Montego Bay

“ It was with regret that I took leave of my kind friends at N——, and prepared to extend my journey to the extreme limit of the railway, which ends at Montego Bay, a port on the northern coast. I had first, however, to traverse that part of the island known as the Cockpit Country, parts of which being remarkably beautiful. From an agricultural standpoint, this mountainous stretch is practically useless. Isolated peaks covered with tropical foliage form a background to a vast labyrinth of glades and valleys separating precipitous cliffs. ”

“ The Close Harbour is calculated to hold thirty ships, and a vessel of 800 tons has loaded in it.
The number of vessels which come into Montego Bay annually may be stated at about seventy ships and brigs, and the tonnage at 20,000 tons. The exports, from the 29th of Sept. 1820 to the 29th Sept. 1821, were as under:
The town is the county town, and the third in size in the island Its public buildings are two places of worship, a court-house, gaol, fort, marine hospital, and barracks for two companies of infantry. ”

“ Returning from Montego Bay, I went by rail to Ewarton, which is in the centre of Jamaica. To go there I had to change at Spanish Town, which is 10 miles or so from Kingston. There is only one train every day that runs the whole distance from Montego Bay to Kingston; this starts at eight o’clock in the morning, stopping at every station, and reaches its destination about four in the afternoon. On this occasion I fell in with a number of the island clergy, who entered the train at every stopping-place, several having driven distances of 25 and 30 miles, having risen before daybreak. ”

“ The more common route of travel from the neighbourhood of Montego Bay to Spanish Town, when it is desired to make the journey by land, is by the northern road to Falmouth Harbour, and thence by Saint Ann’s, and across the Island. The southern road is also travelled at times, without the necessity of going to the port of Savanna, by Lacovia, and the parish of Saint Elizabeth. But Mr Vaughan preferred the easier mode of transit—on board ship ”

“ Presently the canvas blew out, and with tacks on board we stood along the coast. Our speed increased with the rising breeze. We were not long in getting round Pedro Bluff, when we stood directly for Savannah-le-Mer, then a pretty flourishing little town at the south-west end of the island. Here we were to land some of the redcoats, and were to take the rest round to Montego Bay, at the north-west end of Jamaica. ”

“ The Bail-Room and Court-House are elegantly furnished; the chandeliers are of the most costly description, and the entertainments given there are seldom graced with fewer than 120 ladies.
The water, with which the town is abundantly supplied, rises in a valley at the foot of the hills, and is of remarkable purity. These, with other local advantages, render Montego Bay and its neighbourhood a very desirable place of residence.
MONTPELIER ESTATES, ST. JAMES’S.
Montpelier Estates, the property of Charles Ellis, Esq. ”

“ Scott’s wharf, rented by Mr. Home, between which and the town of Montego Bay the sea is dotted with the Islands which form a part of the Bogue estate. They are entirely unproductive, although the largest contains fifty acres, and has a spring of fresh water. ”

“ Thus the ancient capital of California faces across the bay, while the Pacific Ocean, though hidden by low hills and forest, bombards her left flank and rear with never-dying surf. In front of the town, the long line of sea-beach trends north and north-west, and then westward to enclose the bay. The waves which lap so quietly about the jetties of Monterey grow louder and larger in the distance; you can see the breakers leaping high and white by day; at night, the outline of the shore is traced in transparent silver by the moonlight and the flying foam ”

“ We struggle so to achieve a little brief moment of beauty, but every hour at Monterey it is given away.
The bay lies squarely fronting the Pacific swell, about a hundred miles south of the Golden Gate, between the horns of two of the little tumbled coast ranges, cutting back to receive the waters of the Pajaro and the Salinas. From the south the hill juts out sharply, taking the town and the harbour between its knees, but the north shore is blunted by the mountains of Santa Cruz. ”

“ The bay of Monterey circles up broad and deep into the coast. It is far from being land-locked, and yet the southern bend is sufficiently sheltered to afford a safe and quiet anchorage. The town is built within a circling range of forest-feathered hills, and on a plain that descends in easy slopes to the strand of the bay. A more inviting picturesque location for a city never entered a poet’s dream. ”

