Our West Indian neighbors; the islands of the Caribbean Sea, " America's Mediterranean": their picturesque features, fascinating history, and attractions for the traveler, nature-lover, settler and pleasure-seeker

OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

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Author and Party Ascending the Soufriere St. Vincent

OUR WEST INDIAN
NEIGHBORS

THE ISLANDS OF THE CARIBBEAN SEA,
''AMERICA'S MEDITERRANEAN": THEIR
PICTURESQUE FEATURES, FASCINATING
HISTORY, AND ATTRACTIONS
FOR THE TRAVELER, NATURE-
LOVER, SETTLER AND
PLEASURE-SEEKER

By

FREDERICK A. OBER

AUTHOR OF

''CRUSOE'S ISLAND," -PUERTO RICO AND ITS

RESOURCES," ETC.

r

NEW YORK

JAMES POTT & COMPANY

1907

<r

0^

Copyright, 1904

BY

JAMES POTT & CO.

Dedicated

TO

K. A. Alford Nicholls, M.D., C.M.G.

or

ROSEAU, DOMINICA
BRITISH WEST INDIES

AS A

Token of Friendship and Esteem

257374

CONTENTS

I.

Bahamas, Isles of June . i

PAGE

I

II.

Historic Harbors of Cuba

23

III.

In Cuba's Capital and Roundabout

33

IV.

Railroad between Havana and Santiago

73

V.

The Cuban as He Was and Is .

90

VI.

Colonists and Capital in Cuba

108

VII.

Jamaica, Queen of the Antilles

120

VIII.

A Few Things to be Seen in Jamaica

U7

IX.

In the Black and Brown Republics

150

X.

Haiti, the "Home of the Voodoo"

164

XI.

Misgoverned Santo Domingo .

177

XII.

Treasures in Sea and Soil

197

XIII.

America's Oldest City .

209

XIV.

Puerto Rico, Spanish and American

222

XV.

Things Worth Seeing in Puerto Rico

243

XVI.

The Danish Islands and Virgins

255

XVII.

Three Little Dutch Islands .

267

XVIII.

Saint K.tts, Nevis and Montserrat

285

XIX.

Antigua, Barbuda and other Isles

306

XX.

Guadeloupe and the Diablotin

317

XXI.

Dominica, an Island of Wonders

329

XXII.

The Last of the West Indians

342

XXIII.

Martinique and Montagne Pelee

354

XXIV.

Saint Vincent and Its Soufriere .

375

XXV.

Barbados, Grenada and Tobago

392

XXVI.

Trinidad, and the Islands' Resources

407

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Author and Party Ascending the Soufriere

St. Vincent Frontispiece

Nassau's Great Silk-Cotton Tree 14

Baracoa, Yunque Mountain in Background. . . 30

Ruins of Fort, El Caney 48

Tobacco Workers and Reader 62

Palms of the Yumuri Valley 74

The House of Cortes, Santiago 88

Court of a Cuban House, Camaguey 116

Kingston Harbor, Jamaica 130

Fording Cane River, Jamaica 146

Palm-Thatched Hut of the Mountaineers.... 166

Puerto Plata — Santiago Railroad 176

Main Street and Mountain, Puerto Plata.... 198

Homenaje Castle and Ozama River 216

Church and Plaza, Aguadilla 228

Ruins of the Old Aqueduct, Caparra 254

Dutch Architecture of Curasao 268

Principal Street and Tramcar, Curasao 284

A Planter's House in the Hill Country 300

Cascade in the Jardin des Plantes. 320

The Boiling Lake of Dominica 334

The Sucrerie, Where Empress Josephine Lived. 364

Government LIouse and Botanic Garden 390

Fountain and Avenue/ Port of Spain 410

Our

West Indian Neighbors

BAHAMAS, " ISLES OF JUNE "

Their air of mystery and romance — Antillean outposts— Extent
and distribution — Suggestive of the Lost Atlantis— Their
amenities of climate — Bright seas and coral strands — Char-
acter of their population — Their government — English rule
and revenues — Historical beginnings — The aborigines and
their remains— Native "thunderbolts" — Pirates and bucca-
neers—Haunts of "Blackbeard" the pirate — Where he made
a "hell of his own " — Alexander Selkirk's rescuer — Revolu-
tionists, wreckers, and blockade-runners — Nassau: how to
get there ; what to see there — What the Bahama " soil"
looks like — Native animals and plants — The landfall of Co-
lumbus— The Fountain of Youth — Home of flamingoes and
parrots — The southern islands and their resources.

WHILE the islands, islets, cayos, " cays " or
keys, of that vast chain composing the Ba-
hamas are estimated at more than three
thousand in number, less than two score are, or ever have
been for any length of time, inhabited by human beings;
which fact may account for the air of mystery that still
enshrouds them.

They were the first discovered in the West Indies —
the first revealed to Europeans — the first to challenge
Columbus, when, in 1492, he approached the then un-

2 at*' WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

known and unnamed America ; they were explored by
mail-clad conquistadores ; warred over by England and
Spain; held for years by fierce pirates and buccaneers;
made the resorts of wreckers and blockade-runners ; and
this may account for the halo of romance that still invests
them.

Although pertaining, strictly speaking, to the Atlantic,
these Bahamas cannot be considered other than as out-
lying islands of the West Indies, Antillean outposts,
guarding the northern approaches to the Caribbean Sea.
Through their portals Columbus first made his devious
way to Cuba and the islands beyond; threading their
tortuous channels, Ponce de Leon came up from Puerto
Rico, searching for the famed Bimini, Isle of the Foun-
tain of Youth, and made himself an immortal by the
discovery of Florida.

Nearest of North America's insular neighbors in the
West Indies, beginning just across the straits of Florida,
the Bahamas extend southeasterly more than seven hun-
dred miles, finally " petering out " in the Silver Shoals
off the north coast of Santo Domingo; but a prolonga-
tion of the chain as superficially viewed on the map
would take in the Virgin Isles and the Caribbees, which
protrude like gigantic stepping-stones above the blue
waters all the way to the Orinoco's mouth on the north-
east coast of South America.

And what daring speculations do these protruding
peaks of submerged mountains suggest ! It is no new
hypothesis, that they are the sole visible remains of a vast
Caribbean continent, which once occupied what is now
the basin of " America's Mediterranean " — the " Lost
Atlantis," in fact, none else than that continent surmised
by the ancients to exist beyond the fabled Oceanus, which

BAHAMAS, "ISLES OF JUNE^* 3

even the scientists are now prone to regard as something
more than mythic. The Tyrian navigators told of it,
describing its beautiful scenery, its marble palaces, its
glorious gardens of the gods, its rolling rivers and cloud-
piercing mountain peaks. It engaged the attention of
Plato, Solon, and the Egyptian magi; it aroused more
than a passing interest in the Mediterranean navigators;
but ere it was explored, long before its mysteries were
made known, it disappeared beneath the Atlantic waves.
Atlantis, Atlantic, Atlantean: whence do we derive
these words, if not from those *' myths of a drowned
continent," which ''homeless drift over waters blank"?

" Spirits alone in these islands dwelt
All the dumb, dim years ere Columbus sailed,
The old voyagers said ; and it might be spelt
Into dream-books of legend, if wonders failed.
They were demons that shipwrecked Atlantis, affrayed
At the terror of silence themselves had made." *

This sinuous stretch of islands, extending over seven-
teen degrees of latitude and as many of longitude, to-
gether with the great sea which it separates from the
Atlantic, has long been the '' happy hunting ground " of
scientists from the time of Humboldt to the present.
Professor Alexander Agassiz, so long ago as 1879, ^^"
pressed the opinion that, in his extensive dredging oper-
ations in the Caribbean Sea, he had brought to light the
outlines of old continents, of which the islands inclosing
that sea are vestiges.

Alfred Russel Wallace, greatest of English naturalists,
declares that the West Indies have been long isolated,
and that " originally they probably formed part of Cen-
tral America, and may have been united with Yucatan
and Honduras in one extensive tropical land." Years
* Lucy Larcom, in " Bermoothes,"

4 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

before him, Humboldt said : " The supposition of an
oceanic irruption has been the source of two other hy-
potheses on the origin of the smaller West Indian islands.
Some geologists admit that the uninterrupted chain of
islands from Trinidad [northeast coast of South Amer-
ica] to Florida, exhibits the remains of an ancient chain
of mountains."

There seems to be a striking unanimity of opinion that
the great barrier-chain of the Caribbean may present the
vestiges of a sunken Atlantean continent; but we must
not lose sight of the fact that the Bahamas, which prop-
erly extend from near Florida to Turk's Island, directly
north of Puerto Plata, Santo Domingo, are structurally
distinct from the Lesser Antilles, or easternmost Carib-
bees. The former are mainly of coralline formation, with
no trace of primitive rock; while the latter are chiefly
volcanic in character — in the language of Humboldt,
" islands heaved up by fire from the depths of the sea,
and ranged in that regular line of which we find striking
examples in so many volcanic hills in Mexico and in
Peru." Between these two distinct chains is a fragmen-
tary group of isles and islets, the Virgins, lying eastward
from Puerto Rico, which partake of the coralline compo-
sition of the Bahamas — at least, above the sea; though
they are probably erected upon volcanic bases far beneath
the waves.

These, however, are the views of the non-scientific,
or, at best, the semi-scientific traveler, and are not put
forth as in any sense authoritative. The geologists and
geognostics have had their attention re-directed to those
gems of the Caribbean Sea, by the terrible convulsion of
nature that occurred in the Caribbees in 1902. It took a
cataclysm to move them ; but, like the unfortunate islands,

BAHAMAS, '' ISLES OF JUNE *' 5

they were at last stirred to their very depths, and have
been writing and talking ever since, so some valuable
information may eventuate, which should be thankfully
received by inquiring minds.

One may possess an inquiring and receptive mind, and
yet not desire to penetrate so far beneath the surface as
lie the vast ocean beds. Still, it is better than not to
start in at the beginning of things. The Bahamas have
been considered worthy of investigation by minds the
most profound: Quod crat demonstrandum. Having
done our duty, we may now journey on, with light hearts
and joyful countenances. The old-school scientists,
Humboldt, perhaps, and a few others excepted, persist-
ently ignored mere beauty for beauty's sake, and were
prone to plunge beneath the surface for the why and
the wherefore. Then they came up and wrangled over
what they had found. But it is not necessary, here in the
Bahamas, to more than skim the surface of the shining
seas, or at the most take a dip in the flashing waves that
lave the coral strands, to find enough of interest to occupy
one's time for weeks and months.

The amenities of climate are so great, where the tem-
perature preserves an agreeable and temperate mean
throughout the year, without frost to nip or excess of
heat to debilitate, that one is tempted to protract a stay
indefinitely and become a resident. Therein, however,
peril lies, as is attested by the wrecks^ human and other-
wise, that so plentifully bestrew the strands.

Probably no equal area elsewhere, whether of land or
water, has witnessed the foundering of so many argosies,
as the Bahama, or Lucayan, Isles. Like the sands and
coral drift, the Bahaman population is constantly shift-
ing; or else deteriorating. It may be said without prej-

6 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

udice that the black men introduced from Africa, to re-
place the red men exterminated by the Spaniards, could
not boast descent from a race superior to the American
aboriginal. Neither have they proved their right to
supplant them. Nearly every inhabited island is a Haiti
in miniature, so far as the complexion of its people goes.
The aggregate population is about 54,000, '' the most
part," says the statistical Whitaker, "being descendants
of liberated Africans." The other part is composed
chiefly of whites who would like to be liberated, but
cannot, from their insular environment.

Why ? In a word, because of their poverty. Notwith-
standing the climatic amenities, the abundance of tropical
fruits, the waters teeming with fish of every hue and
almost every kind, the seas abounding with turtle to such
an extent that green-turtle soup is '' taken only under
compulsion " ; notwithstanding all this, poverty is every-
where prevalent. Sponge-fishing and salt-raking are the
chief industries — although '' industry " comes nearer
being a misnomer here, where nobody labors, than any-
where else on earth.

Out of the sea come the chief revenues of the islands,
and they are to be had for the gathering ; yet every year
displays an increasing deficit, and the public debt waxes,
rather than wanes. This debt, according to the last
published statistics, was $550,000. From the same
source, we derive the information that the public revenue
was £78,000, and the public expenditure i8 1,000, leaving
a deficit of £3000, which is about the annual average.
This is owing, the chronic growlers say, to the '* top-
heavy character " of their government, which is carried
on under a governor with a salary of $10,000; a
chief justice, $5000; a colonial secretary, $3500, etc.,

BAHAMAS, '' ISLES OF JUNE " 7

to the total of something Hke one-tenth the total reve-
nues.

England gives the Bahamas all this, freely and per-
sistently, though Nassau, the island-capital, is four thou-
sand miles distant from Downing Street, and transit occu-
pies fourteen days. But the Bahamas have to pay for it,
and that is why its people are sorrowful, perchance un-
grateful.

The small army of office-holding Britons might be
tolerated, on the score that England has in the past sent
hitherward her larger armies of fighting men, who have,
shed their blood and spent their lives in acquiring and
afterward defending her colonial possessions ; but there is
one other infliction due to British domination not so easy
to forgive. It is the bestowal upon all her West Indian,
islands of her archaic monetary system, with its barbarous
nomenclature, '' pounds-shillings-and-pence." Nearly all
the islands have fractured English traditions, to the ex-
tent of locally substituting the American decimal system,
thus saving time present, and discounting time future as
to prospective penalties for infractions of the unwritten
law against unutterable thoughts !

There are those who declare that English rule in the
West Indies is retardative, even retrogressive, as exem-
plified in the Bahamas ; but when we reflect what a bul-
wark England has provided against the ever-threatening
flood of black barbarians, we cannot but admit that she is
entitled to the gratitude of civilized humanity in general.
But for British officialism in the West Indies, with its
prestige of might behind it and visible cordons of soldiers
around it, there are many islands which would soon re-
semble Haiti in other and blacker features than com--
plexion merely.

« OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

A glance at the historical beginnings of the Bahamas
will throw some light upon the unstable and deteriorating
quality of the inhabitants, for it is so plainly written that
" all who run may read." When discovered, more than
four hundred years ago, the Bahamas were sparsely in-
habited by a weak and inoffensive people whom Co-
lumbus, for lack of a better name, called Indians. They
felt no need, and had great lack of clothing ; but they were
equally devoid of defensive weapons, being armed only
with primitive bows, arrows, bone-tipped spears, and
stone or wooden war-clubs. Columbus found them not
only mild and inoffensive, but, as he wrote in his diary,
and afterward told his sovereigns, " There are no better
people on earth, for they are gentle and know not what
evil is; neither killing nor stealing." That the invading
Spaniards both killed and stole, we have ample evidence
in the pages of their historians ; but, as they were merely
feeling their way, at that time, through the archipelago
toward the continent which they fondly imagined was
ahead of them, and did not wish to begin their explora-
tions with bloodshed, they refrained from taking the lives
of these aborigines.

Being diverted to other islands, where rumor had it
there were mines of gold (of which the Bahamas were
totally destitute) it was nearly twenty years before the
Spaniards returned, on war and bloodshed bent. Then,
being in need of laborers for their mines and plantations
in Santo Domingo, they captured and deported all the In-
dians they could find. And eventually they found nearly
all, as it was easy to hunt out and run them down, with
or without bloodhounds, in those islands, covered as they
Were with a sparse vegetation that afforded but few hid-
ing-places. Some few of the Indians escaped for a while

BAHAMAS, " ISLES OF JUNE '* 9

by hiding in the numerous caves, where they resided for
years, in the end miserably perishing. Evidences of their
residence in these caves is afforded by the reHcs found
there, such as celts, or stone spear and arrow heads, and
their mighty war-clubs.

I would fain lead my readers in quest of these abo-
riginal relics, had we but the time to spare, having
ferreted out many from their secret resting-places; but
will content myself with stating that the best of them may
now be found in the National Museum at Washington,
and in the Museum of Natural History, New York.
Suffice it to state that the Spaniards did their bloody work
with neatness and dispatch, leaving no aboriginal alive,
either in the Bahamas, or in any large island of the
West Indies. A few disjecta membra only, scattered
bones in caves and holes, and now and then crania of
doubtful authenticity, remain to remind us of those '' gen-
tlest people on earth," and it may be said without fear of
contradiction that no aboriginal Lucayan has been seen
alive since the sixteenth century ended.

The spear and arrow-heads infrequently found through-
out the chain are called by the present natives " thunder-
bolts," and are carefully saved and cherished as amulets
and charms, particularly efficacious against the lightning
stroke. These *' thunderbolts," the ignorant and super-
stitious negroes affirm, have been seen to descend from
the skies during thunder-storms, and an old negro once
said to me : '* Massa, don' you mek no mistake ; me see dis
a t'undahbolt drap wiv my own yeyes, sah. One time da
t'undah done strike a tree in front ob ma own house, an'
ma wife he say : ' I 'clar I b'leve t'undahbolt done drap
in yandah tree ' ; an,' sho nuff, when me go to look an'
zamine dat tree he be right in da crack ob urn lightnin' J

to OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

Me mus' b'leve um, ef me see um, sah." And believe it
he did, no amount of reasoning being sufficient to con-
vince him to the contrary. Incidentally, this incident will
throw light upon the length of time that has elapsed since
these celts were in use by their makers, and the prevailing
ignorance of the present natives.

The Spaniards, then, returned to the islands only for
slaves and victims for their various lusts (of which they
possessed a full allotment), and the first actual settlements
were made by English adventurers. An English navi-
gator, one Captain Sayle, was fortuitously preserved from
shipwreck by making shelter in the harbor of an island
which, in gratitude for his deliverance, he called Provi-
dence. As there was already another Providence, on the
coast of North America, he later designated his island as
New Providence. This was in or about the year 1667;
but, although more than one hundred and seventy years
had elapsed since the discovery of the Bahamas (during
which period no settlements had been made in the chain),
and more than a hundred since the last aboriginal in-
habitant had been carried off, leaving the islands depopu-
lated, the Spaniards bitterly resented this invasion of their
territory. Five years later they made a descent upon
New Providence and conveyed a gentle hint to the
settlers that they were not wanted in that part of the
world, by roasting their governor over an open fire, and
destroying all the property they could not carry away.

They are said to have urged, in extenuation of their
rude behavior, that the settlers were mostly wreckers and
pirates, anyway, which accusation was very near to the
truth. * The numerous small cays of the Bahamas, with
the hundreds of tortuous channels and shallow water-
ways, afforded delightful retreats for the then numerous

BAHAMAS, "ISLES OF JUNE" ii

*' gentlemen of the sea," by themselves styled buccaneers,
but to others known as pirates. Pirates they were, at all
events, if the old chronicles may be believed, and not only
in Nassau, but throughout the entire chain of islands,
north and south, indulged in every kind of debauchery
and excess. It is difficult to tell just when they were
finally exterminated; but the descendants of their con-
temporaries, the wreckers, continued to exist until late
into the last century. Indeed, there are men still living
who make no bones of decrying the erection of light-
houses and beacons for the mariner's guidance, saying
tliat the Government has taken the bread out of honest
men's mouths and destroyed a lucrative profession!

The Spaniards returned again and again, at one time
being re-inforced by the French; but the pirates and buc-
caneers continued to flourish, and at last became so im-
pudent (daring even to scuttle the ships of his British
Majesty, King George I., and force many of his unfortu-
nate subjects to " walk the plank," that he dispatched
that famous navigator. Captain Woodes Rogers, with
instructions to either reduce the pirates to obedience or
destroy their colony. Captain Woodes Rogers was the
bold privateer who, in 1707, rescued Alexander Selkirk,
after his four years' solitary exile on the island of Juan
Fernandez, made this prototype of Robinson Crusoe first
mate aboard his ship, and gave him command of one
of his Spanish prizes.

Captain Rogers was sent out with particular instruc-
tions to kill, or capture alive with a view to hanging, the
notorious John Teach, alias '' Blackbeard," who had made
Nassau his rendezvous, after having been driven from the
Virgin Islands, and who was commodore, as he styled
himself, of as desperate a gang of pirates as the world ha&

12 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

ever known. He held his councils of war beneath the
shade of a spreading banyan tree, which is still shown in
the suburbs of Nassau, and there planned piracies which
ravaged not only the West Indies, but the coast of North
America. Captain Teach derived the name of *' Black-
beard " from his long, black, and flowing whiskers, which
(says one who had the privilege of conversing with him in
his palmy days) he suffered to grow to an immoderate
length, and the effect of which he was solicitous to
heighten by twisting them up in small tails, like a Ramil-
lies wig. When his evil passions were aroused — which
was nearly all the time — he appeared a perfect fury. He
always went into action with three braces of pistols
thrust in his belt and slung over his shoulders, and with
lighted matches under his hat, sticking out over each of
his ears.

In Nassau, Blackbeard was looked upon as the devil
incarnate, and indeed he was never more flattered than
when his resemblance to his Satanic Majesty was com-
mented on, either by friend or foe. He delighted in ex-
hibiting himself to his merry men as a demon, and one
day when business was dull, over under the lee of Hog
Island, in the harbor of Nassau, he appeared in the role of
Devil in what he playfully called '' a little hell of my own."
It was a private performance, with himself as sole actor
and his men as suffering spectators. He collected a great
quantity, some say a ton, of brimstone and combustibles
between decks of his pirate ship, and after driving his
crew below and battening down the hatches, he set fire to
the mass and compelled the miserable wretches to remain
while he enacted his conception of the devil, to the life.
The situation finally became 'intolerable and the men burst
the hatches and escaped to the deck; though Blackbeard

BAHAMAS, " ISLES OF JUNE " 13

was not only unaffected by the smoke and fumes, but
seemed actually to enjoy them, like the diabolical sala-
mander that he was.

Captain Woodes Rogers arrived too late to capture the
pirate, who sailed for the Carolina coast, where he shortly
after met his merited fate at the hands of Lieutenant
Maynard of the King's navy. Caught in Ocracoke Inlet,
to the south of Hatteras, Blackbeard was brought to bay
and forced to fight the brave lieutenant, who- overcame
him after a desperate contest, and cutting off his head,
stuck it on the end of his bowsprit, and in this manner
carried the '' captain and his whiskers " into port.

It was in the latter part of 17 18 that Blackbeard met his
untimely end ; but the Bahama pirates, and following
them the wreckers, continued to exist for long years
thereafter. All the maritime nations having united
against them, however, they no longer prospered, and
were compelled to eke out a mere existence by fishing for
conchs. As these shellfish were (and are now) very
abundant in Bahama waters, and as the pirates and their
descendants subsisted, in great measure, upon their flesh,
the natives have acquired the name of " Conchs,"
by which they are universally known throughout the
chain and in the Florida Keys. From some of these
conchs, by the way, are obtained the beautiful '' pink
pearls," not infrequently found in the waters surrounding
the southern islands, and which are sometimes of great
value.

The American Revolutionary War wrought a change in
the complexion of the inhabitants, for it brought about an
irruption of Tories from the Southern States, who came
over in large numbers, bringing with them thousands of
negro slaves. This peaceful invasion inured to the benefit

14 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

of the islands, for the new settlers brought wealth and
thrift ; but eventually they sticcumbed to the combined
effects of insularity and climate, and became as depressed
and poverty-stricken as the original inhabitants.

Another result of the war was the capture of New
Providence by an American force under Commodore
Hopkins, who soon after abandoned the island as unten-
able. It was retaken by the Spaniards, and held during the
war ; but was again captured by Americans, sailing from
Saint Augustine, the invading force consisting of about
fifty volunteers commanded by a gallant Carolinian named
Devaux. The island was then well fortified, and more-
over was occupied by more than seven hundred Span-
iards, yet the forts were taken almost without bloodshed,
owing to the strategy and audacity of the young Caro-
linian, who deceived the garrisons by sending the boats
from his brigantines to shore loaded down with soldiers,
who, instead of landing, lay down and were rowed back
to the vessels, from which they were again taken to land.
This process, and a great hubbub, deceived the Spaniards
into the belief that a large force was about to attack them,
and when Colonel Devaux appeared at the fortress gate,
they incontinently surrendered. They were greatly cha-
grined, of course, when they learned the actual number of
their captors ; but that was not until after their arms had
been given up and they were held as prisoners of war.
The Spaniards were transported ; but the island remained
5n American hands for a short time only, reverting to
Great Britain after the treaty of peace was signed and
ratified. For the past hundred years and more, the his-
tory of the Bahamas has been uneventful, except for a
brief period during the Civil War in the United States,
when Nassau became the headquarters of blockade-

BAHAMAS, "ISLES OF JUNE" 15

runners, and for a while reveled in riches; which, how-
ever, were as quickly dissipated as they were acquired.

Just when and by whom the Bahama climate was dis-
covered, is not a matter of record ; but it was probably by
Columbus, who wrote in his journal of the deliciously soft
and heavenly airs ; and he arrived at the very worst sea-
son for experiencing its blandest possibilities. The tem-
perature averages about seventy-five degrees between
October and May, and eighty or eighty-five between May
and October, and the heat is always tempered by refresh-
ing breezes. Situated as it is, just beneath the northern
Tropic, Nassau possesses an ideal winter climate — in the
shade ; but the glare of the ever-shining sun is something
terrific. As in the Bermudas, the white rock and the
" water-colored " houses reflect the rays of the sun with
an unmitigated intensity. But the houses, all, are well
provided with jalousied verandas, which admit the salt
sea-breezes, excluding the heat and light; and then,
there are trees, here and there, chiefly of the tropical
variety, such as palms, cocoa and royal, silk-cottons and
banyans or American figs. At least one tree in Nassau is
entitled to rank among the vegetable wonders of the
world, and that is the gigantic silk-cotton {Bomhax
ceiha), which spreads its broad limbs and buttressed trunk
over vast space in the court-house square. Another is
the famous " banyan," already mentioned as once afford-
ing shelter for the pirates when they held their smoke-
talks.

Nassau, on the whole, is an interesting town, filled with
cultured people occupying comfortable and attractive
homes, and as the island-capital, is the metropolis of the
Bahamas. Man and Nature have combined to make it
available and desirable for winter tourists,, its situation

x6 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

being unexceptionable, and its hotels and boarding-house
irreproachable. It has boasted for many years a large
and well-conducted hotel in the " Royal Victoria " ; but
even this has been surpassed by the new and perfectly
appointed '' Colonial," both under American manage-
ment, and every winter visited by delighted thousands
from the United States. They share, with the governor's
mansion, the honor of being the largest structures in the
Bahamas, and occupy the most advantageous sites for
recreation and sight-seeing.

With the exception of Havana, Nassau is the nearest
to the United States of any island-city in foreign waters,
for it is only 175 miles, and an over-night run from Miami
in Florida, with which and the '' American Riviera " there
is, in the winter season, tri-weekly communication,
affording rail connection with every town and city in the
United States and Canada. Then there is the all-sea
route between Nassau and New York, traversed by the
splendid steamers of the " Ward Line," which has been
established and well known for many years.

New Providence is comparable to the Bermudas in its
aggregate of similar attractions, and has the further ad-
vantage of being much nearer the Equator, the northern
Tropic running about two degrees south of the island.
Thus a voyage through tropical waters may be com-
menced at Nassau, if desired, and continued more than a
thousand miles southward as far as Trinidad, coast of
South America, with some island or other in sight every
day, and a good prospect of making harbor every night,
depending upon the means of conveyance, preferably a
good steam yacht. While there are many small (and
very filthy) vessels at Nassau which could be chartered
for a run through the archipelago, and while there is a

BAHAMAS, '^ ISLES OF JUNE^' 17

semiHDccasional mail-boat, manned and officered by
negroes, which pHes between New Providence and
Inagua, British energy and revenues have not yet been
equal to establishing steam communication between the
different islands of the colony.

After the sights of Nassau have all been disposed of,
after old Fort Montague and Fort Charlotte have been
visited and admired; Fort Fincastle (which resembles a
stranded stone steamboat more than anything else on
earth) and the deep quarry-cut called the " Queen's Stair-
case " have been inspected ; the " Lake of Fire " and
'' Sea Gardens " wondered at ; the little darkeys who dive
for coins praised and petted; then the visitor is likely to
settle down to a prolonged rest, content merely to inhale
the delicious air, and gaze languidly upon the diverting
scenes outspread from the hotel verandas. There are
miles of splendid roads in Nassau, roads hard as iron and
smooth as palace floors, because, like the so-called soil of
the Bahamas, they are composed of lime and coral rock.
In this connection it may be mentioned that though the
Bahamas offer alluring prospects to the agriculturist,
inasmuch as almost anything on earth may be raised there,
and especially all fruits and vegetables of the tropics, yet
the problem ever confronting him will be how to get the
various seed and plants into the soil. The surface of an
ordinary farm when cleared for planting looks, " for all
the world," very much like the azotea, or flat roof-top, of
an Oriental house, and has about as many cracks and
crevices in it for the insertion of seed. A certain Ameri-
can of waggish proclivities — and this was in the long,
long ago — suggested that probably the Bahama farmer
prepared his " soil " with dynamite and injected the seed
by means of a shot-gun ; but, however it is done, very little

18 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

results from the process. Always excepting, of course,
the exotic hemp and indigenous pineapple, which flourish
exceedingly, the latter growing to be the largest and the
most delicious fruit of its kind in the known world. The
pine was found here by the explorers, by the natives called
anana, and was one of the many desirable gifts of the Ba-
hamas to civilization. Another was tobacco, another
maize or Indian corn (though the first fields were found
in Cuba), and still another, cascarilla, Croton eleiitheria,
which derives its specific name from the island of Eleu-
thera, where, it is possible, Columbus may have made his
first landfall in the New World.

What is generally considered as the first landfall and
landing-place of Columbus, in 1492, has been variously
located, the most of the alleged authorities recommending
Watling's Island, which is midway the chain and just a
thousand miles south of New York. For many years, it
was thought to be on Cat Island, which was also called
San Salvador, the name Columbus gave to the first island
upon which he landed. I myself have been through the
chain from north to south, and from south to north, look-
ing for the landing-place of Columbus, and for remains
of the Indians he was the indirect means of exterminat-
ing; but all I can say is, that it was probably either on
Watling's Island or Eleuthera, with much in favor
of the latter island, which may possibly be the original
Guanahani of the natives, and the San Salvador of
Columbus.

At least one other gift of Guanahani to the civilized
world should be mentioned, and this is the hammock, for
it was in this aboriginal swinging bed that Columbus
found the Indians indulging in their midday siesta.
Many of the native fruits and vegetables, such as sweet

BAHAMAS, '' ISLES OF JUNE '' 19

and sour sops, avocado pears, sapodillas, acajous, cassava,
etc., were cultivated by the Indians. All the members of
the citrus family, probably the bananas, plantains, cocoa-
nuts, guavas, and pomegranates, were introduced by the
Spaniards, but are here perfectly at home and at their
best.

There were no large quadrupeds indigenous to the Ba-
hamas, the largest four-footed creature being the iguana,
which is still abundant; and until recently it was thought
that the " utia," a small animal the Indians were very
fond of, had been exterminated. A few years ago, how-
ever, numerous specimens of this strange quadruped,
which somewhat resembles a woodchuck, were found ex-
isting on the Plana Cays, near Acklin Island. The de-
lighted discoverer at once proceeded to shoot and " stomp
on " all the innocent little utias he could find, afterward
removing their skins, which he took to a museum; for
which act of refined barbarity he was rewarded by having
his cognomen added, as a specific appellation, to the gen-
eric designation, Capromys. The birds of the Bahamas,
also, have been decimated through the indiscriminate
slaughter by collectors, very few now remaining of the
once numerous humming birds, mocking birds, the
bright-plumaged parrots and flamingos. Of the last two
species, the parrots are still found in flocks in Acklin
Island, and the flamingos in Andros, where they breed.

The attractions of the Bahamas are mostly marine, or
submarine, the beautiful blue sea containing many
piscatorial wonders. Its. beauty-tints are derived from,
and are as various as, the sky that bends above it, and its
pellucid depths are owing to the coral rock beneath. It
is assumed that every visitor to Nassau will hire a glass-
bottomed boat and be rowed across the bay to the region

20 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

of the sea-gardens, where only an adequate conception can
be obtained of the beauties beneath the sea. On a dark
night, and when a Hght breeze ruffles the surface of the
water, make your way out to the" Lake of Fire," the
luminous lake at Waterloo, not far from town, where a
boat and an obliging negro are always in waiting, ready
to evoke such phosphorescent effects as are a wonder to
behold. " Marine curiosities," such as turtle shells,
corals, sea-fans, sponges, conchs, pink pearls, etc., are
always on sale in the little shops by the bay-side, and may
be obtained in any quantity desired.

While the aggregate land area of the Bahamas is nearly
6000 square miles, there are few islands of great size, and
all these are composed of the same calcareous rock, sup-
porting a scanty vegetation with native trees such as the
Pinus Bahamensis of New Providence, and valuable cabi-
net woods like mahogany, lignum vitse, mastic, etc., in the
southern islands. There are few elevations, the greatest
being hardly more than two hundred feet. Beginning at
the north, near the Florida coast, we have the Great and
Little Abaco, the former famous for its perforated cliff
known as the " Hole in the Wall," and containing a large
population mainly descended from the American Tories.
Southwest of this group lie the Bimini Cays, where tradi-
tion located De Leon's Fountain of Youth.

Harbor Island was the rendezvous of the old-time buc-
caneers, descendants of whom still reside there, in
patriarchal fashion. New Providence we have already
seen ; but southwest of this island is Andros, the largest
and least known of the Bahamas. Here, only, in the
chain are to be found running streams, all the other
islands deriving their water from the clouds ; large forests
of valuable woods, and the breeding-places of flamingos,

BAHAMAS, '^SLES OF JUNE** 21

herons, egrets, and other rare and beautiful birds; while
the natives retain, or rather have reverted to, the habits
of their African and aboriginal ancestors, and exist
mainly in a semi-savage state.

At the head of the reef-inclosed Exuma Sound we find,
on the east, famed Eleuthera, with its wonderful perfor-
ated cliff known as the " Glass Windows," and south of
it Cat Island, long known as San Salvador, famous for its
pineapples and historic '' Columbus Point." Eastwardly
from Cat Island lies Watling's, already alluded to as a
rival for the honor of being considered the landfall of
Columbus; south of which are Rum Cay, Long,. Crooked,
Fortune, and Acklin islands, all of these probably visited
and named by Columbus, in 1492.

Politically, the Bahamas end with the Inaguas, great
and little, which lie about midway between Cuba and the
southernmost islands, the Caicos and Grand Turk's.
These last-named, though geographically pertaining to
the Bahamas, are under the governmental jurisdiction of
Jamaica, from which they are distant about 450 miles.
They were made a dependency of Jamaica in 1848, as their
inhabitants found it more convenient to communicate with
that island than with New Providence and the Bahama
capital. Very few of them ever had occasion to visit
Nassau, except the people's representatives in council, and
these complained that while they could make the voyage
up in a few days, they could not get back in as many
weeks, owing to the opposition of the prevailing trade
winds.

All the southern islands are noted for their '' salt-pans,"
from which are raked enormous quantities of salt derived
from the sea-water. While the northern islands are at
the present time the most populous (New Providence

22 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

alone containing about one-fourth the total population),
the aboriginal inhabitants seem to have been confined to
the southern half of the chain, and were probably
Arawaks, working their way northerly toward Florida
from the West Indies and South America.

The oft-repeated statement in the Bahamas that the old
wrecker instinct still survives obtained a curious con-
firmation, in the winter of 1903-04, at the trial of a band
of blacks from Rum Cay, charged with plundering and
ill-treating the occupants of a yacht which had foundered
on their shores. While this yacht was still struggling to
make port the savage wreckers boarded her and began
the pillage, which was nearly accomplished by the time
she went to pieces. Their treatment of the owners was
so barbarous that one of them died in consequence (it
was charged by his son) ; but, as he did not appear at
court to press charges against them when arraigned for
trial, they were allowed to go free.

