistakable signs of attention from its leading resident ñ attorney and Minister of State for Tourism ñ Francis Tulloch and his wife. The Tullochs operate the Mountain River Rafting tour which starts just upstream of the slavery-built stone bridge spanning the Great River and ends in a banana plantation. A tour of RHEAís WORLD, a riverside botanical garden, mini-zoo and museum and the Lethe Village tour (featuring songs by local schoolchildren) include lunch and an opportunity to taste drinks and liqueurs made from local fruit. Overnight accommodation is also available.

Back on the main road the turn L to ROCKLANDS BIRD FEEDING STATION in Anchovy is signposted. ANCHOVY is an outpost of Montego Bay, compact and scruffy. One mile past here the Mount Carey Baptist Church on a hill R was the rural headquarters of the Rev. Thomas Burchell, an English missionary who worked vigorously for the abolition of slavery. In 1957 the church was destroyed by an earthquake and rebuilt in character with an obelisk commemorating Burchell.

The road L before MONTPELIERís erstwhile railway station leads to the historic and photogenic St Maryís Anglican church, built on the site of a slave hospital and continues on to the BLUE HOLE NATURE PARK ñ still in an embryonic stage as we went to press. Natural attractions here in danger of ìdevelopmentî include a fine view over the valley, a riverhead, stream and mini-waterfalls. Montpelier estate is now the site for a large citrus project, a joint venture between the largest local bank

NCB and a foreign company. In the days of King Sugar the estate was owned by John Ellis, son of George Ellis, a Chief Justice of Jamaica who has the distinction of accidentally introducing Guinea Grass when he imported some rare birds and their favourite birdseed. The birds died, the seed was thrown away, grass sprouted and quickly spread providing a nutritious fodder that now grows wild all over the island. As you drive around Jamaica you can identify it on the banksides by its tall vivid green blades and feathery seed heads.

Turn L at Montpelier along the GREAT RIVER valley through BICKERSTETH to SEVEN RIVERS where the governmentís Coffee Industry Development Co. has a farm and nursery and offers extension services to small farmers. Coffee, intercropped with bananas, coconuts and citrus all grow in this moist and frequently misty valley. The mini-town of CAMBRIDGE has a police station, supermarket, pharmacy, bank, bakery, betting shop, video-shop and other modern necessities.

On the road to MARCHMONT L Mother Readís gaily painted Mount Faith United Holy Church of Jamaica Inc. offers ìhealing consultationsî Monday to Thursdays. Further on, past ferny cliffs is R, a Rastafarian retreat and King Selassie I Nature Roses Garden. At Marchmont your options are:

1. Straight ahead to GINGER HILL, Accompong and St Elizabeth.

2. Left (2.5 miles) to the cool village of CATADUPA, virtually isolated unless or until the railway resumes. En route turn L at the sign for CROYDON ON THE MOUNTAIN ñ a tour of champion farmer Dalkeith Hannaís hillside farm where coffee, pineapples and citrus grow on carefully engineered bench terraces. The tour includes lunch and reservations are necessary. Having made it to Catadupa you may be game to proceed to MOCHO and back to Montego Bay

via MAROON TOWN, the condition of the road being anybodyís guess.

3. Turn R for ST LEONARDS and HILTON HIGH DAY TOUR which offers a day in the country with walking tour, a introduction to village life and buffet lunch with rum punch and roast suckling pig. Bed and Breakfast accommodation is also available here.

SEAFORD TOWN is a township settled by German immigrants in 1835. After the emancipation of the slaves, the Jamaican authorities encouraged working class Germans to come to the island to supplement labour on the estates and to increase the number of white residents in case of future black uprisings. The Germans, all struggling farmers, were lured with promises of land and animals. But the land assigned to them was poor and the animals few, a pig or goat and a few hens. About 350 of them settled on 500 acres donated by Lord Seaford (an Ellis of Montpelier now raised to the peerage). Tropical diseases, unfamiliar climate, crops and tools, infertile soil, the suspicions of the blacks and the snobbishness of the whites were just a few of the hardships encountered by the Seaford Town Germans. Many died, others moved away, but a hardcore remained.

In 1837 a Catholic mission was set up by an Austrian priest, and became the focus of the township. The story of Seaford Town is the story of a succession of compassionate and energetic Catholic priests. Today, the Sacred Heart Mission comprises the church, a basic school, clinic and a technical school run by the government of Jamaica but built and funded by the Catholic Bishops of Germany. In the 1970s Father Francis Friesen established the mini-museum beside the church where you can learn more about the German connection. Poignant exhibits include the immigrantsí testimonial of thanks addressed to the Captain of the ship ìOlbersî that brought them to Jamaica and dated Christmas day 1834. They wrote: ìhad not poverty exiled us from our native land we would have tendered you a worthier gift than these linesî. There is also an immigrantís letter dated May 1835 and published in a German newspaper warning others not to come. Life in Seaford Town has never been easy and most of the younger Germans have emigrated to Canada or the U.S. Currently, less than a third of the population of small farmers are of German stock but the influence of the original settlers still pervades the neat village with its gabled wooden houses so reminiscent of farm cottages in the Weser valley.

