The
Fern Gully of the Parish of St. Ann,
leading directly down in its extensions to the
coast at
Ocho Rios, has long been
considered one of Jamaica's prime showplaces.
I believe that almost
all authorities now
agree that the town's name is a
corruption of the Spanish Las Chorreras,
which signifies "the cascades" or
"waterfalls," rather than the "eight
rivers" which is the
translation of the
contemporary epithet. And I am sure that
better experts than I have long
considered
that Fern Gully was once a series of
cascading falls, tumbling downwards to the
sea
and bringing the needed soils upon which the present community of Ocho Rios is built.
But
through the centuries, this presumed chorrera
has been altered drastically, principally by
man's hand, and even in our time we
find that it continues to change with
every passing year not
for the better
unfortunately. I find upon reference to the
maps available at the Daily Gleaner,
that Fern Gully is not merely the gorge
itself but rather an entire somewhat
considerable
district leading down to Harrison
Town not far from Ocho Rios itself. The
two principal villages
in the district are happily named Spice[?] Hill to the west, and Breadnut Hill to the east.
With
the increase of traffic across Jamaica's
middle, the old watercourse was a most
natural
place to place a roadway, and
apparently there has been at least a
small car road through
the
gully for a very long time, since
Mr Leo Sullivan wrote in these pages
years ago
about traversing
the route when the ferns
almost touched the car on both sides.
Today many
people deeply resent
the paved winding
highway which traverses the Fern Gully since
through the mechanics of
construction, the
once fern-laden sides have been irreparably
disturbed. In
1958 work
commenced on the restoration of
the roadside flora of the gorge. The
hurricane in 1951
apparently did terrible
lasting damage to the delicate ecology of
the district, so that many of
the ferns were unable to re-spore themselves with success (ferns have spores, not seeds.)
up on suitable trees in the Fern
Gully, with the cooperation of our Boy
Scouts. These, with their
magnificent racemes
and panicles of white and rose coloured
blossoms, shimmering in the shafts
of
sunlight. would indeed have added splendidly
to the predominant greens of the gully.
But I do
not believe that any of
these orchids still remain today, having
been killed off by the protracted
drought of a couple of years ago, and stolen by vandals.
According
to our internationally renowned authority, Dr.
George K Proctor, of The Institute of
Jamaica, this island boasts of a most
remarkable fern flora, upwards of 540
distinct species, one
of the most extensive
to be found anywhere in the world. A
considerable number of these occur,
or once
occurred in the Fern Gully, but today
many of the most impressive specimens are
no
longer to be viewed from the roadway, as they once were.
Yet
even today, the Fern Gully remains a
relatively thrilling Jamaican place, cool and
set with
splendid displays of ferns, wild
pines (bromeliads), epiphytic cactus in green
spaghetti like
festoons, and even occasional
wild orchids. Oroids, such as Anthuriums and
Philodendrons and
Syngoniums make the trip a
plantsman's delight. Short trunk tree ferns and gossamer maiden
hair
ferns, and even odd tree perching birds nest
ferns, still are to be seen and down
towards the
lower reaches of the Gully
a few immature hugh-leaved Anchovy trees
(Grias), so conspicuous at
nearby Dunns River Falls, can be encountered as well.
The
birds, which formerly abounded, according to
my informants, are few in number in
these
days doubtless having been driven away
by the noxious fumes of the cars and
large vehicles
which on a still day
clog the once pristine atmosphere. Yet one
should find a safe parking place
and
wander around on foot a bit (taking a
special care of both the tourist taxis and the huge
trucks which come careening
along as if this were their own private
race course) to inspect the
subtlety of
the remaining ferns and other vegetation and
the lovely vistas on many a side. The
roadway itself these days is kept happily
clean by a group of elderly sweepers,
who
unfortunately on all my visits to
Fern Gully have been very reticent about
talking about their
activities.
Mr
Campbell and I stopped the car and
walked up a small side road a way, where the sudden entry into vivid
sunlight was almost shocking finding some
marvelous relatively undisturbed
ferny hillsides
just a scant twenty feet off the
highway. And then down past the emphatic
boundary marker for Fern Gully, put up
by the Ministry of Communications and Works
and out
into Harrison Town, with its
tourist shops and gaudy taverns. And back very abruptly, to
civilization, Ocho Rios style.
Alex Hawkes