“ The women carry all the household goods when they move, and the men the weapons. They [85] have magicians, who act as priests and physicians, and these magi are the great obstacles in the way of converting the natives.
The bay of Monterey is formed by Point Año Nueva on the north, and Point Pinos on the south; it is twenty-four miles wide at its entrance, and six in length to the east; the east shore is low and sandy, and the sea runs into the beach with a tremendous noise, that may be heard three miles off. ”

“ A bright sun rises over San Francisco, in all likelihood the last Don Gregorio Montijo will ever witness in California. For just as the orb of day shows its disc above the dome-shaped silhouette of Monte Diablo, flinging its golden shimmer across the bay, a boat leaves the town-pier, bearing him and his towards the Chilian vessel, whose signals for sailing are out. ”

“ His manner certainly wins the admiration and respect of the average American.
A day’s trip to Monterey on the cars is sufficient to see the beautiful grove of live oaks there and to view the old town and bay. The Hotel Del Monte is a magnificent structure, and the floral display about the hotel, in the court in the rear, where there is a garden of an acre of the most brilliant flowers imaginable, and many more out in the grove, this makes the whole place the most delightful resort I have seen. The beach is strewn with the bones of whales, and in places they are thrown up tons of them in heaps. ”

“ The coast is not so densely wooded as farther south, and the tide is not more than one-fourth as high on the average. Puerto Montt is a prosperous and progressive little town situated on Reloncavi [108] Bay. It has a well protected harbour and enjoys a considerable trade in lumber, wheat and leather. The lofty Andes are plainly visible on a clear day, especially the volcano Cabulco, which is only twenty-two miles distant. A half century ago this port had a commerce of considerable value and was even then exporting food products, although its population did not much exceed a couple of thousand. ”

“ There are fine views of Mount's Bay to be gained from the higher grounds. The harbour and docks were incorporated a century since; the pier is 465 feet long, and the basin has stout granite jetties. Granite and china-clay, fire-bricks and fish are exported here, and the fishing done is fairly extensive. The harbourage is good, but rather difficult to make in rough weather; south-westerly winds drive the seas fiercely against its mouth. ”

“ There is a battery upon a very little isle, in the 30bottom of the bay, called Isle au François, or French-Island. |Anchorage in this bay.| The anchorage at Montevideo is safe, though sometimes molested by pamperos, which are storms from the south-west, accompanied by violent tempests. There is no great depth of water in the whole bay; and one may moor in three, four, or five fathoms of water in a very soft mud, where the biggest merchant-ships run a-ground, without receiving any damage; but sharp-built ships easily break their backs, and are lost. ”

“ Monterey Bay is the home of the abalone and it has been so ruthlessly fished for that new laws have had to be made to protect it. The big, soft creature, as large as a tea plate, fastens itself to rocks and other surfaces, its one shell protecting it from above. ”

“ Civilization has encircled it on the land side, and crept two thirds the way up, while commerce has claimed the water front along its opposite base—but the summit still stands as free as when the priestly fathers first looked thence upon the glorious inland sea, which flashes between it and the sunrise. Let us climb it—this way, straight up the Montgomery street sidewalk, Slowly, please; we have the day before us; exhausted lungs impair one's sight. Stop at the corner of each intersecting street, and glance either way, but especially eastward—that is, downward toward the Bay. ”

“ In 1602-03 he explored and carefully surveyed the coast north of Cape Mendocino, discovered a bay, which he named Monterey in honor of the Viceroy, and dispatched northward from Cape Orford a vessel which sailed to 46° north latitude, and reached the mouth of a large river, probably the Columbia. ”

“ One aspect of the Sentinel commands all the map-like detail of Pun-nul Bay, with its labyrinthian creeks among a flat density of mangroves, like lustrous, uncertain byways in a sombre field, erratic of shape, magnificent of proportion. Beyond are many islets—dark blue on a lighter plain. In the distance, on the other hand, islands and islets trail away until lost in the vague blending of sea and sky; and for a background is all Australia. ”