On New Year's Day, 1904, the bark " Primus " went
ashore near the Hole-in-the-Wall, Island of Abaco, while
the natives were at church. The parson lost no time in
dismissing the congregation, and all hastened at once to
the shore, and aboard their boats, in order to enter a
claim for what valuables they could discover on the
wreck. A flotilla containing some three hundred negroes
soon surrounded the '' Primus," which they were kept
from boarding only by a ruse of her captain, who, with
a handful of small coins, kept the whole three hundred
diving for them, on one side the ship, while his crew hur-
ried ashore with the valuable nautical instruments, which
they buried in a place of safety.

''To the wreckers belong the spoils," is a maxim that
is believed in and lived up to, if not universally pro-
claimed, throughout the Bahamas.

II

HISTORIC HARBORS OF CUBA

Cuba first circumnavigated — Its tortuous coast-line — Its hun-
dred harbors — Features of the coast — Cortes, De Soto,
Drake, and other worthies — Capture of Havana by the
British — Memorials of many Spanish victims — The Morro
and the " Maine " — Matanzas, Cardenas, Nuevitas, and
Gibara — Vita, Naranjo, Sama, Banes, Tanamo, Baracoa

— Region of big sugar estates — Trees of the tropical forest
in Cuba — Where capital is not timid — Nipe Bay and its
bright prospects — Sir William Van Home's great schemes

— The finest coast country of Cuba — Hunting, fishing, and
exploring — Best region to settle in — Cape Maisi and Faro
Concha — Guantanamo and Escondido — Our new naval
station — Where the American invasion began — Coffee
and Cacao country — Daiquiri, where Shafter landed troops

— Las Guasimas, San Juan, and El Caney — The Morro
twenty years ago — Still intact — Santiago from the bay —
Where Cervera's squadron lay — Cayo Smith and the " Mer-
rimac " — President Roosevelt at San Juan — Reminders of
the Rough Riders — An improved Santiago — The Virgin and
Mines of Cobre — Down the South Coast — Manzanillo, Pico
Turquino, Bayamo, Trinidad, and Cienfuegos — Batabano and
the graves of Spanish galleons.

A LTHOUGH Christopher Columbus discovered
/ \ several of Cuba's finest harbors in 1492,
X .X^Ocampo circumnavigated the island in 1508,
and Velasquez began its colonization in 151 1, not
more than half a dozen ports were established by the
Spaniards during the first century of their occupation.
And to-day, more than four hundred years after the dis-

23

24 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

covery of Cuba, there exist in that island harbors as good
as the best, with respect to natural advantages, which yet
await development in almost uninvaded seclusion.

With its two thousand miles of tortuous coast-line,
Cuba possesses nearly a hundred harbors, large and small,
fifty of which are ports of entry, and the remainder little
known. Not all, perhaps, are historic in the larger sense,
but some of them are, most certainly, and these we will
visit. Beginning in the western province of Pinar del
Rio, right in the tail of the " centipede " (which Cuba has
been said to resemble in general outline) is the harbor of
Bahia Honda, as deep as its Spanish name implies, and a
favorite resort of the Cuban insurgents when in need of
supplies. Many can recall when Maceo made his famous
break through trochas and Spanish lines across the island,
in 1896, ostensibly in mere bravado of the Dons ; but in
reality to obtain the sinews of war brought to this harbor,
and others near, by American filibusteros. Bahia Honda
is pouch- or pocket-shaped, as also are most of the harbors
of the north coast, notably those in Pinar del Rio, and all
have some distinguishing feature in the contiguous
country, making them " easy marks " for the mariner.

For example, fifteen miles east of Bahia Honda is
another little harbor dominated by the " Pan de Cabanas,"
or Sugar-Loaf Hill, and twelve miles easterly again is the
" Pan de Mariel," another table-topped elevation, or
mesa, distinguishing the entrance of the natural port
of that name, where at present a further distinctive mark
is the prow of a Spanish cruiser, "Alfonso XII," sunk
by the Americans during the war, sticking straight up
into the air. It was at Mariel, by the way, that some
unsophisticated Spaniards fired at the battle-ship " New
York " with their Mausers ; but they did it only once.

HISTORIC HARBORS OF CUBA 25

The " Pan de Guayaibon," fifteen miles south of
Havana, warns sailors of their approach to this famous
harbor, which, together with that of Santiago, is the best
known of Cuba's ports.

Is it historic? If not, then there is no harbor with a
history in America, for it was first found by Ocampo in
1508, first taken possession of, as a '' carecning-place,"
within a few years thereafter, and before it was fairly
under way as a port stout Cortes sailed from it on his
adventurous voyage to Mexico, in 15 19. The site where
first religious exercises were held here is to-day indicated
by a chapel, built near the scion of the original silk-cotton
tree beneath which services were performed. Nine years
later Pamphilo de Narvaez sailed out of Havana harbor
for Florida, whither he was followed in 1539 by Ferdi-
nand de Soto, neither of whom ever returned in the
flesh.

Between these two events Havana was sacked by buc-
caneers and captured by French privateers, who restored
the city to its owners, as did the Dutch pirates who took
it a century later, after appropriating the wealth of the
populace. Twice it was taken, twice ransomed and re-
covered ; for the Spaniards valued city and port com-
bined more than any other in the West Indies, and when
the English, assisted by Colonial troops from New York
and New England, wrested Havana from them, in 1762,
they lost no time in offering Florida in exchange. For,
they had not squeezed that Havana orange dry, though
they had murdered the aboriginal inhabitants of the
island, long before, had imported Africans to take their
places, and raised a mongrel people who were working
for them like a colony of ants.

It wa3 in th^ second quarter of the sixteenth century

26 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

that the King of Spain sent over an ItaUan engineer to
plan fortifications for Havana, the result of whose work
appears in Morro Castle and the Bateria de la Punta, on
the opposite side of the harbor-mouth. They were well
planned, and to-day are the most picturesque features of
Havana's approaches. Before they were finished, in the
year 1585, the city was threatened by that masterful sea-
rover, Sir Francis Drake, and the panic-stricken Span-
iards hurried matters so that forty years later they were
nearly completed. And they were well-constructed, more
than three hundred years having 'passed over them with-
out inflicting great injury.

A tablet in the seaward-facing wall of the Castle
informs one of the event of 1762, when the British and
Colonials breached the fortification and carried the Morro
by assault. The sequel of this affair was the construction
of the vast range of fortifications banked against the side-
hill opposite Havana, the Cabanas, about 5700 feet in
length and 900 in breadth — that labyrinth of masonry,
with its numerous dungeons in which many of Spain's
enemies were done to death. For a brief period the Star-
Spangled Banner floated above the Cabanas fortifications,
and they were cleansed of their impurities. It was low-
ered on the fourth of February, 1904, and replaced by
the flag of the Cuban Republic. Like the Morro, Cabanas
is a monument to Spanish cruelties, and down in the
" Fosse of the Laurel Trees " you may find a beautiful
bronze tablet affixed (in 1904) against the wall in front
of which innocent Cubans were stood up to be shot.

The Spaniards early acquired the " shooting habit,"
and seem to have been unhappy when they could find no
victims. Their places of execution are pointed out all
over the island, and are almost as numerous as the bronze

HISTORIC HARBORS OF CUBA 27

tablets set up by Governor Wood in commemoration of
his various doings during the era of reform.

Since the war ended, the Cubans have nearly impover-
ished themselves erecting marble memorials and monu-
ments of other sort, to their brothers slain by Spaniards
in cold blood, and it has been suggested that it would be
but an act of justice — at least of poetic justice — to compel
the wealthy Spanish residents of Cuba, who are absorbing
to themselves the island's resources, to contribute toward
this end !

Not Cubans alone have been sacrificed by the Spaniards
in their fury, as we may be reminded at the Cabanas, for
over across the harbor stands star-shaped Castle Atares,
within the walls of which young Crittenden and fifty
companions were shot to death, among the first " fili-
busters " to lose their lives in the cause of Cuban liberty.

That was fifty years ago; but there are more recent
victims yet of Spanish perfidy and cruelty, and they lie
in the mud of the harbor beneath yonder misshapen hulk,
between Cabanas and Atares. Have you forgotten the
" Maine " ? The Spaniards have not, and somewhere in
existence yet, it is said, are the wretches who blew
up that gallant ship and sacrificed the lives of two hun-
dred and sixty American sailors! They still live, having
been shielded by persons high in authority — it is rumored
in Havana; but they no longer reside in Cuba, having
gone home to the " mother country."

The great battle-ship which the Spaniards sank at her
moorings is slowly settling into the mud of the harbor,
and it will be well when the last vestige of the " Maine "
shall have disappeared, for the sight of her revives too
many irreconcilable memories, especially in view of the
fact that the Spaniards in Cuba are flaunting too freely

28 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

the red-and-yellow flag of ancient tyranny. The
" Maine " massacre was the last wholesale execution
effected by the Spaniards, for swiftly following after
came the avengements of the war, with the sinking of
Cervera's fleet off Santiago, when we paid off the old
score with large interest added.

The flight and destruction of the Spanish fleet, on the
third of July, 1898, was the last great action in the hun-
dred-days' war with Spain, of which the first (slight in
itself) was the bombardment of Matanzas by Admiral
Sampson, April 27th, when, according to the Captain-
General of Cuba, only a mule was killed. It was a Span-
ish mule, take notice, and sometimes that species walks
on legs less than four in number ; and when this one was
buried, it was not lying on its side, after the manner of
quadrupeds when defunct, but with its *' toes turned up to
the daisies ! "

Unlike the harbor of Havana, which is completely
land-locked and has a depth in its center of from 50 to 60
feet, that of Matanzas is open and shallow ; moreover,
save for the affair of the mule, it is hardly entitled to be
called historic ; so we will hasten on to another, which like-
wise derives its importance from an incident of the
Spanish-American war. This is the harbor of Cardenas,
which, however, is no harbor at all, large ships being com-
pelled to anchor fifteen miles from the town. In this
roadstead occurred that brief though brilliant action of
May II, 1898, when Ensign Bagley and four sailors were
killed, the first American victims of the war — after thos'^
of the '' Maine " ; though several sailors were wounded
that same day, while grappling for cables off Cienfuegos.

The north-central coast of Cuba has no good harbor
for large vessels — none comparably with that pf Havana,

HISTORIC HARBORS OF CUBA 29

between which and Nuevitas a distance of several h(m-
dred miles intervenes. This last may be termed historic,
as having once been the seat of Puerto Principe, which
was removed inland, on account of repeated attacks and
depredations by pirates. It is also claimed by some that
its large though somewhat shallow ha'fbor, whicfe^is
reached through a sea-river six miles long, was first vis-
ited by Columbus when, in October, 1492, he landed in
Cuba. In support of this claim it is pointed out that
Nuevitas is still celebrated for its fine tarpon fishing,
and sponges, as in the time of Columbus ; but again, the
aspect of hill and mountain is not that given by the cele-
brated Navigator in his journal. A harbor which quite
answers to his descriptions, as to its shape and setting,
is that of Gibara, 80 or 90 miles to the southeast, for
inland from it lie the four great hills with table-tops which
he descried, rising conspicuously above the plains.

As we follow the trend of the coast southeasterly we
are, of course, constantly dropping equator-ward in lati-
tude, and at and near Gibara are three degrees south of
Havana and only -one degree north of Santiago, on the
southern coast. Here and beyond, pursuing our course
toward Cape Maisi, we find the harbors pouch-shaped,
and profound in depth, as at Havana and westerly, but
sheltered from the heavy seas of open ocean by protecting
coral reefs with narrow entrances. Of this character
are Vita, Naranjo, diminutive Sama, Banes, Tanamo,
Baracoa, and several others not yet ports of entry.

One of the most charming of these deep-water ports
is that of Naranjo, back of which lies the big sugar estate
of Santa Lucia, with its hundred thousand acres of fertile
soil. At Naranjo steamers can go right up to the shore
and load or discharge car^o; a pretty stream Qomes in

30 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

from a tropical wilderness, a great hill from which en-
trancing views may be obtained rises not far away ; and
this diversity of surface, together with the rich soil and
luxuriant vegetation, the healthful climate, and unexam-
pled situation as respects communication with the outside
world, augur well for the future of *' Port Orange,"
should it ever be opened for colonization.

This port was entered by Columbus on his famous
voyage in 1492, and either this or another like it inspired
him to write to his sovereigns : " This is the most beau-
tiful island eyes ever beheld, full of excellent ports and
profound rivers. . . . One could live here forever ! "

Now and again majestic waterfalls may be seen, flash-
ing white and thundering loudly behind a screen of trop-
ical vines and trees hung with air-plants, and there are
miles of forest along shore beyond, filled with precious
woods: fragrant cedar, satin-wood, and mahogany.
Seventy-two varieties of tropical trees valuable for their
uses in the arts and industries are enumerated as being
found in the forests of Cuba, the greater bodies of which
overspread portions of Santiago province, along the north
shore of which we are voyaging.

In this region, adjacent to the coast, are not only some
of the finest sugar estates in Cuba, but there is one
ingenio the largest in the world ; for the soil of this
section is of almost inex'iaustible fertility, and the
numerous deep-water harbors opening northward, to New
York and a market, afford the greatest facilities for
profitable operations. No fertilizers are used, for the
extent of virgin soil is such that when, after ten or fifteen
years in cane, a tract shows signs of exhaustion, it is
practically abandoned and another area divested of its
forest covering, plowed, and planted.

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HISTORIC HARBORS OF CUBA 31

The harbors mentioned as lying to the southeast of
Gibara are gems in their way, most of them adapted for
winter resorts, but particularly for small-fruit colonies.
There is still another, in fact, there are several others,
but one in particular, which has an expanse of water
between its curving shores sufficient to float a navy, and
this is Nipe, which until within a comparatively recent
period existed in seclusion broken only by the visits
of fishermen and filibusters. There is no bay like it in
Cuba, or, perhaps, on either coast of the United States,
for its situation, within 21 degrees of the Equator, yet
only four days from New York and our chief Atlantic
cities, is unsurpassed. Like its sister ports and harbors
mentioned, it is three degrees further into the tropics than
Havana, and yet, in point of time and steaming, one day
nearer the northern cities of the Eastern United States;
and this amounts to much, in the raising of fruits for
northern market, and the prices one may get for them.

Capital is timid, according to the common saying ; but
capital has shown no great amount of timidity in '' plank-
ing down " its millions on the north coast, as shown by
the vast ingcnios, the yet vaster areas being brought into
banana cultivation, and finally in the extension of the
Cuba railway from Alto Cedro, on the main line, to
Manopilon on Nipe Bay, where a six-mile frontage has
been acquired for a future city, with fifty thousand acres
contiguous, as the nucleus of a great winter resort, some-
time to rival Palm Beach and Nassau.

That renowned magician, Sir William Van Home, has
waved his wand over Cuba, and wherever it touched, at
Havana, at Camagiiey, at Nipe and at Santiago, he has
planned to build a great hotel. Each hotel will have
attractions peculiarly its own, and as the four will be

32 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

practically connected by Sir William's railway, the route
of the future tourist to Cuba may be vastly more varied
and interesting than by any of the lines hitherto ex-
isting.

While Nipe was known to pirates, buccaneers, and
wreckers, who made it their rendezvous in succession, it
was either unknown, or unvisited, except by them,
during long centuries, so few important events have
transpired here. An occurrence which rises to the dignity
of an event, in latter years, was the visit paid Nipe by four
war-ships of the American squadron shortly after the
naval fight at Santiago. Lying inside, in fancied security,
protected by submarine mines in the channel, was the
Spanish gunboat '' Don Jorge Juan," of near a thousand
tons. Her commander did not believe the Yankees would
venture over the mine-planted channel through the reefs ;
but, since Dewey proved the comparative harmlessness of
Spanish explosives beneath the sea, our gallant tars mind
them no longer ; so the '' Don Jorge Juan " was soon sent
to keep them company.

There has long been a Spanish line of coastal steamers
around the island, which touch in. at most of the ports,
but it is by no means up to the standard set by the Amer-
ican ships, and had better be avoided. Santiago and
Havana have been for years served by the old Ward
Line ; but the only American service reaching the im-
portant ports of the north coast, which, owing to their
more advantageous situation in general are going to be
the ports of the future, is the Munson Line, which in-
cludes them all between Matanzas and Baracoa, a dis-
tance of some six hundred miles. Its Mobile-Havana
line gives a short and direct route through the Gulf of
Mexico, only three days in duration, while its New York

HISTORIC HARBORS OF CUBA 33

steamers consume more time en voyage, but take one to
parts of the island less visited, but better worth the
while.

Any route to Cuba is increasingly attractive as one
runs southward in the winter time ; but there is none that
combines so many attractions as that covered by the
schedule of the Munson Line, direct from New York to
Matanzas, thence, along the tropic-seeking stretch of
coast, to quaint and ancient Baracoa. There is no
round-trip within my experience that offers such variety
of scene and varying attractions — and I have taken more
than one in the course of my existence.

Two or three days are spent in each port, where the
launclies of the steamer are placed freely at the passen-
gers' disposal, and while the steamer is discharging her
cargo for the Cuban market, or taking in sugar, fruits,
and bananas for the North, her happy guests are fishing
in the harbors, exploring the creeks for curlews, wild
ducks, egrets, and alligators ; shell-hunting on the beaches,
sponge-fishing on the coral reefs, picnicking generally,
to their hearts' content.

There is hunting to be had, all along the coast, when
one knows where to look for it, and if alligators are
desired, try the beautiful Mayari River, which empties
into Nipe Bay ; if deer, wild hogs, and boa constrictors,
essay the forest country bordering that bay and, in fact,
extending right across to Santiago. If adventure pure
and simple, get the ship's commander to have you put
ashore at the mouth of the Mayari, where, up stream a
little, there is one of the quaintest towns in Cuba,
embowered in groves of fruit trees, and within hail of
the wilderness that fills the valleys and spreads out over
the mountains between Nipe and Baracoa.

34 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

Oh, it is a fascinating country, that containing the
sierras de Cristal, the Cuchillas de Toa, and the far-
famed Yunque that o'er-tops the peerless port of Baracoa.
Here, in this southeastern end of Cuba comprised in the
eastern half of Santiago Province, all the unique vegetal
productions of Cuba are concentrated ; and, '' by the same
token," this region was once the home of aboriginal
Indians who were drawn hither by the unexampled dis-
play of Nature's wealth.

Within this district, which closely approximates to
the territory given up by the Spaniards at the surrender
of Santiago, in July, 1898, are to be found, if anywhere
in Cuba, the last vestiges of the aboriginal people, the
Cuban Indians. In a story I once wrote, entitled " Under
the Cuban Flag," finding it necessary to the proper
working of the plot for an Indian, or Indians, to be in
it, I " discovered " a tribe residing near the Sierra de
Cristal, around the headwaters of the various streams
that flow hence to either coast. And, if they are not
there, they ought to be, and I am disappointed to learn
that some American scientists have visited the outskirts
of this region without finding any trace of a pure-blooded
Indian.

Here, right here, is an opportunity for some young
and able explorer to make his reputation. Let him go
ashore from a Munson-Line steamer at Baracoa,
Tamano, or Nipe, well equipped for camping-out, with a
Cuban guide to show him the way, and a Cuban horse
to carry him, and stay in the region at least a month —
though all winter would be better. My word for it,
he would find enough to reward an outlay ten times the
cost of this venture — assuming he craves adventure and
loves Nature; and incidentally, he might find a location-

HISTORIC HARBORS OF CUBA 35

for a future home where all the charms of Eden — includ-
ing even a serpent — could be combined.

But it is difficult to lure the passengers aboard a Mun-
son-Liner away from the '' flesh-pots," sad to say. Sev-
eral of my companions on the voyage, after a few days in
Havana, returned to ship with such relief as only the way-
worn traveler feels on reaching home. And there they
stayed, while I was going about the island, suffering all
sorts of things in my desire to acquire accurate informa-
tion and photographs " on the spot." When at last I met
them again on board, (myself being worn down with
hard fare and hard beds, and ill from a drink
of " raw, unadulterated water " taken in a moment
of forgetfulness), they appeared as fresh as when they
started. The worst of it was, they were not at all
ashamed of their long period of idleness on board, for
they declared that they had to imbibe some sort of
information, going about as they did from port to port,
visiting sugar estates and banana plantations, entering
little harbors by moonlight and tying up right at the
wharves ; riding into the country while the steamer
loaded up, boating and bathing in bays with sandy
beaches.

The voyage along the north coast ends at Baracoa,
a circular, land-locked harbor guarded by Yunque or
Anvil Hill, flat-topped, steep-sided, and near two thousand
feet in height. Baracoa is the site of Cuba's first white
settlement, 151 1, and the castle is pointed out which
was built, tradition says, by Velasquez, or Don Diego
Columbus — who was the first " Diego " of importance
in America, let it be noted in passing.

Cape Maisi, where the " Faro Concha " stands — the
lone lighthouse on the extreme eastern tip of Cuba — •

36 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

is exactly due south from New York. This, of course,
does not add to its importance, for Maisi was discovered
more than a hundred years before Manhattan had a
name bestowed upon it by the lumbering Dutchmen who
followed after the Spaniards to America. But, this fact
is mentioned, peradventure one gets lost he may be
enabled to obtain his bearings : due south from New York,
and due east of Guantanamo — from the former about
1500 miles, and from the latter perhaps one hundred.

The south coast is vastly different from the north,
bare — and would be bleak if it were further from the
Equator — rising in great terraces and indented with few
harbors — but those few of great importance.

Guantanamo comes first in voyaging from Maysi
westward, and as it was probably discovered first by the
Spaniards, there will be no harm in mentioning it before
Santiago, which has the harbor par excellence of the
entire south coast. It lies about 40 miles east of San-
tiago, and comes into history as the scene of a foolish
attempt to take that city by the English, in 1741, on
which occasion Lawrence Washington, brother of
George, assisted to the best of his abilities, being with
his much beloved Admiral Vernon, after whom he named
the estate on the Potomac which at his death he left
to the so-called Father of his Country.

With a base forty rpiles from their objective, the
British had small chance of taking Santiago, and soon
gave it up, sailing away and leaving Guantanamo to the
solitude in which they found it.

As Guantanamo is probably better known than any
other port on this coast, after Santiago, since it played
such an important part as a naval base in Admiral
Sampson's operations against the Morro, we will not

HISTORIC HARBORS OF CUBA 37

linger here, save to note that its great bay rivals that of
Nipe on the north coast in extent and situation, being
from half a mile to four miles wide and ten long, with
harbors within a harbor, as Nipe also has.

We cannot forget that the American invasion of Cuba
began here, one day in June, '98, with the landing of
600 marines, who made the Spaniards on the sandhills
" walk Spanish " until they could walk no longer, when
they ran. The Yankees then cut off their water supply
by filling up the only well, and as there was not another
within twelve miles, that settled the matter for the " Jack
Spaniards," who had to drink their vino " without."

In the '' good old times " of buccaneers and pirate
crews Guantanamo served as a retreat for cut-throats
and sea-rovers, who also lurked in the secluded nooks of
another natural port not far distant called Escondido, or
the Hidden Harbor, where the hill on which they had
their lookout is still remembered. Since our acquisition
of Guantanamo as a naval station, many a luckless
marine has wished with all his heart that it was still
escondido, and had never been discovered, for it is one
of the most lonesome places in the world. The town of
Guantanamo lies more than twelve miles distant from
Caimanera, near the harbor entrance, and whenever poor
" Jack " desires to go on a spree he has first to traverse
a broad expanse of dismal salt flats, which aggravates
his thirst to such an extent that it seems sometimes
utterly beyond allay, and the " benders " that result are
the most terrific on record.

Two small steamers run between Santiago and the
bay, whenever their owners feel disposed to let them,
and two railroads are in process of construction which
will soon connect with the " Cuba " system at Maya, or

38 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

Moron, passing through a region rich in minerals, timber,
and coffee. The home of the famous Cuban coffee is
among the beautiful hills behind Guantanamo, and this
is the section in which the colonist should settle who
wishes to engage in that culture, and the raising of
cacao. The vast and extensive ingcnios constitute a
group by themselves, and are owned by some of the
oldest families in Cuba.

The bay itself can hold all the ships of the navy that
it might be found desirable to send there, and as the
water is deep, and the seaward hills protect from hurri-
canes, nothing better could, or should, be asked by
Uncle Sam — especially as he got it all for nothing, and
presumably knows enough not to " look a gift-horse in
the mouth." Its situation is all that could be desired,
with respect to its command of the Windward Channel
and the route to Panama, and it will afford a fine ren-
dezvous for our war-ships, while the canal is being con-
structed and after it is open.

When I paid my first visit to he south coast of Cuba,
in 1887, nobody aboard ship ever thought of pointing
out Daiquiri, about midway between Guantanamo and
Santiago, which the maps did not even dignify with the
designation of surgidcro, or anchoring-place ; but since
General Shafter landed there with our troops for the
invasion of Cuba, in June, 1898, it has been a conspic-
uous landmark. Its iniportance ceased with the ending
of the war; but not so that of Santiago and the Morro,
which has, if possible, been enhanced.

Here is what I wrote at first sight of the latter, years
ago: All in sight now are the Cobre Mountains, the
Copper Range of Cuba, reputed storehouse of minerals,
especially of copper and iron. At last, a break in the

HISTORIC HARBORS OF CUBA 39

coast reveals the object of our search, the entrance to
Santiago's harbor. The Hne of chffs, washed by the
rough sea-waves, is abruptly terminated by what appears
to be an artificial construction, and nearer approach
discloses the most picturesque fort and castle ever built,
perhaps, in the New World. The great cliff, its base
hollowed into caverns by the wave action of centuries,
is carried up from the sea-line in a succession of walls,
towers, turrets, forming a most perfect type of the rock-
ribbed fortress of mediaeval times. Perched upon the
lowermost wall and overhanging the sea, is a domed
sentry-box of stone, flanked by cannon evidently old
when the history of our land was new.

The waves have eaten into this cliff all round its
base, so that it may not be many years ere this tower
totters and falls into the sea. Above, the lines of
masonry are sharply defined, each guarded terrace reced-
ing from the one below it, each ornamented with antique
and useless cannon, and the whole dominated by a mas-
sive tower. The pilot boards us at the harbor entrance
and guides our steamer close beneath the impending
battlements, and we note the group of idle soldiers above,
so near that we can hear them converse. We sweep
past this jutting promontory, guarded by ancient fort
with walls of pink and gray harmoniously blended, and
quickly another battery faces us, opposite the entrance
to a lateral bay with snowy sand-beach. This second
fortification is already succumbing to the assaults of the
waves, and has been abandoned. Two hundred feet
above us the castled fortress rears its ramparts for a
moment, then we have glided past, and are pursuing a
sinuous course toward the city of Santiago.

That description of old Morro might have been written

40 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

in 1904, instead of nearly a score of years ago, so far as
the superficial aspect of the castle is concerned. And
since then, as we know, there has been assembled in
front of it the flower of our navy ; big battle-ships,
protected and unprotected cruisers, dynamite-discharging
" Vesuviuses," torpedo craft, '' destroyers," and every-
thing of that sort.

Nearly two months intervened between the discovery
of Cervera's squadron in Santiago's harbor and the
surrender of the city, and during forty days and more
the war-ships delivered themselves of desultory bom-
bardments. When time hung particularly heavy on his
hands, the commander of the squadron would order a
bombardment of the Morro; and yet, notwithstanding
the efforts of the Yankees to reduce this venerable pile,
by casting at it tons and tons of metal, after all was over
it was found to be about as good as ever.*

So the Morro of my first visit was still the Morro of
my last: apparently unchanged, except by a coat of
whitewash or some visible attempt at cleanliness — of
which, having been in Spanish hands so long, it stood
much in need.

If the various bombardments of the Morro proved

* From Admiral Sampson's reports :

" i6th June. — Bombarded forts at Santiago to-day, 7 130 a. m.
to 10 a. m., and have silenced works quickly, without injury of
any kind, though stationed within 2000 yards.

" i6th June. — Bombarded forts for 42 minutes ; firing very ac-
curate. The batteries were silenced completely. Fleet not injured.

"2d July.— Bombarded forts at entrance of Santiago, and also
Punta Gorda battery inside, silencing their fire."

Secretary-of-War Algers comments :

" The total result of Admiral Sampson's shelling consisted
in the dismounting of one muzzle-loading brass cannon, de-

HISTORIC HARBORS OF CUBA 41

anything, it was that cannon-fire from ships against a
rock fort perched upon a crag was ineflfectual. Witness,
also, the futihty of Admiral Sampson's fire upon Puerto
Rico's Morro at San Juan. Neither fortress was injured
to any extent ; but when it came to pegging shot at the
vessels in Cervera's fleet, all must admit, there was
some damage done.

Through the channel which brave Hobson and his
seven companions tried to block by sinking the " Merri-
mac/' on the third of June, 1898, and which was traversed
by Cervera's fleet in its forlorn dash for liberty just a
month later, we sail into " the finest natural harbor
in the world." Until you have passed through that
channel and gained the harbor, you can hardly under-
stand how it was Cervera remained so long behind those
hills, as " snug as a bug in a rug," without being dis-
covered. But there he lay for more than forty days,
secure, if not contented, before the Americans could
force him out. And it was not the Americans, then,
but the Spaniards,, who sent poor, foolish Cervera forth
to his doom.

There is room in that harbor for several fleets to lie
without rubbing noses, and from on board ship you may

scribed as a 'very ancient pattern/ on the battery east of
Morro, and in the ' damaging ' of one of the two modern
breech-loading rifles on a naval mount at Punta Gorda battery.
Not another gwn was found to be injured or dismounted. It
seems incredible that such repeated heavy bombardments could
have accomplished so little. The only real damage was to a
non-military edifice, a small lighthouse, and, in several places,
the picturesque and historical Morro Castle, nearly four cen-
turies old, was somewhat marred, but not materially injured,
by the shots. — From "The Spanish-American War," by R. A.
Alger, Secretary-of-War, 1897-99.

42 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

view the city, with its oriental architecture, its plaza,
marine park, cathedral and sea of roofs disporting
various colors — red predominating — at just the right
perspective for the best effect. There is no other city
with just the warmth of coloring that Santiago has;
nor, perhaps, with a more intense warmth of atmosphere,
for it appears an exotic always attractive — from a dis-
tance— and always stewing in the heat of blazing sun.

It must not be imagined that the Americans, in 1898,
were the only ones to '' make history " in Santiago
harbor; though they put an end to Spanish domination
in Cuba through their operations off its mouth and their
march upon the city. Santiago was founded in 15 14,
or '15, by Diego Velasquez, who had with him, among
other distinguished individuals, Hernando Cortes and
Bartolome de las Casas, the former of whom sailed
from this harbor for Mexico, in 15 19, having been pre-
ceded by Grijalva, from the same port, the year previous.
The fortifications were soon begun and the Morro built;
but the latter seems to have been more ornamental than
useful, having been of no use in repelling the attacks of
pirates and privateers, who, in the years 1537, '53, and
'92 captured the city and sacked it at their leisure.

One of the most gallant of naval fights took place in
this harbor between a Spanish and a French privateer,
which lasted two days, at the end of the second day the
Frenchman retiring, crippled, from the combat. In 1662,
just one hundred years before the English took Havana,
a British force under Lord Winsor landed at Agua-
dofes, near the Morro, which they captured by assault
and blew up, marched upon Santiago, and then marched
out again, with the church bells of the city, negro slaves,
guns, and all the treasure they could find. Spain was

HISTORIC HARBORS OF CUBA 43

almost everybody's enemy, those years, and the Spanish
colonies suffered severely for the sins of the mother land.

It was for Spanish sins, of omission as well as com-
mission, that Santiago suffered in 1898; that Shafter
landed troops at Daiquiri, and marched upon the city,
while Sampson and the fleet kept watch and ward with-
out. The particulars of that brief campaign are too fresh
in the public mind to demand more than mere mention in
this connection ; but we cannot ignore Las Guasimas, El
Caney, and San Juan, any more than we can the Morro
and Santiago itself, for the successive conflicts at these
places led up to and opened the way for the final sur-
render of both city and castle-fortress.

Almost as niany volumes have been written about this
invasion of Santiago province and discharged at an inof-
fensive public as there were cannon-shot discharged at
the common enemy, the Spaniards. One cannot read all
of them, but there are a few which should not be ignored,
such as Lodge's " War with Spain," Alger's " Spanish-
American War," and above all. President Roosevelt's
vivid and racy " Rough Riders." In the last-named we
have the personal view of the war from a soldier's stand-
point; and, though President Roosevelt does not claim
that he was '' alone in Cuba," nor won the fight at San
Juan Hill unaided, still, he took a prominent part in that
memorable attack. " There were others," also, and most
of them have written about their experiences, so it would
ill beseem me to go over the ground ; though, in all humil-
ity perhaps I may be permitted to mention the salient
features of the invasion. This, indeed, I have done
already, for the campaign, as intimated, was as brief as
it was vigorous, and was over almost before it began.
Not before many a gallant soldier lost his life, however,

44 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

and many another sizzled in tropic sunshine and soaked
in torrential downpours in the trenches, while the dreary
weeks went by, and the Spaniards held out. " What was
it begun for, to be so soon done for ? " might be asked of
this campaign ; and the answer would be : Begun for
the Cubans, and done for the Spaniards. At least, they
were " done for " at its ending — '* done brown," and for
all time, so far as their rule in America was concerned.

The visitor to Havana will be asked, perchance, to
** Remember the Maine " ; in Santiago he will be im-
portuned by the colored cabbies about the hotels to
remember San Juan and El Caney — also to take a trip
thither in their conveyances. Don't bother with them,
if the weather is fine, but take a walk out there at early
morning. San Juan is the nearer to Santiago of the two
historic places, scant two miles, in fact.

On the way you pass the " surrender tree," where Gen-
eral Shafter met the Spanish General, Toral, and ar-
ranged the terms of capitulation. It is a ceiba, but a
small one, and would hardly have sufficed to protect the
bulky form of the doughty American General in a thunder
storm. This fact was impressed upon me, because I was
caught in one, and compelled to take shelter beneath the
branches of that historic silk-cotton. It also occurs to
me that, if the rain fell during those July days in 1898
as it fell on me that afternoon in May, 1904, the boys in
the trenches must have suffered from moisture; and it
certainly did, for they were there in the height of the
rainy season, which, when I was there last, had hardly
commenced.

I understood, also, how it was our gallant soldiers did
not go forward any faster, for when I essayed to walk
to the city, after the shower, I slipped back at least two

HISTORIC HARBORS OF CUBA 45

steps for every one ahead. Progression, in such circum-
stances, and especially when it is hindered by hostile
Spaniards armed with Mausers (and expert Mausers they
were, too) would be rather difficult, not to say impossible.
There were also the barbed-wire entanglements, and the
effluvia from the Spanish bodies, living and dead, to be
overcome ; so, on the whole, the boys had very good rea-
sons for not " waltzing " into Santiago right off after they
had taken Kettle Hill, San Juan, and Caney.

