Negril

Land of the Lotus Eaters

NEGRIL is a world apart. The pristine beauty that brought it fame is only a memory, but the magic persists. Like a gaudy shell necklace, a conglomeration of tourist facilities fringes the coast for 15 miles from BLOODY BAY to the Lighthouse and continues to grow at both ends. The famous seven mile beach

is now choc-a-bloc with hotels, restaurants, cottages and water sports. The once deserted Norman Manley Boulevard is a speedtrack for buses, vans, motorbikes and taxis. Across the bridge, shopping plazas have proliferated. Even the WEST END, (alias The Rock) where ironshore cliffs plunge to turquoise seas and reggae throbs all night is overbuilt and congested. But, incredibly, the magic persists. Realists say that Negril is a state of mind, cynics say itís the marijuana.

Despite its recent explosive, unrestrained development, Negril is still a place where dressing for dinner can mean putting a

T-shirt over your swimsuit. Where the most important event of the day may be to watch the sun set. (At Rickís Cafe, after a particularly spectacular show, the sun gets a standing ovation.) It is a place to laze on the beach, soak in crystalline seas, to swim, sail or scuba dive over coral reefs formed millions of years ago. Then feast on snapper and lobster or strengthen your ëstructureí with conch soup or Irish moss. Negril is still the original land of the Lotus Eaters. Beware! You may never want to leave.

For centuries, cut off from the rest of the island by bad roads and a large swamp, it lay undiscovered and sparsely populated. Unlike most other places in Jamaica it has very little history except as a haven for shipping. A navy squadron mustered here in 1702 to sail against the French. In 1814 fifty warships and 6600 men sailed from Negril to tackle the American rebels ñ and were trounced in the Battle of New Orleans. And it was at Negril that an infamous pirate Calico Jack Rackham was captured, then taken to Spanish Town for trial and executed near Port Royal at a place known thereafter as Rackhamís Cay. Jack acquired his nickname because of his penchant for wearing calico underwear. It is said that prior to his capture he was (true to the Negril tradition) carousing aboard his ship with two of his crew Anne Bonney and Mary Read. These female pirates who had the reputation of being even more bloodthirsty than their captain were both pregnant for him. At their trial they ëpleaded their belliesí and were spared the death penalty.

Bloody Bay, north of Negrilís LONG BAY was once a port for whalers. The whales were towed in to be disembowelled and it is said that the waters of the bay frequently ran red with their blood.

One of the first persons to realize Negrilís potential was Norman Washington Manley whose administration cut canals to drain the swamp and built a highway. The Negril Land Authority was established in 1958 to supervise development of the area and has functioned intermittently and ineffectually ever since. Regulations enacted to preserve Negrilís unspoiled beauty have been honoured more in the breach than the observance and even the oft-quoted rule that no building must be taller than the tallest tree is disregarded nowadays. Planning chaos has been compounded by the fact that much of the land falls under another government agency, the Urban Develop-ment Corporation that is allowed to make its own rules.

Initially, development was very slow. Then in the 1960s the American ëìflower childrenî discovered Negril. Accommodation was very limited and the few establishments on the beach did not appreciate or encourage ìthe hippiesî. So these young foreigners, college kids, draft dodgers, Vietnam veterans, gravitated to the West End and The Rock and lodged in the humble homes of the local people: renting a room, a bed, or a space for their sleeping bags and eating out of the family pot. It was a beautiful example of symbiosis. Notwithstanding their modest rates ($42 dollar per week with breakfast and dinner), the landlords in Redground and along Lighthouse Road prospered, extended their houses and put in modern conveniences as the hippies came in ever-increasing numbers. In the early days the more affluent landowners were worried about Negril becoming a ìHippie havenî and set up a committee to deal with the problem of ìlong haired, ganja-smoking, loose-moralled foreign visitorsî, but the reply from the villagers was ìlet those that have the problem deal with it.î Currently, an interesting echo of this is the annual invasion of Spring Breakers who are welcomed by some establishments, boycotted by others.

It is from the original clientele of hippies that Negril acquired the spaced-out reputation that it has never shed. They smoked a lot of local ganja (marijuana) and they also discovered hallucinogenic mushrooms growing wild and tutored the locals in the commercial potential of mushroom tea. Both commodities are still available.