Head for ST ELIZABETH via GINGER HILL or NEWMARKET. The Ginger Hill road is shorter, rougher, more isolated; punctuated by small cultivations of bananas, cane, cocos, pineapple and ginger. Ginger, a hardy and prolific plant grows wild on

the banksides. It produces a fleshy root which is dried and powdered. In Jamaica the fresh root is crushed and used to flavour homemade drinks such as ginger beer or sorrel. (The crimson bracts of the sorrel are steeped to produce a spicy

and decorative brew ñ add rum to taste and you have an indispensable ingredient of Christmas cheer.) En route you will meet more donkeys than cars, also farmers heading loads of grass or coco suckers. Coco, a starchy tuber is roasted or boiled in soup.

If times are hard (and they usually are) you may even see women breaking stones at the roadside. After Ginger Hill the road descends, offering fine views over the plains of St Elizabeth: the canefields of HOLLAND sugar estate, the BLACK RIVER and BLACK RIVER MORASS all the way to the sea. At the REDGATE signpost continue downhill to the starting point for the YS Falls tour (See Mandeville and the Southcoast section).

The alternative route via Newmarket is longer but smoother and offers the haunted Soldier Tomb at the roadside at STRUIE, commemorating infantryman Obediah Bell Chambers, killed by slaves in the Christmas Rebellion of 1831, who apparently died a soldier and a honest man. Legend insists that his severed head fled the scene and that sounds of clashing swords can still be heard here at night.

NEWMARKET is a thriving centre despite the fact that it is periodically inundated by water rising from underground after severe rains. In 1979 after tropical storm Bob deluged the southwest of the island the water level reached 30 feet covering

many of the buildings and there was talk of relocating the town. Instead, a number of new buildings were erected on higher ground and this section is called ìNew Townî or ìLewisvilleî after a popular local politician Neville Lewis.

At MIDDLE QUARTERS pause to sample the local delicacy: hot peppered river crayfish. YS is a private cattle property and leading racehorse studfarm. Export papayas are also grown. Cross the YS river by a slave built bridge and on through

WHITEHALL to MAGGOTTY, a market centre once the site of spectacular waterfalls which were sacrificed many years ago

for hydro-electricity.

Interesting detour: Proceed three miles further east to

APPLETON SUGAR ESTATE, owned by J Wray & Nephew Ltd, the islandís oldest and largest rum distillers. (See Mandeville and the South Coast: Appleton Rum Tour).

North of the Maggotty roundabout is the COCKPIT COUNTRY with its forest-clad limestone hills shaped like witchesí hats. The wild ìkarstî terrain, the result of weathered limestone covers 500 square miles, much of it uninhabited and some of it unexplored. Turn R at RETIREMENT onto a narrow road that hugs the hill, with panoramic views over the plains to the headquarters of the western Maroons at ACCOMPONG. The name Maroon is a corruption of the Spanish Cimmaron meaning ìuntamedî. The Maroons originated from the Spaniardsí slaves who took to the hills when the British captured the island. Joined by other runaways they roamed the interior farming, hunting, harrying the settlers and frequently besting the local militia and British army. During the first Maroon War, when

his people were being harried by the British army the Maroon leader CUDJOE (alias KOJO) sent a group led by his brother ACCOMPONG to occupy this district. The peace treaty signed with the British in 1739 ceded the settlements of TRELAWNEY TOWN and Accompong to the Maroons and gave them certain freedoms including the freedom from taxation. The Accompong Maroons did not join their Trelawney Town brothers in the second, unsuccessful Maroon rebellion of 1795 and were rewarded with some of their land when the Trelawney Town Maroons were exiled or dispersed. Thus Accompong became the only Maroon settlement in western Jamaica and the Maroons there were granted additional lands in 1838. Officially, the land is held in common but house land is considered privately owned. Currently, a few of the younger, more activist Maroons are concerned that encroachment by the Jamaican government is nibbling away Maroon territory.

Today ñ especially since the crackdown on marijuana farming ñ Accompong is an impoverished rural district and its population depleted by emigration. The population of Accompong is about 1000, the tradition that only Maroons are allowed in the village has softened over the years and the office of Colonel is largely ceremonial. The Colonel, once elected for life by public acclamation is now chosen every 5 years.The incumbent Colonel is Corporal Meredith ìMerdieî Rowe a member of the Jamaica Constabularyís Flying Squad based in Montego Bay.