From reading President Roosevelt's interesting narra-
tive, one might believe it was only necessary for him to
give a whoop and to say " Come on, boys," for the whole
thing to be accomplished in a jiffy. But it wasn't done
that way, for, though the soldiers whooped " to beat the
band," the stolid Spaniards didn't " scare worth a cent,"
but remained right there for quite a while, behind the
trenches and block-houses, and varied the monotony of
things by boring holes in the boys with their Mausers.
This is the story told me by one who was '* on the spot,"
and it coincides with other authentic narratives, so it
will have to '' go," despite tales to the contrary.*

There is nothing now at San Juan to remind one of the
fierce charge of the Americans up the hill, save the
monument erected on its summit, and the remains of the
trenches, the block-house, etc. The intervening seasons
have woven a web of verdure over the slopes, the Cuban
agriculturists — albeit somewhat slow to forgather for
labor — have tilled the fields around, and the whole scene
is bathed in an atmosphere of peace. When I was there,
one afternoon in May, a care-free mocking-bird was

* Roosevelt and his Rough Riders " did not join the in-
infantry in its charge on San Juan blockhouse and that portion
to the left of the Santiago road known as San Juan, but made their

46 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

trilling its melodious song in a thicket near the hill-top,
and a careless negro boy was whistling aimlessly while
seated at the base of the monument. We three were the
only living beings then in sight, save for some distant
object like a scarecrow, which I knew to be a native,
plodding behind a pair of oxen hitched to a crooked stick,
with which he was scratching the surface of the soil.

Enwrapped in sweet solitude was the renowned San
Juan Hill, and it was difficult to imagine, looking down
the deserted slopes, that it had ever swarmed with the
gallant Boys in Blue, yelling " for all they were worth,"
fighting like the heroes that they were, and collectively
working up the war-scene that made their Lieutenant
Colonel President of these United States, and their
Colonel a Major General of its armies ! Greater rewards
for shorter service, perhaps no men ever received ; and
yet, someone has declared republics to be ungrateful!

Not all the fighters at San Juan, nor at El Caney, over
there where the ruined block-house stands, received
rewards commensurate with their deeds, because, merely,
we could make them all Presidents or Major Generals ;
but then, they have the privilege of writing books, which
is a noble one, though devoid of substantial remuneration.

assault on that part of San Juan ridge to the right of the road
after San Juan blockhouse and the trenches to the left of the road
had been taken by the infantry and part of the cavalry brigade."
" In spite of the calamitous newspaper reports to the con-
trary and the statements of amateur soldiers accompanying the
5th corps, there was never a day at Santiago when the troops at
the front were not supplied with the three most important com-
ponents of the army ration — coffee (and sugar), bacon, and hard
bread, although most of them threw away their haversacks con-
taining three days' rations, as they went into action." — R. A.
Alger's " Spanish-American War."

HISTORIC HARBORS OF CUBA 47

All, or nearly all, the Rough Riders are mentioned by
name in the book their leader wrote, so they are sure to
go down to immortal fame with their deeds blazoned on
a tablet more enduring than brass or bronze.

The quaint Indian village of El Caney, where Ludlow,
Lawton, and Chaffee, humble heroes all three, performed
the all but impossible task of taking a strongly fortified
post with obsolete artillery using black powder, followed
up with rifle and bayonet, is a more satisfactory place to
visit than San Juan, owing to the larger number of its
attractions. Here, where the first brave Americans to
enter the fort found it '* floored with dead Spaniards,"
the fighting was stubborn and protracted ; but the enemy
had to give way, all the same, and fled the place in a
hurry. However, others have told the story better than
it can be retold now, the enemy having departed and the
gallant Americans having gone back to their homes.

Returning to the city, we find it little changed from
what it was nearly twenty years ago, except in the matter
of cleanliness. The people are the same, but the city is
cleaner, every important street being swept and dusted
every morning before breakfast, while some attention
is paid to domestic sanitation. There is still a scant water
supply and no sewerage system, even after the much-
vaunted doings of General Wood, when he was a dweller
in the palace and had everything his own way, and every-
thing to do with it as he liked. Still, there is no longer
the specter of " Yellow Jack " overhanging the city, as of
yore ; though, doubtless, he is somewhere in hiding,
awaiting his opportunity — which will come, probably,
when the sewerage system is actually installed.

There should be ample supply of water in Santiago,
from the springs and mountain streams in the sur-

48 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

rounding country ; but there is not, and such supply as
there is cannot be depended upon, being arbitrarily shut
off at the time it is most desired. The attractions here
are the plaza, which is in no way remarkable ; the gov-
ernor's palace, of which the same may be said ; the loca-
tion, on a hillside above the magnificent bay, which, as it
was a gift of God, is, of course, beyond all praise.

Colonel Roosevelt wrote of Santiago, in his book:
** The surroundings of the city are very grand. The cir-
cling mountains rise sheer and high. The plains are
threaded by rapid, winding brooks and are dotted here
and there with quaint villages, curiously picturesque fro.n
their combining traces of an outworn old-world civiliza-
tion with new and raw barbarism. The graceful, feath-
ery bamboos rise by the water's edge, and elsewhere, even
on the mountain-crests, where the soil is wet and rank
enough ; and the splendid royal and cocoanut palms
tower high above the matted jungle."

That is a presentment of Santiago and its environment
** in a nutshell," the swift, all-embracing glance of the
trained observer; and nothing more need be added. I
said there are few attractions in Santiago, but there are
several spots that one should view, and one of these is an
unwholesome mud-hole down by the slaughter house,
where the unfortunate filibusters captured with the *' Vir-
ginius," in 1873, were massacred. There has long been a
tablet there to mark the spot, but General Wood affixed
another of bronze ; though he did not fill up the malarious
mudhole ; or if he did, another has taken its place, and
it is decidedly unsafe to linger there long enough to read
the inscriptions.

The Morro, of course, will demand a visit, and as there
is a good road thither all the way, it should not be

* c- c • ,

,» • c , ac c

HISTORIC HARBORS OF CUBA 49

omitted from one's itinerary. Neither should the Cayo
Smith, near which the " Reina Mercedes " and the " Mer-
rimac ". were sunk ; nor the iron mines, if permission can
be obtained to journey over the private railroad that runs
from the big iron pier into the country. It is said that,
by a very strange chance, some of our war-ships engaged
in bombarding the Morro and Santiago, at the time of the
Cervera affair, were belted with armor made from the
iron from Santiago's mines. It may have seemed like
bringing coals to Newcastle ; but this sort our sea-fighters
heaped upon the Spaniards' heads, as it were. And there
is copper, any amount of it, in the mountains across the
bay, the Indians having mined it, and the Spaniards after
them, before the United States were born and christened.
When I went up to view the mines of Cobre, situated
about twelve miles from the harbor's further shore, it
was seated upon a flatcar drawn by mules, with only an
umbrella between me and the blazing sky overhead, that
the journey was performed. I do not desire to repeat the
performance, though the mines were worth something to
see , and in the chapel of Cobre village I had a glimpse
of the famous " Virgen de la Caridad," who (or which)
once lost her (its) head, a few years ago, and with it
thirty thousand dollars' worth of precious jewels with
which she (or it) was at that time adorned. When I saw
her, however, she had recovered her head, and was
resplendent in jewels again; though they really appeared
to be paste. This Virgin is an ancient one, her
sponsors owning up to four hundred years, as she is
said to have belonged originally to a renowned cavalier,
Alonzo de Ojeda, who gave her to an Indian chief, early
in the sixteenth century escaping from whom she found
her way to the Bay of Nipe, in some mysterious manner,

50 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

where she was discovered by some Spaniards floating
aimlessly about in a frail canoe. They rescued and
brought her to Cobre, where, in gratitude for her rehabili-
tation, she performed many miraculous cures, and inci-
dentally acquired a fortune in pearls and precious stones,
which some sacrilegious thief appropriated

I did not think, when I was at Santiago in 1887, that,
following down the coast from the harbor-mouth, I
should at a time then in the future behold upon the
shore the wrecks of Spanish war-ships destroyed by
Yankee cannon-fire ; nor did I hope to, either. But there
they are, or were, rusted heaps of twisted iron, scattered
all the way from Nima Nima and Acerraderos, only a
few miles from the harbor-entrance, to Rio Turquino,
forty-five miles away, where at last the " Colon " was
beached. This southern coast westward from the Morro
is bordered by the Sierras, with majestic Pico Turquino
dominating all, more than 8000 feet in height.

Before setting out on the trip along-shore, climb to the
crest of the hill on which Santiago is built and take a
parting view of the city, the mountains, and the bay be-
tween the two, for it may not be your privilege to behold
another like it. Beyond the far-sloping roofs of red and
sun-burnt tiles, covering walls in every hue, which stretch
from crest of hill to water's edge, lies the harbor, its
expanse of deepest blue ringed round with green and
golden hills, bathed in the sunshine of this tropic isle.

Mountains are in sight all the way westward to Cape
Cruz, behind which lies the deep gulf of Guacanaybo, and
the Cauto River, largest stream in Cuba, which waters a
vast extent of cattle country, lying between the Cuba
railway and the Sierra Maestra range of mountains
along the south coast. The chief city of this large and

HISTORIC HARBORS OF CUBA 51

fertile valley of the Canto is Manzanillo, which has an
immense trade, owing to the vast resources of the region,
but is hot and very unhealthy. It was at Manzanillo that
the last shot of the Spanish-American war was fired, news
of the peace protocol arriving just as several Yankee gun-
boats had made ready to shell the town.

Twenty-five miles inland from Manzanillo lies the old
town of Bayamo, isolated from the coast and railroads
in the center of the great basin drained by the Cauto.
Here took place the Republican uprising of 1868, here (it
is said) the Cuban troops actually came in contact with
the Spaniards and won a sort of victory; and here, in
the year 1835 was born Don Tomas Estrada Palma, first
President of Cuba. Bayamo has often served as a place
of refuge for the coast people, and it vies in picturesque-
ness and respectability with Trinidad, on the coast of
Santa Clara province. Trinidad has a poor harbor and is
yet isolated from the great centers ; but it is a charming
place of residence, with fine mountain scenery, and is one
of the oldest towns in Cuba, having been founded m 1513..
only two years after the first settlement was made at
Baracoa. Here Hernando Cortes outfitted his expedition
in 1 5 19, at which time it was the residence of many cava-
liers who afterward became famous in the conquest of
Mexico.

Between Manzanillo and Trinidad lie the " Gardens of
the Queen," or chains of coral cays, discovered and
named by Columbus on his second voyage to America.
But these cays are avoided by the steamers, surrounded
as they are by reefs and shoals, and land is quite lost
sight of in crossing the gulf, the Trinidad mountains
then leaping out, a break in the coast hidicating the
entrance to Cienfuegos. Founded in the last century,

52 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

Cienfuegos can hardly be said to be historic; but it is
better than that, it is successful. It is the great sugar
city of the south coast, and is similarly situated to San-
tiago, though without the beautiful environment that the
latter has.

It is tiie original " City of the Hundred Fires,"
Cienfuegos^ the Spanish of it, being derived from a
remark of Columbus when he entered the beautiful bay
and beheld the flashing Hghts of myriad fire-beetles
along shore. This city has shared in the renewed pros-
perity of Cuba, and is flourishing as never before. Its
plaza is one of the finest in the island, and though situ-
ated in a flat country, with heights only at a distance,
Cienfuegos has a fair reputation for salubrity. Not far
from the city are the falls of the Habanilla, called the
'' Cuban Minnehaha," though still in their setting of
virgin verdure.

Beyond Cienfuegos is a wild coast country, a sea
dotted with coral cays intervening between it and the
Isle of Pines, north of which is Batabano, the original
Havana, but now down-at-the-heel and hardly holding
its own. Away westward stretches the Pinar del Rio
province, with infrequent harbors, and southward the
Archipelago of Los Canarreos, the old-time cruising
ground of sea-robbers and the grave of many a treasure
galleon.

Ill

IN CUBA'S CAPITAL, AND ROUNDABOUT

The entrance to Havana harbor — The Punta and the Morro —
Havana's dead-and-buried past — The Havana of yesterday
and to-day — What the Americans have accomplished — A
horrible condition of affairs — Yellow fever practically
abolished — Contaminated wells and open waterways —
Havana's pure and adequate water supply — The springs of
the Almendares River — A reconstructed city — The innumer-
able hacks and guagnas — Quaint old Spanish calks and
interiors — In the reeking, malodorous days of Spanish
domination — Havana's lack of good hotels and need of bet-
ter ones — Objects of interest in and around Havana — The
great cathedral and its connection with Christopher Col-
umbus — Memorials of ancient Havana — Fragments of the
city walls — The garrote in the penitentiary — Marianao,
Jesus del Monte, the Cerro, and the Vedado — The tropical
Almendares River — Colon cemetery and the captain-gen-
eral's gardens — Tobacco culture and the Vuelta Abajo
region — What may be seen in Guana jay and San Antonio
de los Bafios — The disappearing rivers and blind fishes of
Cuba — Batabano and the Isle of Pines — An island of
romance and mystery.

CUBA has put her dead past behind her; so has
Havana. The dead past must have been
deodorized and buried by Havana, for one can
no longer smell it. In times agone no seafarer
through that narrow gateway between the Morro and
the Punta needed a pilot into the harbor of Havana,
for he had only to follow his nose. We may safely

53

54 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

venture, now, where of old even " angels might fear to
tread " perchance they caught a whiff of the malodorous
gales off-shore, which then were pestilential beyond
belief.

Morro Castle, that grim and frowning fortress at the
harbor-mouth, was begun sometime in the first half of
the sixteenth century, and the city that lies opposite in
1519; but the former was not finished when, in 1585,
galliard Sir Francis Drake came a-sailing these waters,
and the latter is not finished yet. Indeed, it has but
recently entered upon a new career, which is destined to
cast that of the old Havana into the shade.

That new career was begun about five years ago,
when the Spaniards departed and the Americanos took
temporary possession of the city and the island ; and it
was the same old Havannah of the sixteenth century
that greeted me when, twenty-three years ago, I touched
in, and passed a sweltering day and reeking night in
city and harbor. The universal enemy, at that time,
was " Yellow Jack," who held sway at least six months
in the year. Whosoever felt his polluted breath gen-
erally succumbed, and off the Cuban coast we had buried
a fine young man, a victim of his ; so it was with rather
gloomy apprehensions that we entered Havana harbor
and sniffed the smells borne to us from the shore. Not
even old Cologne could boast a more varied assortment
of evil odors, nor a more malefic compound in the aggre-
gate, than the Havana of those days before the war.

And it was the same when, as special commissioner
for the Columbian Exposition, accredited to the Gover-
nor General of Cuba, I visited Havana, in 1891. Nearly
ten years had elapsed since my previous visit, yet no
improvement had been made in sanitary conditions.

IN. CUBA'S CAPITAL 55

They had long since reached their worst stage possible,
at which point they remained until the advent of the
Americanos.

What has taken place since the Americans took
charge, less than five years ago, is known to all, for our
countrymen did not hide their light under a bushel.
They let in the light and the air, as well, so that the'
Havana of " before the war" no longer exists.

Approaching Havana from any direction, even from
the leeward (as one generally does approach it in entering
the harbor), one is no longer saluted by the odors of an
uncleanly city. One would hardly suspect the existence
of the acres and acres of filth, accumulated during cen-
turies in the harbor, were it not now and then stirred
up by external agency.

This is only occasionally done, however, and the placid
surface of the vast cid de sac reveals no evidence of the
potential evil it contains. It is recognized that the
harbor holds a perpetual menace to the city's health,
which may become actual and terrible should the vast
acreage of sediment be exposed to the sun, and the next
great work of the authorities will doubtless be the open-
ing of another outlet to the sea. At present the only
opening is that guarded by old Morro ; but it would seem
perfectly feasible to break through the low-lying land
barrier between the harbor and the suburb of Guana-
bacoa.

When the Spaniards first landed here they found a
beautiful, eligible site for a carcnage — a smoothly
receding beach, guarded by coral rocks, upon which they
could careen their vessels for repairs when necessary.
This beach was long ago covered with masonry and no
longer exists as a careening place ; but on or near its

56 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

site we find the custom house of the present day. At a
Httle distance away stands a templete, or chapel, erected
near the original ceiba tree beneath which the first mass
was held nearly 400 years ago.

Beginning near this point, the city rapidly spread
itself towards the hills, such as " Jesus del Monte,"
about 200 feet high, near which stands the picturesque
castle-fort, Atares; but the vast majority of the inhab-
itants resided, as they reside to-day, on a plain lying only
four feet above sea-level.

The harbor has an extreme length of about three
miles, with a breadth of a mile and a half in its broadest
part, while its entrance, opposite the Morro, is only 400
yards across. Anciently, it was surrounded by mangrove
swamps which have been *' reclaimed " by dumping in
the street refuse and garbage. In their original state
these swamps were first-class breeders of malarial poison,
and they were hardly improved by the Spanish process
of reclamation. Then again, the scant soil covered a
permeable rock foundation, into which the foul liquids,
when emptied, readily disappeared ; and as " out of
eight out of mind " is a proverb with the hai)py-go-
lucky Spaniards, they gave themselves no concern as to
where the sewage of their growing city went. The
sinks and excavations in the more solid rock back from
the shore became filled with polluted liquids, of course;
but the summer rains and occasional high tides sometimes
washed their contents into the bay. Later on abortive
attempts were made looking to a complete sewerag*^
system ; but even to-day none such exists.

When the Americans came here they found a horrible
condition of affairs in matters of sanitation, and it is to
their credit that they almost performed the impossible

IN CUBA'S CAPITAL 57

task of cleansing the city. It is actually as clean as it
is possible to make it, without turning it inside out and
^. upside down, and expending millions in the work of
" reclamation.

Even the Spaniards and Cubans admit that the
Americanos have improved their city vastly. They com-
placently regard the wonderful work as, somehow, a
miracle of Nature, aided by Providence — and themselves
— at which the Americans assisted. It *' riled " them
awfully to be told, in effect, that they had been heedless
of the simplest laws of sanitation, and they bitterly
resented the inspection and consequent disinfection of
their houses. But the great and good work went on,
nevertheless, and to-day it is continued by the Cubans^
along the lines laid out by their teachers.

Every morning at daylight, or promptly at five o'clock,
I heard the chatter and the clatter of a band of Cuban
*' White Wings," carefully sweeping up the garbage in
the Prado, and I knew, from the chatter and the clatter
in other streets, that the process was going on else-
where— all over the city. These men were closely fol-
lowed by carts, which, still with lighted lanterns beneath
the axle (showing that they were sent out early to the
work) conveyed the sweepings to the dock, whence they
were carried on lighters far out beyond the Morro and
dropped into the sea. There is no more dumping of gar-
bage into the harbor ; there are no longer any evil odors
drifting across the city, eddying into the streets and set-
tling into courts so solidly that, of old, they could almost
be cut with a knife.

It cannot be expected of the natives that they will
change their costumbres — their ingrained habits — and
become personally and individually what they have been

58 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS •

forced to become as a civic body ; but, at least, they have
been impressed with the advantages of cleanhness, so
far as their city is concerned. In the work of reclamation
the Americans were aided by the situation of Havana
somewhat, but chiefly by the abundance and purity of its
water supply.

More than 40,000,000 gallons of the purest water are
delivered daily in Havana from the springs of the Al-
mendares River, situated about nine miles distant from
the city. The Almendares is itself a beautiful stream,
which reaches the sea less than four miles from the
Morro. It is bordered by a picturesque country, contain-
ing royal palms, bananas — in fact, all kinds of tropical
vegetation — and its copious springs, gushing forth in an
attractive gorge, are frequently resorted to by the
Havanese when on recreation bent. They are reached by
the *' United Railways of Havana," which maintains an
excellent service of four trains each way daily.

After its wells had become contcminated, Havana dug
a ditch from the Almendares springs of the " Vento,"
and brought the water to the city. This was more than
three hundred years ago, and :ii ;:i failing supply has
been maintained ever cince. At first, however, (and, as
well, during centuries of Spanish domination in Cuba)
this purest of waters flowed mainly through an open
ditch, into which drained the sewage of the suburbs,
through other ditches and polluted streams. The inhab-
itants along the way not only took tribute of the water as
it passed, but bathed themselves, their horses, and their
cattle in it; while dead dogs and cats, and sometimes
human corpses, were found floating therein. Then mas-
sive aqueducts were constructed of the substantial ma-
sonry for which the Spaniards are famous, by which the

IN CUBA'S CAPITAL 59

city was partially supplied. Now, it is claimed, there is
an inexhaustible supply for every purpose. Generally
►speaking there is great risk to health in drinking the
water furnished in tropical cities ; but it would seem that
Havana must be considered an exception.

With this abundant flow of purest, softest water cours-
ing through the mains, permeating every dwelling of
importance, flushing the gutters, cleansing the streets
and squares, and cooling the air, Havana has become in
a sense revivified, even regenerated. And, as all the day
long (with the exception of a few hours in the morning)
a strong breeze sweeps the city from the sea, and the
nights are always cool, there are many hours in which one
may take rest and obtain real recreation, in Havana.

At present, it has been remarked, Havana and San-
tiago are enjoying a miraculous immunity from yellow
fever; but an epidemic awaits them both when, their
polluted soils, surcharged as they are, shall be excavated
for the long-promised, much-vaunted sewer systems,
which are to forever rid them of danger. Then at least
one terrible wave of devastation will sweep over each city
w^hich may make up for all the years of exemption it has
enjoyed during the reign of superficial cleanliness.

The greatest improvements the ante-bellum visitor
will notice are in the streets, squares, and parks. The
menace of yellow fever having been removed, the visitor
may yield himself to the enjoyment of the many places of
recreation in the city and its suburbs. The most promi-
nent feature of Havana's recreative system is, of course,
the Prado, which bisects the city, adorned with palms,
statues, music stands, and overflowing with a wealth of
tropical vegetation. It was thought perfect many years
ago, it certainly has nearly reached perfection since our

6o OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

engineers opened it out to the shore and bestowed upon
the Havanese the blessings of the " Malacon," which
overlooks the harbor entrance, the Morro, and the open
sea.

" Reconstruido en 1^02," is the inscription on a plate
of bronze set up near the Central Square, or
'* Parque Isabel," by former Governor Wood ; and
reconstruido, renovated, regenerated, might truthfully
be said of all parts of the city, touched by the magic
wand of the far-sighted, self-sacrificing Americanos.
Many of the sacrifices made by Americans may have been
(probably were) unintentional ; but the fact remains that,
while individual enterprises have failed, and personal
endeavor has been inadequately rewarded, the Cubans
have benefited from the push and energy of their neigh-
bors from the United States.

The Americans here, many of them, are feeling the
heavy hand that invariably is laid upon the pioneer.
Among the pioneers in a direction tending toward the
highest morality are the leaders in the movement for
establishing in Havana that noble institution, the Young
Men's Christian Association. They have already broken
ground and will soon commence the work which has
proved so beneficent in Puerto Rico and the Philippines.

There are a few notable successes, such, for example,
as the great Cuba Railway and the electric traction
company of the capital. In no other respect has Havana
advanced so much as in its urban and suburban communi-
cation. When I was here before, the traveler had to
depend upon the giiagiias, or broken-down omnibuses,
and the equally obsolescent hacks. Both vehicles are
still in evidence and evidently well patronized ; but in
addition we have well-equipped electric cars. They

IN CUBA'S CAPITAL 6i

pervade the city now, whereas in former times there were
means of rapid communication between points within

and outside. Many delightful rides may be enjoyed,
or instance, into the suburbs, as to the Cerro, the old
fortress, the Vedado and Marianao, charming residential
sections, near the mouth of the Almendares ; the botanic
garden, the Colon cemetery, etc. The system is far from
complete, but is being constantly improved and extended.
Instead of driving the hacks and giiaguas out of exist-
ence, the electric cars seem to have stimulated them
somewhat; and, if anything, they are more numerous
than ever.

While I have noted no improvement in the omnibuses,
which are still dirty and despicable, I must admit that the
hacks or victorias, together with their drivers and their
horses, have vastly improved. The drivers are as
impudent as ever , and as prone to overcharge the guile-
less tourist ; but their horses are evidently better fed and
better treated. Not that the Hispano-Cuban character
has changed for the better, perhaps ; but that the natives'
self-interest has been successfully appealed to. American
example has done much ; but American money has done
vastly more !

The changes made by the Americans have all been for
the best, and they have shown a wise discrimination in
their improvements, having touched nothing hallowed by
tradition or made famous through its associations with
the historic past. Thus, while it might be to the eventual
benefit of Havana for many of its streets to be widened
and an open artery for traffic driven straight through the
city from the harbor to the hills, yet nothing has been
done in this direction. Those quaint old Spanish calles,
Obrapia^ O'Reilly, and Obispo, still exist, and are yet the

62 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

chief shopping centers, as of yore. The chief of all,
Obispo, has been newly paved, with smooth ceme:
instead of the rough blocks over which rattled the no?
conveyances, vastly to its permanent improvement; b
its flanking neighbors, O'Reilly and Obrapia, still show
their antiquity in narrow sidewalks, sometimes scarcely a
foot in width. All three are bits out of Old Spain itself,
such as we have seen in Seville and in Cordova, with
awnings stretched from wall to wall throughout the length
of blocks, doors and grated windows displaying Oriental
goods, and only an intrusion here and there of the
American and his more modern wares.

Nothing, indeed, can change the ways of the
Spaniard ; he is Americanized in name only, never in
dress or habitudes. Walking through any of these
streets, occasional glimpses are afforded of typically
Spanish interiors, in the open courts containing carriages,
stables, horses, kitchen, reception rooms, dining hall and
sleeping apartments, all huddled about a common center,
and enjoying a common atmosphere, impregnated with
odors which any well-regulated family in the United
States would find absolutely unendurable. The courts
may have an attempt at a fountain, with a thin stream of
water trickling into a basin containing attractive foliage,
and may be hung with cages of singing birds; but the
atmosphere is just the same — of the stable and the
kitchen, combined with more offensive odors still ; for the
Spaniards always make most prominent that department
of the domestic economy which we desire to conceal.
They could not conceal it if they desired, in fact, on
account of their laxity of sanitary regulations.

In the reeking, malodorous days of Spanish domina-
tion, a walk through Obrapia and Obispo streets, espec-

all^

IN CUBA'S CAPITAL 63

ially at night, would reveal glimpses of interiors that were
calculated with malice aforethought to capture the
unwary and divert the young man's feet from the paths
of rectitude. Against the iron window grilles were
pressed the forms of seductively-attired senoritas, whose
hands were often extended to grasp the passers-by. A
shameless traffic was openly carried on, which was not
only winked at, but encouraged by the authorities. This
traffic, while it has been banished to other quarters, has
not been by any means strangled, nor even discouraged ;
it has been segregated and placed amid the disreputable
surroundings which naturally pertain to a public vice
which is privately practiced.

Havana is no better supplied with hotels than it ever
was. In fact, one finds here the same old ones, conducted
after the same slip-shod style, charging the same exorbi-
tant rates, as of yore. They are for the most part
Spanish, lacking far more conveniences than they
possess, and possessing fewer than the average second-
rate hotel in the United States. Those that are centrally
situated, on and near the Prado, are highest in price;
although there is one hotel which has gained a reputation
for superlative rates, and is consequently a favorite with
the millionaires, down near the Malecon. There is,
however, no good hotel on the American plan with
rates commensurate with its service. Rather, there
is no good American hotel ; though, doubtless, one will
be built in the very near future, land having been bought
already and ground broken for the foundations, of one to
cost a million dollars. As a rule, avoid all the hotels
that have been recommended to you, especially those with
well-known names. Then again, avoid all those that have
no reputations at all, and you will be perfectly safe. In

64 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

other words, you will not remain long in Havana unless
well-housed and well taken care of, which means that you
will not remain there at all, after you have seen the sights.

Objects of interest in and around Havana, there are,
numerous enough to claim one's attention for perhaps a
week ; although one may weary of this, the noisiest city in
^the world, in less than half that time. The chief objec-
tions to Havana are its noises and its perpetual heat of
daytime. The former cannot be evaded, if one be domi-
ciled in one of the central hotels ; nor the latter, if one be
quartered anywhere at all. So there you are, " 'twixt the
devil and the deep, deep sea," conscientiously desirous to
" do " the city properly, yet anxious to hie away to fresh
fields and pastures new.

Such things as cannot well be avoided may be enumer-
ated on the fingers of both hands. First of all, there is
the cathedral, which, though locally called the catedral
de la Virgen de la Concepcion, is more widely known to
fame as that of Columbus. It is so called because,
according to the Spaniards, the ashes of the great discov-
erer once rested here, in a niche near the great altar.
According to the latest investigations, however, the ashes
of Columbus were never brought here at all (as will be
shown in one of our chapters on Santo Domingo, further
on in this book).

It was in 1795, ^^^U being about to evacuate the island
of Santo Domingo, the Spaniards in authority at that
time conceived the idea of removing the remains of
Columbus from their place of sepulture in the cathedral
of Santo Domingo, to a niche they had prepared in the
cathedral at Havana.

Guided by tradition, merely, they did not even receive

IN CUBA'S CAPITAL 65

the sanction of an inscription of any sort; but neverthe-
less, they gayly set forth with their findings and deposited
them, with vast ceremony, in their new resting-place in
Havana cathedral. There the remains remained, for quite
another century, and when, in 1899, through force of
circumstances over which they had lost control, the
Spaniards were compelled to take their departure from
Cuba, Captain General Blanco conceived the plan of
taking away with them the " real and only remains " of
the great Columbus. So they made their last voyage
across the Atlantic, and were taken in a war-ship to
Seville, where they were placed in the cathedral there.
Already, for centuries, there had been an inscribed slab
of m.arble let into the cathedral pave, in Seville, with that
world-famous legend:

"A Castilla y a Leon
Mundo Nuevo did Colon**;

but this slab covered the remains of Don Fernando,
Christopher's illegitimate son and biographer. Recent
investigations have shown that the ashes which were, first
of all, taken from Santo Domingo to Havana, in 1795,
and last of all taken from Havana to Seville, in 1899, each
time by misguided Spaniards more zealous than wise,
were those of Don Diego, and not of Don Christopher.
So, as it happens, Spain now possesses the remains of
the two sons of Columbus, Diego and Fernando; but
those of the great Discoverer still remain in Santo
Domingo.

No one can deny that the Spaniards, at last, desired to
" do the right thing " by the memory of the great
Columbus. Those who were his contemporaries treated
him meanly enough while living, as history shows, from

66 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

King Ferdinand to Isabella and Bobadilla, administering
kicks and cuffs (when his back was turned") and fawning
in front of his face. After he died there was a slight
revulsion of feeling; though it took a long and stub-
bornly contested process of law to compel King Ferdi-
nand to give Don Diego his rights as son of the great
" Admiral of the Ocean Sea." Still, the Spaniards of
those days, and all other days, were great on grand-
iloquent inscriptions, which in vast redundancy have since
overflowed innumerable monuments and cenotaphs. The
cenotaph in this cathedral was once surmounted by a bust,
beneath which this inscription told what the Spaniards
thought of Columbus :

" Oh, restos e imagen del grande Colon,
Mil sighs durad guardados en la urna
Y en la remembranza de nuestra nacion."

"Oh, remains and image of the great .Colon,
A thousand ages thou wilt be preserved in this urn.
And in the remembrance of our nation."

Hardly a *' thousand ages" passed away before the
restos were again on the move, while both bust and
urn have disappeared. In their place, the cathedral
shows merely a vacant niche and a pretentious pedestal
where once stood a monument.

There is a statue of Columbus in the court-yard of the
governor general's palace, on the Plaza de Armas, which
is of itself a building well worth a visit. It was the
abode of all the captains-general for seventy years pre-
ceding the advent of the Americans, and these included
such names as Campos, Weyler, and Blanco.

A statue of Ferdinand VII. stands in the center of the
Plaza de Armas, and no photograph of the palac«' can be
taken without this marble in the foreground. It has

IN CUBA'S CAPITAL ^^j

suffered a better fate than the statue of Queen Isabella,
lately deceased, which once adorned the '' Parque Isabel,"
now known as the Central Square. Somehow or other,
the Spanish colonials always had a peculiar affection
for the last King Ferdinand, who was a scamp well
worthy to be the putative father of the late Queen
Isabella ; but whose sufferings at the hands of Napoleon
may have bestowed upon him the air of a martyr, in the
eyes of his far-distant subjects across the Atlantic. This
portrait-statue of him is more nearly perfect as a work of
art than he was as a work of nature.

Memorials of the old Havannah cluster thickly about
the Plaza de Armas, and back of the post-office stands the
Fuerza, or most ancient fortress of the city, built in 1538,
by command of Hernando de Soto. The Morro is the
" lion " of Havana, and should by all means be visited ;
but in the morning, and the nearer sunrise the better —
provided permission can be obtained. The commander
of Cabanas issues permits to visit the Morro, and after
eight or nine in the morning the long walk between the
two groups of fortresses is very hot and unpleasant.
From a military point of view, the Cabanas is the more
important of the two great works ; but each is picturesque
in its way, the situation of the Morro, rising sheer from
the sea a hundred feet, with the great waves thundering
against walls and parapets, being magnificent.

Inside the Morro you are shown the dungeons into
ivvhich the Spaniards cast the Cubans, who were sub-
sequently murdered by being thrust through a hole-in-the-
wall over the sea, where the sea-monsters lay in wait for
their expected prey, in the " sharks' nest," or nido de
tihurones, a blue water-rift beneath the easternmost
sentry-box.

68 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

Looking inland from the Punta, opposite the Morro,
one discerns another memento of ancient Havana, in the
shape of a sentry tower and a fragment of the old wall
which once inclosed the city. This wall was doomed to
demolition many years ago, for the city had outgrown its
limits and overflowed into the suburbs along shore, before
the Spaniards loosed their hold. Yet another mural frag-
ment is a portion of the wall against which a band of
medical students was shot to death by the Spaniards in
1 87 1. All these objects are near the jail and peniten-
tiary, entrance to which may be obtained on application;
not so much to view the interior of the prison, as to see
an historic object on exhibition there. This is the grew-
some garrote, or instrument for the execution of con-
demned criminals. It is an iron pillar affixed to a wooden
platform about ten feet square and six feet from the
.ground. An iron chair is attached to the column, two
feet above which is an iron collar, which is closed in front
by a clasp, after the victim's neck has been inserted. A
screw protrudes through the back of the collar, which is
operated by a bar somewhat similar to that of a copy-
ing press, only it is perpendicular instead of hori-
zontal.

The end of the screw is pointed, and when twisted up
projects about an inch into the center of the ring. The
victim is placed in the fatal chair, the ring clasped in
front of his throat, and his hands and feet firmly tied.
There is a quick turn of the screw, and the spinal column
is broken, death immediately ensuing. The executioner
is a middle-aged black man, whose sentence to death was
commuted to life imprisonment on condition that he
become the public garroter. At the command of the
superintendent, he cheerfully consents to show visitors

IN CUBA'S CAPITAL 69

how garfoting is performed. For an actual execution he
is said to receive a gold doubloon per victim.

The setting of Havana, within a semicircle of rounded
hills, each the site of an attractive settlement, with towers
rising above the roof-tops and palms interspersed, is
extremely " fetching." The gauguas and electric lines
run out to these suburbs, and even to Marianao, which is
also reached by steam railroad. This last is a favorite
bathing resort, and taken together with the nearer Vedado,
where are rock-hewn baths in the coral reefs of the sea-
shore, is a lively place during the summer season. There
is nothing more significant of the change for the better
that has come over Havana, than the removal of its
wealthier citizens into the suburbs, and the building there
of houses for the people of average means. Formerly,
they were crowded into dark and noisome tenements, fed
upon foul airs, and deafened by uncouth noises ; but with
the extension of the trolley system all this is changed.

Should you desire to see what a tropical river is like,
without being compelled to journey into the forests, take
a little trip to the mouth of the Almendares, the springs
of which supply Havana with its water. Boats may be
hired, and a pleasurable excursion may be taken up the
stream, drifting beneath clumps of feathery bamboos, in
the shade of broad-armed ceiba trees hung with vines and
air-plants, and between gardens of plantains and bananas.

Two excursions from Havana which are never omitted
are, first, to the Colon cemetery, with its magnificent mon-
uments, notably the firemen's and that to the students
slain by the Spaniards; and second, to the captain gen-
eral's gardens, now the captain general's no longer, but
belonging to the state. These botanical gardens have
long been famous, one of the features being an avenue of

70 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

palms with close-set trunks o'ertopped with canopies of
verdure.