WARNING: the ingestion of wild mushrooms is legal in Jamaica but the effects are unpredictable and extremely dangerous if combined with alcohol. The same effect is true of ganja, which is not legal. Beware also, of tidbits such as ganja cake or cookies; the effects can be devastating. Regrettably you may also encounter crack or cocaine vendors. These are criminals, avoid them! Negrilís reputation as a drug haven is exaggerated. The fact is that the drug problem is no worse here than in other resorts or in any city abroad. On the other hand it is no secret that the ganja boom of the 1970s and ë80s provided much of

the impetus (not to mention the capital) that has fuelled Negrilís development and started many a now respected citizen on the road to success. As one naturalized Negrillo says : ìI came here as a kid, hoping to get into the ganja trade. But I became a hotelier instead.î

Many of Negrilís early visitors decided to buy their own ëpiece of the Rockí and today much of the West End is owned or part- owned by expatriate residents ñ including celebrated sites like Rickís Cafe, Xtabi, Samsara, Rock House and Summerset Village.

The travel trade discovered Negril in 1977, thanks to a

brilliant advertising campaign promoting ìHedonismî at the newly opened Negril Beach Village. At the time Jamaicaís politics made it unfashionable, so the hucksters marketed Negril in

a vacuum ñ to the extent that some clients were surprised (and not delighted) when they landed in Jamaica. Negril Beach Village enjoyed phenomenal success from the start and helped to lead the way for a regeneration of Jamaicaís tourist trade. The hotel was built by the governmentís Urban Development Corporation and operated by Issa Hotels, headed by the late patriarch of Jamaican hoteliers, the Hon. Abe Issa. Its format was patterned on the all-inclusive Club-Med concept and the tone was, to put it mildly, uninhibited. tales of bacchanalia and nude beaches shocked Jamaica, lured the tourists, and launched Negril. Today, the hotel is owned and operated by Super Clubs ñ an international all-inclusive chain headed by John Issa. Renamed Hedonism II (Hedo to its fans) it swings around the clock with an appropriate package.

Right next door, Sandals Negril is equally popular and slightly more staid (no nude beaches, nude jacuzzis or nude volleyball). The juxtaposition of these two hotels underlines the intense rivalry between Jamaicaís leading tourism moguls ñ John Issa and Butch Stewart and their Super Clubs and Sandals chains.

North of Hedo is The Point Village ñ a large condo complex built by the UDC. Adjacent is Super Clubsí Grand Lido ñ noted for its cuisine and the first hotel to be built on Bloody Bay with another Super Clubs property, Couples Negril, scheduled to go up beside it. Opposite Bloody Bay, Villas Negril, a formerly small and unique hotel (wooden cabins set on stilts in lush swamp forest) has added rooms, a tennis court and pool. The owners have leased five acres of Bloody Bay from the government and undertaken to operate it as a public beach park.

The Beach

Public access to the famous beach on Long Bay is confined to two small areas and even the swampside of the Norman Manley boulevard is rapidly being built up. From Swept Away ñ the most complete sports resort in the Caribbean ñ to Risky Business (24 hour bar and grill), from Beachcomber Club to De Buss, the variety along the beach is mind-boggling.

The 6000 acre Negril Morass to the east of the highway is owned by the government. In the 1980s a scheme to mine its extensive peat deposit was squashed thanks to the Negril Chamber of Commerce, the IUCN and Dr Edward Maltby, international wetlands expert. Beyond the market, the Negril river draining the Morass is stained dark brown by peat. Over the bridge and by the roundabout Negrilís ìtown centreî comprises Plaza de Negril and Adrija Plaza. Above them, the newly refurbished hotel Chuckles has arguably the finest view in Negril.

From here the Lighthouse Road meanders towards the setting sun offering kaleidoscopic variety: bars, clubs, cottages, castles, restaurants, stalls, shacks, campsites, fortresses and sad, to

say, squatters. Most West End establishments are small and owner-managed and no two are alike. Such is the magic of Negril that even the ugliest buildings appear original and appealing. Totally out of character, but welcome nevertheless,

is the urbanized Sunshine Village with bank, craft arcade, shops, large supermarket, fast food outlets, and restaurant topped by Singles ñ an apartment hotel set in a roof garden.