A monument at the Accompong crossroads commemorates Cudjoe, the leader who outfought and outwitted the British army for many years before assenting to a treaty at the nearby Peace Cave. On January 6 each year, Accompong celebrates TREATY DAY with feasting, dancing and drumming. Rituals include the feeding of the dead in which only Maroons can participate. Traditionally, only male animals are killed for the feast, the cooking is done by men, and no salt is used. Maroons and non-Maroons gather from far and wide and the celebrations can go on for three or four days.

Tour 10

Montego Valley and Maroon Town

At the crossroads west of Westgate shopping centre turn L

and travel between the banana fields and mango orchards of Barnett estate, owned for many generations by the Kerr-Jarrett family. The late Francis Kerr-Jarrett, Custos of St James and patriarch of the clan, erected the cross visible on the rim of the mountains to your right. Cromarty, the stately mansion R above a phalanx of Royal Palms was once owned by press magnate Lord Beaverbrook. Now it is the home of the ebullient ëSlidieí Jo Witter, an ex-cane cutter who went to England and made a fortune in South London real estate. At Fairfield R a road leads up to Doctors Hospital, a small private hospital, and the erstwhile Fairfield Country Club with a small theatre used by the Montego Bay Players. The fork R leads to KEMPSHOT. Take the L towards ORANGE RIVER LODGE. As the Westban ëItís banana time againí sign suggests you will be seeing a lot of banana cultivation on this trip. Westban, a private company owned by the farmers was created as a catalyst to achieve another 3000 acres of banana cultivation in western Jamaica ñ enough to make export feasible from Montego Freeport. Approaching the

village of JOHNS HALL, try to ignore evidence of Montego Bayís environmentally unfriendly municipal dump off the road R at Retirement, once an Arawak settlement. A curious sign R, ìOur God reigns at Johns Hall Aggregate Ltd.î announces a large quarry. Further on, Jasper, a friendly woodcarver displays some interesting pieces. His prices, he says, ìdepend on the people pocketî, in other words, they are negotiable.

A sign directs you L to ORANGE RIVER LODGE about 1 mile to another ëSlidieí Jo Witter enterprise. The hilltop great house on a scenic 980 acre estate cultivating bananas, citrus, and coffee has been remodelled and restored to provide comfortable accommodation for eco-tourists, everything from campsites to triple bedrooms with private bath. The garden is rich in shrubs and a variety of trees ñ starapple, guinep, tangerine, mango, June plum, avocado, soursop, cedar, guango and Royal Palms. On a hill overlooking the great house and its fine garden there

is a new 24-room hotel with swimming pool and tennis court. Eco-options include hiking, horseback riding, river swimming and exploring.

Nearby, the remote district of SALTERíS HILL is a farming community and the site of Moses Bakerís Baptist church which has been relocated to Johns Hall. Baker, a freed slave from Carolina in the U.S. was preaching in Kingston before he was brought to St James by the Quaker owner of Adelphi estate to preach Christianity to his slaves.

Back on the main road into Johnís Hall there is an interesting stop L at Calimento, a mini-nature park operated by Rastafarian ìOssie Dreadî. Johns Hall like most rural villages straggles along the main road for a mile or more. Proceed, steeply to SPRINGFIELD with a large Baptist Church and all-age school and along the spine of the hill to WELCOME HALL where the R fork can take you through MOUNT HOREB and BIG BOTTOM to CAMBRIDGE and from there to SEAFORD TOWN (see Tour 9). There are fine views over the MONTEGO VALLEY as you proceed to KENSINGTON, the ex-sugar plantation where the last slave revolt began. It was from this vantage point that the signal for the start of the Christmas Rebellion was given: the slaves set the trash house ablaze and the fire was clearly visible for miles around. The event is commemorated by a plaque erected on the roadside by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust which says: ìA freedom torch was lit here . . . On Tuesday night December 27th 1831 the trash house on Kensington estate was set on fire signalling the start of the last slave rebellion in Jamaica when the slaves led by Johnson, Campbell, Gardiner and Dove forced the militia guarding the area to retreat to Montego Bay. Over 50 estates were burnt. In the reprisals 500 slaves were killed including Sam Sharpe who had organized the slaves to demand freedom. As a result of the outbreak the movement to abolish slavery was greatly accelerated.î

On this route you may see dozens of uniformed schoolchildren, girls in sky blue and white, boys in khaki on their way to

the large MALDON TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL which, like many schools in Jamaica, runs two shifts. Turn L at POINT to Maldon where there is also an interesting Baptist church founded in 1838, destroyed by earthquake in 1957 and

rebuilt within a year by the late Rev. Dr C.A. Morgan, pastor, politician and something of a legend in his lifetime.