“ The entire bay and the town of Mentone, with its background of swelling, olive-clad hills closed in by the amphitheatre of mountains, are thus thoroughly protected from the north-west, north, and north-east winds. To thoroughly understand and appreciate the district and its singularly protected character, a boat should be taken, and the panorama viewed a mile or two from the shore. The extreme beauty of the coast will amply repay the trouble. ”

“ After the usual struggle with the ice in Hudson Strait, as it was impossible to explore southward during the first season, the Dobbs galley and the California sailed for Port Nelson, intending to winter there. They arrived on August 26th. Ellis states that they were badly received by the Hudson's Bay officers at the first. They, however, laid up their ships in Hayes River, and built an erection of logs on the shore for the staff. The officers' winter quarters were called "Montague House," named after the Duke of Montague, patron of the expedition. ”

“ It is beautifully situated on the north-west shore of the Mount's Bay, on a declivity jetting into the sea. The lands in its vicinity having a substratum of hornblende rock and slate, are not exceeded in fertility by any soil in the kingdom; a belt of land around the town, which consists of about a thousand acres, producing an annual rent of £10,000! The town is well defended by surrounding hills from the fury of Atlantic storms. It is large and populous, containing more than six thousand inhabitants. ”

“ De Monts and Champlain discovered and named the St. John River in the year 1604, or some seventy years after Jacques Cartier’s exploration of the St. Lawrence. That arm of the Atlantic in front of St. John, and known as the Bay of Fundy, was originally named La Baye Françoise by De Monts. On Dochet’s Island in Passamaquoddy Bay the exploration party under De Monts passed a severe winter. The following summer they left the neighborhood and founded a colony at Port Royal in a protected basin on the south shore of the Bay of Fundy. ”

“ If large rivers do exist in the country, which some of us are almost sceptical enough to doubt, their sources must arise amidst these hills; and the direction they run in, for a considerable distance, must be either due north, or due south. For it is strikingly singular that three such noble harbours as Botany Bay, Port Jackson, and Broken Bay, alike end in shallows and swamps, filled with mangroves. ”

“ Nothing but the character of the people prevents Monterey from becoming a great town. The soil is as rich as man could wish; climate as good as any in the world; water abundant, and situation extremely beautiful. The harbor, too, is a good one, being subject only to one bad wind, the north; and though the holding-ground is not the best, yet I heard of but one vessel’s being driven ashore here. ”

“ South of Monterey is the town of Santa Barbara, a place celebrated for its being the residence of the aristocracy of California, as well as for its beautiful women. There is no harbour to the town, and vessels are obliged to lie at anchor in an open roadstead, often at many miles distant from the shore; and during the spring and fall, when the southeast winds prevail, they are scarcely safe lying here; a high surf is constantly running on the beach, and it is only by the greatest skill in “beaching” a boat that one can escape a severe ducking. ”

“ Vizcaino had said that Monterey was just north of the Sierra de Santa Lucia. "It is all that can be desired for commodiousness and as a station for ships making the voyage to the Philippines, sailing whence they make a landfall on this coast. ”

“ While the 'Supply' was absent, Governor Phillip made an excursion to Broken Bay, a few leagues to the northward of Port Jackson, in order to explore it. As a harbour it almost equals the latter, but the adjacent country was found so rocky and bare, as to preclude all possibility of turning it to account. Some rivulets of fresh water fall into the head of the Bay, forming a very picturesque scene. The Indians who live on its banks are numerous, and behaved attentively in a variety of instances while our people remained among them. ”

“ Not a ripple disturbed the placid and glassy surface of the magnificent bay and harbour, upon which rested at anchor thirty large vessels, consisting of whalemen, merchantmen, and the U.S. sloop-of-war Portsmouth, Captain Montgomery. Besides these, there were numerous small craft, giving to the harbour a commercial air, of which some of the large cities on the Atlantic coast would feel vain. The bay, from the town of San Francisco due east, is about twelve miles in breadth. An elevated range of hills bounds the view on the opposite side. ”