The West End, previously innocent of hotels now has several small ones: Summerset Village, Mariners Inn, Ocean Edge, Thrills, Hog Heaven. The latest ñ an elaborate

confection with swim-up pool bar ñ is named Devine Destiny. Otherwise accommodation runs the gamut from tents and hammocks to sybaritic suites complete with waterbeds, private jacuzzis and room service at Dream Scape.

Most of the intriguing sites are not open to the public ñ you have to be staying there to enjoy them. Blue Cave Castle clings to the cliffs above the sea and evokes, depending on your mood, either a medieval fortress or a Disney confection ñ with bed-rooms in the turrets and access to the ocean. Like many places in the West End it boasts a seacave. This one shelters a diamond clear grotto with purple seaweed and swallows nesting overhead.

Then there is Tensing Pen, where footpaths wind through lush tropical foliage and a swaying bridge spans a turquoise cove. There is elegant accommodation in thatched tree-high ìpillar housesî and cottages, and a rock-walled communal kitchen from which managers Dave and Bernice dispense complimentary coffee and fresh orange juice. Offshore here, scientists headed by expert Dr Tom Goreau are growing a reef: wire structures are placed in the sea and fed with low-voltage electricity, this precipitates the dissolved calcium carbonate in sea water and hey presto! a new reef begins to grow!

Swimming and seclusion amidst the beauty of tropical nature can also be enjoyed at nearby Banana Shout or at Catch A Falling Star ñ where Margaret Trudeau used to come to get

away from it all.

Perched on the south-westernmost point of the island is the Negril Lighthouse which stands 100 feet above sea level with an automatic light flashing every two seconds through the night. You can, at your own risk and by arrangement with the resident Superintendent, climb 103 stairs to the top for a birds eye view of the coast. En route you will see the brass lamps and pistons dating from 1894 when the light was lit with kerosene. Today, solar energy is used.

The best view of the lighthouse itself is from cliffside Light-house Park which offers tent sites and rustic cabanas in a lush garden, the flora of which is rivalled only by murals covering the exterior of manager Sharon Fraserís cottage and painted by Toronto artist Michael Daniels Thibert. Beyond here the road gets lonely and if you do not look carefully you might miss Jackieís on the Reef ñ where Jackie Lewis, a former dress designer from New York, provides ìspace to find yourselfî and rejuvenation through yoga, sunset meditation, massage, reflexology and herbal scrubs.

As we go to press, the outer edge of south Negril is marked by Hog Heaven Hotel with a virtuous sign in the bar announcing: ëI say No to ganja use in my bar ñ Managementí. But by the time you read this there may well be several other outposts.

The infinite variety of Negrilís restaurants, eateries and bars has to be experienced to be believed. Among the long established favourites are Cosmoís and Charela Inn (on the Beach) Chicken Lavish and Hungry Lion in the West End. Not to be overlooked are Runaways (on the Beach), owner- managed by Matthew Marzouca, and Penny and Ingeís Light-house Inn (in the West End). Negril has lots of seafood, plenty of pasta (not to mention Rasta Pasta), I-tal, vegetarian, French, German, Chinese and Jamaican cuisine so do your own research. Many restaurants offer transportation for dinner.

Negril still teems with interesting and hospitable people: Grandma ìMalaleeî Porter one of the first to welcome the ëFlower Childrení long ago is still alive and living in Redground. Others include Katy Thacker who spearheads the Negril Coral Reef Preservation Societyís mission to rescue the overstressed reefs; or Raquel Austin of the Negril Yoga Centre who makes yogurts and specialty cheeses. Or Robert ëTomí Harris, an ex-boxer and much decorated Vietnam veteran whose Dream Scape Boxing Club has produced national and international champions with Olympic aspirations. Dr Craig Travis is the catalyst behind the reviving Fishermanís Co-operative. His West End home and surgery, the oldest building in Negril, is shaded by centuries old cotton trees and, it is said, still frequented by the ëduppyí of the original owner Dr Arthur Drew. A World War I army surgeon and later physician to the British Royal Family, Drew retired to Negril where he held garden parties for the gentry on Empire Day and treated the local kids to a rare delicacy ñ ice-cream. He named his retreat The Hermitage, but the next owner, the late Leyson Ewen, hotelier, subsequently

rechristened (and used) it as Llantrissant (Loverís Tryst).