MAROON TOWN is a scattered community of small farmers. The largest business, and all-purpose shop belonging to the Chin family is an unofficial community centre. Maroon Town was settled originally by the remnants of the Trelawney Town Maroons. In 1739 by the Treaty that ended the first Maroon War 1,500 acres between here and Trelawney Town (now called FLAGSTAFF) were ceded to the Maroons led by the redoubtable Cudjoe. The second Maroon War erupted in 1795 after the British had the temerity to flog a Trelawney Town Maroon in Montego Bay for pig stealing. The Maroons, invincible guerilla fighters were defeated only after the British imported bloodhounds and Amerindians to track them down. Their warriors were exiled to Canada, the rest of them scattered and Trelawney Town became a British army post. At Flagstaff, banana cultivations conceal traces of the districtís sanguinary history: military graves and the foundations of a barracks. The old parade ground is now a playing field. Amiable local farmers like Mr and Mrs Wesley Read, Mr Fred Gracey, Mr Charles Chambers and his son Nelroy will regale you with tales of old, pointing out landmarks like GUN HILL ñ where the Maroons mounted a captured cannon and slaughtered a company of British Dragoons as they filed into a cockpit now called Dragoon Hole. Local lore maintains that 99 of 100 soldiers were killed there and the lone survivor ìwent and told the Queenî that the British army would never vanquish the Maroons, so she decided to use bloodhounds.

The (very unpredictable) road loops through Flagstaff past SHAW CASTLE and returns to Maroon Town from where you can proceed to ACCOMPONG (settled by and named after Cudjoeís brother). You will travel around the edge, or through the COCKPIT COUNTRY via FLAMSTEAD, GARLANDS, MOCHO, NIAGARA and ELDERSLIE ñ through hilly farm country where the banana is making a modest comeback.

At Elderslie, spelunkers should ask for Mr Westin Thomas

at the shop in the square. He owns the WONDROUS CAVES at nearby COOKS BOTTOM and can arrange for a guide. The caves contain a stream and underground lake. At Elderslie, the L fork leads to Accompong (see Tour Through Seaford Town to Accompong). If you take the R fork through MULGRAVE and MERRYWOOD you are within striking distance of the large IPSWICH CAVES (about 6 miles) and then YS FALLS (14 miles). The large Ipswich Cave has three entrances, the most used being a tunnel up to 40 ft. wide and 25 ft high.

Options for your return route to Montego Bay include via YS , MIDDLE QUARTERS and NEWMARKET, via YS, GINGER HILL and SEAFORD TOWN, or via Middle Quarters to the southcoast and over WHITHORN HILL.

Tour 11

Into Trelawny and along the coast

Westgate shopping centre, south east of the town centre has a supermarket, wholesale liquor store, bank, green grocer, gas station and other necessities. Take the road just north of here towards the Queen of Spain Valley in the parish of Trelawney: narrow, winding and shady it is punctuated at regular intervals by rusty signs proclaiming ìBus Stopî though sightings of a bus are mercifully rare. At Portobello Heights crossroads the office building on the R is the business place of local member of Parliament and civil engineer Arthur Nelson. Take the R fork towards SIGN where the SIGN GREAT HOUSE may or may not have completed its refurbishing. On a breezy hill it offers fine views, pleasant cottages, a swimming pool, bar, restaurant and landscaped grounds. At ORANGE a sign painted on the wall of a small shop announces ìWelcome to Me Ameegoî.

At SUDBURY the old Baptist church ñ cut stone with quaint peaked windows of coloured glass ñ has been desecrated fore and aft with squat concrete additions. The road branches 10.5 miles out at GLASGOW; your landmark is a stone farm house on the hill L of the road. The L fork will take you to the coast at Rosehall, continue straight ahead for ADELPHI where the courthouse is conveniently located on top of the police station. The road L past the Shell gas station takes you back to the coast at Salt Marsh; the R fork continues to Hampden. At LIMA there is a large pond on the L and the way R leads to the hills of SOMERTON, home village of Reggae star Jimmy Cliff. Bear L to Hampden and enter the broad QUEEN OF SPAIN VALLEY ñ with cane fields on both sides and in the distance the low conical hills that herald the start of the COCKPIT COUNTRY.