Some feel impelled to visit the Vuelta Aba jo, in order
to study the various processes of tobacco culture; but
it is not necessary to take that long, hot, dusty, and
fatiguing ride to the Pinar del Rio region, merely to
behold the '' weed " growing in its native wilds. Tobaccc
farms may be seen in the Connecticut Valley ; they may
be seen quite near Havana, in Guana jay, reached by a
few hours' ride over the United Railways. There, too,
may be seen the vast tobacco barns in which the leaves
are cured, as well as the perfect plants growing in their
strength and beauty. The processes are not different
from the Vuelta Aba jo processes, and the scenery by the
way, of broad fields adorned with innumerable royal
palms, is not inferior to that of the more distant province.

The excursion to Guana jay may be made in a few
hours, leaving Havana in the morning, at 8 45 ; return-
ing to the city at about four in the afternoon. But an
extension of the trip may be made by carriage to the pic-
turesque port of Mariel, which, with its deep-water harbor
and itS surrounding hills devoted to banana culture, is
looked upon as the coming country for the agriculturist
in the Havana region.

A stop-over at San Antonio de los Banos, will show
one of the wonders of Cuba, in the " disappearing river "
there, one of a system of underground streams peculiar
to this region. The underground river of San Antonio
not only flows through a cave adorned with stalactites
and stalagmites, but it is famous for containing some
remarkable blind fishes, which have been made the subject
of a monograph by a learned professor of the United
States Fish Commission. The Cuban naturalist, Poey,

IN CUBA'S CAPITAL 71

whose great work on Cuban fishes is yet in manuscript,
first called attention to the number and peculiarities of
the blind cave-fishes of the island, and he mentioned many
places in which they were to be found.

There is no system near Havana that takes one to so
many points of interest as the " United Railways," with
its very accessible station right in the center of the city.
Villanueva, it is called, after the Conde de Villa Nueva,
whose name is on the statue of " La India " in the Parque
Colon. Taking train here amidst the most prosaic sur-
roundings, in a few hours one is whisked through the
commonplace, the picturesque, and the romantic, in mar-
velous succession. This is in allusion to the route to
Batabano and the Isle of Pines, both of which are reached
over the rails of the United Railways, the former in an
hour and a half from Havana, in which time one has been
taken right across the island and introduced to the scenery
of an entirely different world from that of the north
coast.

Batabano stands on stilts, and is a sponge-fishing place,
once the chosen site for Cuba's capital itself. Steamers
sail thence for all ports on the south coast : for Cienfuegos,
for Santiago de Cuba, going eastward ; and for Pinar
del Rio points, going westward. But the most interesting
spot reached from Batabano is that land of romance and
mystery, the Isle of Pines, situated about sixty miles to
the south. Twice a week, on Sunday and Thursday, a
light-draught steamer makes connection at Batabano with
the morning express trains from Villanueva.

That is, the Isle of Pines has been considered a land of
mystery until quite recently ;. but the pushing Americans,
who have invested more than a million dollars there
already, have done much to dispel the air of romanticism,

72 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

in their endeavors to show that the soil of the island con-
tains vast resources in the way of latent riches. While
there are fine marble quarries in the island, the main
dependence of the settlers, the Americanos say, will be
agriculture. Hitherto, the island has been possessed by a
few unambitious and unenergetic Cubans, who lived in
mud or straw huts, content with their ownership of
potential millions, perfectly satisfied with their holdings,
and who were very much alarmed when their aggressive
neighbors from the North came down and offered them
more for their properties than they had believed they
would be worth.

IV

THE RAILROAD BETWEEN HAVANA AND
SANTIAGO

The various systems combined in the great united line,
Havana-Santiago — Scenery along the way — Mud-splashed
natives and bohios — The sugar section of Cuba — Strange
trees and shrubs — The Cuban and his crooked stick —
Attractions of Matanzas, the Yumuri valley and caves of
Bellamar — Railroads that cross the island — Cities of the
south coast — the " Cuban Saratoga " and Santa Clara —
Possibilities for the American colonizer — Ciego de Avila
and the " impregnable " trocha — Blockhouses that were of
no avail — A vast cattle country — Bayamo, where President
Palma was born — The "Gardens of the Queen " — The
oldest railway in Spanish dominions — Camagiiey or Puerto
Principe, an old city with a new lease of life — Its big hotel
and salubrious atmosphere — Through the forest lands,
where mahogany and cedar abound — Alto Cedro and the Bay
of Nipe — A tropical wilderness and vegetal paradise.

THE railroad between Havana and Santiago
affords one of the grandest rides in the world.
The distance between the two points is 540
miles, or 869 kilometers, and is covered in twenty-
five hours, on a time-table that keeps the schedule to
the minute. By the perfect cooperation of the various
systems composing the great united line along the back-
bone of Cuba, and which was only completed in 1902, by
the construction of the " Cuba Railway," excellent and
punctual service is afforded from one end of the island
to the other.

73

74 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

Exactly at 9 P. M., every day in the week, a train
pulls out of the Villanueva station at Havana composed
of first- and third-class day coaches, mail and express
cars, and a through ** sleeper," to which after daylight an
observation car is added. At 6 A. M., a similar train
leaves Santiago, going westward, so that by taking the
route both ways all the glorious scenery of the island is
revealed to the traveler — and it is a revelation — nothing
of importance should be missed.

By these through trains, however, one of the most
important places along the line is reached at a very bad
time for observation, and that is Matanzas, at which,
going one way, the traveler arrives about midniglit, and
going the other at four in the morning. This difficulty
may be obviated, if one be starting from Havana, by tak-
ing in advance the excursion offered by the United Rail-
ways Line, giving an all-day trip, Havana-Matanzas-
Havana, for eleven dollars, including breakfast or lunch
at Matanzas, volantes to the Valley of Yumuri and the
caves of Bellamar — all the attractions, in fact ; or one
may stop over a day at Matanzas, where enough of in-
terest will be found to fill it pretty well.

The distance from Havana to Matanzas is about sixty
miles, and the time by rail two or three hours. The
scenery en route is typical of the western and central parts
of Cuba, being chiefly of cane-fields interspersed with
smaller farms or abandoned tracts lying fallow from lack
of means to cultivate. Everywhere you will see the
great pearl-gray columns of the royal palm, with their
coronals of verdure, in groups, in long, straight rows
forming avenues and boundary-lines, and always orna-
mental. There will also be bunches of bamboos, feathery-
foliaged, like tufts of plumes, their lance-likc culms clash-

BETWEEN HAVANA AND SANTIAGO 75

ing together in the wind and their willow-Hke leaves
rustHng. They generally indicate the vicinage of water,
though, like the palms, they grow in all sorts of places
except in the highest hills or mountains.

Now and then you see a great tobacco barn, five or ten
times as large as the dwelling alongside it, though both
are built of palm, as picturesque and as appropriate to
the landscape as structures made by man can be. The
thatched hut, as perhaps the reader knows, was derived
from the aboriginal inhabitants of Cuba, who were dis-
covered living in the same kind of bohios as we see to-day
all over the island. Traveling eastward, the vast tobacco
barns gradually disappear, to give way to another type of
building more modern and expensive — the ingenio, or
sugar-mill. Eastward and westward from Havana prov-
ince lies the vast sugar-cane region of Cuba, stretching
from coast to coast and becoming more and more in evi-
dence as we proceed. Like immense fields of maize or
Indian corn, the tracts of golden-green cane, miles in
extent, are only infrequently dotted with the mills where
the cane is crushed and its juice reduced to saccharine
crystals. Access to the sugar-mills is generally easy,
provided one can find the time and opportunity ; and the
chances are that the traveler has already visited one of the
typical structures, such as the " Toledo," not far from
Havana and Marianao, where an admission fee is
charged. The owners of the great properties in Cuba
are nothing if not thrifty, and are generally not above
taking, even demanding, a fee for inspecting their works.
This is Spanish " thrift," as practiced by the people who
are so loud in denouncing the acquisitiveness of the
invading " Yankees."

The caji^-fields appear to occupy a great proportion of

76 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

the total area of Cuba ; but late statistics appear to show
that the aggregate acreage devoted to sugar-cane is only
about one-sixtieth of the grand total of 28,000,000
acres.

You would think, also, when in Havana, that the cul-
ture of tobacco is the chief occupation of the Cuban agri-
culturist. As a great favor, one of the princely tobac-
conists will allow you to go over his factory, where hun-
dreds of men are employed in rolling and pasting the
"weed"; and, though the same process may be seen in
Key West and Tampa, even in New York, there are
tourists who go into ecstasies over the sight. Just why,
it is impossible to say; but probably because they think
it the proper thing to do. Neither cigar nor cigarette-
making is an attractive process ; tobacco culture is not a
novel occupation, though demanding skill and experi-
ence; and too much has been made of both, hitherto, in
descriptions of Cuba and her resources.

It will not be the Vuelta Aba jo region with its fields of
tobacco, nor the great central section with its vaster fields
of sugar-cane, that will engage the attention of the incom-
ing Americans with their capital — whether large or small
in amount — but the lands that can be made to produce
coffee and cacao, pineapples and citrus fruits, and even
" garden truck " for northern markets. Tobacco is
grown on the insignificant total of one hundred thousand
acr^s; but it has been the means of enriching a good
many. Not so many, however, that they cannot be
formed into a " trust " that will eventually control the
whole supply and yet further enhance the values of cigars
that are already priced far beyond their worth.

Nearing Matanzas, we are getting well out of the
tobacco section and into the region of waving cane.

BETWEEN HAVANA AND SANTIAGO 77

Aside from the royal palms, the occasional ceiba or silk-
cotton trees are the most conspicuous, with their massive
trunks, broad-spreading limbs, and far-extending roots
swelling into the parent trunks like the buttresses to a
Gothic cathedral. Masses of tropical trees are seen, also,
such as the mango, the mamey, the nispero, and a dozen
others, but generally so densely grouped that their foliage
and fruits can hardly be distinguished. Now and then
abandoned fields covered with guavas, from the fruit of
which the delicious pastas and jellies are made, stretch
alongside the railroad tracks.

The huts of the natives are not so frequently seen as
farther along the line, beyond the sugar-producing prov-
inces, for the cane-culture crowds them out ; but some of
them are attractively embowered amid the shining leaves
of citrus trees, more often shaded by the dome-shaped
crowns of dark-green mangos. The ordinary railroad
station, as well as the beginning of a town, in Cuba, is
usually a horror of unattractiveness, despite the endeavors
of the railroad men to build it well originally and to keep
it up to the mark subsequently. Crowded about it will
be a host of ox-carts to which the beasts are yoked by the
horns ; occasionally a cumbersome volante, mud-plastered
from wrestling with the roads of the country ; and always
a crowd of loafers in cotton shirts and flowing pantaloons ;
hatless, some of them, and also shoeless.

Right in sight of the car windows may be seen a wit-
less Cuban furrowing the land with a crooked stick, using
this primitive implement of the times of Noah and Abra-
ham in preference to the best plow that might be offered
him. The Cuban is a fool, of course; but he won't
believe you if you tell him so, although you know it. His
great-great-grandfather plowed with a crooked stick,

78 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

hitched by a pole to the horns of his oxen, and why should
he not do the same?

Besides, the Yankee plow, he is ever ready to tell you,
digs too deep a hole in the earth — turns up the sub-soil,
which the great God never intended should be disturbed.
Then again, the Yankee plow costs too much for a poor
Cuban; though this argument is invalidated by the fact
that the rich ones use the crooked stick — or allow it to be
used on their plantations — when they can well afford the
finer implement.

But if we linger too long by the wayside commenting
upon Cuban peculiarities, we shall not reach Matanzas
in time for breakfast. There is scant soil for any kind of
cultivation in the immediate vicinity of Matanzas ; but
that, of course, will not concern the tourist, who cares
more for what he can see than for the latent possibilities
of the earth. This city of about 45,000 inhabitants lies
curled around a beautiful bay which is deep enough for
good-sized steamers to enter, and is situated upon and
amid some swelling hills. Its architecture is the Ameri-
canized Hispano-Moriscan, typical of the better portions
of Cuba's cities, and some of the dwellings are imposing,
especially out at Versailles suburb and along the road
from the plaza to the caves of Bellamar. Matanzas has
its central square or plaza, on one side of which is the
governor's palace, on another the post-office, and on
another still a very nice hotel, the best in the place.

But it is not for the sake of its attractions per se that
we have come to Matanzas. Were it not for the fact that
Nature has bestowed two great gifts upon this region, it
is doubtful if anyone would stop over for a glimpse of
the city. One such gift were enough to cause travelers
to make pilgrimages here, and that is the near valley of

BETWEEN HAVANA AND SANTIAGO 79

the Yumuri, which no less an authority than Humboldt
pronounced the most beautiful in the world. Hum-
boldt was prone to indulge in superlatives ; but in this
case he may not have gone far astray, for the vale of
Yumuri is certainly an entrancing spot.

There are two points from which the Yumuri may be
viewed, the nearest to Matanzas, about two miles, being
the hill and chapel of Montserrat. You may go thither
on foot, by coche, or by volant e, the last-named means of
conveyance being generally chosen because of its novelty
— not for its comfort. There are not many volantes
left in Cuba that are available to the general tourist, and
perhaps it may be as well to charter one of these craft on
this occasion, for another may not ofifer. They '' come
high," and they are swung high, on huge leather springs
suspended between wheels of vast diameter, at least eight
feet across.

In going to view the Yumuri from the cumbres, farther
from the city than Montserrat, the volantes are almost a
necessity, the road is so rough and the holes in it so deep.
However, whether on foot, by coche, or by volante, by all
means go to see the beautiful Yumuri, a vale sunken five
or six hundred feet between encircling hills, its rolling
surface dotted with royal palms, and rounded knolls
forming the foot-hills to this Royal Plain in minia-
ture. A small stream meanders through the valley,
which breaks between almost vertical cliffs and flows
amidst the city, with the river San Juan dividing Matan-
zas into three parts, known as Versailles, Pueblo Vie jo,
and NuevO.

You look down upon the Yumuri from Montserrat
as into a vast bowl or crater from its brim, and behold
its palm-dotted surface diversified with cocoas, cacaos,

8o OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

almond trees, and small plantations of coffee and sugar-
cane. Not many houses show themselves, and there
are comparatively few huts, on the various spurs from
the inclosing hillside. It is most assuredly a beautiful
retreat to look upon; but I fancy life must get rather
monotonous within it, especially in the rainy season,
when it would be far easier to slide down the hillsides
over the slippery soil than to climb to their crests and
view the world outside.

Then there are the caves of Bellamar. They may have
existed as long as Yumuri ; but they have not been known
to man so long, having been discovered accidentally less
than fifty years ago, by a Chinese laborer who lost a
crowbar down a hole. When he went to look for it he
found an opening into one of the most beautiful caverns
on earth.

The main chamber is estimated at about 200 feet long
by 70 wide, says a writer of note, " and while it far sur-
passes in richness and splendor the temple of the sam^
name in the Mammoth Cave, it does not equal it in size
or solemn grandeur." The caves of Bellamar are suffi-
ciently extensive to fatigue one in exploring them thor-
oughly, as I can testify, having been through them, as
well as through Kentucky's Mammoth Cave. There is
no comparison between the two, the one being vast and
gloomy; the other, the Cuban Bellamar, being rich and
sparkling in stalactitic and stalagmitic formations, in laby-
rinthine passages through rows of crystal colonnades,
where the only sound is that of dripping water making
music in the darkness. There is a " fat man's misery "
in the Bellamar, where the passage through is so narrow
that not everyone can make it, and the descents into the
deeps are sharp, while the bridged spaces across chasms

BETWEEN HAVANA AND SANTIAGO 8i

and along the brinks of steeps are sufficiently perilous to
cause a shudder. The cave has been followed three miles
and to a depth of five hundred feet, in the white and
sparkling limestone.

Returning to the main line and our journey from Ha-
vana to Santiago, mention should be made, in passing, of
a small town a little off the route of travel, and about two
hours distant from Matanzas, known as Madruga, the
" Cuban Saratoga," which is a natural sanatorium, being
filled with springs impregnated with iron, sulphur,
potassa, and magnesia, efficacious in many diseases. Its
name is a sadly suggestive one in Cuba, being associated
with some fierce fighting during the revolution, when the
dead and wounded of the Spaniards, repulsed in their
attacks upon the patriots who were intrenched on a
lofty hill, were brought into the town by scores.

Had you taken the night train from Havana, after re
freshing slumber aboard the " sleeper " you would have
awakened about six the next morning at the station of
Santa Clara, where coffee is served and a few minutes are
allowed for refreshments of the cruder sort. The town
or city of Santa Clara, so long famous for the beauty of
its women and the salubrity of its airs, is at a little dis-
tance from the station, and a special trip must be made to
visit it. Founded in 1689, it is one of the older cities
of the interior, and stands in the center of a region of
hill and plain diversified with sugar plantations, from the
wealth of which it draws the substance of its living.

Hills and mountains play at hide and seek, more or
less distant from the line of the railway, and there are
numerous examples of those rounded elevations, some of
them capped with palm trees, that are yet more numer-
ous in the Santiago province. Here, now, there is an

S2 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

aspect of cultivation that seems to presage the possibiUty
of land for the colonist and settler, for the sugar-cane no
longer monopolizes the territory, but it is less given over
to any one kind of culture. The uplands become more
open, with valleys of verdure interspersed, but there is a
vast quantity of apparently sterile land as the geographi-
cal center of the island is reached, at or about Ciego de
Avila, which is the narrowest part of Cuba east of Matan-
zas. It is not so sterile, the old settlers tell me, as it seems
to be, being merely grown up to " bush " and lacking the
necessary cultivation to make it *' blossom as the rose."

At Ciego de Avila one sees substantial reminders of the
late revolution, in the numerous watch-towers that cross
the country at this point. They are still in a good state of
preservation, each one being about twenty feet square,
with an entrance-way a dozen feet from the ground, the
lower part solidly built of masonry, and the upper consist-
ing of a square tower sheathed with corrugated iron. The
stupendous, yet worse than wasted, labor performed by
the Spaniards during the war may be appreciated from
the fact that they cleared a space a kilometer in width
directly across the island, a distance of nearly fifty miles,
from coast to coast, and erected 210 substantial block-
houses, each one of which was occupied by its guard,
equipped with a powerful electric light and in telephonic
communication with every other, and the whole connected
by an all but impassable entanglement of barbed wire. I
say " all but impassable," for the Cubans laughed at this
" impregnable trocha " of their enemies, and whenever
they felt like doing so cut their way through it and passed
quite freely from one side to the other.

But there, to-day, exists the kilometer-wide space
cleared by the Spaniards, reaching from sea to sea, run-

BETWEEN HAVANA AND SANTIAGO 83

ning in a north-south direction, and as it was divested of
every bush and shrub big enough to conceal a lurking
Cuban, it forms a magnificent body of land ready for cul-
tivation. The owners and squatters have merely to put
in the plow and turn over the fertile soil, and they can
avail themselves of block-houses and barracks for
dwellings and cattle-sheds. A primitive railroad runs
alongside the trocha (rather, perhaps, it should be said
that the trocha was projected to follow the railroad)
from Jucaro on the south coast to San Fernando on the
north, and thus the Spaniards had a triple line of de-
fense; despite which, however, the Cubans defied them
at every point and skipped about pretty much as they
pleased. Down the line a few miles from Ciego de Avila
an American colony has been started, at Ceballos, where
there are already hundreds of acres under cultivation.

The soil and scenery are of similar character all the
way to Puerto Principe, or Camagiiey, which is 343 miles
from Havana and 200 from Santiago. The great plains
are covered with the rankly-growing Parana and Guinea
grass, in some fields of which the sleek and shining cattle
may be seen feeding, with this rich fodder meeting above
their backs. This is undoubtedly the land for cattle rais-
ing, where the grass grows the year rounJ, where the
animals need no shelter, and where running streams are
frequent enough for watering them without recourse to
artificial means.

Puerto Principe, to which the railroad builders have
restored its ancient Indian name of Carnagiiey, is the most
important city between Matanzas and Santiago, with
more than forty thousand people, and possessing a high
and healthy location. Since the Cuba railway reached it
Camagiiey has taken a new lease of life. It was ever a

84 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

city with a past, living nobody knew how, but probably
on the profits of cattle-raising on the adjoining plains. Its
sole connection with the outside world (aside from that
apology for a trail, the so-called caniino real, or royal
road) was by means of a railway 45 miles in length to the
port of Nuevitas. This line has the reputation of being
the first ever constructed within Spanish dominions ; and
there is a locomotive running on it which has been in
service for more than sixty years, and is still doing
active duty ; though it was in the repair-shop at the time
of my visit.

One would hardly believe that Puerto Principe could
have been sacked by pirates, being so far inland; yet it
once suffered terribly at the hands of ruthless Morgan
and his men, in 1665, who marched hither from the south
coast, attacked the forts, captured them, and shut up all
the inhabitants in the churches, where most of them
starved, or were tortured to death by the fiends from the
coast. The pirates secured a great amount of plunder,
including not only gold and jewels, but five hundred
cattle. Some of the old churches in which the unfor-
tunate people were confined are still standing, and are
vastly interesting, their walls massive, buttressed, and
their interiors adorned with ancient paintings.

Since the completion of the Cuba railroad and the re-
moval to this city of the general offices of the company.
Camagiiey has taken a new appearance. It is still a city
more of the past than of the present, typically and archai-
cally Spanish in its architecture, with its plaza, cathedral,
quaint old churches and monasteries, its dwellings with
massive walls and grated windows. Of itself, it might not
be considered attractive enough to draw hither the hosts
of tourists for whom the railway company has provided

BETWEEN HAVANA AND SANTIAGO 85

accommodations in its new and vast hotel, which wis
once a barrack capable of quartering two thousand men.

This immense building has been renovated and made
into a perfectly palatial edifice. It has suites of roorrls
with all sorts of baths attached, courts and gardens, de-
tached buildings for the cuisine, with pillared corridors
connecting with the main structure, and a roof-garden
from which an extensive view is open in every direction
of Camagiiey's surrounding plains. Of itself, I liave said,
modest Puerto Principe would not consider itself suffi-
ciently attractive to win hither the money-scattering tour-
ists ; but with the great hotel as an adjunct, and with the
salubrious atmosphere of its high plains, lying mid-seas
and healthful to a surpassing degree, there is a good pros-
pect for it to become a winter resort in the near future.

Beyond Camagiiey, fifty miles' traveling brings us to
the eastern border of Puerto Principe province, in the
center of which its chief city is located, and seventy-five
miles distant is Victoria de las Tunas, where the train
halts twenty minutes for another of those delicious meals
which the " Cuba " caterer knows so well how to serve.
There is scant time to look about, but from the observa-
tion-car we have obtained views all along the road that
form a continuous panorama of tropical scenery, increas-
ingly profuse in the strange and varied forms of vegeta-
tion so uncommon to northern eyes.

The forest trees are now crowding upon the rails, from
which they have hitherto been held back by the ax, and
only at the occasional openings in the woods, by courtesy
called stations, do we see any extensive areas of field or
plain. And at every station there are big piles of timber,
rough-hewn by the axmen in the forest, huge logs of
precious cedar and mahogany, fifty and sixty feet in

86 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

length and two feet through, perhaps exceeding these
dimensions. There are, also, native ox-carts laden with
these valuable woods, and the natives themselves in num-
bers, engaged in bringing in great logs from the forest,
the mahogany-producing section of which is becoming
more and more difficult to reach, and fast receding to the
mountains. After viewing the millions of feet piled up
at the stations in Santiago province and loaded on the
cars, it is easy to understand that there is, or may be, a
glut in the cedar and mahogany market. And yet,
through the mysterious workings of the " trusts," the
price of furniture made from the latter wood does not
decrease correspondingly with cost of material!

Most of the stations are names merely, with now and
then two or three open-work bohios occupied by the cus-
tomary Cubans with muddy complexions and mud-
bespattered garments — such as they are. But when these
forests are cleared and the daylight let into the openings,
where the rich humus is so deep as to be inexhaustible,
there will in all probability be houses enough around the
stations. At present, the prospect is far from encour-
aging, except in its immensity of opportunity for the right
man who shall drop into the right place, in this virgin
spot of Cuba. It is more than a " spot," too, being per-
haps a hundred miles long, lying adjacent to the railroad
and extending back for miles and miles.

Just before dark we reach the station of Cacocum,
which is of importance chiefly on account of its stage
connection with the town of Holguin, whence there is a
railroad to the port of Gibara on the north coast. Why
nobody completes the few miles necessary to make an
all-rail line between these two important points, is a
Cuban conundrum which everybody seems to have " given

BETWEEN HAVANA AND SANTIAGO 87

up." The only means of conveyance at present are a few-
shaky stages, or fat-bodied old volantes, which may be
seen lying alongside the platform like stranded porpoises.

In the gathering gloom, at the next flag station beyond
Cacocum, a clearing in the forest is visible, where an
enterprising American has begun operations, with a saw-
mill and improved machinery, looking toward utilizing the
native products, especially the timber and cabinet woods.
Lewiston is the name of the " siding " where two hundred
acres of forest trees have already been removed, and the
'* Cuban Products Company, Limited," the title of the firm
which owns 70,000 acres of land here in one large tract,
a portion of which has been stocked with cattle.

Darkness has entirely enveloped us by the time Alto
Cedro is reached, and we consider this as a misfortune, for
Alto Cedro is destined to become one of the most im-
portant points along the line, although at present con-
sisting chiefly of a few huts, a station building, and a
general store. For, here the main west-east line diverges
southward, while a northerly spur is being constructed to
Nipe Bay, which is known as the finest natural port in
Cuba.

The name " Alto Cedro," the Tall Cedar, gives a hint of
the forestal character in this region where the big trees
prevail, and where the really tropical province of San-
tiago holds promise of vegetal wonders. This spot is
right in its very center, north-south, east-west, and as the
road strikes southwardly to the coast it plunges into a
perfect wilderness of wonders belonging to the vegetable
kingdom. As it crosses the headwaters of the Cauto and
its tributaries, great trees crowd upon the track, as they
did a hundred miles further back ; but here they display,
if possible, a greater wealth of epiphytic and parasitic

88 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

plants, plastered upon their branches and affixed to their
vast trunks.

It seemed to me, many miles back on the road, that I
had seen nearly all the wild orchids in the world sitting
astride the limbs of the forest trees or hanging from their
branches, but here they quite bewildered me with their
variety and profusion. There were great air-plants, some
with spikes of blossoms, some with great display of
leaves; some were attached to the lianas which draped
every tree, some affixed to the rough bark, some again
suspended in mid-air to a slender " lialine," or cordage-
like vine that came down from somewhere up above, from
out the canopy of verdure — and there it swung, an object
of exceeding beauty, yet only one of thousands, and per-
haps millions, in that forest pierced by the parallel rails
which reached from somewhere to somewhere, but here
were apparently drifting off into nowhere.

The silk-cottons were the grandest, as they towered
above all other trees of the lowlands, everywhere, and the
burdens they bore of parasites and epiphytes were com-
mensurate with their vast bulk. They are, perhaps, the
only large trees which that piratical parasite, the " wild
fig," dares not attack, probably on account of their bulky
bole and extensive buttresses.

All the trees were woven together by lianas and
hejucos, the vines and bush-ropes, which seemed of in-
terminable length, and which were comparable only to
the rigging of a Brobdignagian ship, in their entirety.
They lined the lengths of forest aisles, they formed a
ligneous lattice-work beside the track, which it almost
seemed necessary for the engineer to cut with a machete
ere he could force the engine through.

The scene changes at or about Moron, or Dos Caminos,

< f I f t t

BETWEEN HAVANA AND SANTIAGO 89

where different, but equally beautiful effects are presented
by nature subdued and cultivated. After passing through
a tropical wilderness, we suddenly emerge into a veritable
paradise, so far as its vegetal products are concerned.
We are now in a region of rounded hills, each hill or
knoll crowned with a group of palms, or a single tree
with soft and feathery foliage outlined against the sky.
Sometimes the hills have palm-thatched bohios perched
upon them, and their slopes covered with coffee trees,
cacaos, mangos, oranges, and limes. The products of
these Hesperian gardens are brought to the stations for
sale, as at Cristo, where the primitive stalls are full of
gleaming fruits of every hue and flavor. And thus it is.
all the way to Santiago: the track bordered with fruit
trees, the air filled with fragrance, so that you may know
what you are passing through, even though it be night.

THE CUBAN AS HE WAS AND AS HE IS

The Cubano and his costume — Why he wears a dirt-color gar-
ment— As to his ancestry — What the Spaniards did to the
Indians — A Cuban on the Cubans — Why the islanders do
not indulge in fire-water — Their temperance and honesty — "
Common people kind and courteous — Where blood is thicker
than water — The commercial instinct of the Spaniards —
Not hospitably inclined — Hard-headed and hard-hearted —
An Asturian custom — The Asturians in Cuba — Upper
classes cold and calculating — The author entertained in a
bohio — An erstwhile revolutionist — How the money sharks
are depriving the patriots of their pensions — Political agita-
tion — Don Tomas and General Maximo Gomez — Cuba's
greatest Cuban not a native — Brief biography of President
Palma — The Cuban not incurably lazy — But he will not
change his costumhres — He plows with a stick and tortures
his oxen — The Spanish-American innately cruel — An
encounter with some natives — The senorita and her cigar-
ette — Something about the Cubana — Society, schools, and
churches — The feeling of security in Cuba — Contrasted
with Mexico — Brigands, policemen, and rural guards — Few
locks on doors of country houses — Bull-fights banished and
cock-fights " on the sly," only.

THE subject for vivisection in this chapter is the
Cuban. Perhaps I used the term vivisection
inadvertently, for that implies the cutting up
of something alive, when there are people who declare
that the Cuban does not come under that category.
He has practically been dead a long time, they say, but
his friends have forgotten to bury him. That is a dis-

90

THE CUBAN AS HE WAS AND IS 91

torted view, however, due to prejudice, putting which
aside, I say, the Cuban is still very much alive — for a
corpse.

The first one of my acquaintance I met nearly a quarter
of a century ago, and I can picture him yet, as he appeared
to my astonished vision clad in flowing pantalones — which
are a sort of a cross between " pants," trousers, and a
petticoat — a shirt once white, but at that time the color of
his native soil, and worn outside his nether garments, the
latter held up by a leather belt, into which was thrust a
machete, or Spanish cutlass.

His feet, otherwise bare, were stuck into Moorish
alpargatas, or hempen sandals, which were held in place
by a thong between the big toe and the one next to it on
each foot. On his head was a tattered sombrero, and in
his mouth the inevitable and deadly cigarette. That is,
deadly to anybody save Cubans or Mexicans; but they
are " proof."

Nearly a quarter-century elapsed, as intimated, between
my first visit to Cuba and my last ; but this last time I saw
the same old Cuban, puffing the same sort of cigarette,
and wearing, apparently, that same old shirt. Now, I do
not mean to say that the Cuban never dons a clean camisa,
as he calls it; for I have seen it white and shining,
starched as stiff as a board, and standing out all round
him like the old-fashioned crinoline our mothers used to
wear. But — and it seems a curious circumstance — the
every-day apparel of the Cxihano, especially of the paisano,
or countryman, though perhaps originally white, is gen-
erally dirt color.

I never ventured to inquire why this was thus, but
have drawn the conclusion from my own inner con-
sciousness— as the Dutchman drew the elephant — that it

92 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

came from his many years of fighting the Spaniards.
That is, Uke certain birds and four-footed animals,
which change their feathers or fur from brown in the
summer to white in the winter, and vice versa, he has
instinctively adopted the dirt-color arrangement as a
sort of '' protective coloration" scheme. Being then of
*' the earth earthy," he was rendered less conspicuous
to the Spaniard in war-time ; and now that peace reigns
in Cuba, he either cannot, or cares not to, get rid of
the habit.

Perhaps he doesn't want to ; for in a land where the
soil is mostly a red and tenacious clay, which stains
everything with which it comes in contact, the incen-
tives to cleanliness are not overwhelmingly abun-
dant. We will give the Cuban the benefit of the doubt,
and admit that while the average paisano might appear
cleaner than he is, and assuredly can't look dirtier, it
may be altogether the fault of the climate — as Biddy
the cook declared when she burned the steak.

As to the ancestry of the Ciihano, let me remark that
he is a composite reproduction of Spaniard, Indian, and
African, with a complexion depending upon the racial
predominance of white, red, or black man amongst his
progenitors. There are still white men in Cuba, and
there are also many black men, with every gradation
between them ; there are no longer any red, or copper-
colored individuals, known as Indians. This comes from
a cheerful habit the Spaniards of the sixteenth cen-
tury had, of trying their swords on the craniums of the
Indians almost every morning before breakfast. Orig-
inally there were several hundred aborigines in Cuba;
but when the Spaniards got through with them there
were not enough to populate a vacant lot,

THE CUBAN AS HE WAS AND IS 93

*' Upon these Lambes so meek, so qualified and endued
of their Maker," (wrote Las Casas, according to
'' Purchas his Pilgrims," published 1625) "entered the
Spaniards, as Wolves, as Lyons, as Tygers, most cruel,
of long time famished, and did naught else than tear
them in pieces, kill them, martyr them, and torment
them, by strange sort of cruelties neither seen nor read,
nor heard of the like ; so far forth that of above three
millions of Souls that were in the isle of Hispaniola — and
that we have seen — there are not now above two hundred
Natives of the Country left. . . .

'' The cause why the Spanish have destroyed such an
infinite number of Souls hath been only their desire to
get Gold and to enrich themselves in a short time ; or,
to say in a word, their Avarice and Ambition. And by
this means have died so many Millions, without Faith
and without Sacrament.

'' Further note here, that in whatever Part of the Indies
the Spanish have come, they have enormously exercised
against the Indians, these innocent Peoples, the cruelties
aforesaid, and invented day by day new Torments, huger
and monstrouser; wherefore God also gave them over
to fall headlong down with a more extream Downfall,
into a reprobate sense."

What the Spaniards did in Hispaniola, or Santo
Domingo, they also did in Cuba, with the result as stated
above. The Indians are gone ; Spanish excesses have
been restrained ; but Spanish character is the same as
it was three hundred years ago.

*' The Cuban," says a native writer, " is a descendant of
the Spanish colonist that came to the island with Colum-
bus, and of the female Indians that were in Cuba when
discovered. The negro and mulatto born in the island

94 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

is also called Cuban, but for the mere fact of being born
here ; the mulatto is a mixture of the white man and the
negress. So the real Cuban is a descendant of the
Spanish colonist and the female Indian."

It is well to be accurately informed at the outset ; but
we will extend the term, Cuban, to include all residents
of the island, whether boasting sanguineous connection
(on the female side) with the long-extinct aborigines,
or derived by direct importation from Spain, the " mother
country " of both Don and donkey.

The aim of this roundabout ramble into the field of
history is to show how the Cuban came by his vices and
his virtues — such as he has. The aboriginal inhabitants
were gentle and refined — for savages — and very abstemi-
ous. Strange to say, the Spaniards were also abstemious,
so far as abstention from fire-water is concerned ; but
the Spaniard of history has established a record for
indulgence in carnal vices second to none other in the
world. These he indulged at the expense of, first, the
Indians, then the Negroes, then the native Cubans of
whatever complexion.

Hence, racially speaking, the Cuban comes naturally
enough by his instincts of cruelty; but through inheri-
tance from neither one race nor the other is he inclined to
indulge in strong drink.

Perhaps the noteworthy lack of crime in the island
is owing to the temperance of the islanders. In a local
guide to Havana, written and published by a native, I
read : " The Cuban is not given to the strong drinks.
It is very seldom that a drunk man is seen in Havana" ;
and I may add, or anywhere else, as to that matter. I
have been in every one of the six provinces of Cuba,
beginning at Pinar del Rio and ending at Santiago,

THE CUBAN AS HE WAS AND IS 95

reversing my journey as far as Camagiiey and Nuevitas,
and have yet to see a Cuban under the influence of
liquor. I may have seen some drunken men on previous
visits ; but have no recollection of the fact.