The Negril Chamber of Commerce is vigorous and unorthodox. After their successful anti-peat mining campaign, the NCC coalesced around stalwarts like Daniel and Sylvie Grizzle of Charela Inn, Nehru Caolsingh of Crystal Water and ex-fisherman Ray Arthurs of Golden Sunset. A civic group that sees development ìnot so much in terms of business, but mostly in terms of social development in close co-operation with natureî, the NCC is the only Chamber of Commerce in the world to seek and receive membership in the World Conservation Union (IUCN). As we went to press the NCC was fighting to secure the last remnant of woodland along the Beach as a national park. Recent accomplishments include the establishment of a public library, and the provision of adequate sanitary facilities at the Negril schools. A project in progress is a Vendors Plaza in the West End to relocate street vendors and provide storage and sanitary facilities for itinerant food vendors. The NCCís office in Adrija Plaza has free copies of their useful Guide to Negril, an annual publication.

Attractions

Poncianaís Anancy Family Fun and Nature Park is located

opposite this popular hotel on the edge of the morass and offers miniature golf, mini go-kart track, fishing in peat lakes and a mini nature trail.

Tours are available through the Royal Palm Reserve and Negril Morass Nature Park on the road to Sheffield and Savanna-la-Mar. The government spent millions to construct a boardwalk, observation towers and ponds here, a pilot project for their peat scheme, but the proposed nature park never materialized. The area, now leased to the proprietors of Negril Cabins, is ideal for birdwatchers and nature lovers.

Art and Craft: Apart from two official craft markets at Rutland Point and by the river, there is a long-standing one beneath a huge cotton-tree on the Beach, a Yan and Ying craft shop along the Lighthouse Road and craft stalls in numerous and unexpected places. There are

hidden treasures and ingenuous oddities amongst the hundreds of souvenirs. Selective shopping and persistent bartering are indicated.

Lloyd Hoffstead Gallery, Shop 23 in Plaza de Negril has a selection of paintings, drawings and sculptures displaying this Jamaican artistís meticulous and versatile techniques. Artist Geraldine Robins, twenty years resident in Negril has a home and studio in the West End offering water colours, pens and ink, oils and original handpainted clothing.

Reggae Vibrations: It is reggae Sunsplash all year round in Negril with frequent live reggae shows and top line artists at Kaiserís Cafe, Sam Sara, MX III, Central Park in the West End, and De Buss on the Beach.

Tours

Miskito Cove Beach Picnic at Bamboo Bay: Transport-ation, snacks, barbeque lunch, open bar, calypso band and a variety of watersports are all included in this picnic at a private beach overlooking Lucea harbour.

Belvedere Estates (owned by Pat McGann of Beach-comber Club), Black River Safari and YS Falls in St Elizabeth, and Freedom Village at Roaring River, Westmoreland are all within easy reach of Negril.

Tour 12

To Negril from Montego Bay

ìRibbonî development all along Jamaicaís coast has destroyed many scenic drives, but the route from Montego Bay to Negril still offers stretches of sparkling seascapes on one hand and green fields and hills on the other. It also has many flat, fairly straight road sections ñ an irresistible temptation to most Jamaican drivers so remember, at all times, to drive defensively.

Reading, now just a suburb of Montego Bay was once a sugar port. The pier is now a jetty for pleasure boats and the small port occupied by Normaís trendy restaurant. Budhaiís Art Gallery L displays the work of the epoynomous artist in residence. The Reading Reef Club, a small hotel R is the headquarters of Poseidon Nemrod, a PADI Dive centre operated by environmentalists Theo and Hannie Schmidt. Hannie is a Director of the Jamaica Conservation Development Trust and Theo is on the Local Advisory Committee of the Montego Bay Marine Park.