The HAMPDEN junction is marked by a large cut stone facade, sans legend, and an antique sugar mill. Turn L here about a mile along a bad road towards the factory and great house. Hampden estate has been in the sugar business for over 200 years. An ancestor of the present owners-in-residence David and Richard Farquharson, purchased the estate in the 1830s. Prior to that it belonged to Archibald Stirling, a practical and apparently devout Scotsman who imported missionaries from Scotland to convert his slaves to Christianity and built the tiny Presbyterian church, the first in the island, in the nearby village. The great house located immediately beside the factory was built by Stirling in 1779 and originated as a functional stone and mortar dwelling, the ground floor of which served as a rum store until the early 1900s when remodelling created spacious verandas and a graceful profile. Hampden is one of the 9 remaining sugar factories on the island. It processes cane from its own 3500 acres and from surrounding small farmers and is famous for its high ester rum, all of which is exported to Europe. Factory and great house tours can be arranged. (Telephone: 954-3262) Beside the greathouse driveway a tiny graveyard commemorates former proprietors and their families. The inscription on the tomb of John Stirling who died in 1793 aged 25 attests to his ìmany virtuesî and the affection of his brother Archibald.

In the early days each sugar estate, no matter how small boasted its own factory, slave-built from limestone quarried in the island. Many of these were architectural gems ñ like the factory at nearby GALES VALLEY which was donated by Hampden owners and removed stone by stone to the University at Mona where it was reassembled as the Chapel. The road circles the Hampden factory and passes through a cool avenue of bamboo on its way to the village and coast. Your route heads towards WAKEFIELD a sprawling village on the edge of the Cockpit Country. The Queen of Spain Valley is the largest aquifer in the island and the water table here is very close to the surface making Wakefield prone to floods and small ephemeral lakes.

By the Wakefield Police Station turn L and keep L towards BUNKERS HILL. After about 2 miles, at a sharp bend there is a stone ruin on a hill overlooking the Martha Brae river ñ the boundary of Good Hope estate. The next cross roads with a shop and church is FRIENDSHIP where you turn L again and travel past Ugli orchards turning L again at the next junction for GOOD HOPE GREAT HOUSE. Once the domain of John Tharp (1744ñ1805) the largest land and slave owner in the West Indies, Good Hope is now owned by a group headed

by MoBay businessman Tony Hart. The great house and stone coach house have been faithfully and lavishly restored to create an exclusive small hotel and the land produces export crops ñ anthuriums, papayas and Uglis. The last, a cross between a grapefruit and a tangerine was named

(the story goes) by the then Princess Royal who on being offered one exclaimed ìWhat an ugly fruitî. Delicious uglis are now marketed by Hart as Uniques.

A slave-built stone bridge crosses the Martha Brae into the old slave village where one building is still in use as a packing house and leads up the hill below an eighteenth century house currently the residence of the farm manager. This was built by Tharp for his illegitimate son and farm manager Alexander Harewood ñ the only one of his children who inherited the fatherís energy and acumen. Through a gateway flanked by two more elegant old buildings, one slated to be a pottery studio, you get your first glimpse of the great house on the hill L and pass R the Good Hope Stables. The great house has a magnificent 360 degree view and exquisite informal garden ñ with the contemporary bonus of a swimming pool and barbeque tucked away behind shrubbery. The house is replete with priceless antiques ñ from an original painting of the estate by J.B. Kidd to Tharpís anti-arthritis lead bathtub fed by a copper cistern. Good Hope is unique in almost every way. For example one luxurious suite is in Tharpís counting house above the former slave dungeon and staying here is predictably pricey. Manager is gourmet chef Tammy Hall. Tours, meals and horseback riding can be arranged through Half Moon Hotel or by phoning Good Hope.

An intriguing history of Good Hope written by a former owner Patrick Tenison, reveals that John Tharp was beloved by his slaves, so much so that in 1802 he wrote in a letter ìMy negroes have increased and are happy. They kill me with their constant visits and attentions. It gives pleasure though I am fatigued to death before the day is half gone, for I must talk and shake hands with every one of them.î His favourite child was the daughter he had by one of his slaves who with the help of a generous dowry married well and went to live in England. The tradition of integration was carried on by a nephew William Tharp who was rumoured to keep a mistress on every one of the familyís numerous estates.

Return approximately 2 miles to the (so-called) main road and bear left for SHERWOOD CONTENT. About 200 yards onwards a sign nailed to a telegraph pole points R down a dirt road to PANTREPANT which has some caves with Arawak petroglyphs (incised rock carvings). Sherwood Content is a straggling village which the Waldensia Baptist church built in 1836. At the crossroads with the Post Office L and a promising-looking bar and grocery R, another road doubles back into thickly wooded hills and a sign directs you to the WINDSOR CAVES the largest caves in the island. To explore them you will need an experienced guide, several, including a gentleman known as ìSugar Bellyî live in the vicinity. Also necessary are dependable lights and a measure of caution because several cavers have been lost in the outer passages. The cave has many levels, one source of the Martha Brae river rises in a subterranean cavern and the roar of water is said to echo through the caves in rainy weather. Like most Jamaican caves this one is inhabited by bats (known locally as ratbats). Bat manure, an excellent fertilizer used to be mined here. The caves are now owned by Mike Schwartz, a retired airline mechanic who lives in the Windsor great house. Campsites and accommodation may be available here soon.

