face wore the expression some people assume when they are preparing a
treat for a child. "Flags" looked in and nodded. "Faites entrer
alors," ordered the Admiral, still smiling, and a steward came in
bearing six bottles of Guinness' stout. "You see that I know what you
like," added the Admiral, beaming. On a broiling hot afternoon in
Jamaica, tepid stout is the very last thing in the world that one
would choose to drink, but the Admiral was convinced that it was the
habitual beverage of all English people, and had actually sent his
steward ashore to procure the precious liquid. It was a delicate
attention, but it so happened that both ladies had a positive aversion
to stout; they drank it bravely notwithstanding, and we all assumed
expressions of intense delight, to the Admiral's immense
gratification.

It was the Admiral's first visit to the West Indies, and he did not
like them. "Non, madame. Des nuits sans fraicheur, des fleurs sans
odeur, des fruits sans saveur, des femmes sans pudeur; voila les
Antilles!"

The Guardsman and I, anxious to see more of this lovely island, went
off by train to the western extremity of Jamaica. The engineer who
surveyed the Jamaican Government Railway must have been an extremely
eccentric individual. There is a comparatively level and very fertile
belt near the sea-coast, extending right round the island. Here nearly
all the produce is grown. Instead of building his railway through this
flat, thickly populated zone, the engineer chose to construct his line
across the mountain range of the interior, a district very sparsely
inhabited, and hardly cultivated at all. The Jamaica Government
Railway is admirably designed if regarded as a scenic railway, but is
hardly successful if considered as a commercial undertaking. The train