Approaching Great River, the National Water Commission has a large water treatment plant, built with a Japanese loan. The Great River, one of the longest in the island is the venue for the Evening on the Great River tour. Across the river, the road hugs the side of a long hill offering a fine view across the sea to Montego Bay.

Nine miles west of Montego Bay Round Hill, ìnot a hotel, more a way of life,î appears consistently in the Harperís and Queen list of the Three Hundred Best Hotels in the World. Round Hill was created in 1953 by John Pringle, a member of an old Jamaican family who was later a successful Director of Tourism. The concept of a nucleus hotel with luxurious satellite villas owned by shareholders and built to their own design was used shortly afterwards at Half Moon and Tryall. The Round Hill, 53 acres of land almost encircled by the sea, was purchased from Lord Monson, owner of the large cattle and coconut estate. Original shareholders included broadcasting magnate

Bill Paley of CBC, Noel Coward, Oscar Hammer-stein and Gladys Cooper. The roster has changed with the years but Round Hill remains a magnet for the slightly conservative jet-set. A stellar event of the Winter Season, Round Hillís Sugar Cane Ball raises money for charities in the parish of Hanover.

Hopewell is a bustling village; the photogenic Methodist church at the cross roads was built in the1870ís. Back on the open road there are two interesting craft shacks L and a sign offering the services of Captain Steamer (snorkelling guide)

just before the Old Steamer beach where the skeleton of an old coastal steamer is a reminder of the days when these boats

were a vital transportation link. Captain Groome of Rio Bueno captained this one, and it was reportedly used to run guns to Cuba in the revolt against Spain.

Flint River, now a cattle property, has an old stone wharf with cannon and is one of many estates with extensive ruins of slavery-built sugar works.

Tryall Golf and Beach Club (with a beach club guarded by cannons from the erstwhile Tryall fort) is a 2,200 acre residential estate with 50 villas, a small hotel, gourmet dining rooms, manicured grounds, and a golf course which hosts the annual Johnny Walker Championship. One of Tryallís original shareholders was Governor John Connally of Texas. Current homeowners, though low profile, are representative of the financial, industrial, political, diplomatic and publishing establishments and constitute a unique and influential international colony. As Tryallís late and much lamented Managing Director Count Kenneth Diacre de Liancourt used to explain: ìWe donít make any pretence you know, itís a rich manís club, its no good coming to Tryall unless you are prepared to spend money . . . thereís nothing shameful in being rich, you mustnít be mean thatís all.î Created in 1956, Tryall does not reflect the economic and social changes that the island has undergone since then, but the citizens of Hanover cherish considerable loyalty to this institution which employs about 500 persons year round and contributes lavishly and conscientiously (noblesse oblige) to local charities and community projects. Tryall was originally a large sugar plantation. The giant water wheel L of the road which turned the mill in the factory has been restored and is sometimes still powered by water transported from Flint River via a 2 mile aqueduct. In the 1832 slave rebellion Tryall Great House was damaged and the estate burnt. Embedded in the lawn at the entrance to the hotel is a fragment of the gravestone which commemorates the headman of the estate ìshot by rebels while defending his masterís property.î

Sandy Bay was founded as a Baptist Free Village for emancipated slaves on the initiative of the Rev. Thomas Burchell. The playing field here is still known as Burchell Field. Jamaican parents bestow on their offspring the surname of anyone they particularly admire and Burchell is almost as popular a christian name as Manley. Haynes Printables/Haynes Jamaica Ltd, a subsidiary of the Sara Lee Corporation has a large factory here assembling garments for the U.S. market. The site was acquired from the government in a debt for equity swop. Lollipop on the Beach ñ with ìFood, liquor, rooms and restroomsî ñ is a popular stop and frequently the venue for reggae shows.

Blue Hole estate has a ruined windmill and defunct polo club, the former a relic of the days when it was a sugar estate with factory, the latter founded by a previous owner, the Hon. Willie de Lisser, Custos of Hanover and polo fanatic.

Kenilworth, a mile down a side road L is a National Training Agency. Formerly a HEART academy (the institutions name and curriculum changes with the government), Kenil-worth has some fine seventeenth-century ruins, the elegance of which has prompted theories that the structure originated as a Spanish monastery before it became a sugar factory.