The road straight ahead will take you to CLARKS TOWN via KINLOSS. Take the left fork towards PERTH TOWN another small straggling village and on to the MARTHA BRAE RAFTING VILLAGE. Situated on a low hill almost encircled by the green waters of the river this is a pleasant place with a bar and restaurant, restrooms, craft shop, swimming pool and itinerant calypso band. From here you can float down the emerald river on a bamboo raft with trees arching overhead and cows grazing beside the banks. Each raft accommodates two persons. Your captain will stop on request to allow you to swim, picnic or swing from jungle creepers like Tarzan. En route you will glide past the MARTHA BRAE ESTATE RIVERSIDE PARK shortly before the disembarkation point just above a stone bridge. From here, transportation is provided back to Rafterís Village and security is provided at their car park.

Retrace your raft route, this time by road downriver to the MARTHA BRAE ESTATE RIVERSIDE PARK, which offers something for

everyone: swimming, boating, mini-raft rides, fishing, picnic areas, hammocks under the trees, entertainment, food and drink and a mini-island devoted to souvenir shops. The most refreshing option is the riverside nature trail along the old stone aqueduct (different lengths for different tastes) and a hike through limestone forest up a low hill through groves named ìLand of Look Behindî, ìMe No Sení, you No Comeî, ìRest and Be Thankfulî ñ after districts in the ìCockpit Countryî. At the top of the rise the nature trail merges with a heritage trail offering re-creations of a Maroon settlement and a slave village complete with ìobeahmanî and ìmeeting house.î

Past the potterís shop and kiln you get a fine view of the river and open air mini-museum where a number of relics and artifacts are on loan from the National Heritage Trust. These include tombstones, some with fascinating inscriptions. Pride of place here is taken by a poignant statue of a little slaveboy who is crowned with a metal band commemorating the abolition of slavery. This ambitious ìholisticî park is the brainchild of former parliamentarian Keith Russell and his family. Historian/sociologist Basil Ferguson acts as cultural consultant and supervises a genealogy service which can research and supply the convoluted family trees of Jamaicans. Access to the park is via a pontoon raft and the all-inclusive entrance fee covers everything except food, drink and souvenirs.

Back on the main road and over the stone bridge brings you into the village of MARTHA BRAE. The river, legend says, was named after an Arawak sorceress who drowned a party of greedy gold hunting Spaniards in it. On the Falmouth side of the bridge is the Persian Water Wheel installed in 1798 to supply water, gravity-fed in an aqueduct, to a large tank in the town square ñ hence the name Water Square. Its installation made Falmouth the first town in the New World to have running water. Nearby, a new attraction at THE ISLAND is scheduled to offer swimming, canoeing, and ìtubingî down the river. An expanse of wet- land extends from here to the coast and man-made fish ponds produce tropical fish for export. The Trelawney Environment Protection Association had plans to use some of the ponds as a snook and tarpon nursery in

an attempt to rebuild the decimated fish population of the Martha Brae estuary.

An interesting artist-in-residence in the village of Martha Brae is Caspar Robinson, many of whose works include biting political commentary.

The original settlement gravitated towards the harbour about 1794 and was later christened FALMOUTH. It became a thriving port, exporting sugar and rum and importing slaves and other commodities. In 1830 the Baptist missionary William Knibb described Falmouth as a ìpleasant, fashionable seaportî. Emancipation of the slaves (which Knibb did much to engineer), and the subsequent decline of King Sugar stunted Falmouthís growth but it remains the best laid-out town in the island with numerous examples of fine Georgian architecture - most of them neglected or obliterated with ill-conceived renovations. MARKET STREET is lined with historic buildings including the erstwhile school of the Misses Knibb, the post office and the BARRETT TOWN HOUSE. The last was just one home of a family whose sugar estates stretched over thousands of acres in St Ann, Trelawney and St James. To date all attempts to preserve the townís architectural treasures have proved futile but the Georgian Society continues to have high hopes of restoring the Barrett house and Tony Hart has endowed a trust to restore and maintain the BAPTIST MANSE. The PARISH CHURCH on Duke St dates from 1796 and has some interesting tombs. Craft vendors and stilt walkers sometimes congregate at the entrance. FORT BALCARRES on Charlotte Street, named for a governor Earl Balcarres, was originally sited in the centre of town, but was relocated when citizens complained that firing the salute set their roofs ablaze. It is now an All Age School. The former prison and workhouse on RODNEY STREET now houses the police station and the archaic eighteenth-century lock-ups are still in use. On the foreshore at Tharp St, the once elegant town house of John Tharp is now a tax office and public works yard. The old ALBERT & GEORGE MARKET in Water Square (named for two of Queen Victoriaís sons) has been leased by the Custos of Trelawney, attorney Roy Barrett, and transformed into a Craft complex. The market was removed to the east outskirts of the town where on Wednesdays it draws thousands of shoppers and higglers from all over the island ñ to the weekly ìBení Downî market so-called because most goods are spread on the ground and you have to bend down to make your selection. Clothes, shoes, hats and other drygoods are purchased by ìhigglersî (small traders) in freeports like Panama or San Maarten and resold here, sometimes to smaller higglers who then re-sell