It may have been owing to their " capacity," for most
assuredly the Cubans do imbibe largely of light wines,
chiefly claret of the Spanish variety ; or it may have been
because the kind of liquor they drink does not readily
intoxicate. One might, in fact, drink a bucketful of the
vino corriente, the vin ordinaire imported from
Spain, without getting even *' half-seas over." It is on
every table of the Spanish restaurants, and is almost as
free as water; but, whether it be owing to the kind of
liquor the Cuban is prone to imbibe, or to his superior
" capacity," the fact remains that he rarely gets drunk.

Neither is the native, so far as I have been able to
observe, any more given to dishonesty than to drunken-
ness. With the sole exception of the cabmen (who are
generally considered as an exempt class all over the
world), the Cubans practice few if any of those despic-
able tricks by which the traveler is forced to give up
his change, loose and otherwise. Make a bargain with
any of them (cabmen and drivers excepted), and they
will generally stick to the agreement; or if they back
out, will do so from some motive other than pecuniary.

It is remarkable that, operating upon such diverse
elements as the Indian races of America and the imported
Africans, the Spaniards of the old days should have
evolved a mixed people more or less homogeneous.
The Spanish characteristics have been ineffaceably
stamped upon these people, and it is quite natural that
the natives should look toward them, rather than toward
the Anglo-Saxons from the States.

96 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

" Blood is thicker than water '' holds good here, and
this is why, after having suffered so terribly from Span-
ish atrocities, the Cubans not only tolerate the Spaniards,
but hug them to their hearts. The Spaniards still con-
trol all the great business affairs of the country ; the
streets of the capital are full of Catalan and Asturian
draymen, and the cafes of Andalusian waiters. It must
be that the Cuban character is long-suffering, if not
pusillanimous, when Cubans allow themselves to be
overridden (as they are) by the insolent Spaniards.

The latter have the business faculty developed to an
extraordinary degree, while the Cubans in general do
not possess it at all. As bull-fights are now banished
the island and cock-fights prohibited and indulged
in only " on the sly," the bloodthirsty instincts of the
Spaniards are now turned into another channel. They
are still after their pound of flesh, and if blood flows
incidentally to the getting of it, so much the more to their
liking. The Spaniards in America always were, and
probably always will be, keen in the pursuit of the
" almighty dollar." After they had sucked, vampire-
like, the last drop of blood from aboriginal veins, they
turned to exploiting the native resources of the regions
they happened to be in, and only as a very last resort
took up with agriculture — the raising of sugar-cane and
tobacco.

At present the Spaniards are commercially supreme
in Cuba, for while you may *' scratch a Turk and find
a Tartar," you cannot scratch a Cuban in commerce
without finding a Spanish Creole beneath the epidermis.
These Spaniards in Cuba, regarded from an Anglo-
Saxon view-point, are not by any means hospitably
inclined. Most of them are of Asturian descent, and

THE CUBAN AS HE WAS AND IS 97

)Ou know the Asturlan custom when a male child is
born: to crack it over the head with a plate. If the
plate is broken the child is considered the right sort to
rear; but if it does not break, and the youngster's skull
is cracked instead, it is held not to be worth the cost of
rearing. So the hard-headed ones survive, and many
of them come to Cuba, where they engage in business,
to the exclusion of the real owners of the island.

It is significant of the strength of the Asturians in
Cuba that there is a single society in Havana containing
more than I4,cxx) members. It owns its clubhouse in
the capital, maintains a hospital and a magnificent sana-
torium in the suburbs, insures the lives of its members
for a small annual fee, and is altogether one of the
wealthiest societies of its kind in the world.

Respecting my remark, that the lack of the hospitable
trait is apparent at a glance, I recall some experiences
of my own, in connection with my mission to this island
in 1891-92, to invite Cuba to participate in the Expo-
sition of 1893. It was the chief part of my mission
to secure the appointment of a local commission by the
captain general, for the purpose of collecting and
arranging the various exhibits of the island. Four weeks
passed before this was accomplished, but when the
captain general had his list published it was seen that
he had included nearly every man of importance in
every province. There were thirty-five men in this local
junta, nearly every man entitled to be called '' excelen-
tisimo " including two real marquises, bearing the his-
toric titles of Balboa and Duquesne.

There were several of the great cigar manufacturers,
who produced some famous brands ; yet I have no
recollection of having been offered a single cigar. More

98 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

than this, though I was for a time their coadjutor, offici-
ally accredited to their Government, and in a sense
their giiest, not one of those Spaniards seemed to have
entertained the notion that it would be a graceful act
to dine me or wine me. They appeared to have
exhausted their hospitalities when they had assured me
that their houses and all they contained were mine; yet
all the time in desperate fear that I might take them at
their word.

Letters of introduction? Yes, barrels of them, so to
speak ; but, when you have once heard the money-seeking
Spaniard ask of you, in a cold and calculating voice, on
the presentation of such a letter, " Well, what do you
want ? " you are not in eager haste to present another.

In pleasing contrast to my receptions by the " upper
classes " in Cuba, as well as in Spain and Mexico, I
place my invariable experiences with the poorer people.
It may be the universally leveling and sweetening effect
of dire poverty, continued through generations, as in
Spain ; or it may be that where the wants are fewest
and the aim is humblest, the visitor is not regarded
as an object of exploitation.

In one of my rambles I came across the palm-leaf
bohio of Sefior Don Valentini Betancourt, snuggled
securely beneath the shade of a great mahogany tree.
I had taken a long walk in the woods, and the clearing
in which stood the bohio of Senor Betancourt was
separated from the last one by more than two miles.
The forest was dense, the trail obscure, the hour late,
and quite naturally I stopped at the hut for information,
which was cheerfully given.

Sefior Betancourt was clad in a ragged shirt, worn
outside, extremely dirty, as well as expansive pantalones,

THE CUBAN AS ME WAS AND IS 99

and his bare feet were thrust into, or rather, perched
upon rope-soled " alpargatas," kept in place by thongs
between his toes. A shapeless sombrero topped Sefior
Betancourt's frowsy locks and completed his attire;
though mention is due to the big machete hanging at his
side like a rude sword, and, of course, the ever present
cigarette between his lips.

The roof of the bohio was of palm thatch, the floor
was of native mud, and skating across the latter were
numerous ducks and hens, which evidently roosted with
the family, at night, in the adjoining room, where the
bamboo bed was raised about a foot from the floor.
There was only one bed visible; but several hammocks
swung from the rafters, and the roof was otherwise
adorned with strips of pork and tasajo, or dried beef,
onions, bananas, and plantains, among which hung a
hoop of hejiico or native vine, containing a chattering
parrot.

Judging from their attitude of smiling expectancy,
the family were penetrated with extreme admiration of
their chance guest, and were anxious to do him every
honor possible. They were not inquisitive, yet they con-
trived to convey to the stranger a consuming interest in
his far-distant family, and expressed the hope that next
time he honored them with a visit he would bring his
wife and babies with him.

Sefior Betancourt admitted that he had been a rabid
revolutionist during the war, and that he had hidden
out in those very woods around his dwelling for many a
long and weary month. It wasn't so bad, he said, for
the Spaniards rarely found him out, and when they did
all he had to do was to " cut and run for it." His chief
concern was for his family, which sometimes shared his

loo OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

hiding-places aiid sometimes ventured home to the hut
and garden. He had no very poignant grief to express
over the impossibility of doing any work, during the
days of the revolutionary period ; and in fact seemed to
regard the blessings of freedom as of somewhat doubtful
value, won and preserved as they were by constant toil.

Toil and Senor Betancourt evidently had had a falling
out, long since ; but he had no grievance against the
world. Quite the contrary, he believed it was a very
good sort of world, now that the Spaniards were sup-
pressed and one could do as he pleased. He would like
to be allowed to carry a gun ; but as the license cost $15,
and there was not much to shoot, after all, it was just as
well, perhaps. He hoped to get his pension money soon,
and in point of fact had, like too many others of his
countrymen, already hypothecated it to the " money
sharks " for about 25 per cent, of its full value.

" But what could you ? " he asked with a shrug of his
shoulders. *' We have waited for years for that pension,
and 25 per cent, is better than nothing."

" One hundred per cent, is better still," I suggested.

" Yes, perhaps ; but think of the long time to wait,
Senor! Perhaps a year, and we may all be dead in that
time ! Noiv is better than by and by, especially when it
is to have money to spend ! "

The Oh-be-joyful Present was vastly more to him than
the doubtful Future, even with a golden spoon in its
mouth.

No, the Cuban has not changed one whit since we
first became acquainted, away back in the " eighties."
The waves of the American invasion may have rolled
over him, may have tumbled him about in the surf, and
knocked him off his feet; but he smilingly emerged,

THE CUBAN AS HE WA§ AN^ilS : is^'

relighted his temporarily extinguished cigarette, and
kept on his humble way.

At least, so it appears to me, for he still pursues his
se'rene though aimless career, apparently unconcerned
whether General Maximo, " Don Tomas," or some un-
known American, occupies the position of supreme power.
There have been agitations, " political upheavals," and
gritos, for this, that, and the other aspirant for political
honors; but at heart the average Cuban remains
unchanged.

The heroes of his heart are the aforementioned " Don
Tomas " and General Maximo Gomez, the " Washington
of Cuba," who lives in a modest house on an obscure
street near the Prado in Havana. It may seem a con-
tradiction of terms, but the greatest Cuban is not a
native of Cuba, having been born in Santo Domingo.
It was owing, I think, to my acquaintance with that
island, that the old hero gave me a most cordial reception,
when I called on him at his house. Although I went to
him a stranger, we soon became well acquainted, and
before I left he voluntarily offered, and wrote for me, a
letter of introduction to the governor of Puerto Principe,
which was the means of another most agreeable conver-
sation on Cuban topics with one thoroughly acquainted
with the island and the events of the war.

" Don Tomas," as perhaps everybody knows, is Presi-
dent Tomas Estrada Palma, inaugurated in May, 1902,
who was born in the little town of Bayamo, Santiago
province, in 1835. Although his birthplace is an isolated
spot, his father, who was a wealthy planter, educated
him for the bar and provided for him well. But when
he was thirty-three years old he joined the insurgents
at the beginning of the Ten Years' war. He rose to

1C2 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

the rank of general and afterward filled the presidential
chair of the insurrectionist provisional government.

Then his family estates were confiscated, his mother
was killed by Spanish troops, and in 1877 he was himself
captured and taken to Spain. There he was kept for
nearly two years in prison, refusing persistently to take
the oath of allegiance to Spain to save his estates, and
when he was released he vowed he would never return
to Cuba until she had achieved her independence. In
pursuance of this vow he went to Honduras, where he
fell in love with and married the daughter of the presi-
dent of that republic and was made postmaster general.

After residing in Honduras a while he went to the
United States, settling at Central Valley, N. Y., where
he opened a school for boys and thus gained a livelihood.
His life in the United States was an open book to all,
and especially well known, of course, is his career as
the head of the Cuban junta, with headquarters in the
city of New York.

Seeing the innumerable company of Cubans loafing
about their " shacks " of straw and palm leaves every-
where so numerous in the country districts, and noting
their apparently insatiable desire to do nothing all day,
and do it thoroughly, foreign visitors have concluded
that the Cuban is incurably lazy. It is an obvious
conclusion, in fact, and I was surprised to be told by the
superintendent of a large colonization scheme that Cuban
labor as he found it was not only regular, but reliable.
He had more than a hundred men at work, clearing
land and planting orange trees, engaged all day and
every day, from daylight till dark (with two hours'
suspension of labor in the heat of the day), and had no
cause for complaint.

THE CUBAN AS HE WAS AND IS 103

The men are faithful, wilHng, and in their way indus-
trious, their faults being those of an ignorant, simple-
minded people, given somewhat to superstition and
holding in reverence local and racial traditions. They
still prefer the machete to the bush-scythe and grass-hook,
for it is a universal implement as well as weapon.

In this respect the Cuban is unchanged ; it is doubtful
if he ever will change. He will spread out his hands and
shrug his shoulders (rolling and lighting another cigar-
ette the while) when shown the superior tools of the for-
eigners ; he may make sporadic attempts to adopt them,
but almost invariably will fall back upon his primitive
implement of the time before the flood. His ancesters
always used those implements ; they are good enough for
anybody. For the Cuban has a great reverence for his
ancestors. '' Es coshimhre" — it is the way of our
people — is his fetish, which he worships absolutely. Now
it is, and always has been, costumhre to yoke the oxen by
the horns, and to plow the land with a crooked stick.
Of course, it is very painful to witness the apparent suf-
fering of the dumb beasts, rigidly fastened to the tongue
of a cart, every jolt of which twists their heads about and
jars their nervous system.

Efforts have been made to induce the Cubans io change
this costumhre, but without avail. When the great Cuban
railway was in process of construction, orders were issued
for the adoption of yokes, in certain sections, which orders
were at first sullenly obeyed, then in effect ignored. W^hen
the inspectors came around the oxen were found toiling
ineffectually in the yokes, or else turned out to pasture
with galled necks and shoulders. It was not long before
the order was revoked, and now it would be difficult to
discover a team of oxen yoked up in the fashion so thor-

104 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

oiighly despised by the natives. It seems still a mooted
question, indeed, whether the oxen can do more work
yoked in the American or the Cuban style.

As to the feelings of the beasts themselves, the Cubans
never felt impelled to inquire, until the inexplicable Amer-
ican raised the question. It seemed, in fact, absurd, if not
insane, to inquire what the dumb beast felt. Dumb beasts
were created, the Cubans hold, to work for man, and are
entitled to no consideration whatever. It may not be true,
as some have stated, that the broncho ceases to buck and
the mule to kick, in Spanish- American countries ; but at
all events the bucking broncho and the kicking mule are
exceedingly rare in these regions. The Spanish-American
treats his dumb animals cruelly, wnth hardly any excep-
tion ; but the result is that they are thoroughly convinced
that he is their master, and rarely rebel.

While cruelty seems to be ineradicable, and the Spanish-
Americans, including the Cubans, dote on cock fights,
bull fights, and other debasing sports, there is a strain of
innate courtesy withal. I have experienced their kindness
and courtesy on occasions, and always found them un-
failing. Above all else, the Cuban is good-hearted. I find
him the same in this respect as in the olden days. One
might think that the vagaries of the American soldier and
sailor, especially when out on a spree, and their well-
known disregard of the social amenities on such an
occasion, would have tended to sour the Cuban dis-
position; but it seems to be as sweet and simple as
ever.

I once rode from Guana jay to Mariel in a dilapidated
coche of the ancient type, and in company with three
natives of the island. Two were men, each man clad in
mud-stained shirt and pantaloons, the former worn on the

THE CUBAN AS HE WAS AND IS 105

outside, and their unstockinged feet thrust into Moorish
sandals.

The third native was a woman, and between us all we
filled the coche nigh to overflowing. Soon after we
started the rain came down in torrents and we were
obliged to resort to every sort of expedient to prevent get-
ting drenched. Though thinly clad in cotton garments,
my two male companions ran the risk of a wetting in
order to give me the best and driest seat, and perceiving
that the gloom of the occasion seemed to have a depress-
ing effect upon my spirits, exerted themselves to divert
me.

All were smoking, of course, and when the woman
handed me, first a cigarette, and then a light, I was fain
to join them in the trivial pastime. As the clouds of
smoke rolled up, the sympathetic Cuban nature showed
itself in inquiries as to my family, and as to whether I
was very lonely so far removed from home and friends.
They entered into my description of life in the States with
infinite zest, and were profuse in their expressions of
admiration for America and the Americans. The seiiorita
told me vivaciously, between pufifs, that she was a
soltera — a spinster — and though she owned in her own
right a valuable tract of land, she had no home of her own,
but resided with married sisters.

This reference to the fair sex reminds me that while
I have said a great deal about the Cubano, or male Cuban,
I have almost entirely neglected the Cuhana, or the female
of the family. That is because I have been speaking of
the Cubans generically — as a whole, and not with respect
to diflferentiating them sexually. As the whole, of course,
embraces a part, what has been said respecting the Cubano
refers as well, allowing for sex, to the Cubana,

io6 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

That there is a fair sex in Cuba goes without the say-
ing; but whether she appear attractive, collectively and
individually, depends upon the taste and temperament of
the observer. When, as a younger man, I visited Havana,
Santiago, etc., I was much impressed, I can recall, by the
flashing black eyes, the graceful carriage, and the
coquettish manners of the Cuban sefioritas. But they are
merely the Spanish damsels transplanted ; and it may be
said of them as of the society and home life in the city,
that having seen them in Spain you have nothing more to
add; except that the same remarks apply to the seiioras,
who are the senoritas after they are married.

Society, schools, and churches illustrate the condition of
the people and identify them with the dominant race or
nationality. The society is Spanish; the schools are nu-
merous and modeled after those of the United States —
thanks to our self-sacrificing educators — and the religion
of the masses is Roman Catholic, some of the churches,
notably in Havana, Santiago, and Puerto Principe, com-
paring favorably, from an architectural standpomt, with
their prototypes in Europe; though not so large nor so
old as the finest in Spain.

One of the things that impresses the visitor to Cuba, if
he remain long and travel extensively, is the feeling of
absolute security that prevails throughout the island.
Those who have traveled in some of the *' doubtful "
countries will know what is meant when I say that there
is something assuring in the very atmosphere. In Mexico,
for example, say twenty years ago or so, the air was
vibrant with a sense of insecurity, and a large revolver —
the bigger the better — was very comforting, nestled
snugly against one's hip or thrust into a belt.

In certain districts of that country it was chiefly the

THE CUBAN AS HE WAS AND IS 107

revolver, visibly and largely in evidence, that kept trouble
away from the foreigner, before resolute " Don Porfirio "
throttled brigandage and brought the train and highway
robbers to terms. We know what those terms were: his
own, enforced by fearless and almost omnipresent " ru-
rales," who stood the highwaymen up against a wall or a
bank, and put bullets into them until there was no occa-
sion for any more.

By methods not so drastic, perhaps, nor on so extensive
a scale as were pursued in Mexico by President Diaz, the
Cuban authorities have finally rid their land of banditti.
The last real brigands avowedly of the genuine stamp,
were garroted in Santiago, while I was there, and since
then the ** rurales " have held what they themselves con-
fess are veritable sinecures.

yi

COLONISTS AND CAPITAL IN CUBA

The American colonist becoming ubiquitous — Belongs to a
superior class — What Cuba has to offer him — What the
colonizers offer — Vast tracts of fertile soil, perfect climate ;
beyond the reach of Jack Frost — Interior of the island
opened to settlement by the Cuba Railway — Everything on
earth may be raised here — A market for everything in the
United States — How a home may be established — The best
section to locate in — Capital's favorites : sugar and tobacco ;
the humble colonist's tropical fruits and " garden truck " —
Isle of Pines, La Gloria, Holguin, and Ceballos — The ele-
mental requirements for getting a living — Rules for good
health — Endemic diseases and insect pests — The maja or
great Cuban boa constrictor — A description of the Isle of
Pines — A natural health resort — Its girdle of treasure-
galleons — Haunts of the old-time buccaneers, where a great
treasure is buried in the sea.

THE American colonist in Cuba, if not exactly
ubiquitous, is very much in evidence. Every
one of the six provinces has its colony, and
some of the provinces have several settlements, com-
posed largely of restless individuals from the States
who have gone to Cuba hoping to better their condition.
Whatever may be their fortune, they cannot be considered
other than valuable acquisitions, since most of them have
money, many have brawn and energy, and some of them
have all three combined.

Taken all in all, the class of Americans that has gone to
Cuba, hoping to find there the promised land of its desires,

io8

COLONISTS AND CAPITAL IN CUBA 109

is a superior one, and would find a welcome anywhere.
This is taking into account the people who have gone
there to settle, to build homes, and if possible acquire for-
tunes, and leaving out of the reckoning those who are
exploiting Cuba for merely speculative purposes. Not
that these last may not, also, be superior persons ; but
they have not the vital interest in the outcome which the
others possess.

Viewed at long range, say from New York, Boston, or
Chicago, the possibilities, the vast opportunities, of the
Pearl of the Antilles, loom larger and grander than close
at hand, perhaps. It is the perspective, of course, that is
to blame for the glowing accounts of Cuba which one
reads in real-estate, colonizing, and mining prospectuses ;
the enchantment distance lends, which paints the picture
in such brilliant hues. Distance requires a telescope, and
no telescope is good unless it magnifies !

But, taking a strictly impersonal and unbiased view of
Cuba and its colonists, making every allowance for the
enthusiasm of capitalists who have discovered a new coun-
try to exploit, while at the same time sympathizing with
the settlers who may not find it all their fancy painted it —
or rather, the '' other fellow's " fancy — let us inquire into
the status of the people who have gone down to possess
the land.

First, however, as to the island itself: Is it really worth
the while ? As to that, it is only necessary to state that we
have, in Cuba, an island large enough, almost, to be digni-
fied with the name of country, more than 800 miles in
length, 45,000 square miles in area, with little more than
ten per cent, of its soil under cultivation, and with more
than a million acres of forest lands. Lying, as it does,
below the frost-line, with absolute exemption from the

no OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

dangers attendant upon the cultivation of tropical fruits,
as in Florida and California, it has attracted the attention
of all those engaged in that occupation.

It has a vast body of fertile soil, accumulated by the
deposition of humus through uncounted centuries, which
is almost if not quite inexhaustible. Above all, it
has a climate the like of which cannot be found north of
the island itself. Its climatic advantages alone would
outweigh whatever disadvantages it possesses ; but these
latter are almost nil, or at the most factitious — the result
of artificial conditions. Until within a few years prohib-
ited to the foreigner, the interior of the island, with its
beautiful valleys, plains, and forest- covered hillslopes, has
been unexploited, and is yet to a great extent, in certain
sections, unsurveyed.

It has been estimated that by the construction of the
great Cuba Railway, alone, a territory including 70 per
cent, of the island's area, with less than 40 per cent, of its
population, was thrown open, or made available more or
less remotely, to settlement. With scores of deep-water
harbors, and with a railway system connecting the eastern
and western provinces, its offshoots to both coasts con-
stantly increasing in number, access is afforded to every
important point in the island.

As to Cuba's strategic position, commanding the Gulf
of Mexico, the Caribbean, and almost in touch with all
other islands of the Greater Antilles, we have nothing to
do; but that position counts in an enumeration of its
advantages. These advantages, then, are strategic, cli-
matic, and cultural. As the largest of the West-Indian
islands, Cuba holds a dominating position, and should a
West-Indian Confederation ever be formed she would be,
as she has often been styled, " Qu^en of the Antilles."

COLONISTS AND CAPITAL IN CUBA iii

It is no exaggeration to say that every agricultural
product on earth can be raised in some portion or other of
the island, from strawberries and potatoes in the hill and
mountain regions, to cocoanuts, coffee, bananas, and pine-
apples, in the tropical littoral. Finally, all these products
are in such demand that they find a ready sale in the
United States and such parts of Europe as can be reached
without too long a sea-voyage. Cuba is within three days
of New York, and as between California and the Atlantic
seaboard the distance is less, while the water-borne
freightage is about one-fourth what it is by rail from the
Pacific coast, with our great metropolis as the objective.
Tropical products,at present,and particularly citrus fruits,
are discriminated against by duties imposed in favor of
Florida and California, which amount to about the added
cost of freight from the latter State across the continent.

These are some of the facts that have combined to make
the island of Cuba seem alluring to the pent-up dwellers
in the frozen North in winter time. Perpetual summer
(which, by the way, is a thing one can get too much of in
a very little while) seems more attractive than six long
months of winter ; and the prospect of raising one's own
tropical fruits, out of doors and without a greenhouse,
is seductive, to say the least.

So the colonist went to Cuba, led thither, perhaps, by
the flowery descriptions of the colonizer and (in the
majority of cases, it is likely) kept there by a lack of the
wherewithal to return, whether satisfied with the country
or not. I am speaking of the average colonizer, of course,
the one with small capital, who depends mainly on his
muscles for support. He will naturally turn to small
fruits, and perhaps to " garden truck," for a living, the
while with his own hands, perhaps, constructing a house

112 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

in which to dwell. He has, probably, paid for a few acres,
either wholly or in part, and has been guided in his choice
by the advice of someone who knew as little about the
subject as he himself. At all events, he is there, a stranger
in a strange land, amid surroundings altogether new and
novel, with climatic and elemental forces to combat of
which he has but the faintest conception. Planting
begins at the opening of the rainy season, or in the
spring months. If the colonist settle in Havana prov-
ince, -or in Pinar del Rio, he will be appalled by the gener-
ally forlorn appearance of the natives, clad in cotton
garments splashed with clay-streaks, sanguineous in hue
and repulsive in appearance. The women, even, slatternly
dressed, and most of them carrying babes in their arms,
or leading children by the hand, are clay-bedaubed, while
the native bohios, the rude huts of palm slabs and thatch,
are painted with Nature's pigment two or three feet from
the ground, the mud-stains indicating the high -water
marks of the rainy season. Country travel is none too
good in the season of sunshine, but as soon as the rains
commence it is simply awful, for the roads are covered
with a tenacious clay almost as adherent as that famous
plaster, which ** the more you tried to pull it off, the more
it stuck the faster."

Compelled to pull his weary feet out of a succession cf
clay-pits, as he wallows through his garden setting out
his plants or putting in seed, his shoes increasing in size
and weight until they are so large and heavy he can hardly
lift them, the Colonist will probably be inclined to murmur.
And especially will his thoughts take a pessimistic turn
when the sun comes out and bakes the clay to the hardness
of a pottery shard, and pinches the life out of whatever
tender seedling it gets within its grip !

COLONISTS AND CAPITAL IN CUBA 113

There are good soils in the Havana province, notably
in and about Giiines and the southern branches of the
United Railways, and this section is a good one for garden
stuff and the smaller fruits that are most perishable. But
it will not do to depend upon the Havana market, as John
Chinaman supplies that almost exclusively, and he, as
everybody knows, can beat the world at raising " truck,"
and all the world over, at that. Though the soils of this
province are not so good as some farther east, here and in
Matanzas province being generally thin and stony, the con-
tiguity to the chief shipping portof the island, with frequent
steamers for the northern cities, is a great consideration.

Although some American capital has been invested in
the Vuelta Aba jo region of Pinar del Rio province, and
adjacent to the fine natural port of Bahia Honda, it will
probably not be the vegas where the famous tobacco is
cultivated that will engage the attention of the colonist
with small means ; nor the great central section in the
Santa Clara province, with its vaster fields of sugar-
cane. Tobacco, as the statistics show, is grown on the
relatively insignificant amount of 100,000 acres, out of
Cuba's grand total of 28,000,000; but it has been the
means of enriching a great many. Its cultivation, how-
ever, requires great care and skill, acquired only by long
practice and traditional inheritance by natives from
natives, so it will not do at all for the colonist. Neither
should he think of sugar-cane, for the great ingenios are
being gobbled up by corporate capital aggregating in the
millions. The immense and world-renowned sugar
estates of the central region and the north shores of San-
tiago province, mainly, appear to occupy a large propor-
tion of Cuba's acreage, but in reality cover only about
one-sixtieth of the total area.

114 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

Pinar del Rio, the western province of Cuba, will not
be a favorite with the colonist of slender resources,
because of its poor soil in the main, which is intolerably
dusty in the dry season, and stick-in-the-muddy in the wet.
The same, with some qualifications, may be said of Havana
province, and to some extent of Matanzas. Some push-
ing Americans thought they had secured a title to the
earthly paradise when they invested a million or so in the
Isle of Pines. About ten per cent, of its 1200 square
miles is classified as fertile, and this is found in detached
vales amongst the hills; a large proportion being sterile
upland and " cienega/' which is the Spanish for swamp,
being used for that word in the prospectus in which the
" immeasurable fertility " of the island is set forth. Only
about one per cent, of the Isle of Pines was formerly cul-
tivated, but since the influx of the Americans with their
colony, the area has been greatly increased. The culti-
vable land remains the same, however, and the incoming
agriculturists are wrestling with the problem : How
to get a living from the soil, which time alone can
solve.

The climate of the Isle of Pines is nearly perfect, and
it has the finest mineral springs in the world ; but it lies
sixty miles to the south of Havana, can be reached only
by steamers drawing less than eight feet of water, and
though it can raise anything that " grows on top of
earth," all products must be first taken to Batabano, there
transshipped, rail to Havana, with another transshipment
to port of destination. All this, with the monopoly across
the Gulf of Batabano, means probably the difference to
the grower between profit and loss.

With many things in his favor, including direct trans-
portation to northern ports, even the advantageously-

COLONISTS AND CAPITAL IN CUBA 115

situated colonist on the north coast of Cuba will have to
face a similar situation : How to exist while the products
of the soil are coming along. An obstinate and apparently
invincible colony on the north coast is that of La Gloria,
about thirty miles from the port of Nuevitas, which has
succeeded, in spite of many discouragements, in raising
almost everything under the sun. But La Gloria is with-
out rail or direct water communication with the outside
world, and the sources of its existence are as mysterious
as the impelling reason for locating it where it is.

A colony situated within reach of civilization is Las
Minas, on the railroad between Puerto Principe and
Nuevitas, and this appears to be flourishing. The same
may be said of the Holguin colony, and the Ceballos ;
though the latter, about ten miles from Ciego de Avila on
the Cuba railway, is rather a cooperative concern than a
colony, and is most skillfully managed.

Without committing myself to an opinion as to the
relative merits of these settlements, or of the several
others I have seen, I may say that all show a determina-
tion to hang on and succeed if possible. They have proved
at least two things : that Americans can live and thrive in
Cuba, and that the island has in it the makings of many ri
fortune. In all my wanderings about I did not see any
Americans who seemed to be ill ; though I did see many
very much down in the mouth. This is not saying, or
even implying, that there are no endemic diseases there,
for there are, but mostly of malarial or intestinal
character.*

* " The Cuban campaign," said General Ludlow in his testimony
before the war-investigation committee, " was a race between the
physical vigor of the men and the Cuban malarial fever that lay
in wait for them ! "

ii6 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

My advice would be: Avoid a chill, and avoid bad
water. Rise early, always fortifying yourself with a cup
of coffee before going out in the morning, work as much
in the shade as possible, lie up at noontime for at least a
couple of hours (take the siesta, which all the natives
indulge in), and conform as much as you can to the life
the natives lead. These rules I myself have followed
during several years in the West Indies, and so can rec-
ommend them. I have had fevers, and hard ones ; in fact,
contracted a mild case of malaria on my last trip down ;
but they were acquired by exposure and getting wet.

While the elemental requirements for getting a living
by agriculture all exist in Cuba, it does not follow that
everybody can succeed even in making both ends meet.
The fate of the pioneer — everybody knows what that is !

The monotony of country life in Cuba has hardly a
palliative for one who comes from what he so fondly
recurs to in his thoughts as " God's Country." He is
likely to get down-hearted and to mope about the
" shack," instead of looking about for the really interest-
ing things to be seen outdoors on every side. If he sees a
centipede, a scorpion, or tarantula — and they are all there,
and liable to make for his " happy home " when the rains
come down, preferring a dry thatch to a wet hole in the
ground — he may possibly draw contrasts between life in
the tropics and in the North. En passant, I may remark
that while people are sometimes bitten or stung by all
three, very few fatalities occur; and as for snakes, there
is nothing worse than the big boa, locally known as the
maja, which, though sometimes attaining a length of
sixteen feet, is entirely harmless to human beings. But
it likes fowl and dotes on chickens, so has to be reckoned
■\lvith, if the settlement be near a forest.

J > J ^ 3 3

COLONISTS AND CAPITAL IN CUBA 117

In summing up, I should say that, all things considered,
a location on or near the north coa^t of the southeastern
section of Cuba, which is two degrees to the south of
Havana and has a nearly perfect climate, with rich soil,
permitting of raising such purely tropical products as
coffee and cacao, as well as all the citrus fruits in per-
fection, pineapples, etc., etc., would be preferable to any
other. Immense tracts of virgin soil are yet available,
and the scenery comprises some of the fairest prospects
on earth.

If, only, the colonist can hold on for several years, he
may be able to overcome all the obstacles at present exist-
ing and become wealthy through indomitable energy and
foresight; but then again, he may not. Energy and
foresight count for little as opposed to elemental and
climatic forces. There is small danger from cyclones
and hurricanes, in Cuba, especially in the western parts ;
but the perpetual strain of the climate is something which
few people from the North can endure without eventually
yielding the best within them.

It is well known that the American residents on the Isle
of Pines have made a brave fight against the treaty by
which the island was to be handed back to Cuba, basing
their claims for continued protection from the United
States upon their preponderance numerically, financial
investments aggregating several millions of dollars, and
the general well-being of an essentially American
community.

One thing seems to have been overlooked by the
exploiters of the Isle of Pines, and that is the vast treas-
ure by which the island is girdled. It is a matter of
record, that treasure-ships by the score have been sunk
off the Isla Evangelista, as the island was known in the

ii8 OUR WEST Indian Neighbors

ancient days of silver-laden galleons, which sometimes
doubled the western end of Cuba on their voyages home-
ward from Mexico and Yucatan. In the year 1560 a
Spanish ship went to the bottom in a tempest when off
the east end of Isle of Pines, carrying dow^n twelve tons
of silver from the mines of Guanabacoa, and a vast quan-
tity of treasure comprised in rare jewels.

The most romantic of those tales of sunken galleons
pertains to a treasure-ship which was lost in the year
1679, and all on account of an Indian slave, one of the
very last left alive in Cuba. He was the property of Dona
Inez Escobedo, who was taking him as a present to her
br<)ther, a governor of one of the Canary islands. She
also had a vast store of jewels, and there was with her a
distinguished company of retired officers of the Crown,
most of whom had gold and silver in bars, from the pro-
ceeds of which they intended to live in luxury in Spain.

One fine morning, when the galleon was a few miles to
the southeast of the Isle of Pines, it was discovered that
she had sprung a leak, and when the master of the vessel
started to investigate he was met by the sound of blows,
caused by the Indian slave, who with a hatchet was scut-
tling the ship. He warned the captain not to advance,
as he himself was determined to die, and meant to carry
down with him the whole ship's company.

' In order to draw his fire, a black slave was thrown into
the hold; but the Indian paid no attention to him, and
went on with his vengeful work. Then into the hold
sprang an old Spanish officer, one Sefior Don Jose Nuiiez,
a caballero of renown, who with drawn sword advanced
in the darkness against the desperate Indian. Seeing no
means of escape, and having accomplished his purpose,
the Indian crawled beneath a beam and drowned himself

COLONISTS AND CAPITAL IN CUBA 119

in the fast-deepening water, which soon gained upon the
pumps to such an extent that the galleon sank with all its
treasures, the passengers barely saving their lives.

Within sight of the Isle of Pines, in the calm of a sum-
mer sea, this galleon went down with all its treasure, and
though many attempts have been made to recover the
latter, they have not yet succeeded. To keep her com-
pany, one of the infrequent hurricanes that sometimes
occur oft" the southwest coast of Cuba sent to Davy Jones'
locker a galleon which had been captured by a buccaneer.
This buccaneer was the redoubtable Bartholomew Portu-
guese, a crafty corsair, whose headquarters were at the
island of Tortuga, off the north coast of Haiti. Prowl-
ing about the Isle of Pines, he suddenly came upon and
captured a treasure-ship with half a million dollars' worth
of gold and silver bars. He had hardly set the Spanish
crew adrift, after cutting the throats of several, as a
warning, when a hurricane sprang up that sent his ship
to the bottom ; and there she lies, presumably, to-day,
neither ship nor treasure having been seen since that time.