At Mosquito Cove the road skirts an inlet nearly 1 mile long: spelled Miskito Cove in old maps the area may have once been settled by Amerindians from the Musquito Shore (the eastern coast of modern Nicaragua), a semi-dependency of England during the eighteenth century. Lady Nugent (wife of the then governor of Jamaica) was obliged to entertain the young king of the Miskitos, which she did with ìsugar plums and the childrenís toysî and reported in her diary that she was: ìobliged to send the little Musquito King forcibly to school; but not before, in his rage and reluctance, he had broken the poor orderly sergeantís watch to pieces, and scratched his face sadly.î

Scenic detour: Turn L at the head of Mosquito Cove and (road conditions permitting) drive through the lush hills and districts of Jericho, Cascade, Pondside, Great Valley, Old Pen and back to Hopewell. The Baptist Church at Gurney Mount, built by Thomas Burchell in 1830 was damaged in the 1957 earthquake. The rebuilt church includes the Freedom Stone from the original. At Old Pen, turn R for Chigwell a farming community periodically submerged (after prolonged and heavy rains) by an ephemeral lake which rises from the overcharged aquifer. In 1979 half the population had to be evacuated but some die-hards moved to the hilltops and waited 9 months till the water receded).

Approaching the headland that overlooks Lucea a sign boasts ìBest View, check it outî and a stall sells the inevitable cold Red Stripe beer etc. The large cylindrical tanks on the slope below are used to store molasses for National Rums Ltd., and the private beach at Bamboo Bay is the venue for the Miskito Cove picnic, a popular tour.

Lucea, busy only on market days, retains few vestiges of the elegance and importance that it once enjoyed as the capital of a flourishing sugar parish. Hugging the west of the finest natural harbour on the northcoast it is a pleasant rural town, steeped in history, as any member of the active Hanover Historical Society will tell you.

The imposing town clock atop the nineteenth century courthouse was ordered for St Lucia but delivered to Lucea by mistake. The townspeople refused to exchange it for the more modest clock they had ordered and took up a sub-scription to pay the balance. The clock tower was the gift of a wealthy landowner of German extraction ñ hence its resemblance to the helmet worn by the Royal Guards of Germany. The thoroughly modern lions guarding the courthouse were added by the late Sir Alexander Bustamante, when the square was remodelled during the 1960s prior to being formally opened by HRH Queen Elizabeth II.

The eighteenth century Parish Church on Fort Charlotte Drive has several interesting monuments including one to Sir Simon Clarke, a gentleman of great good sense (he married an heiress) and rectitude whose grandfather was originally exiled to the island for highway robbery.

On the headland, Ruseaís High School was established in 1777 with a bequest from Martin Rusea, a French refugee who ìin grateful recollection of the hospitality manifested toward him in the colony left . . . all his real and personal estate for the establishment of a school in the parish of Hanoverî. Ruseaís disappointed relatives disputed the will and 13 years elapsed before the school was founded. Among its famous alumnae is track star Merlene Ottey, who first learned to sprint in her home village Pondside in the hills nearby.

Guarding the bay is Fort Charlotte, named for King George IIIís consort and one of five forts built in the 18th century to protect the islandís northwest coast from the French and pirates. (Others were at Point, Tryall, Round Hill and Montego Bay.) The battlement has positions for 20 guns and 2 massive George III cannons on rotary carriages remain. During the 18th century Lucea was a busy naval base and among famous maritime characters to visit here was Horatio Nelson. A sailor called Bligh, later notorious for his ironfisted command of the ship Bounty, also came to Lucea to visit relatives who had an estate nearby. It was at Fort Charlotte that Bligh first met a young officer named Fletcher Christian, the man destined to lead the mutiny on the Bounty against him. Bligh is best remembered for introducing both the breadfruit and the ackee to Jamaica.

These and other fascinating historical anecdotes about Lucea were unearthed by Evangeline Clare, founder of the Hanover Historical Society and wife of the local member of parliament Ben Clare. She is also the creator, fundraiser and curator of a site museum at the old police headquarters (turn towards the sea by the Sts Philip and James Catholic Church). Perched on a breezy cliff the museum features eighteenth-century dungeons embellished with an illustration of slaves on the treadmill. It has an intriguing collection of artifacts, a re-created Arawak dwelling,

mini-garden, snackbar and clean washrooms. The caretaker, Mr Thompson, is cordial and informative.