them in other markets.

An optional excursion east begins at the Shell Gas station opposite the cone shaped Phoenix Foundry, one of the earliest built in 1810. It will take you to ROCK and the former studio of the late Muriel Chandler, a celebrated artist who developed ingenious batik techniques. The cool stone building displaying her silk batik works has the atmosphere of a shrine. The workshop is now closed, but pricey batik garments are on sale in the showroom.

Just next door is the phosphorous lagoon of OYSTER BAY where the water teems with microscopic luminous sea-creatures: at night these create spectacular underwater fireworks when disturbed by boats, fish or divers. Night boat rides to witness the phenomenon start at US$6 per person. Perched on the edge of the lagoon with their own mini-marinas are: FISHERMANíS INN a pleasant small hotel and GLISTENING WATERS an informal yacht club and restaurant ñ both very popular with locals and people who like ìmessing about in boatsî. Deep-sea charters are available here. Fishermanís Inn has a Scuba package and Glistening Waters has good seafood at very moderate prices.

One mile east TIME AND PLACE is worth a pause. Run by Sylvia and Tony it is low-key, rustic and yet sophisticated with hammocks and swimming from a still deserted beach, a bar and restaurant and piped music for all tastes. Next on your L is the TRELAWNEY BEACH, a large hotel offering a semi-inclusive package. Opposite the entrance is the COUNTRY CLUB bar. Just past the residential subdivision of CORAL SPRING ñ with a cluster of cottages and a lovely lonely beach ñ there is a long steep hill. At the top a sign may (or may not) point you left down an unpaved road towards STEWART CASTLE. Built by James Stewart, Custos of Trelawney in 1880, the homestead comprised a great house and stockade heavily fortified against pirates. Neglected for years, the ruins are now seldom visited.

R of the approach to DUNCANS there is a rootsy pub, the SOBER ROBIN INN which claims to be the childhood home of Harry Belafonte. Opposite here OCEAN POINT/DUNCANS BAY sprawls across 750 acres with three miles of pristine oceanfront land. Plans are afoot for a comprehensive residential resort with marina, hotels, golf course and shopping area. Residential lots are already on sale. Near the ruins of an old great house there are two caves with traces of Arawak occupation. It is said that the emancipator Rev. William Knibb and his family were hidden in these caves by church members when irate slave owners

burnt his manse and were seeking to arrest and arraign him

for treason.

A road L of the main leads to SILVER SANDS, a cottage colony perched above a fine private beach. Visitors are welcome at the Beach Club where there is a bar and restaurant and a charge for water sports and swimming. Some of the houses here are owner occupied, others are the weekend retreats of business tycoons and most can be rented.

To the east of Silver Sands a secluded beach front property is being converted into SWEPT AWAY TRELAWNEY, a luxurious sports-oriented all-inclusive hotel cloned from the original in Negril.

In the small town of DUNCANS the town clock seldom tells the right time and the bakery makes delicious ìcoco-breadsî ñ

a huge roll, spread with margarine before baking and very sustaining. At Stupartís gas station, head east towards RIO BUENO. On your left the Kettering Baptist church built in 1893 commemorates the famous emancipator William Knibb who, in 1840, founded a village here for freed slaves, naming it after

his native town in Northamptonshire, England. He died here

in 1845.

The road runs between pastures and pimento groves. In season youths will flag you down to sell bunches of guineps - resembling large green cherries. They are tart and stainy and said to be full of iron and enzymes. Descending the hill at BRACO, the great house R has been tastefully remodelled and

L is an erstwhile government airstrip, formerly the site of several ganja plane crashes.