VII

JAMAICA, QUEEN OF THE ANTILLES

Distance from Santiago to Jamaica — Port Antonio and Kings-
ton— Blue Mountain Peak and the way to it — Valleys,
streams, and ridges — The land of springs — Three zones of
vegetation — All the fruits of the Tropics — No description
can do justice to Nature's pictures in Jamaica — Discovered
by Columbus, captured by Admiral Penn — Port Royal,
ancient pirate city, and its awful end — Where the hotels are
to be found — Kingston's shabby-genteel architecture and
its suburbs — Roads, railways and highways, 800 miles
of them — A city that wants to be clean — An island that
wants to be American — Steamship lines running to
Jamaica — Its situation in relation to Panama — Why
Jamaica prefers Brother Jonathan to John — Her best cus-
tomer and best friend — Has long been "on the fence" — A
prophecy made in 1782 — What Mr. Froude says anent
Jamaica's future — What Mr. MacNish says — A position
painful to contemplate.

BEYOND Santiago and the south coast of Cuba we
find a glorious assemblage of islands, scattered
over the fair and tranquil Caribbean Sea. Two
routes are open to us thence: one to Haiti, Santo Do-
mingo, Puerto Rico, and the crescentic Carribbees, and
the other to Jamaica, land of running streams and lofty
mountains.

It would seem, perhaps, invidious to descant upon the
scenery of any one island more than another, for in truth
each has a bit of earthly paradise to show ; but Jamaica
is certainly one of the most attractive. It is only 172

120

JAMAICA, QUEEN OF THE ANTILLES 121

miles from Santiago to Kingston, 90 from the nearest
point on the Cuban coast to Montego Bay, and about the
same distance to that thriving port on the north coast, San
Antonio. And while we are mentioning distances, it
may be as well to note that the last-named port is just
1400 miles from New York, from which a run of four
hours by rail, or seventy miles by sea, brings one to
Kingston, the emporium and capital city of Jamaica.
There was a time, not long since, when Kingston absorbed
all the travel and most of the traffic of the island ; but
things have changed since the establishment of the
United Fruit Company in Jamaica, with its splendid
steamers direct to Port Antonio, and its fine hotel perched
above the port and growing city.

Still, the entrance to Kingston's magnificent harbor is
well worth the short voyage around the east end of the
island to view, especially as we pass close to ancient Port
Royal, and abreast the palm-covered Palisadoes, the far-
stretching sand-spits which fend off the rough waves
from the southward. Entrancing mountain views we
have had, ever since we sighted land, for grand Blue-
Mountain Peak rises to a height of 7300 feet, the domi-
nant pinnacle of a system which comprises several other
elevations rising five and six thousand feet, with lateral
ridges running to the coast on either side, north and
south. Between them are valleys and streams — more
than one hundred of the latter — most of which are hidden
from sight ; but enough revealed to evoke wonder, admi-
ration, and astonishment in the beholder.

Like Cuba, this island still retains its original and
aboriginal name, which was " Xaymaca," the land of
woods and waters, island of springs ; and, given a tropical
climate, with abundance of water, thus supplying heat

122 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

and moisture, the great requisites for exuberant vegeta-
tion, we may not be astonished at the results. In fact,
borrowing a simile from the Spanish, our vision embraces
the range of three zones of vegetation when we look upon
Jamaica from the sea: the tierra caliente, or hot zone;
the templada, or temperate, and the fria, or cold region ;
and no mere being of human mold can do justice in a
verbal description to the composite picture presented.

Imagine, if you can, the ranks and crowds of cocoa
palms along the shores, the bananas, plantains, bamboos,
and hosts of tropical fruit-trees, abounding in the middle
zone ; and try to picture the shady nooks with their gush-
ing springs and babbling brooks, with their silver, golden,
and tree-ferns, trumpet trees, ceibas, mahogany, green-
heart — all precious woods, in truth ; the clearings with
their wealth of coffee, cacao, orange, lime, lemon, bread-
fruit, mango, custard-apple, guava, cinchona, nutmeg, and
pimento (with spices and '* gales from Araby ") ; the
gold-green seas of sugar-cane, the brown squares of
native provision-grounds tip-tilted against the hillsides;
the somber sweeps of forest, and above all, the towering
peaks in space supernal, their brows adorned with cloud-
wreaths woven from the rising mists.

No, no, it is impossible to do justice to Jamaica's land-
scape charms on paper ; neither can canvas portray them
adequately, for, though the forms ma^^ be imitated, not
so the multi-colored vegetation, the evanescent hues of
leaf and fruit, seen through the mist and sunshine min-
gled, as in a cloth of gold.

Let us, then, lay hold of something concrete and tan-
gible : for example, the old pirate city that lies abeam on
the tip end of the Palisadoes, to wit, Port Royal, for here
we have near a century of Jamaica's history in epitom^.

JAMAICA, QUEEN OF THE ANTILLES 123

Its history, that is, after the island was taken by Penn
and Venables, in 1655. Admiral Penn (our immortal
William's pater) proceeded against the Spaniards by
sturdy Cromwell's orders, because they had murdered
English sailors and driven English ships out of the
Caribbean Sea.

That was the beginning of British rule in Jamaica, two
hundred and fifty years ago. The Spaniards had been
in possession since 1509, Christopher Columbus having
discovered the island in 1494. Their first settlement was
on the north coast, in the parish of Saint Ann's, but about
1630 they founded another which they called San Jago de
la Vega, over on the mainland opposite Port Royal, which
is now known as Spanish Town, and is worth the trouble
of a visit, being within a few miles of Kingston.

The putative founder of Sevilla, the first town, was
Don Diego Columbus, son of Christopher, and to his
son, Don Luis, was given the marquisate of La Vega.
While on this subject, I may mention that some of the
Spanish names survive in a corrupted form, as Boca del
Agua, a beautiful stream now known as the " Bog
Walk"; Agua Alta, the "Wag Water"; Rio Cobre ;
Montego, from Manteca, because the Spaniards tried out
lard in the bay; Rio Novo, etc.

But Port Royal brings to mind the times of old, when
English and F/ench and Dutch went buccaneering, at
first in quest of the common enemy, the Spaniards, and
after that in search of plunder, no matter what the nation-
ality of the people to whom it belonged. Hither came
the mighty Morgan, afterwards Sir Henry, by the grace
of King Charles 11. ; Lollonois, Mansveldt, and many
another buccaneer and pirate of high as well as low
degree, and the streets of gay Port Royal rang with

124 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

revelry such as suited the whims of men engaged in deeds
of blood. Hand-in-hand with the pirates, the slavers,
also, united to give the town an evil reputation, for one
historian of Jamaica, Bryan Edwards, says that more
than 600,000 were landed here between the years 1680
and 1786. But the end came, in the year 1692, when
Port Royal slid off into the sea, carrying with it such as
remained of " the most ungodly people on the face of the
earth " ; and, 'tis said, when the water is calm, one may
see to-day the submerged ruins of dwellings, warehouses,
forts, and churches.

In the museum of the Jamaica Institute at Kingston
may be seen a bell of the church which went under with
the rest ; and over at Green Bay, on the opposite shore,
stands (or recently stood) a tombstone to the memory of
one who was thrown into the sea, on that dreadful day in
June, 1692, and by a second earthquake shock thrown out
again, living more than forty years thereafter.

Port Royal to-day shows few if any traces of that ter-
rible catastrophe; at least, I saw none on my first visit
there, when, as the guest of Commodore Lloyd of
H. M. S. " Urgent," I lunched at headquarters ashore.*
Perhaps it was the lunch, perhaps the pirates are all dead ;
but I recall only the former, which was so excellent I
felt that looking for the latter would be a waste of time.
The Commodore had an attractive collection of tropical

♦The American Consul, Mr. Estes, and Mr. Frederick A.
Ober, the Commissioner of the World's Fair to the West Indies,
breakfasted on Thursday with Admiral Gherardi on board the
war-ship " Philadelphia." Shortly after midday Mr. Estes and
Mr. Ober proceeded by steam-launch to Port Royal and had
luncheon with Commodore Lloyd. — The Jamaica Post, March 28,
1891.

JAMAICA, QUEEN OF THE ANTILLES 125

plants, which, along with everything and everybody else
at Port Royal, were watered from a spring seven miles
distant across the bay, there being no local aqueous sup-
ply at the Port.

What the old buccaneers did for water, history does not
inform us, except indirectly. That is, we are told that
rum and wine were freer than water there, a cask of one
or the other being '' on tap " all the time in the streets ;
and woe betide the man who refused to drink at the
behest of the bewhiskered buccaneers, who " set 'em up "
whenever they were flush. They were always in good
spirits so long as the liquor lasted ; but it gave out at
last, after the perfidious Morgan was knighted, for he
turned upon his erstwhile comrades and sent many of
them to the gallows-tree, to which he himself should have
preceded them. On Gallows Point, not far away, you
may see the place where they were gibbeted and the vul-
tures picked their bones.

The defection of Sir Henry Morgan, buccaneer, cut-
throat, piratical gentleman of the sea, finds its parallel in
an event of modern times, to wit, the case of the East-
Indian mongoose. This animal was introduced into
Jamaica for the purpose of destroying the Norway rat
(likewise a foreigner) and accomplished the intended
purpose effectually.

But alas! it destroyed everything else that was not
bigger than itself, birds as well as quadrupeds, and the
last state of Jamaica was infinitely worse than the first.
The birds being nearly exterminated, the insect pests mul-
tiplied exceedingly, particularly the ticks, inasmuch as it
is as much as one's life is worth to take a walk in the
fields or though a bit of woods. The mongoose upset
the balance of Nature — and now, it is reported, Nature

126 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

is upsetting the mongoose, for the ticks are attacking and
kilHng the very animal that caused their multipHcation !

Meanwhile, we are supposed to be sailing across the
land-locked harbor to Kingston, capital and chief city of
Jamaica, which, with due regard to actual conditions, is
vastly more attractive at a distance than close aboard.
Seen across the bay, with its fringe of cocoa palms, which
also besprinkle the city considerably, and with its effective
background of mountains draped in tropical vegetation,
Kingston presents an alluring spectacle ; but when
arrived at one of its wharves one no longer wonders why
the early pirates took to Port Royal and its early inhabi-
tants took to drink.

And yet, Kingston has improved wonderfully within
my recollection. It is no longer the ramshackle town of
Tom Cringle's time, for there were no trams then,
and the hero of the immortal " Log " either had to foot it
or ride on horseback, whenever out on mischief bent.

But, when we compare the Kingston of to-day with the
city of day before yesterday, it is almost entitled to be
classed with Havana and Santiago. For it tries to be
clean, and has always been respectable. It has not had
an influx of benevolent Yankees, like those who took hold
of the Cuban cities, washed their faces, scrubbed their
streets, and after showing them what they ought to do
and how to do it, leaving behind a few million dollars
with which to do it. Whatever has been done for Kings-
ton has proceeded from her innate love of cleanliness,
not from a factitious virtue which had to be dinged into
her head by a sort of surgical operation ! The improve-
ments have cost money, to be sure; but the authorities
nobly borrowed it on the island's credit, and that will
explain how it is they have a debt of about £3,487,45^,

JAMAICA, QUEEN OF THE ANTILLES 127

more or less — but not much less. Seventeen million
dollars in debt, with a population under 800,000, and less
than 15,000 of them avowedly white, Jamaica must have
harbored some " Napoleons of finance " within her bor-
ders, at some time or other. Perhaps they are there now,
perhaps they are hiding in the woods ; but they don't
seem to be able to draw her out of the mire into which she
has fallen and appears to be hopelessly held.

Not all the borrowed money went into civic improve-
ments, for, in Sir Henry Blake's time, ten to fifteen years
ago, much of it went for roads — for which God bless the
builders ! Then there is the railroad from Kingston
northwest to Montego Bay, 113 miles, and northeast
to Port Antonio, 75 miles, which runs part of the way
through a tropical Eden, and some of the way through
swamps and brush. It cost " a mint of money," much
of which went into pockets, the natives say, not emptied
in Jamaica.

However, it connects Kingston, and its 45,000 popula-
tion, with Montego Bay (5000) at the western terminus,
passing through Spanish Town (5000), and several other
towns along the way. It is a boon to the tourist, for
thereby he may see the country without great efifort, and
revel in scenery otherwise not accessible to the traveler.

Neither should the hotels be omitted in this account of
what the (other) peoples' money went for, since they
exist to-day and minister to the wants of the tourist in
places which, but for the borrowed money, might never
have been opened to the public. Not alone the Constant
Spring near Kingston, which is a palatial and well-set
structure in a cool and airy situation, but the charming
little inn at Rio Cobre, Spanish Town ; the one at Mon-
eague, and several others in the country districts, are in

128 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

evidence. In fact, Jamaica is quite a contrast to some
other islands that might be mentioned, in its possession of
good roads, fine hotels, and country inns, and a hospitality
that is bountiful and overflowing.

The largest of the British West Indies, it is, next to
Barbados, the most thoroughly English of them all. Its
4193 square miles of territory (the island is 144 miles in
length and 50 in width) is divided into three counties, all
with names derived from Old England, as Surrey, Mid-
dlesex, Cornwall ; as are those of its fourteen parishes,
such as Hanover, Portland, Manchester, Clarendon, etc.
The people are intensely loyal to King Edward and the
British Government ; yet with a reservation that bespeaks
them possessed of at least a modicum of common-sense,
when they reflect upon the contiguity of the United States
and a market, as opposed to the inefficiency of the " right
little, tight little island," 5000 miles away.

Until recently there was only a roundabout communi-
cation with England by way of the " Royal Mail " line of
steamers; but now that American enterprise has stimu-
lated competition, there is a direct mail line, the Elder-
Dempster, which " does " the distance between Jamaica
and the Mother Island in about twelve days. This is as
opposed to four or five days between Jamaica and Boston,
Baltimore, or Philadelphia, by steamers of the United
Fruit Company, or the Hamburg-American to New York,
which has taken the place of the old-time " Atlas " line.

The British have, apparently, only recently become
aware that they are losing the trade, and perhaps the loy-
alty, of a large and fertile island, which has acquired
increased importance from the building of the Panama
canal. Lying right in the direct route of steamers
between the Isthmus and all Atlantic ports of the United

JAMAICA, QUEEN OF THE ANTILLES 129

States, and less than 550 miles distant from Colon,
Jamaica, more than any other island, will feel the impetus
this vast undertaking will give to all enterprises in the
Caribbean Sea, of which it is nearly the exact geographi-
cal center. It may reach out and grasp, or at least take
tribute from, the commerce of the Central and South
American littoral — of the rich Veragua coast and Spanish
Main. There is doubtless a great future for Jamaica,
and perhaps Britons are beginning to perceive this, as
evidenced by their increased efforts to retain its trade and
maintain connection with its ports.

Love, the cynic says, is a mere matter of propinquity,
and almost any man may love almost any woman (and
vice versa), provided they be thrown together often
enough — though not too often to dispel the illusion. This,
in a word, is probably the reason why Jamaica prefers
Brother Jonathan to John Bull : because he is nearer, and
being also richer, is, of course, the more available as well
as desirable, parti.

Political considerations have held her against geo-
graphical conditions. If Cromwell had not sent out that
expedition under Penn and Venables, about the middle of
the seventeenth century, as the outcome of which Jamaica
passed from Spanish into English hands, we might now
be claiming proprietorship there, as well as in Puerto
Rico.

Without pausing to discuss the desirability of this
prospective acquisition (though, in parenthesis, it may be
said that much may be argued in its favor), let us inquire
into the motive for Jamaica's behavior. In the first place,
contiguity, a distance of about 1400 miles, as against
5000 ; five days' voyaging as opposed to twelve, and a first-
class passage of $40, rather than $150. Then, again, even

I30 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

despite the distance that separates them, the EngHsh
have not taken their due proportion of Jamaica's prod-
ucts. We are her chief customers, taking all of 60
per cent, of her sugar, rum, bananas, etc., while the
United Kingdom takes less than 30 per cent.

Ungrateful Jamaica, however, instead of reciprocating,
allows her political sentiments to outweigh commercial
obligations, and buys more than half her manufactured
goods of merchants in the " mother country." She also
supports a long list of officials at salaries ranging from
£6000, allowed the governor, to a beggarly £600, given
to the registrar general. It is evident, then, why British
officialdom is loath to let go ; though not so evident why
Jamaica still clings to the paternal hand. .

Two weeks after Admiral Dewey's victory, which gave
us control in the Philippines, the writer put forth in a
Washington paper a tentative proposition for a " swap."
That was probably the first suggestion of an exchange of
the Philippines for the British West Indies. Since that
time, however, the proposition has been considered in all
seriousness, and it is not unlikely that what was intended
as a suggestion merely may crystallize into an actuality.

Not to wander too far from the subject, however, and
to come around to the original statement that Jamaica's
love for us is no new fancy of recent birth, let me quote
in support from Bryan Edwards' " History of the British
Colonies in the West Indies," published in the last decade
of the eighteenth century. Referring to the bill pre-
sented to the House of Commons in March, 1782, by the
Right Hon. William Pitt, Chancellor of the Exchequer,
" for the purpose of reviving the beneficial intercourse
that existed before the late American war, between the
United States and the British sugar islands," he says :

*»,- ,°-', ,',,: :° '.''o\?

i-4
O

d
o

3

JAMAICA, QUEEN OF THE ANTILLES 131

'' This bill, through the influence of popular prejudice
and other causes, was, unfortunately, lost. Had it passed
into a law it would probably have saved from the horrors
of famine fifteen thousand unoffending negroes, who
miserably perished, in Jamaica alone, from the sad effects
of the fatal restrictive system which prevailed.

" With a chain of coast of twenty degrees of latitude,
possessing the finest harbors for the purpose in the world,
all lying so near to the sugar colonies and the track to
Europe — with a country abounding in everything the
islands have occasion for, and which they can obtain
nowhere else — all these circumstances necessarily and
naturally lead to a commercial intercourse between our
islands and the United States ! It is true, we may ruin
our sugar colonies, and ourselves also, in the attempt to
prevent it, but it is an experiment which God and nature
have marked out as impossible to succeed."

He continues: " I write with the freedom of history,
for it is the cause of humanity that I plead." And he
might have added, " with the spirit of prophecy," for this
remarkable forecast was written more than a hundred
years ago. Bryan Edwards was for many years a resi-
dent in Jamaica, and knew the island well. Since his
time there have been many famous men born or resident
there whose lives and works have shown that the so-called
Anglo-Saxon does not deteriorate in the tropics. Jamaica,
indeed, has always held first place in the cause of West
Indian civilization, as evidenced not only in individual
cases, but by her literary and scientific societies.

So long ago as 1775 (to instance a noteworthy act in
a slave colony) a debating society in Kingston determined
by a majority that "the trade to Africa for slaves is
neither consistent with sound policy, the laws of nature,

132 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

nor morality." Yet Bristol and Liverpool petitioned
against its restriction, says the historian, and the Earl of
Dartmouth (president of the board of trade) declared :
" We cannot allow the colonies to check or discourage in
any degree a traffic so beneficial to the nation."

That same year, also, 1775, the Assembly of Jamaica
petitioned his Majesty in favor of the Americans, in their
forthcoming struggle. Their petition was disregarded,
however, and in consequence of the war, as the Jamaicans
had foreseen would be the case, many articles neces-
sary in the West Indies rose to four times their usual
price.

It is most interesting to note at the present time that
not only has Great Britain's attitude toward her suffering
colony been consistently oppressive, but that Jamaica's
attitude as toward us has been constantly friendly, and in
a measure prescient of that great change which shall some
time bring her into closer relations with our country.
That change may not come about in this century; but
eventually we shall acquire, not alone Jamaica, but all her
sister islands of the Caribbean Sea — those glittering gems
in a chain which links us to that country for our future
commercial expansion — the continent of South America.

James Anthony Froude, who was in Jamaica in 1887,
has this paragraph in his ** The English in the West
Indies," referring to the British islands : *' The Ameri-
cans will not touch them politically, but they will trade
with them; they will bring their capital and skill and
knowledge among them, and make the islands more pros-
perous than ever they were — on one condition : they will
risk nothing in such enterprises as long as the shadow
hangs over them of a possible government by a black
majority I "

JAMAICA, QUEEN OF THE ANTILLES 133

When in Kingston, the traveler will — at least he ought
to — visit the mercantile establishment of " MacNish, Lim-
ited," founded and presided over by Mr. Thomas Mac-
Nish, a stalwart Scotchman, who has lived in the West
Indies nearly forty years, acquired a competency by hard
and honest labor in his business, maintained himself in
health through many seasons of fever and hurricane, and
(incidentally, be it mentioned), has raised a family uf
sixteen children of whom any man might well be proud.
Mr. MacNish (who ought to know), is constantly point-
ing out to the Jamaicans their mistake in allying them-
selves, politically and commercially, with Britain, rather
than with the United States.

As Mr. MacNish has, time and again, printed In the
local papers of Kingston facts and figures which irre-
futably maintain his position, I am betraying no confi-
dence in publishing the substance of what may be called
the " inside history " of Jamaica's government.

" Someone," says Mr. MacNish, " has called our Gov-
ernment a benevolent despotism. Benevolent humbug!
We have no Government — only tax collectors! We
have no citizens — only taxpayers, and the laboring
classes are only economic slaves. Land laborers, 18 cents
per day for men, and 12 cents a day for women, and all
food stufifs and necessaries of life taxed the heaviest of
any place under the Union Jack ! Coolies are imported,
and by contract are to get 24 cents per day. They live
on rice, on which the import duty is 3 shillings per cwt.,
and ghee, which is 2 pence per pound. Common flour is
taxed 8 shillings per barrel, etc. [See list appended.]

" Jamacia is doomed to poverty and hunger, unless the
miraculous happens. Sir David Barbour, K. C. S. I.,
who was sent out by the British Government to report

134 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

upon the causes of Jamaica's depression, was astonished
when his attention was called to the manner in which all
articles, mainly food stuffs, were discriminated against
by Jamaica, to the tune of 54 per cent.

** Here is the list, as it appears in the Barbour Report :

" Foodstuffs and necessaries of life which the people in Jamaica
can only get at a fair living price from the United States, and
the import duties on same :

COST. DUTY,

Flour, baking, barrel, 196 lbs $3.60 $1.92

Flour, shop, barrel, 196 lbs 2.75 1.92

Crackers, 100 lbs 3.00 i.oo

Corn Meal, barrel, 196 lbs 2.15 0.48

Hams, 100 lbs 10.00 4.00

Lard, 5 lb. tins, 100 lbs 7.00 2.00

Butter, 5 lb. tins, 100 lbs 22.00 4.00

Oleomargarine, 5 lb. tins, 100 lbs 8.00 4.00

Matches, 50 gross boxes, 45 in box... 15.00 21.60

Kerosene, 100 gals, in tins, 150 test best 8.50 12.75

Salt Beef, 100 lbs 5.00 1.80

Salt Pork, 100 lbs 4.50 1.80

Sausages, 100 lbs 12.50 4.00

Bacon, 100 lbs 11.75 4-00

Mutton, 100 lbs. frozen 8.50 20% 1.75

$124.25 $67.02 54%

Average.

" Jamaica's oranges are shut out of the markets of the
States by the 6 shillings protective duty in favor of Cali-
fornia and Florida, and should the President of the
United States have his attention called to the un-British
import duties on America produce, by which the balance
of trade is nigh $4,000,000 per annum against his
couiltry and in favor of Breat Britain, he would be
compelled to demand fair trade, or a tax upon our pro-
duce. With a fair import tax on American foodstuff
and necessaries of life, double the quantity would be used
here, and an equable trade arise between the two
countries."

JAMAICA, QUEEN OF THE ANTILLES 135

Revenue.

Import duties £381,952103 od

Licenses and excise 190,973 4 i^

Fees, stamps 70,321 o ij

Postoffice, telegraphs 32,804 18 5 J

Railway 142,305 9 10

Petties, balance 37,6i7 7 9J

^855,974 los 3id
General Expenditure.

Charges of debt £209,208 3s od

Governor and staff 6,745 2 6

States subsidy to England.... 20,000 o o

Education 55,423 6 9

Medical 49,799 5 4i

Public works and buildings 64,232 10 7

Railway 80,341 7 3

Judicial (law, not justice).... 38,290 18 9J

Police and prisons 75,847 7 3|

Military, militia (to fight the

Yankees who support us) . . . 12,636 19 5

Subsidy telegraph 2,500 o o

Petty officials, customs, etc 173,721 12 loj

£788,846 14s 2d
Debts.
Net present liability £3,487,452 19s 7d

Exports.

United States £i,539,375 9s 7H

Britain 393,042 5 2^

Elsewhere 287,21913 8

£2,219,637 8s 6d
Imports.

United States £803,070 15s lod

Britain 997,444 6 8

Elsewhere 190,369 13 8

£1,990,884 1 6s 2d
Of imports £39,692 is 9d are free: United States £470 os od;
British £39,222 is 9d.

136 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

" The contractor for the railway to Port Antonio paid
laborers a dollar a day, and stated that he did not desire
better value than the black men gave at that wage; but
at twenty cents and a shilling, they are slowly starving
to death. Out of this pittance, even, they are obliged to
pay the most extortionate and unjust of import duties
on foodstuffs — which can only be had from the United
States — the nation which keeps us alive by taking two-
thirds of our products free of duties ! "

These are some of Mr. MacNish's facts, and he backs
them up with most convincing figures. Respecting his
suggestion to the Royal Commissioner, that retrenchment
begin with a reduction in salaries of department heads,
such as the governor general with his $30,000 a year,
and the attorney general with $7500, etc., Sir David
demurred, on the ground that a lower-paid official might
render poorer service. (?) As a sigh-salaried official
himself, the Commissioner evidently had a fellow-feeling
for the Jamaica incumbents that was vastly more than
" wondrous kind."

VIII
A FEW THINGS TO BE SEEN IN JAMAICA

A land of lavish hospitality — The country inns and great
houses of the estates — A highway that engirdles the island
— Trip to the Peak of Blue Mountain — Hope River, Cin-
chona, and Newcastle cantonments — Government botanical
and experimental stations — King':. House, when Sir Henry
Blake was Governor-General — Up-Park Camp and Hope
Gardens — Castleton Gardens on the Wag Water — Spanish
Town, the " City of the Dead " — Beautiful scenery of the
Bog Walk — Saint Thomas in ye Vale, the Cockpit Country,
Morant Bay, and the thermal springs of Bath on Garden
River — Cane River and Three-fingered Jack — Manchioneal ;
John Crow Mountains and Moore Town, home of the famous
Maroons — Old Cudjoe, king of Nanny Town, and the dance
he led the soldiers — Pimento groves of Saint Ann's, and the
falls of Roaring River — The bay Columbus" stayed in when
wrecked — Famous men who have been in Jamaica — Its
natural history — Schools, churches, and church-goers —
Proverbs of the English negroes.

WITH more than seven hundred miles of mag-
nificent roads, leading to all the attractive
and commercial points of the island, some
of them winding over hills and mountains to an eleva-
tion of 4000 feet, some again following the trend of the
coast, with branches here and there to interesting places,
and with every mile something rare and beautiful for
northern eyes to view, Jamaica is certainly the paradise
of cyclist, automobilist, and pedestrian.
By means of the numerous highways and their byways,

137

138 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

the far-seeing English residents of Jamaica have made
available to the tourist some of the most beautiful scenery
of tropical America. As the island is English in its gov-
ernment, speech, customs, and style of living, possessing
numerous small inns and road-houses scattered through-
out the country districts, as well as good hotels in town
and city, while the most hospitable of islanders are domi-
ciled in stately mansions and " great houses " on the
estates, one might put in a full month to advantage.

By all means, if time allows, take the great drive over
the chain of public highways that engirdles the island,
running mainly along the coast, and for which you may
hire a " rig " in Kingston, two horses and a driver, for
about a pound a day. Failing the drive, take the coastal
steamer to the various harbors, which costs about the
same per diem, but with meals and state-room included.
But the highway journey is by all odds the better way of
seeing the island, for the varied pictures, of tropical vege-
tation, of roaring rivers, of dashing surf, of overhanging
palms, pimento, orange, banana, and coffee groves, and
paradisaical plantations, are actually unsurpassed. Add
to these the beauties of the winding paths and lanes,
the balmy air (at the right season), the tropical fruits and
beverages, the unique natives and their huts — all these
combine to swell an experience really worth something.

Now, Kingston, as already intimated, is vastly more
interesting as to its environment than its intrinsic attrac-
tions. It is well situated as a point of departure for other
and better places, for example, the Blue Mountain Peak,
which towers above it more than seven thousand feet.
By driving in a buggy to Gordon Town, arriving there at
daybreak and taking ponies for the mountain trail, it is
possible to accomplish the ascent and return in one day.

THINGS TO BE SEEN IN JAMAICA 139

Once arrived, and provided the mist does not obscure
the view, you will find beneath and around you the
grandest of mountain peaks, with their incomparable val-
leys, the eye ever beheld. The view is indescribable in its
grandeur and beauty, and the ride thither a fitting prelude
to the scene. There is a hut, simply furnished, at the
Peak, and it is advisable to give at least two days to the
trip, in order to view the cloud effects at sunrise and
sunset, and to experience the sensation of isolation, on a
lofty pinnacle in the clouds beneath a tropic sky.

The drive through the picturesque gorge of Hope
River, with the " ferns and plantains waving in the moist
air, cedars, tamarinds, gum trees, orange trees, striking
their roots among the clefts of the crags, and hanging
out over the abysses below them," is one of the finest
anywhere to be found. It ends at Gordon Town, whence
one may journey on to New Castle cantonments, where
troops are quartered for their health on the steep slant
of hills nearly 4000 feet above the sea. Beyond, also,
21 miles distant from Kingston, is the Government cin-
chona plantation, which, with its 150 acres, constitutes
an experimental station for the cultivation of exotic eco-
nomic plants, chiefly tropical in character, though the
altitude is from 5000 to 6000 feet above sea level.

One of the most enjoyable experiences of my life was
a visit I once paid to Cinchona, at the invitation of the
director of Public Gardens, Mr. Wm. Fawcett, author of
a valuable book on the " Economic Plants of Jamaica,"
and to whose intelligent supervision of its parks and gar-
dens the island is vastly indebted. The estate is called
Cinchona, from the main purpose for which it was
founded — to ascertain if that valuable tree could be intrg-
duced with prpiit into this island.

I40 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

It was found that it could be, and not only that, but
now it may be seen absolutely running wild in the moun-
tains everywhere. But it was a parallel case to that of the
old man who taught his horse to eat shavings, " Just as the
critter got to liking shavings, it up and died." So with
cinchona. Just as it became acclimated and it was shown
that it would grow well in Jamaica, the price went down,
and now you may have all the " Peruvian bark " you want
for the asking. However, other things are grown here
besides cinchona — such, for instance, as tea, coffee, rare
flowers, and valuable woods.

One thinks of Jamaica, of course, as being a tropical
island, where heat and yellow fever reign at least half
the year and rain and rheumatism the other half. But,
in fact, it has within its area of 4000 square miles every
variety of climate and glorious range of scenery that the
heart of man could desire. One morning, I remember, I
walked out before breakfast and picked most delicious
wild strawberries (which, as you know, only grow in a
temperate climate), and then strolled down into a ravine
filled with immense tree-ferns, which are never found
anywhere but in a tropical country.

It is in this favored section among the hills that the best
coffee estates are found, above 2000 and 3000 feet ele-
vation, and from this region is sent out the famous Blue
Mountain coffee, which commands the highest price in the
London markets. I mention this fact to show the wide
range not only of a climate, but of productions, open to
one who might wish to attempt farming or fruit growing
in this or any other island of similar characteristics.

Another delightful spot that lingers in memory, linked
with dinners the like of which no mortal ever surpassed,
is King's House, the official residence of the Governor

THINGS TO BE SEEN IN JAMAICA 141

General, where, at the time I was a guest within its pre-
cincts, Sir Henry Blake and his charming lady resided.
Sir Henry went from Jamaica to the far side of the world,
having been promoted to the governorship of Hong Kong,
in which little island he may have greater scope for his
remarkable abilities, but certainly cannot accomplish
more, in any direction, than he did in Jamaica.

The Governor & Lady Blake

request the honour of

Mr. Oher's

Company at Dinner

on Saturday, April 4th, at //jo o'clock.

King'

s House.

An answer is requested

to the A. D. C. in waiting.

King's House is a fine old mansion, with a semi-
detached dining and ballroom, which alone cost $25,000,
and the grounds around it are well laid out. The Lig-
uanea Plain, in which are situated the chief attractions
around Kingston, contains within its limits the noted
Up-Park Camp, the cantonment of the West India regi-
ment, and at the foothills is the Hope Garden reservation,
containing more than 200 acres devoted to tropical
horticulture.

Nineteen miles distant from Kingston, out toward Saint
Catherine's Peak, on the Wag- Water River, is the Gov-
ernment's greatest botanic station, Castleton Gardens,
where tropical arboriculture is carried out on an exten-
sive scale. The three stations of Castleton, Hope, and
Cinchona form a combined system which vies with, per-

142 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

haps surpasses, the tropical gardens of Trinidad, while
Cuba has nothing to equal it.

Mention has been made of Spanish Town, the original
La Vega of the Spaniards, which is only a dozen miles
from Kingston, by rail, on the banks of the Rio Cobre. It
was once the seat of government, and the find old build-
ings are here that were once occupied by the colonial offi-
cials, also the oldest cathedral in the British colonies.
Spanish Town has a charm all its own, but it savors
chiefly of the antique. Owing to its quietude and the
great number of tombs and mural tablets in its old cathe-
dral, it is frequently called a city of the dead ; but might
well become a cheerful place of residence. One of its
ornaments is a statue of Lord Rodney, in a temple of
great artistic merit, flanked by two of the brass guns
taken from the " Ville de Paris," in 1781. This statue
was once walked off to Kingston, and there set up facing
the harbor ; but returned to its original foundation when
Spanish Town protested.

Do not omit going to view the beauties of the Bog-
Walk, when you are in Spanish Town, for they are abso-
lutely unrivaled. The Bog-Walk, negro-English for
Boca del Agua, is a beautiful gorge of the Rio Cobre,
where (the talented Lady Brassey once wrote), one finds
** everything that makes scenery lovely — wood, water,
and the wildest luxuriance of tropical foliage, mingled
and arranged by the artistic hands of Nature in one of
her happiest moods."

Still farther up the river (which is one of the most
picturesque streams in Jamaica), is found a veritable
natural bridge, the giant key-stone of which is about 60
feet above the water and draped with beautiful vines.
Not the least of Rio Cobra's attractions is the hotel that

THINGS TO BE SEEN IN JAMAICA 143

bears its name, from which, and from the several board-
ing-houses in and near the town, many pleasant excur-
sions may be taken.

By means of the railroads and highways, the fascinat-
ing interior country of Jamaica has been thrown open to
the traveler, who may journey without discomfort to such
quaint and quiet places as Saint Thomas in ye Vale,
Mandeville (hymns in praise of which have been loudly
sung by Froude and others), Moneague, and the won-
derful " Cockpit Country " in the limestone region, with
its abysmal pits and caverns.

If you have time, visit the bunch of parishes. Saint
Thomas, Portland, St. Mary, and St. Ann, in and near the
eastern end of the island. One might, it seems to me,
spend a week or two in any one of them. The Blue
Mountain range forms the boundary chiefly between
Portland and St. Thomas, hence numerous rivers descend
to the sea on either side, north and south, all of them pic-
turesque and some of them historic. A deep inlet in the
south shore of Saint Thomas is Morant Bay, famous in
modern times as the chief seat of the great rebellion of
1865, led by the colored man, Gordon, in whose defense
Froude pleads eloquently, but whose memory is not held
very sacred in Jamaica. The man who caused him to be
hanged, and who was afterward tried for his " murder,"
Governor Eyre, had been a famous explorer in Australia,
and passed his old age in retirement in England.