At the entrance to Fort Charlotte is an interesting and somewhat poignant craft workshop: all the workers are handicapped. One member of staff, Roy Manning, who lost both legs in a train accident, has won gold and silver medals in the Wheelchair Olympics. He once travelled right around the island in his wheelchair ñ a feat that took him 22 days.

West Palm on Fort Charlotte Drive is the only hotel in town. Clean and comfortable, it is popular with local businessmen.

Animal Hill, which overlooks the square got its name because the families who settled it all had animal names: Mares, Steers, Lyons, Foxes, Hogges, etc.

As you leave Lucea, heading for Negril there are L some factories and a housing scheme and R a modernistic courthouse and gaol, then Long Acre on the Rocks a seafront restaurant and nightclub and frequent venue for reggae shows.

Now begins a succession of mangrove shrouded coves, once the haunt of pirates and sometimes still used by ganja runners. There are cottages and rooms for rent at Lances Bay. At Cousins Cove (so called because it was originally part of the dowry of an heiress who married her cousin) there is an Arawak cave, artifacts from which can be seen at the museum in Lucea. According to signs on the roadside it also boasts a Business Association ñ one of the members being ìFriday î who advertises snacks and snorkelling at the bend where the canoes are beached.

Interesting detour: At Davis Cove turn L and travel a short distance to Blenheim, birthplace of Sir Alexander Bustamante. His father, Robert Clarke was an overseer on the estate. The Jamaica National Heritage Trust has rebuilt the thatched farm house in which the family lived and a memorial ceremony is held here every year. ëBustaí ñ possibly the best loved and certainly the most colourful of all Jamaican political figures ñ was an adventurer who fought in the Spanish civil war and took many jobs all over the world before returning to Jamaica, setting up as a money lender, and entering politics at the age of 50. He was the founder of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union and then of the Jamaica Labour Party and Jamaicaís first Prime Minister. A rallying song of his supporters ìWe shall follow Bustamante till we dieî illustrates the trust and unquestioning loyalty that he inspired. Busta used to boast that he was a man of mixed blood. On other occasions he would assert that he was 50% Irish, 50% Jamaican and 10% Arawak. Another anecdote describes a staid reception for Commonwealth Prime Ministers at Buckingham Palace when everyone was at his most punctilious. Except Busta, who seeing the young Queen Elizabeth diffidently approaching his group, turned towards her, opened his arms wide and called ìHello Honeyî. Her Majesty, protocol forgotten, moved smilingly into his avuncular embrace.

Green Island village straggles along a long bend in the road. You can turn L here for a drive through sugar cane country

and past Dolphin Head, at 1789 feet the highest peak in western Jamaica, to Grange Hill, Frome Sugar Estate and Savanna-la- mar. Green Island has a large secondary school and an establishment named Mandela Green (for South African Freedom fighter Nelson Mandela) which offers restaurant and bar, live entertainment and a ìRaving Reggae Disco.î

Rhodes Hall Plantation offers horseback trail rides around the large estate and has about one mile of more or less deserted beachfront.

Orange Bay is becoming a dormitory community for Negril. The reef offshore here, once diverse and spectacular is now affected by spreading algae and facing longterm pollution from an on-shore garbage dump.

The beginning of the Great Morass on your L heralds your approach to Negril Harbour, better known as Bloody Bay. Negril begins here ñ or in your head.

Tour 13

Exploring Westmoreland

from Negril

The journey from Negril to Savanna-la-Mar takes less than half an hour ñ easy driving through a lush alluvial basin cultivated in cane. Nowhere else is it more obvious that the islandís history, its present and its destiny are inextricably linked with sugar ñ an industry that employs at least 50,000 persons.

The exit road past the Shell Gas Station and Police Station

is normally crowded with an assortment of traffic and littered higgedlly piggedly with mechanic yards, tyre shops, cafes, bars, shacks and other enterprises including R Country Western Riding stables and L Paradise Yard restaurant, creators of

Rasta Pasta and other indigenous specialties like Paradise

johnnycakes.