At BRACO GREAT HOUSE R Queen Elizabeth II took tea on one of her visits to the island. The seafront at Braco is scheduled for transformation into BRACO VILLAGE a large environment ñ friendly hotel and construction is well underway. Large fishes are the specialty of the woodcarverís stall at the foot of the

hill. L at PLANE STOP, the remains of one of the crashed ganja planes is the centrepiece of a kiosk advertising cold beer, jerk pork and clean rest rooms. The Braco stone crushing plant R processes limestone quarried from the hill behind. There is another travellerís rest stop at RIO BRAC on the R, and L as

you enter RIO BUENO another rootsy oasis called YOW overlooks the harbour.

Most historians believe that Rio Bueno is the place where Christopher Columbus first landed in Jamaica. Having been chased from St Annís Bay by Arawaks in war canoes, he put in to Discovery Bay, but when his scouts failed to find fresh water he weighed anchor for the next ìhorseshoe shapedî harbour west where he found a fine river ñ hence the name Rio Bueno.

A natural harbour, Rio Bueno was once a busy sugar and banana port. Among its historic buildings, the Wellington Hotel, described by Monk Lewis in 1816 as ìa very good innî is in an advanced stage of decay. The old tavern at the cross-roads is still a popular drinking spot though its eighteenth century character has been obliterated by repairs. On the beach opposite is a rootsy reggae centre and bar. On the hill above is an eighteenth century Baptist church. The photogenic St Markís Anglican church on the seafront built in 1833 was frequently visited by Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, aunt of King George VI and the first Chancellor of the University of the West Indies. Beside it at the HOTEL RIO BUENO artist Joe James and his wife Joy operate an interesting complex: art gallery, small hotel, craft shop and restaurant. The airy dining room in an old wharf displays several of Joeís powerful canvases.

At the other end of the village, the RIO BUENO TRAVEL HALT provides snacks, beers, good craft items and clean restrooms. Spanning the Rio Bueno and marking the boundary between the parishes of Trelawney and St Ann is the Bengal Bridge an ñ impressive example of stonemasonry ñ which was built in 1789. The Rio Bueno river rises dramatically a few miles south in the hills near STEWART TOWN and is actually a continuation of the Cave river which sinks abruptly in the centre of the island. A species of eyeless fish inhabit its subterranean waters.

Return to Montego Bay along the coast road from Falmouth. At JAMAICA SWAMP SAFARI you can see captive crocodiles. These ferocious-looking but shy reptiles were once abundant and are depicted on Jamaicaís Coat of Arms. Today, with most of their habitat destroyed they are a protected species and the fine for killing one is hefty. Wetland areas like this are nurseries for many marine species and the islandwide dumping of wetlands and destruction of mangrove forests is a major cause of depleted stocks of fish and crustaceans. Unfortunately, as demonstrated by ROIíS TRAVEL HALT (craft shops and cottages) R of the road, the reason for this type of eco-destructive development is usually tourism. SALT MARSH is a village of fishermen and woodcarvers. A wide range of carvings some raunchy, some excellent) are displayed along the road and you can negotiate a price minus the middlemanís mark-up. Your route passes L on a high hill GREENWOOD GREATHOUSE Further on R SEACASTLES is a condominium hotel with its own chapel and commissary. At the junction just before ROSEHALL BEACH & COUNTRY CLUB R, the road L to BARRETT HALL passes the S.O.S. CHILDRENS VILLAGE created many years ago on the initiative of Heinz Simonitsch, Managing Director of HALF MOON. Another sponsor of this excellent home for needy children

is country singer Johnny Cash who restored an eighteenth century great

house at Cinnamon Hill nearby. Past the Rosehall golf course, the next landmark is ROSEHALL GREAT HOUSE owned by U.S.

millionaire John Rollins, a controversial figure here, whose plans to develop an upmarket resort in this area have been in limbo for thirty years. The homes of wealthy winter residents overlook L the golf course of HALF MOON CLUB. The Disneyworld confection R of the road is Half Moonís luxurious Shopping Centre and the next palatial building R is actually the stables for the hacks at ROCKY POINT RIDING STABLES. Elaborate landscaping R embellishes the entrance to HALF MOON HOTEL, the most enduring and progressive of Jamaicaís elegant resorts and currently in the process of major expansion.

A more functional shopping centre, frequented by locals and tourists alike is the BLUE DIAMOND SHOPPING PLAZA L of the road with numerous shops, 4 restaurants, and a cinema. Oppo-site the HOLIDAY INN the HOLIDAY VILLAGE has a variety of shops, nearby the very popular DISCO INFERNO is the scene

of beauty contests, fashion shows and international dance concerts. As you approach the outskirts of Montego Bay the planes taking off from Donald Sangster airport roar overhead.