North of Morant Bay, a few miles, on Garden River
(probably so called on account of the first botanic garden
in Jamaica having been established here, in 1774), is
Bath, a pretty little hamlet famous for its thermal springs
and mineral waters. The waters here are said to be effi-
cacious in the cure of rheumatism, skin diseases, etc., and

144 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

>■■
one writer mentions that their continued use " sometimes
produces almost the same joyous effect as inebriation, on
which account some notorious topers have quit their
liquors for a while and come to the springs to enjoy the
singular felicity of getting drunk with water! " Another
famous spa of the island is that of Milk River, to the
southwest of Kingston, while still another is to be found
not far from the city, to the northward.

On the way to Bath we have passed the one-time resi-
dence of a notorious native of the island. Three-fingered
Jack, whose cave up the ravine of Cane River with its
attractive falls is only ten or twelve miles from Kingston.
Three-fingered Jack had an eye for the beautiful, and also
to business, when he located there and plied his nefarious
calling of highwayman on the Kingston-Morant road,
where he used to hold up the passing travelers. He was
killed by a Maroon, who was given therefor by Govern-
ment a pension of twenty pounds a year for life — and he
lived to a good old age, after the manner of pensioners
and charity dependents all over the world.

On the Yallahs River, about halfway between Kings-
ton and Port Morant, may be seen ** Judgment Cliff,"
which is the remaining half of a mountain split by the
great earthquake of 1692. It is a thousand feet in height,
and though produced by a cataclysm of nature, by the
natives is held to have been caused for the special pun-
ishment of a depraved Dutchman, a planter, who was
buried beneath the fallen half of the mountain.

Around on the east point of the island is Manchioneal
Bay, which was once the scene of adventures in " Tom
Cringle's Log," and inland from this point, over behind
the John Crow Mountains, lies the once-famous Moore
Town, chief settlement of the Jamaica Maroons. The

THINGS TO BE SEEN IN JAMAICA 145

Maroons, as my readers may or may not know, had their
origin in the Spanish slaves who ran away from their
masters at the time the EngHsh took the island, about the
middle of the seventeenth century. They fled . to the
mountains, and there they stayed, and their descendants
after them, though the best of English soldiers chased
them about for a hundred years. In the year 1733 two
full regiments of regular troops, besides all the militia of
the island, were searching for them ; but they never took
a prisoner or killed many of these wily blacks, who them-
selves neither gave quarter nor asked it of their pursuers.

Their leader was an uncouth dwarf named Cudjoe,
and their retreat in the mountains was known as Nanny
Town. Cudjoe was a pagan and, with all his followers,
worshiped the African deities of obeah, or the gods of
sorcery-working wizards. At one time the troops were
on their trail for nine successive years, and yet at the end
of that time the Maroons were more numerous than at the
beginning, owing to accessions from runaway slaves.

Old Cudjoe himself was said to be in league with the
devil. He looked like the devil anyway, the soldiers said,
and fought like the devil, too. Many a time did he draw
the white troops into an ambush in the wild ravines, only
to slaughter them like sheep, till the streams ran with
blood and but few survivors escaped.

Moore Town is situated in the parish of Portland, the
chief city of which is Port Antonio, which ranks second
only to Kingston in business, and leads it in bustling
enterprise. Many of the Maroons, whose ancestors were
never so happy as when '* potting " the whites, are now
engaged in raising bananas for the United Fruit Com-
pany, which owns the principal portion of Port Antonio,
and indeed of the parish, if not of the island.

146 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

The really historic parish of Jamaica is that of Saint
Ann, on the north coast about midway the island, the
scenery, also, being all that the heart of man could desire.
" Earth has nothing more lovely than its pastures and
pimento groves," says an old writer; ''nothing more
enchanting than its hills and vales, delicious in verdure
and redolent with the fragrance of spices." One should
ramble beneath the spicy pimento trees, inhaling the deli-
cious odors, and gaze out seaward over the rounded hills
and pasture-lands. The largest falls in the island, those
of Roarring River, are in this parish, almost within sound
of the sea, and they are also among the most beautiful
cascades to be found in the world.

THE INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

Owing to the success which attended Mr. Ober's recent lecture
on the Chicago Exhibition, the Governors of the Institute have
invited that gentleman to read a paper on the Voyages of Colum-
bus, a subject which he has studied for many years. Mr. Ober
is shortly about to make investigations in St. Ann's as to Colum-
bus's residence in Jamaica, and he hopes to be able to comply
with the invitation before he leaves the island. The paper will
treat especially on the West Indian portion of the great Ex-
plorer's travels. — The Colonial Standard and Jamaica Despatch,
Monday, April 20, 1891.

This reference to Columbus, the discoverer of Jamaica,
reminds me that the island has fared full well, so far as
having been visited by distinguished men is concerned.
There were some, like the infamous Sir Henry Morgan,
who came with evil intent, to be sure ; but he and his
companion buccaneers contribnted to the enrichment of
Jamaica, and now they have gone to their rewards, the
island gets the benefit of the fine halo of romance they left
behind them. This, viewed as an asset, counts for some-

THINGS TO BE SEEN IN JAMAICA 147

thing with the tourists, and so does the site of Port Royal,
once " the world's wickedest city," and on that account
well worth visiting.

Sir William Phipps, the New England Yankee who
recovered so many tons of silver from sunken Spanish
galleons off the coast of Santo Domingo, outfitted at Port
Royal, and the Duke of Albemarle, who was then Royal
Governor, obtained the (British) lion's share of the plun-
der. Sir Hans Sloane, putative founder of the British
Museum, came out with x\lbemarle, resided in the island
two years, 1685-86, and wrote the Natural History of
Jamaica, which was published in 1707-25.

The best work on the birds of Jamaica is by Philip
Henry Gosse, whose fascinating book was published in
185 1. Since the days of Gosse, and especially since those
of Sloane, the natural history of the island has changed
considerably, owing to the introduction and pernicious
activity of the mongoose; but there are still some birds
of fine plumage, hosts of butterflies, fourteen kinds of
fire-beetles, a few species of harmless snakes, lizards,
iguanas, alligators, and fresh-water fishes.

Some of the streams are cold enough to be the haunts
of trout, but the only game fish is the mountain mullet,
which on occasions rises to a fly with dash and vigor.
The hunting is not good, being confined to wild pigeons,
doves, alligators, and water-fowl; but the sea adjacent to
the coast furnishes a great variety of fish which may be
taken with hook and line. It is in its botanical and
marine treasures that Jamaica excels, and particularly in
the number of its ferns can hardly be surpassed.

It can hardly be claimed for the blacks of Jamaica, who
are about forty times as numerous as the whites, that they
have produced any remarkable intellects, like the famous

148 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

black Chief Justice of Barbados ; but as a class they are
shrewd and by no means ignorant. The island is well
provided with schools, there being about a thousand
public and free, which are universally attended, besides
several training colleges, private and denominational.
Churches, there are, everywhere, and well-attended, espe-
cially by the black and colored people, who, of a Sunday,
may be seen trooping over the roads in country aoid town,
clad in their brightest raiment and wearing their broadest
smiles.

In Jamaica, perhaps more than in any other British
island of the West Indies, we find a deal of wisdom in
the utterances of the black people, who display some
knowledge of the world and human nature.

It is now 70 years since the Jamaica negroes were
emancipated and 100 since the blacks drove the French
out of Haiti ; yet neither people has made any great
advance, notwithstanding the efforts of priests and par-
sons, schools, and enlightened paternal governments.

But the negro has shown himself virile and long suflFer-
ing, forgetful of the wrongs done him during the past of
slavery. And he has evolved a distinct school of philos-
ophy, as evinced by certain proverbs, of which a few of
the choicest are appended:
" Alligator lay egg, but him no fowl."
" Ants foller fat " — no smoke without some fire.
" Bad family better dan empty pigsty."
" Beggar beg from beggar, him neber git rich."
" Behind dawg, you say ' dawg ; ' befo' him, * Mistah Dawg.* "
" Better fo' fowl say * dawg dead ' dan fo* dawg say ' fowl
dead*" — because dog can kill fowl, while the latter is harmless.
" Big blanket mek man sleep late."
" Braggin' riber neber drown somebuddy."
" Brown man's wife eat cockroach in corner " — does something
underhand.

THINGS TO BE SEEN IN JAMAICA 149

"Buckra work neber done" — btickra (white man) an African
word.

" Btdl horn neber too heaby fo' he head."

" Cashew neber bear guaba " — can't gather figs of thistles.

" Cane no grow like grass."

" Cedar bo'd laugh after dead man " — cedar is used for
coffins.

" Cockroach neber in de right befo' fowl " — might makes right.

" Coward man keep whole bone."

" Crab no walk, him no get fat ; walk too much, him lose he
claw."

" * Come see me' is nuttin, but ' Come lib wiv me' is sometin."

" Crab walk too much, him get in kutakoo " — kutakoo is a
kind of crab soup.

" Cuss-cuss neber bore hole in 'kin " — hard words break no
bones.

" Cow lose him tail, Goramighty brush fly fer um " — the Lord
tempers the wind to the shorn lamb.

" Cotton tree fall down, nannygoat jump ober um."

" Dawg no eat dawg " — honor among thieves.

" Don't care keep big house."

" Ebry dawg know he dinner time."

" Full belly tell hungry belly take heart."

" Goat say him hab wool ; sheep say him hab hair."

" Greedy puppy neber fat."

" Habee-habee no wantee; wantee-wantee no habee" — waste
not, want not.

" If snakes bite yo', when yo' see lizard yo' run."

" Ebry John Crow t'ink he own pickney white " — our own
child's the best.

" Little crab hole spoil big race horse."

"Little watah kill big fiah."

These are only a few of the numerous proverbs current
among the black inhabitants of these islands ; but they
show, as I stated at the beginning, that the negro has a
shrewd wisdom all his own; that there is something to
him, for, as he himself has said :

" You neber see empty bag 'tan' up."

IX

m THE BLACK AND BROWN REPUBLICS

How to reach Haiti and Santo Domingo from Jamaica — Port
au Prince, capital of Haiti — Where one's room is preferred
to his company — The late President Hyppolite and Fred
Douglass — Why colored men are sent to Haiti by our Gov-
ernment — The island as God made it — And as the black
man has defiled it — The Haitian army and police — Cape
Haitien the northern capital — Where the flagship of Colum-
bus was wrecked — Sans Souci, La Ferriere, the Black
King's palace and castle — The vale of Millot — Tortuga the
buccaneers' island — Historic spots on the Haiti-Santo
Domingo coast — Val de Paraiso — Aborigines and abori-
ginal names — Origin of the term Hispaniola — Rise of the
filibusteros — How the Haitians maintain a standard of color
— Are the Dominicans color-blind? — Expelled by the guillo-
tine route — White man has no rights in Haiti which the
black man is bound to respect — Perils of politicians — What
Hyppolite did to the cobbler — My acquaintance with two
despots — Great undeveloped resources — Fanatical natives —
May a woman eat her own children?

STEAMERS of the Royal Mail line sail among the
islands, and if tourists wish to visit the ports of
Haiti or Santo Domingo, they may be taken along
either the north or the south coast. Jacmel, Port
au Prince, and Cape Haitien were once beautiful places,
but the long period of negro domination has ruined
them utterly, and there are no acceptable accommo-
dations in any part of either Haiti or Santo Domingo.
This is all the more regrettable, as they possess great
natural charms, and here also are to be seen the historic

1

THE BLACK AND BROWN REPUBLICS 151

spots identified with the discovery and settlement of
America, such as Isabella, the first town, and Santo
Domingo, capital city of the Spanish portion of the island.

There are many objects worthy of inspection ; but in
both portions of this island, the western half of which is
occupied by the Haitians, and the eastern by the Domin-
icans, the roads are mere trails, full of holes which are
pools of water and mud in the rainy season, and pitfalls
for man and beast in the dry.

The distance from Kingston to Port au Prince is 2"j(i
miles, but on arriving in the beautiful bay and getting a
near view of the squalid city that straggles along shore,
one might imagine himself in a diflferent world. A dif-
ferent world, indeed, it is, for the people are French in
speech and habitudes, and there is an air about them
which plainly tells you they vastly prefer your room to
your company. You may land if you like, they seem to
say ; but the sooner you leave the better : a feeling you
soon entertain without suggestion.

As to Port au Prince, I can bear testimony respecting
its utter filthiness, and agree with a recent resident there
that it may bear away the palm of being the most foul-
smelling and consequently fever-stricken city in the
world. " Everyone throws his refuse before his door, so
that heaps of manure and every species of rubbish incum-
ber the way. The gutters are open, pools of stagnant
water obstruct the street everywhere, and receive con-
stant accession from the inhabitants using them as cess-
pools and sewers. There are a few good buildings in
town, and none in the country, the torch of the incendiary
being constantly applied, and no encouragement is offered
to rebuild, through the protection of government or local
enterprise."

15^ OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

These incendiary fires are continually occurring, and
are usually certain precursors of revolts or revolutions.
The few foreigners in Haiti are there only on sufferance,
and, though the opportunities for making large fortunes
are many, yet few merchants have ever come away with
much, for it usually happens that about the time a depart-
ure is contemplated an incendiary fire sweeps off the
accumulations of years, or the stores and warehouses are
plundered by revolutionists.

There is a hotel in the Champ de Mars, not far from
the President's Palace, where I have been entertained
fairly well, in days gone by ; and in the Palace I was
once received by the late President Hyppolite, when at
the height of his power and but two weeks before he put
to death more than two hundred of his opponents. It
was thought then that the occasion justified the means
employed, for it was either Hyppolite or his enemies,
and the former chose to make corpses of his foes.

Frederick Douglass was minister at Port au Prince at
the time of my visit, and his secretary was a former
minister, Mr. Bassett, who at the time of Saget's deposi-
tion, when men were massacred by scores, sheltered more
than five hundred people and saved them from being shot ;
an act of humanity for which he was never reimbursed.
Like the present President of Haiti, Hyppolite, the tyrant,
was big, blue-black of hue, and an old soldier.

These two representatives of the negro race were such
striking contrasts that one instinctively asked himself if
a common descent were possible, for Hyppolite resembled
very much a barbaric African potentate, while Douglass
was a polished scholar and quite a man of the world. I
often tried to get from the. latter an expression of his
opinion as to the much-vaunted ** success " of the Haitian

THE BLACK AND BROWN REPUBLICS 153

civilization, but never succeeded, for the diplomat was
v/ary and would not commit himself.

It has been our custom, of late, to send out colored
men to Haiti as minister and consuls ; but the Haitians
themselves do not like it overmuch, notwithstanding the

NISSAGE-SAGET

HYPPOLITE

men are able and excellent ; for they look around the
world and perceive no colored men as representatives in
other lands, and ask why we do not treat all alike. They
used to ask this question, in their ignorance not under-
standing the exigencies of American politics, and the
necessity for our Executive to provide for his colored
friends and voters in some way without giving too great
offense to the preponderating white vote. As few white
men who have been in Haiti once ever care to go again,
it is perfectly safe to send the colored office-seeker there.

154 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

But the Haitians, in their vanity, have at last imagined
that the real reason is because the white man is not good
enough for them ! Let it go at that, for Haitian vanity
is something so stupendous that to combat it would be a
futile task.

As God made it, Haiti is a dream of delight ; as the
black man has defiled it, no white person can live there
and be content. Provided the roads were good — though
they are not — we might hire horses and a guide and
strike in from Port au Prince for the Dominican terri-
tory, through the high forests, and by the way of the
historic Enriquillo country, where at one time lived the
innocent Indians whom the Spaniards exterminated.

A glimpse of what God did for Haiti before the white
man brought hither the black pagan from Africa may be
obtained by short rides into the country ; but in the town
there is nothing worth an effort to see, except it be the
" palace " and the cathedral, the ragged soldiery, who
obtrude themselves everywhere, and the equally disreput-
able police, also disagreeably ubiquitous and persistent
as beggars.

Many of the soldiers are stationed about the President's
palace in the Champ de Mars. The latter is a large
plaza which more resembles a vacant city lot than a pub-
lic parade ground, being totally devoid of vegetation and
incumbered with all sorts of rubbish peculiar to the aver-
age vacant lot, including the goat and the tomato can.

The building itself is large, but unpretentious, built
of brick and wood, on the seaward side of the Champ de
Mars. A company of ragged soldiers is always on
guard, no matter who the presidential incumbent may
happen to be, and a Gatling gun is mounted in the lower
hall in close proximity to some neglected but beautiful

THE BLACK AND BROWN REPUBLICS 155

statuary, relics of a past age when one of the excutives
had a spasm of refinement and undertook to embellish

'^^itiU^ /^ ^/^^

the palace. The white marbles to-day are soiled with

156 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

the finger marks of the dirty soldiery who lounge about
on guard, but otherwise they have not received much
attention.

The soldiers are nearly all barefooted, clad in ragged
regimentals, and carry their guns like so much " cord-
wood." Once in a while one of the numerous generals
comes around and shouts *' Attention ! " when such of the
soldiers as are within hearing shuffle up in an irregular
line, dragging their guns behind, and go through what
they fondly believe is a drill, as prescribed by great tac-
ticians. Then, this over, they lounge back again to their
favorite pastime of drawing circles in the sand with their
toes, or shooting craps.

When off duty, the Haitian soldier sometimes puts in
his time begging from passersby on the streets, pleading
as an excuse that his pay is in arrears and he will have
to wait till the next revolution for a chance to get even.
As this is generally the truth, or at all events quite a
reasonable assumption, the soldier sometimes does very
well by waylaying people on the street corners and solicit-
ing from door to door.

English, French, and American steamers touch in at
all ports on Haiti's coast, and communication is frequent
between Port au Prince and Cape Haitien, the northern
capital. On the way, the beautiful island of Gonaive, in
the Gulf of Leogane, is passed, and at the extreme
northwest of the main island lies Mole San Nicolas, a
land-locked, natural harbor, of such strategical impor-
tance that the United States would like to possess it as a
naval station.

Cape Haitien is as finely situated as the Port, having
a grand background of mountains and forest. Its great
structures erected by the French of the eighteenth century

THE BLACK AND BROWN REPUBLICS 157

are shapeless heaps of brick and stone, while the foun-
tains they provided are choked, the aqueducts they con-
structed in ruins, and the gardens they laid out gone to
decay. There is no good hotel in the place, nor a public,
scarcely a private, convenience of any sort; the gutters
are filled with filth, the air tainted with pestilential
emanations.

Yet, here at Cape Haitien, great historic events have
taken place; here Leclerc and thirty thousand of his
men died of yellow fever ; here the white men were driven
by the blacks into the sea ; here liberty was proclaimed
to Haiti, and here lived the black kings who made laws
and committed massacres unchecked. Out beyond the
reefs that protect the harbor from the sea, the flagship of
Columbus, the '' Santa Maria," was wrecked, on Christ-
mas eve, 1492, and over on the shore at Guarico the
wreckage was collected and the first fort in America
erected by Europeans.

Two hours' ride from the Cape are the ruins of Sans
Souci, the beautiful palace, in a more beautiful valley,
built by commands of Christophe, the great Black King,
in the early years of the nineteenth century. Sans Souci
is situated in the hills above the lovely vale of Millot, with
a background of tropical forest and a foreground
sprinkled with palms and the huts of simple cultivators.
Roofless ruins are the only remains of the palace, and a
wilderness of tropical plants of the extensive gardens of
Christophe's time.

Two hours further back in the hills stands the stu-
pendous castle-fortress erected by the king as a retreat
when the French should come to avenge his massacres.
They never came, having had enough of Haiti ; but there
Christophe immured himself, within walls twenty feet in

158 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

thickness and a hundred in height, in the long galleries
and on the parapets mounting more than three hundred
cannon, most of which may be seen to-day. Here, at last,
died the great Black King, self-slaughtered by a silver
bullet driven into his brain. The chamber in which he
killed himself is shown, also his treasury, where he is
said to have accumulated thirty million dollars.

La Ferriere, as the fortress is called, stands upon the
truncate crest of a steep-sided mountain, in the midst of
wild forest, yet can be seen from the Cape, from a vessel's
deck in the bay, one of the grandest, strangest, most
fascinating of the New World's works in stone and
mortar. It is a monument of the Haitian civilization at
its best; it will never be duplicated.

Near the coast, at the Cape, the ruins are shown of a
buccaneer stronghold ; but the real rendezvous of the sea-
rovers was at Tortuga, the desolate island across channel,
five miles from Port de Paix. Here such worthies of the
buccaneer profession as Lollonois, Mansveldt, Morgan,
and other crime-stained cut-throats made their head-
quarters during many years, in the last half of the seven-
teenth century. The island, with its pricele:,^ nemories
of Columbus and the buccaneers, belongs to Haiti, and
has few, if any, permanent inhabitants. These few live
in huts on the sands and spend their time in fishing,
turtling, and searching for the pirates' treasures, said to
be concealed in the caves.

It was in the guise of privateers, and then as filibiis-
teros, or buccaneers, that the alien invaders of the
Caribbean Sea first worried the Spaniards, and in 1530
one of their great Dons stirred up a veritable hornet's
nest when he drove the French and English buccaneers
from the Island gf Saint Kitts. For, deprived of their

THE BLACK AND BROWN REPUBLICS 159

possessions there, their plantations and fishing privileges,
they turned pirates and made a rendezvous at Tortuga,
off the north coast of Haiti. Some of them, mainly of
French extraction, settled in the larger island, where they
led a semi-savage existence, hunting the wild cattle which,
sprung from Spanish stock, roamed the fields and forests
by the thousand.

These, in fact, were the original buccaneers, the name
itself being derived from their practicing of "boucan-
ning," or smoking, the flesh of the wild cattle, after the
manner of the Carib Indians, over an open fire of sticks
and leaves. They were in partnership with the Ulihusteros
proper, who derived their supplies from them, and divided
with them their Spanish spoils. Many a treasure-laden
galleon, floundering through the Windward Passage
between Cuba and Haiti, was captured by these buc-
caneers, who generally took their treasures to Tortuga,
where they held high revel over their ill-gotten wealth.

The buccaneers lasted for quite half a century, the last
great haul they made being at the sack of Panama, 1671,
when Morgan (afterwards Sir Henry, and governor of
Jamaica), secured enough to enable him to settle down
to a respectable mode of life. Something more than a
quarter-century later, or at the Peace of Ryswick, 1697,
the French were confirmed in possession of the third of
the island, now known as Haiti, although the boundary
line between French and Spanish territory was not actu-
ally delimited until about the middle of the next century.

This boundary has often been crossed, by one party or
the other ; but not in recent times ; and is at present re-
spected by both the Haitians and Dominicans. The
wonder is that, during the frequent " revolutions " of the
century past, the respective territories have not been more

i6o OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

frequently invaded and the island devastated by interne-
cine slaughter. The reason for this forbearance may be
shown in a study of conditions prevailing there.

There is no doubt as to the courage of these Haitian-
Dominicans, since, so far as their white ancestry is con-
cerned— although it may now be considered, perhaps, as
a negligible factor — we have on one side the remote
descendants of the fierce buccaneers, and on the other the
equally remote descendants of valiant conquistadores.

This process of elimination began when the French
colonists were " expelled " (to make use of Minister
Leger's innocuous euphemism) from the country about
a century ago, and is still going on. That those white
colonists were " expelled " by the guillotine route, — at
least, beheaded, — burnt alive, and sawn asunder, is neither
here nor there. If the question were raised, the Haitians
would doubtless tell you that their revolutionary ancestors
acquired the custom from their masters, and merely gave
them a dose of their own medicine. At any rate it was
effective, for not one of them has ever returned to plague
the Haitians by their presence in the flesh. What they
did to Dessalines, Christophe, and others whom the white
people called tyrants and monsters, and the blacks re-
garded as heroes, has not been recorded. But it is certain
that Christophe, the great Black King, committed suicide
by shooting himself in the head with a silver bullet, and
that tradition relates he was moved thereto by the spooks
he saw, mainly of the white variety, in his magnificent
palace of Sans Souci.

The rare perspicacity shown by the Haitians, in not
only expelling the white man from their republic, but in
passing laws which forbid him to acquire any realty
whatever, — except he be married to a black woman, — has

THE BLACK AND BROWN REPUBLICS i6i

not been evinced by the Dominicans; neither have they
been so acutely discriminative in their slaughterings.
They have not withheld their hands from the sword — or
rather from the pistol and machete — but perhaps they may
be " color blind" ; they have gone on with their blood-
letting wholly regardless as to the complexion a man may
have when in life.

When the late lamented Hyppolite was in high feather
as President of Haiti, he, one day, in riding down a side
street of Port au Prince, saw a poor cobbler sitting on a
bench. The cobbler also saw him, and though Hyppolite
was in a general's uniform (and " generals " compose
nine-tenths of the " army "), he did not know he was gaz-
ing at the august Executive. But he instinctively re-
moved his hat, and then went on with his work. It
" riled " the President to see a man working, and so busy
that he hadn't time to rise from his bench, and he called
two of his soldiers. " Take that man away from his
work," he commanded. He was taken away.

" Now, take him off and shoot him," was the next
order. This was done, and the President's affronted
dignity was placated.

This is a tale they tell in Port au Prince — now that
Hyppolite is dead. They would not dare tell it when he
was alive, though it may be just as true now as it ever
was. I met this despot of a decade ago, and
was much impressed with his dignified bearing. I also
met and was very friendly with another " late lamented "
hero, or tyrant (as the case may be). General Ulises
Heureaux, former President of Santo Domingo.

Just how many successors they have had since is a
matter of no consequence, for the present Executive of the
republic will (in fact, he must) carry on the policy of his

i62 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

predecessor. Haiti is getting blacker and blacker, if it be
possible (the white element having almost arrived at the
vanishing-point) ; and if Santo Domingo is not getting
whiter, it is not the fault of either the man for the moment
in power, — nor of the fiscal and other agents of that
country, who do not stint the " whitewash " brush at all.

It is when the one country or the other desires to raise
a loan, that protests begin to appear in the press anent the
" mother goose " stories respecting the voodoo, cannibal-
ism, etc., etc., which are repeatedly told of the Haitians.
In other words, both peoples are wholly regardless of
what the white man thinks or does, so long as he furnishes
the dinero for the exploitation of their beloved country —
by and for the natives, of course.

That each country is rich in undeveloped resources, of
gold, copper, to some extent iron and coal, and with vast
treasure in its cabinet and dye woods, everyone who has
passed through their wonderful forests can testify. The
difficulties in the way of exploiting the hidden treasures
of both republics lie, as intimated, in the peculiarities of
the inhabitants. In no country of the world will greater
hospitality of a certain sort be shown than in Haiti or
Santo Domingo; in no vast forest region will the lone
traveler (speaking generally) be safer than in the interior
of that beautiful island.

But the " exception " might appear in the shape of a
bullet, or of a machete cut from some fanatical native
resident in the mountains who had not seen a white man
often enough to know him from a rhinoceros, and who
would naturally give himself the benefit of the doubt!
As to the propensity (alleged) of the Haitians to pilfer
from the treasury, it may be remarked that it is their
treasury, and so long as those who actually suflfer do not

THE BLACK AND BROWN REPUBLICS 163

complain, why should the casual resident or new arrival?
As an old-timer of Port au Prince once remarked to the
writer : " What's the difference between our beloved
President, who ' feather his nest,' and then skeep to
Jamaica, and your great Monsieur Crokair, who do the
same and skeep to Eengland? Ha, you geeve it up, eh?
Well, it ees this, mon cJier ami Our beloved President,
he steal some millions, and he skeep — but he nevair come
back again no more ! If he do we shoot him dead ! But
as for your Monsieur Crokair — eef he come back, you go
to meet him with the brass-band, the fireworks, and the
* glad hand.' Is it not so ? "

After all, why should it concern us what the Haitians
take from other Haitians — peradventure they do so?
A woman belonging in the alleged voodoo sect, who was
indicted for devouring her own children at a cannibal
ceremony in honor of the " great green serpent,"
naively remarked : " Well, what if I did ? They were
my children, and who had a better right ? "

What an outspoken editor of a local paper, the Gazette
du Peuple, wrote more than twenty years ago applies to
the condition of affairs in Haiti to-day : " For sixty-
eight years, or from the date of our national existence,
what have we done ? Nothing, or almost nothing. All our
constitutions are defective, all our laws are incomplete,
our customs badly administered, our navy is detestable,
our police ill-organized, our army in a pitiable state, our
finances rotten to the base, the legislative power is not
understood and never will be, the primary elections are
neglected, and our people do not feel their importance.
Nearly all our public edifices are in ruins ; the public in-
struction is almost entirely abandoned."

X

HAITI, THE "HOME OF THE VOODOO**

Aboriginal name of the island — Altitudes of its mountains —
Description by an old writer — A country to be avoided —
The Black Republic, according to Saint John — Where Voo-
dooism flourishes and cannibalism is said to be practiced —
Land of the loup-garou — The " goat without horns " — An
American botanist on Haiti — Toussaint I'Ouverture not now
revered in Haiti as of old — Because he is a colored man, not
black — Tribes from which the Haitian negroes descended —
The basis of their language the Congo tongue — the family
that introduced the serpent worship — When the first slaves
were taken to Haiti-Santo Domingo — A brief revolutionary
chronicle — When the Haitians expelled the French with
"Yellow Jack" to aid them — Their policy of isolation —
Where the white man is discredited ; though the black
female sometimes marries him — How the aristocracy has
suffered — Haitian revolutions are " family affairs," and the
whites must not intrude — But they sometimes are slain by
stray bullets — A list of Haiti's various rulers — Some of
them served out their terms — Nineteen rulers, including one
" king," one " emperor," and seventeen despots.

THE aboriginal name of the island, signifying the
high, or mountainous country, describes it in
a single word. The island of Hispaniola, or
Haiti-Santo Domingo, contains 28,250 square miles, of
which 10,200 square miles, or a little more than one-
third, is comprised in the Haitian portion. Not only
is this the most mountainous island of the West Indies,
but it can boast the highest peaks in the Antilles, for the
dominating peak of the Cibao, or central cordillera, Monte
Tina, is estimated to be over 11,000 feet in altitude, ex-

164

HAITI, "HOME OF THE VOODOO" 165

ceeding Turquino of Cuba and the Blue Mountain Peak
of Jamaica by more than 3000 feet.

Given, then, a congeries of cloud-piercing mountains
surrounded by a tropical sea, with ever-blowing winds
beating against their peaks and slopes, the moisture con-
densed from which furnishes nourishment for forests of
perennial verdure, with deep ravines and smiling valleys,
through which course roaring rivers, rippling streams,
and you have the essentials for what Haiti veritably is, a
natural paradise.

Says an English gentleman of high attainments, one
who resided in Haiti in official capacity for more than
twenty years : " I have traveled in almost every quarter of
the globe, and I may say that, taken as a whole, there is
no finer island than that of Santo Domingo-Haiti. No
country possesses greater capabilities, or a better geo-
graphical position, more variety of soil, of climate, and of
production, with magnificent scenery of every descrip-
tion, and hillsides where the pleasantest of health-resorts
might be established."

" And yet," he goes on to say, *' it is now the country to
be most avoided, ruined as it is by a succession of self-
seeking politicians, without honesty or patriotism, content
to let the people sink to the condition of an African tribe,
that their own selfish passions may be gratified."

In other words, the gifts of nature have not been appre-
ciated as they should have been, and there seems to have
been a perversion of the divine intent : that the best gifts
of God should go to those best capable of appreciating
them. Here in Haiti we have an Eden, no doubt; but
also a serpent, collectively represented by the black popu-
lation, and specifically by the African sorcery of the
Voodoo, or Vaudoux.

i66 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

That is, the gentleman just quoted would have it appear
so, for he is no other than Sir Spencer Saint John, one-
time Her Britannic Majesty's minister resident at Port au
Prince, and whose book, '' The Black Republic," contains
a scathing arraignment of the Haitians, together with
details of the revolting practices of the Vaudoux and the
cannibals, who reside in the most beautiful country that
America can boast. It was published fifteen years ago,
yet the circumstantial accounts narrated in this book of
horrors have never been refuted. In fact, no one who
has visited Haiti and remained there any length of time
can escape the conviction that voodooism, and occasion-
ally cannibalism, are still practiced by the people living in
districts remote from the coast and important centers of
population.

This is not saying that all, nor any large porportion, of
the Haitians, follow the precepts of the sorcerers, the
serpent-worshipers; but that they have permeated the
population in every direction. The writer has had occa-
sion to verify these accounts of Saint John (not the
" Divine," if you please, — in Haiti) in conversation with
respectable residents of Port au Prince and Cape Haitien.
few of whom had the hardihood to deny the existence of
the evils described.

There is too deep a belief in the almost preternatural
power of the papa-lots and fnama^t-lois (high priest and
priestess of the Vaudoux), and the dread of the terrible
loup-garou — the human hyena that kidnaps children,
buries them alive, and then resurrects them for the sacri-
fices— is too pervasive and real, to pennit of denial by
those who have to live in Haiti and endure the evils they
cannot remedy.

The Haitians will tell you that it is none of your busi-

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HAITI, "HOME OF THE VOODOO'^ 167

ness, and that, at all events, you should not try to attract
attention to the bad qualities of a few, to the exclusion of
their innumerable virtues. Perhaps this is true, for that
the natives of Haiti have many virtues, and among them
those of hospitality and generosity, no one who has lived
among them will deny. So, let us content ourselves with
merely mentioning the fact that the Voodoo does exist in
the island, that it is probably a survival of African fetich-
ism, and that the worship of the serpent (the great green,
harmless snake of the island) does not necessarily imply
a belief in cannibalism. Now and then, it is affirmed, in
the frenzy of the serpent dance, the worshipers will be
content with nothing less than the sacrifice of the *' goat
without horns," or in other words, a living child ; but as
it is usually a colored or negro child, *' furnished for the
occasion " by some one of the revelers, the white person
has really no reason for interference — so the Haitians
say.

This is, perhaps, an extreme expression of their resent-
ment at the intrusion of white people into their affairs.
They cannot understand, inasmuch as they themselves
remain at home and attend to their own affairs, why the
white man, or woman, should take a particular interest in
their home life and customs.

The Haitians, '' according to St. John," are quite as
black as painted ; and yet he lived for years among them,
and at last escaped with his life, to malign and traduce
them — according to the Haitians. He was there in a
diplomatic capacity, and presumably was not given to
wandering in the forests looking for spooks. Hear, then,
the testimony of an American botanist, who visited the
island in 1903, and who did go into the deep woods and
live among the primitive people there.

i68 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

" Haiti,'* he says, " is a land of vast mountain chains,
rising 8000 feet in the air, overlapping and entangling
each other in inextricable confusion ; unpierced by the
rail, threaded only by bridle paths ; clothed with tremen-
dous tropical forests, in which splendid hard-wood trees,
almost worth their weight in gold in the markets of the
world, fall and die of old age, untouched by the ax.

" Throughout these mountains are little palm-leaf huts,
perched on some overhanging cliff, or beside some deep
ravine, the home of negro peasants, cultivating their
banana patches and living almost as primitive a life as
their race sustains in the heart of Africa. It is a land of
peaks, and these gigantic needles, clear in the morning
sun, or rising like misty islands from the rolling sea of
afternoon clouds, make an endless vista of wild and mag-
nificent mountain scenery. It is a land of gold and silver,
copper, iron, and coal, of which the surface is hardly
scratched ; a land of almost infinite possibilities, which is
not, and never can be, developed under the present condi-
tions ; a land ruled by black men — not by mulattos, but by
black men alone.