The neat village of Sheffield is becoming a suburb of Negril. Here you will find L Negril Hills Golf Club with a gaudy clubhouse overlooking the Great Morass, Royal Palm forest and the abortive Nature Park built by government and now leased to the operators of Negril Cabins. The Nature Park has boardwalks and birdwatching towers in the swamp. Check Negril Cabins to arrange access.

Negril Spots, is a cattle and coconut estate belonging to the Jackson family, owners of Tree House and Golden Nugget in Negril. At the

junction, a detour R leads to the villages of Revival, Homers Cove and Little Bay where there is accommodation, ìRun by the

Sunî for the adventurous. Canefields border the road and the view L is towards a tiny church in a sea of cane. Salabieís Lumber Yard specializes in a local housing solutions: readymade board houses, small enough to be transported by truck or even mule cart.

Little London, a dormitory village for workers in Negril and Frome is heavily populated with East Indians. Their forbears were brought to Jamaica as indentured labourers shortly after the abolition of slavery when many of the ex-slaves migrated away from the sugar estates creating a shortage of labour. Living and working conditions for the Indians were very bad and many died. A number of Commissions of Enquiry did little to improve things and in 1914 the Indian government finally prohibited further migration of labourers to the West Indies. An early champion of the East Indians was an Anglican minister Rev. Henry Clarke whose protest about the conditions of the working classes and outspoken criticisms of the establishment made him extremely unpopular with the hierarchy. (A relative of his, Robert Clarke, was the father of Bustamante who used to warn ìMy name is Clarke but donít call me soî). The Indian labourers were the first to introduce seeds of ganja (marijuana) into Jamaica. The descendants of the East Indian labourers (called ëCooliesí) are still concentrated in the sugar belts. Much of their Hindu heritage has been maintained and aspects of it have been assimilated into local ëgrass-rootsí culture. More recently a small group of higher caste ìBombay merchantsî arrived in Jamaica and control the lucrative in-bond trade.

A detour from Little London takes you through canefields to the farming centre of Grange Hill and then to Frome Sugar Factory where there is a monument commemorating ìLabour leader Bustamante and the workers for their courageous fight in 1938 on behalf of the working people of Jamaica.î The Frome factory was built in 1939 by the West Indies Sugar Co, a subsid-iary of the British corporation Tate & Lyle which owned 16 sugar estates in the area. The large central factory at Frome replaced 7 smaller ones which had become antiquated and uneconomical. Just before the opening of the new factory, Frome was the scene of labour disturbances initiated by a strike for more pay (at the time women were being paid 10 cents per day and men 15 cents per day). There were also fears that the new centralized system would cause unemployment. Canefield fires and rioting provoked police action resulting in four deaths.

Alexander Bustamante, who had recently emerged as

the champion of the working man, rushed to the scene and attempted to mediate. A Commission of Inquiry into conditions in the sugar industry was appointed and ìBustaíî went on to found the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union and ultimately the Jamaica Labour Party.

During the 1960s, when the West Indies Sugar Co. was threatening to scale down its operation in Jamaica, the government bought them out. Thereafter the government-owned

factories lost money steadily for almost two decades. Recently

all the government sugar assets were ìprivatizedî and Frome, Moneymusk and Bernard Lodge were all sold to a private consortium that includes J Wray and Nephew and Booker-Tate (formerly Tate & Lyle). Their intention is to spend US$40 million on refurbishing the factories and increasing production.

Frome processes all the cane grown in the parishes of Hanover and Westmoreland and dominates the economy of the parishes. Originally this area was a patchwork of individually owned sugar estates, many with fascinating histories. Bulstrode was the property of Bulstrode Whitelocke, a Roundhead who helped to draw up the charges that brought King Charles I to

the executionerís block. Banbury was owned by Colonel John Guthrie the man who negotiated with Cudjoe the treaty that ended the first Maroon War. Cornwall was owned by Monk Lewis, a celebrated nineteenth century author and friend of Lord Byron. Lewisís humane treatment of his slaves astonished and annoyed his neighbou