A terrible cyclone, which lasted from midnight on Monday, August
10th, to 7 a.m. on the following day, has devastated great part of the island of Jamaica. Kingston suffered greatly, but Port Antonio, the depot of the American fruit trade, and the towns to the eastward were, says the official telegram, "practically destroyed." All over the East and North-East districts all fruit trees were blown down, and the banana crop, which is the support of the people, was totally swept away. The damage is estimated at E2,000,000, and though the loss of life has been comparatively small, thousands of poor people have been rendered homeless, and must for the next nine months live on charity. Subscriptions will be opened both in America and at home, but the calamity is so great that it would seem to justify a loan to the island. It is stated on good authority that periodic destruction by malig- nant weather is the great danger of the fruit culture which has now in most districts of Jamaica replaced the earlier cultivation of the sugar cane.
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