'"' The black intends to keep his country for himself. In
the capital. Port au Prince, this black man, when high in
power, will generally be found a cultivated, polished,
French negro, educated in Paris and a frequent visitor to
that city, living in a pleasant tropical bungalow, driving
a handsome turnout, formally calling on the distinguished
white stranger, and inviting him to dinner. And, back in
the mountains this black man, perfectly illiterate, still con-
ducts his Voodoo ceremonies, and makes human sacrifices.
It is off in these remote regions that the Voodoo prac-
tices are kept up. Of course, I did not see them ; no white
man ever does. But everyone in the island admits that

HAITI, "HOME OF THE VOODOO" 169

they continue, and with human sacrifice, in spite of the
Government's efiforts to stop them."

" Of course I did not see them ;" the Haitian points tri-
umphantly to that admission, and demands that the white
man produce proof of guilt on the part of the black man.
But, though he himself saw no human sacrifices, Mr. St.
John adduces proofs enough in his pages, citing from
local newspapers, and giving the evidence of at least one
priest, who saw a child strung up by its feet, and its throat
cut, when the " goat without horns " was demanded as a
sacrifice.

Let us turn, however, to the more pleasing features of
life in Haiti, and so far as possible ignore the presence of
the black man from Africa, whose presence in this para-
dise is at best an accidental intrusion. He was brought
here by the white man, as a slave ; and, by a sort of poetic
justice, it was in this island of Santo Domingo, where
slavery was first introduced into America, that it was also
first abolished. The Haitian negro, also, has the credit
of having been instrumental in abolishing it, when he be-
came numerous enough, and when the events of the
French revolution made it possible to form the desirable
conjunction. Toussaint I'Ouverture was Haiti's George
Washington ; but as he was a colored man, in whose veins
ran the blood of the hated '* hlanc," he is not held in so
high esteem as the great Christophe, or as Dessalines,
(1804-1820), the latter of which precious pair of barbar-
ians said in his proclamation of 1804: " Your friends, vic-
tims of the French — why delay to appease their manes?
What — the ashes of your relations in the grave, and you
have not avenged them ? "

That proclamation was issued in the year 1804, January
first of which year is the date of the Haitian Independ-

T70 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

ence, one hundred years ago. Twelve years previously
both whites and blacks had vied with each other in com-
mitting atrocities only paralleled by those then transpiring
in France, and which were the inciting causes in Haiti.
Both whites and blacks broke their prisoners on the wheel ;
a white planter was forced to eat his wife's flesh, after she
had been killed ; and the ears of prominent white planters
were worn by the blacks as cockades !

But, as already mentioned, the blacks were apt pupils
in the school of atrocity. Originally descended from
.some of the most savage races or families of Africa,
some thirty in number, they furnished the proper stock
for the engrafting of scions of the white man's deviltries.
There were Congos, Senegals, Yolofs, Foulahs, Bam-
baras, Socos, Sofos, Fantins, Popos, Benins, and a score
of other families having a common racial origin, nearly
all from the west coast of the '' Dark Continent." The
basis of their language as spoken now in the Creole dia-
lect, or patois, is the Congo tongue ; but the language of
the Vaudoux is Ardra, to which family belongs the honor
of having introduced the serpent worship into the island.
While French (and Parisian French, at that) is spoken
by the better classes, among the common people a Creole
jargon is used, an abbreviated form of French, in which
" conjunctions and pronouns are mercilessly sacrificed."

Slavery was introduced into the Santo Domingo, or
Spanish, portion of the island in 1506, and into Haiti
in the seventeenth century. The buccaneers all had
slaves — all who could afford them — and as early as 1681
there is a record of a cargo of African slaves being sold
for seven hundred pounds of sugar each, " sucking
infants to go with the mother, without account."

After Dessalines and Christophe had aped royalty a

HAITI, ''HOME OF THE VOODOO" 171

a few years, and the island had come under Petion, the
capital of the mulatto moiety of the republic was virtually
at Port au Prince for several years, where it actually is
at the present time. General Boyer, whose father was a
mulatto tailor and his mother a Congo negress, succeeded
Petion as dictator, and under him the two halves of Haiti
were united into one government. His was the longest
reign the distracted country had experienced, lasting
twenty-three years.

After Boyer came the deluge of aspirants to the throne
or presidential chair — call it what you will — which has
been the curse of Haiti to the present time. The blacks
were royalists by profession, even during the time of the
directory and the revolution in France, so that the buf-
foonery of Dessalines and Christophe, when they pro-
claimed themselves respectively as emperor and king,
was quite acceptable to the majority of their subjects. At
heart the Haitians are royalists to-day ; that is, they pre-
fer the pomp and ceremonials of courts to the plain sim-
plicity of a republic. They like show and glitter, frills
and furbelows, gold lace and epaulets, cocked hats and
cock's feathers, and it was a sad day for the masses when
the grand marshal, grand almoner, master of ceremonials,
Knights of Saint Henry, '' princes of the blood," dukes,
counts, barons, chevaliers, etc., were abolished. But for
their inclination to reduce everybody and everything to
the dead level of barbarism, they would take to a re-
establishment of royalty as easily as a duck to water.

This was proved fifty-five years ago when Soulouque,
an illiterate and superstitious black, declared himself
" emperor," under the title of '' Faustin I.," and revived
the old '' nobility " of the Marmalades and Limonades.
But after the novelty had passed the black baby cried for a

172 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

new toy, and as their emperor and his court had become
the laughing stock of the civiUzed world, even obtuse and
impervious Haiti was forced to repudiate him. A revolt
was successfully conducted by one Geffrard, who not
many years after followed Soulouque to Jamaica, an exile,
both having, it was reported, plundered the governmen':
of millions. Geffrard was a mulatto, but his successor,
Salnave, was a black soldier, who, " elected " President
in 1867, was driven from power and shot in his own
doorway by orders of his successful rival, Saget.

And so they went, blacks and mulattos alternating,
few of Haiti's " presidents " ever completing their terms
of office. Jamaica became the Mecca for ex-presidents
of Haiti, and there are several there now, who only saved
their black skins by suddenly crossing the channel and
putting themselves under the folds of the British flag.

All the settlers of French extraction having been mur-
dered, all their property not claimed by their illegitimate
children was absorbed by the state, and as all the country
mansions had been destroyed, they can be traced to-day
only by their ruins.*

The sugar plantations had been destroyed, and have
never been restored ; but the coffee trees planted by the
French, and seedlings from them, still flourish, and it is
chiefly upon their products that the Haitians subsist.

* " What was the condition of the Haitian negroes a hundred
years ago? They were slaves. They were treated like beasts.
They were compelled to work like machines in the field. They
could not read. They could not write. They were not even
good artisans, because they were not allowed to learn anything.
The sanctity of their homes was held at naught and profaned ;
their daughters, their wives, were mere pastime for their white
masters. Their degradation waa com^UtG." ^ Minister /. N.
Leger in the North American Rcvi^w^

HAITI, "HOME OF THE VOODOO" 173

Even so early as 1805 the crop of the year exceeded
30,000,000 pounds, or enough to load fifty large ships.
Add to the coffee crop the logwood and mahogany, the
natural fruits and vegetables, the fish of the rivers and the
sea, and take into account the glorious climate, that re-
quires neither clothes nor fuel for the dwellers there, and
we have some of the requirements for a lazy man's ely-
sium.

Some labor is necessary, of course, to cut logwood and
mahogany, and it requires a little exertion to pick up the
coffee berries ; but other than this the Haitians of the in-
terior districts exert themselves hardly at all. The black
peasantry of the hills bring down the produce of the old
plantations, where it is taken in hand by the politicians
who control the customs, and, needless to say, the bulk
of the proceeds is appropriated. As the only revenue is
derived from the customs at the ports, the most desirable
governmental positions are, of course, those that enable
their occupants to get their hands on the exports and im-
ports. There is a Haitian proverb that it is no crime to
steal from the state. " Prendre V argent de I'etat ce n'est
pas vole." The collector of the port '' rules the roost," un-
til he is removed, or '' promoted," when another is given
a chance to dip into the treasury. No ruler has arisen
since the emancipation having the interests of the people
really at heart ; no great public work has ever been under-
taken for the improvement of the country ; the only struc-
tures of importance, with very few exceptions, are those
left by the French, and these are, most of them, in ruins.
Buildings destroyed by fire or earthquake are never re-
placed, and the nearest approach to rebuilding is seen in
the slab shanty leaning against the walls of some large
structure that has been demolished.

174 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

We have seen who were the ancestors of the people at
present dominant in Haiti, who, always in fear of their
more powerful white neighbors, have enacted that the
pale-faces shall not directly acquire any real estate in the
country. Even if they marry Haitian women they cannot
inherit any landed property, but only the proceeds of it
when- sold at auction.

'' They can be merchants, artists, mechanics, professors,
teachers, clerks, and engineers," says a native writer ;
" but are barred from the bench and the bar, military
honors, and civil distinctions." In social life, however
(the Creole goes on to assure them), and in callings for
which they are legally qualified, " they are treated with all
the courtesy and regard to which their character entitles
them. Exemplary conduct on their part always enables
them to overcome the social disadvantages attaching to
their unfortunate color " — or rather, lack of it !

In short, Haiti is the one country in the world vv^here it
is discreditable to be a white man. Still, it is confidently
asserted, the colored females manifest a preference for
suitors of the Caucasian race, notwithstanding this bar
sinister on their escutcheon, and will marry them despite
their disabilities — always provided, of course, that they
have money, and can boast respectable parentage.

The aristocracy of the island, having suffered consider-
ably from the weeding-out process so ruthlessly applied
by the blacks, cannot muster a corporal's guard, at pres-
ent, the times having sadly changed since the good old
days of King Henri and the Emperor Faustin I., when
the dukes of Marmalade and Limonade were flourishing.
The only one the writer was ever privileged to gaze upon
was clad in faded and ragged regimentals, very much
out at the elbows, and mounted on a sorry nag, the visible

HAITI, "HOME OF THE VOODOO" 175

ribs of which he vainly prodded with enormous spurs
fixed to bare and bony heels. But he wore a tattered
chapeau with a rooster's feathers in it, and his ebony
features were stamped with the dignity descended from
an immemorial ancestry !

It may be true, as the Haitians assert, that their frequent
revolutions are strictly family affairs, and that the for-
eigner is perfectly safe provided he goes into hiding
while the fighting continues; but the fact remains that
very few foreigners in Haiti ever die of old age ! In a
land where somebody or other is always out gunning for
somebody else, there is danger, an ever-present danger,
of being shot. It may not be with intention ; but therein
the real danger lies ; for no Haitian was ever known to
hit what he fired at — though he is sure to hit somebody,
and that somebody is usually the *' highly respected for-
eigner !" Even an execution is no exception to the rule,
for it requires whole volleys of musketry to slay one
solitary victim, and it rarely happens that he does not
have several innocent attendants to the spirit land, slain
by bullets that went astray.

Of Haiti's nineteen rulers, including a " king " and an
" emperor," and all of them dictators or despots, four,
only, completed their terms of office ; two died in office ;
two were killed ; one committed suicide ; one " abdicated "
(under compulsion) ; eight were exiled; one is still on
probation. These facts speak for themselves, and may
account for the reticence of the Haitians in respect to
matters political.

1. Dessalines, killed by his troops, in 1806.

2. Petion, died in office, in power 12 years, 1818.

3. Christophe, committed suicide in 1820.

4. Boyer, exiled, after 2^ years in office, 1843.

176 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

5. Herard Riviere, exiled, after one year, 1844.

6. Guerrier, died in office, one year, 1845.

7. Pierrot, elected 1845, abdicated next year.

8. Riche, proclaimed in 1846, died next year.

9. Soulouque, elected 1847; "emperor," 1849; exiled
1859.

10. Geffrard, president till 1867 ; exiled.

11. Salnave, president, ousted and shot, 1870.

12. Nissage-Saget, 1870-74; completed his term.

13. Domingue, seized government, 1874; expelled,
1876.

14. Boisrond-Canal, 1876; expelled from Haiti, 1879.

15. Salomon, 1879-88; died in exile.

16. Legitime, 1888, one year, driven out and exiled.

17. Hyppolite, 1889-96; died in office. Poisoned (?).

18. Simon Sam, 1896-1903; filled full term and retired.

19. Nord Alexis, 1903 ; at last accounts in power.

XI

MISGOVERNED SANTO DOMINGO

Richly endowed Santo Domingo — How the Indians were mis-
treated — Santiago, City of the Caballeros — Railroads
and natural highways — Columbus and the chain of forts he
built — "Sons of Somebody" subjected to African ''Sons
of Nobody" — The degradation of the Dominicans — The
late President Ulises Heureaux, called by his people " Lilis "
— The despot of Santo Domingo, whose victims were num-
bered by hundreds — A diplomat, a linguist, and a brute —
Assassinated by the son of a man he had killed — His unique
personality — The two curses of the Black and Brown Re-
publics — African inertia and atavism — Aspirants for the
presidency in Sto. Domingo — Condition of the government
to-day, hopelessly bankrupt — What constitutes a " revolu-
tionist " — A personal view of " Lilis " — An offer to loan
the bones of Columbus for a consideration — What the con-
sideration was to be — Official document in proof of the
assertion that the offer of a loan was made.

IT seems an anomaly of history that an island boast-
ing the oldest city on American soil, and among the
first discovered by Columbus, in 1492, should be
the least known of the West Indies ; yet this may
be said of Hispaniola (or Haiti-Santo Domingo), first
settled between the years 1493 and 1496, and since occu-
pied by people of a race alien to its aboriginal inhabitants.
These latter were long ago exterminated, though at the
time the island was discovered they numbered more than
a million. Their blood flows in the veins of many an
islander, but mingled with that of the conquerors, and

177

178 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

also merged in that sanguineous stream which tor cen-
turies followed thitherward from Africa.

It is not Santo Domingo's fault that it has not occupied
a more prominent position in American affairs. Richly
endowed by nature, with the most delightful climate
imaginable, with a vegetation comprising all the products
of the tropics and semi-tropics; streams of purest water
sparkling in the sun; hills and headlands presenting the
most extensive and magnificent views of palm-covered
plains and varied forests; mountains (the central Cordil-
leras) rising to the clouds and containing rich deposits of
gold; fine harbors, outlets to an interior country of sur-
passing fertility ; all these it has. Nature has done much
for Santo Domingo; it could hardly have done more;
and man, also, has done much — all he could, in fact — to
pervert the evident designs of a beneficent Providence.

Yes," man has proved recreant to the trust imposed in
this instance. Beginning with the times of Columbus,
everything seems to have missed its mark. Apologists
for Columbus may tell you that he had vast, even insuper-
able difficulties to contend with ; moralists may animadvert
upon his career, as an object lesson of what should have
been avoided ; but the fact remains that Santo Domingo
fared badly at his hands, and the aborigines fared worse.
To paraphrase that couplet anent the Pilgrim Fathers :

The conqtiistadores fell on their knees ;
Then they fell on the aborigines.

They smote them, hip and thigh ; and, moreover, they
smote off their heads by basketfuls, it being a common
practice for those noble hidalgos who came over with and
shortly after Columbus to try the temper of their
" Toledos " upon the Indian skull.

MISGOVERNED SANTO DOMINGO 179

" It Is a fine morning, let's go out and crack a skull,"
seems to have been the customary remark ; at all events,
the historians tell us that the beheading of Indians was
their regular matutinal pastime.

What with the unrestrained inclination of the con-
quistadores to decimate the aborigines, and the severe
tasks they imposed upon them in the fields and mines, the
Indian soon became a negative, then an exceedingly
scarce, commodity. This term is used advisedly, for the
poor Indian was considered as something less than the
lower animals and was bought and sold, as the produce
of the land. A superficial regard was paid to his soul,
perhaps, inasmuch as the missionaries (and among them
the great and good Las Casas, who resided in the island
many years) entered their protests regularly and called
down upon the Spaniards the vengeance of Heaven.

Their protests did not appear to be effectual, however,
for the exterminating process went on; the system of
enconiiendas was carried from Santo Domingo to Cuba,
thence to Yucatan and Mexico ; to the Spanish Main and
Peru. For Cortes, Pizarro, Balboa, and many other
Spaniards whose names are now secure in Fame's temple,
had their first training in Santo Domingo. It was not
only the colonizing center of the then New World, but
also the home of its barbarities, in which the conquista-
dores, many of them, first fleshed their swords; first
spilled the blood of innocent, inoffensive Indians.

If one would know how, at least in one instance,
nature's best intentions have miscarried, he should visit
the city of Santiago de los Caballeros, in Santo Domingo.
Situated at an elevation of 500 feet above the sea, on a
plateau in the center of a vast valley, bounded on the
north by the Monte Cristi range of mountains, and on

i8o OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

the south by the Cordillera of the Cibao, it possesses a
salubrious climate and attractive scenery. The bluff upon
which it was built is washed by the waters of the Yaqui,
called by Columbus Rio del Oro, or River of Gold, on
account of the precious grains he found in its sands. The
Yaqui rises in the southern Cordilleras and flows af first
northerly toward the site of Santiago, then turns north-
westerly, running all the way through a valley of its own
name to the Bay of Manzanillo, where it meets the sea
near the boundary line between Santo Domingo and
Haiti, not far from Monte Cristi.

From the Santiago watershed also flow, southeasterly,
streams which unite to form another large river, the Yuna,
which empties into the Bay of Samana ; thus the city has
natural outlets east and west, and is the distributing cen-
ter for an immense region rich in mineral and vegetable
products. It is situated about equi-distant, lOO miles,
from the bays of Manzanillo and Samana, and from its
commanding position has long been the objective point of
railroads from either coast. At present there is a railroad
from the roadstead of Sanchez, in the bight of Samana, to
within about twenty miles of Santiago, the inland ter-
minal being at Concepcion de la Vega, one of the ancient
settlements of the island ; and another connecting Santiago
with Puerto Plata.

It was originally the intention of the builder of the first
line to connect both bays, uniting such towns and cities
as Moca, La Vega, Santiago, and San Lorenzo, with
Sanchez, and the Bay of Manzanillo or Monte Cristi, at
either end. But the many obstacles incident to railroad
construction in a tropical country, where a corrupt gov-
ernment granted land to which it had no title, and mean-
spirited citizens insisted upon extortionate damages for

MISGOVERNED SANTO DOMINGO i8i

the taking of properties to which they laid claim, proved
too much for the projector of this enterprise.

A great natural highway, however, runs from one end
of this double valley to the other, and though from
Samana to Santiago the ordinary road is almost impass-
able, especially in the rainy season, yet from Santiago
to Monte Cristi wheeled vehicles may be driven at all
times.

It was my fortune twice to pass over the gap existing
between La Vega and Santiago, a distance of perhaps
twenty miles, and it took me six hours, mounted on a good
island pony, to accomplish the journey. The roadway
was a perfect Sargasso sea of mudholes, in which human
bipeds and beasts of burden floundered almost hopelessly,
the former hopping from hummock to hummock, and the
latter plunging belly deep in holes the length of their legs.
This was one of the first highways ever surveyed in the
New World, and yet to-day, doubtless, it is in worse con-
dition than four hundred years ago, when the virgin forest
first resounded to the clang of armor and the smiting of
steel on stone, as the cavaliers of Columbus made their
explorations.

When Columbus first rnarched his gallant caballeros
through the " Hidalgos' Pass " in the Yaqui Mountains,
setting out from the city he had founded in 1493, ^^^
called Isabella, he found, in the valley revealed as the crest
was reached, a gentle and docile body of people, engaged
in cultivating the soil and innocent pastimes.

In his second expedition to the interior, having ascended
the Yaqui as far as the present site of Santiago and
crossed the watershed, he was so overcome by the beauty
of the great valley as seen from the hill of Santo Cerro
that he fell on his knees and thanked God for the privilege

182 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

of beholding it. He called it the Vega Real, Royal Valley
or Plain, since it surpassed in natural charms every scene
he had ever looked upon.

This was in 1494 ; in 1495 ^e led his forces against the
hitherto peaceful Indians and overwhelmed them with
terrible slaughter, converting the hill of Santo Cerro,
whence he had first viewed the beautiful Vega, and is
said to have directed the battle, into a veritable Golgotha.
Closely following upon that engagement, in which the
backbone of an Indian rebellion was broken, came the
establishment of the third in a chain of forts built to com-
mand the valley of Yaqui and the western Vega. It was
called Concepcion, and after it the village of that name,
still existing. Fort Concepcion de la Vega was destroyed
by an earthquake in 1564, but remains of one of its
bastions are still to be seen, as also portions of the bell
tower of a church erected soon after it was built.

The year previous, in 1494, a settlement had been
effected at a spot called Jacagua, about two or three miles
from the site of Santiago, where a spring of delicious
water and good soil made an excellent location. But ten
years later, or in 1504, a body of hidalgos petitioned
King Ferdinand of Spain for permission to locate upon
the more commanding situation of Santiago, on the bluff
above the river Yaqui.

They were, most of them, of noble blood — hidalgos, or
hijos de algos, " sons of somebody " — and probably the
pick of the conquistadores. Their request was granted,
and also permission to distinguish their city by the appel-
lation it so proudly insists upon to-day : de los Caballeros,
" The City of the Gentlemen," in itself a patent of nobil-
ity. At the outset a place of importance, soon outranking
the city of Santo Domingo, which was founded by the

MISGOVERNED SANTO DOMINGO 183

plebeian Bartholomew Columbus two years later, San-
tiago de los Caballeros has ever held itself to be the aris-
tocratic capital.

It is pitiful, in view of the changes that have happened
in the past centuries, to find the population of the island
maintaining this distinction to-day ; to-day, when the
descendants of negro slaves claim to be the caballeros, and
those of the conquistadores have nearly disappeared. Yet
more pitiful is the fact that the descendants of those
doughty conquerors, who, despite their cruelties, have
won a meed of admiration for their bravery and unflinch-
ing endurance, have for many years been subject to the
inferior race !

The white population of the island, all too few in num-
ber, has its largest representation here, and there are old"
families who can boast descent, more or less direct and
contaminated with negro and aboriginal blood, from the
intrepid companions of Columbus. I myself have seen,
have purchased from their owners, rare old " Toledos "
that doubtless came over with the conquerors — perhaps
the very swords with which the valiant Spaniards were
wont to cleave the skulls of inoffensive Indians — as we
read was their daily custom of a morning, in order to keep
their hands in, and to prove the keenness of their blades.

The degradation to which the Sons of Somebody have
descended, and the poverty that would induce the parting
with such precious heirlooms, are suggestive, to say the
least. But what can you expect from a people who have
been under the iron heel of oppression for many genera-
tions, who have been accustomed to look up to, and not
down upon, the African sons of nobody?

It is difficult for the Anglo-Saxon, so-called, to survive
three generations in the tropics, without physical

i84 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

degeneration, even when dominant and aggressive.
What, then, of these Latins who have maintained them-
selves without actual racial deterioration, and can boast —
have the spirit left to boast — of their ancestral traditions ?

Because of this distinguished ancestry, perhaps, the
residents of Santiago have made many, though ineffectual,
protests against the black and yellow domination which,
since the expulsion of the Spaniards, has prevailed in
Santo Domingo. Introduced to take the place of the
fast-disappearing Indians (some historians say at the
instance of Las Casas himself, though from the best of
motives), the blacks from Africa finally became numeric-
ally superior to the whites — they and their various mesti-
zos— and in the end predominated.

One of the most famous, and by all odds the greatest,
of those usurpers with black blood in their veins was the
late President, Ulises Heureaux, who was assassinated in
1899. He was an especial object of detestation to the
caballeros, but rode over them rough shod. Not that
" Lilis " (to use the diminutive by which his subjects gen-
erally spoke of him), was other than *' the mildest-man-
nered man that ever cut a throat," or that the writer has
any prejudice against him personally. But throats he
cut — or men he shot, which amounts to the same thing —
and many of them, merely to keep himself in power.

He seemed possessed of the idea that he was the man
for the country; but, as he never did anything for the
country except to continually squeeze it, that his coffers
might be filled, the impression somehow got abroad that
perhaps he was not the right man after all. He once told
me, in conversation, that he rarely had a man shot for
opinion's sake, or imprisoned that he did not soon release
him. For, said he naively, in his quaint and broken

MISGOVERNED SANTO DOMINGO 185

English, " What good it do me ef I kill he ? Then he
brother, he father, he wife — all make my enemy. But ef
I put he in preeson, and then take he out, and feed he,
and give he clothe, he's family all my frien'."

Nothwithstanding this protest, there was a discrepancy
between his theory and his practice, as several score of
political victims might testify — peradventure they could
revisit this world from which the astute " Lilis " so incon-
tinently thrust them forth.

I remember that on my first visit to Santiago I carried a
letter of introduction to a white man of high attainments,
who honored me with an exceedingly generous hospitality.
I departed for the hills in search of gold and ancient relics,
and when I returned a few weeks later my talented host
was not to be found. His house was there, but closed ;
his friends answered my queries evasively with sug-
gestive shrugs of the shoulders, and it was some time
before I learned that he had been taken suddenly to
the capital and incarcerated in the castle. From the
castle he was taken out and shot to death — so far as I
could ascertain for no other reason than his aversion to
the President.

No less than seventy such summary executions were
charged upon "Lilis " after his downfall and death; and
it was further charged that no man's life, no woman's
virtue, was safe in Santo Domingo while he lived.

I do not make the charge, for it is common report in
the island, that he played the tyrant as hardly the role wa^
filled before for centuries. And yet " Lilis " had many
good qualities. He was modest, and unquestionably
brave ; he spoke three languages, was a born diplomat
and a past master in the art of political and other
intrigue. How many bullets he carried in his body I do

i86 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

not know ; but several had found him out, and one of his
arms hung useless from a wound received when he was
fighting — for or against the government.

He may have made many mistakes during his long
reign, but the final one consisted in shooting the wrong
man! As long ago as 1884, it is said, he put to death
one Caceres, a man of respectable family; and fifteen
years later, in July, 1899, a son of this man shot him to
death in the town of Moca, whither he had gone to
arrange for a loan. Brave to the last, the President tried
to draw his revolver and make stand against his foe ; but
he was taken by surprise, and fell to the ground shot
through the heart. His guard fired several ineffectual
shots at the assassin ; but he escaped, and, the deed being
done, was lauded as a hero all over the island.

Many a man had desired to kill *' Lilis " before this
event deprived the government of its head ; many a man
had attempted to do so, but the despot always got wind of
the plots and turned the tables upon the conspirators. In
1894 he executed six ringleaders in a conspiracy against
him, and the number of people he had put to death on
various pretexts, without' trial, is estimated at more than
three hundred. But he was deprived of power and of
life at the same moment, and others arose to misgovern
the so-called republic.

Writing soon after President Heureaux was shot, I
said that while his death had released the island from
despotism, it might plunge it into anarchy ; and sub-
sequent events seemed to bear out that prediction, for
soon there rose Jimenez, Vasquez (whose cousin shot
"Lilis"), Woz y Gil (who was at the time Dominican
consul in New York), and finally Morales, to dispute
with Vice President Figueroa the succession to execu-

MISGOVERNED SANTO DOMINGO 187

tive power. The latest happenings, the '' revokitions "
and counter-revolutions ; the sending to Santo Domingo
of an American war-ship and the shooting of an American
marine, are events too fresh in memory to need especial
mention.

The great Cuban patriot. General Maximo Gomez, has
been frequently invoked (as a son of Santo Domingo) to
aid one aspirant or another; but he told me himself, in
Havana, that there was not an honest politician in the
island. He might perhaps have made it more compre-
hensive ; but he was speaking only of Santo Domingo.

It is the same old story: innumerable aspirants for the
presidency, but only one presidential chair to be filled —
at the time. If there could be introduced a certain sort
of rotation in office, by which one of the gentlemen could
be seated and held in power for the space, say, of a
month, and then be induced to resign in favor of the
'' next," an element of stability might be introduced into
Dominican affairs.

But the presidential bee is an inconsiderate insect — in
Santo Domingo — as well as all-pervasive, for it seems to
buzz in every ear at once. No sooner does one man feel
that the salvation of his beloved country depends upon his
election to the presidency, than at least a score of other
" patriots " become convinced that they, too, were born
especially for prcsidentes, and evince their determination
in no unmistakable manner to carry out the evident
designs of fate. The wonder is, not particularly that so
many Dominicans are afflicted simultaneously with the
presidential hankering, but that they can find so many
adherents on the spur of the moment.

The average Dominican is accustomed to carry fire-
arms almost from the time he can walk without assist-

i88 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

ance, and he blindly adheres to whomsoever comes along
first and makes the best offer for his services. That is,
he adheres to him until his convictions are changed by a
better offer ; and this accounts for the fact that there are
always so many revolutionists in the field and fighting so
promiscuously. A government partisan one day may be
a revolutionist the next, depending upon the celerity with
which he can change his convictions and get outside the
walls.

Generally speaking, a government soldier is one fight-
ing behind the city walls ; while a " revolutionist " is one
without and wandering in the open. Of whatever party,
however, the Dominican soldier is always the same in one
respect — he cannot shoot. Were he a marksman of even
average ability, the Republic would long ago have been
deprived of its most eminent citizens, for it is doubtful
if there lives any man of prominence in Santo Domingo
who has not been shot at a number of times.

It also strikes the observer in the island with surprise
that, with double the area of Haiti, Santo Domingo pos-
sesses only half the population of the '' Black Republic."
The generous rivalry going on between the two republics
doubtless serves to keep down the population of both,
and the time may come when, in the interests of civiliza-
tion, some more powerful nation will step in to stay the
slaughter. There are those, to be sure, who pretend that
the interests of civilization can best be served by allowing
it to proceed! but these, needless to say, are somewhat
prejudiced.

Perhaps they are among those belonging to the rather
large number of foreigners who have secured " conces-
sions " from the government of Santo Domingo. Haiti
never grants any concession to the white man, of what-

MISGOVERNED SANTO DOMINGO 189

ever kind, having had one bitter experience at least,
which has sufficed her for more than a century. The
black man knows when he has enough ; but the colored
citizen of the Dominican half of the island has yet to
learn.

Like his great contemporary, President Diaz, of Mex-
ico, Heureaux wisely realized the value of foreign capital
properly invested — that is, in such a manner that it could
not be zvithdrazvn from the country — and encouraged all
enterprises to that end. This will account for the rail-
roads in the island, such as that from the bay of Samana
to the Vega or interior vale of Santo Domingo, and from
Puerto Plata to Santiago. Also for the taking over by
a foreign concern (originally Dutch, but now Am.erican)
of the debt and the administration of the customs.

It is a tradition in Santo Domingo that no foreigner
ever held the better end of a bargain with " Lilis " ; nor,
as to that matter, with any of his numerous successors..
But there are several living witnesses to these things ; let
them come forward and testify.

This allusion to personal encounters with the presidents
brings me to speak of a little enterprise which I myself
once attempted to carry through. Not for my own
benefit, but (as I viewed it then) for the benefit, or glor-
ification rather, of the great United States. It was while
serving in the capacity of commissioner to the West
Indies for the Chicago exposition of 1893. Desiring to
advance the interests of the exposition to the best of my
ability, I conceived the design (as it was a " Columbian "
exposition, and desirous of securing all relics of Colum-
bus) of inducing the Dominicans to erect at Chicago a
reproduction of the old tower that stands at the mouth
of the Ozama River, the " Homenage," and fill it with

I90 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

relics of Columbus and his period. The President ac-
cepted my proposal with avidity, and sent his minister of
public affairs to the consulate, where I made my head-
quarters, to negotiate.

I thought the way smooth for securing the object of
my desires ; but I had not counted upon that peculiar trait
of the Dominican which (to state it mildly) attaches a
mercenary value to patriotism. The minister of public
affairs came and talked it over with me, and all seemed
going along swimmingly until I happened to mention
that the reproduction of the tower would probably cost
his republic a matter of twenty thousand dollars or so.

He then made reply that they had considered this
expenditure, and had concluded, in view of the poverty
of their country, and inasmuch as all their revenues were
hypothecated to the " Dutch loan," to ask the exposition
managers for a loan of, say, $100,000, from which they
would be reimbursed to the amount of $10,000 annually!

After I had recovered from the first shock of surprise,
the humor of the incident struck me so forcibly that I
resolved to go through with it to the end, in order to see
to what lengths the government was ready to proceed.
So I said that perhaps my people would erect the tower
themselves, and then Santo Domingo would only have to
fill it with her products, etc.

I was met with the astounding statement that what
they wanted was the loan, from which we could deduct
the $20,000 in advance (a vast concession, which the
minister rolled as a sweet morsel under his tongue), and
we could fill it with what we pleased. And he added,
bringing forward an argument which he evidently con-
sidered convincing, that if we would grant the loan (for
Dominica to represent herself at the exposition), they

MISGOVERNED SANTO DOMINGO 191

would send over '' the most sacred remains of Don
Christopher Columbus," which (as I knew) they still
held conserved in their cathedral.

.1 was somewhat dubious about the bones of Columbus.
Not that I had doubts as to their authenticity; but did
have grave doubts as to the propriety of receiving them
as an " exhibit."

I sought to minimize his claim by casually alluding to
the doubts which existed as to their remains being the
real and only legitimate bones of Columbus; but he was
not to be '* bluffed." We carried the matter before the
President, with whom I had a personal interview. He
was evidently the real author of the minister's suggestion,
for, after listening to my protest against his government
humiliating itself by asking a loan, instead of honoring
itself by voluntary representation at the exposition, he
replied :

"Now, Mistair Commissionaire, it ees not ze honaire
zat we want, but ze loan. You may have ze honaire, my
dear frien', but I have conclude zat to go zare eet ees
necessarie to mek one leetle loan, and for zis loan I will
pay seex per cent, eenterest, and will return eet at ze rate
of ten souzand dollair evary year."

In order to understand the full significance of the
offer made by the government of Santo Domingo, and
at the same time clear up the mystery attaching to the
two sets of " remains " left behind by Columbus when he
died, let me explain:

We will grant that he died at Valladolid, Spain, 1506.
After his demise his remains were taken to Seville, where
they were deposited in the monastery of Las Cuevas;
but as there was a clause in his last will and testament
desiring that they might at some time be transported to

192 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

Santo Domingo, this depository was considered as
temporary, though it was not until 1540 that his request
was fulfilled.

In the lapse of centuries, and some say owing to the
necessity for concealing his tomb for fear of sacrilege by
Sir Francis Drake and other " English pirates " who were
cruising in the Caribbean sea, the actual place of sepul-
ture was lost sight of. Others of his name and family
had been deposited there beneath slabs let into the pave-
ment, but without distinctive inscriptions.

In 1795 the island passed to the French, and it was
desired to remove the remains of Christopher Columbus
to Havana; but nothing, however, could be found to
identify his boveda, or vault.

A frigate was sent from Havana with orders to trans-
port the great Columbus to Cuba, and it was necessary
that his remains should be found.

Officials sounded the pavement, and, finding a slab that
gave forth a hollow noise, excavated beneath and dis-
covered fragments of bones and of a leaden case, which
they took up with great care and bore to the frigate with
vast pomp and ceremony. The rcstos were deposited in
a niche made for the purpose in Havana Cathedral.

I would much rather believe that the bones of Colum-
bus still remain in the land to which he gave a new con-
tinent and beneath the flag which he carried on his voy-
ages of discovery.

Not that the Spaniards deserved well of Columbus,
nor that he himself desired to rest in the soil of Spain ;
for they permitted him to die neglected, if not in poverty.

It would seem that his desire had been granted, and
that his ashes " repose " in the island of Santo Domingo;
but here again comes in the irony of a discriminating

MISGOVERNED SANTO DOMINGO 193

fate. Not even Columbus, far-seeing as he was, could
have divined that the island he had toiled for and fought
for would pass i^to the hands of the descendants of the
Africans taken there as slaves.

Negro slavery in America had its beginning in that
very island of Santo Domingo. To-day we find the re-
mote descendants of Africans who were torn from their
homes by the Spaniards, and who wore their lives out
beneath the lash of Spanish task-masters, exhibiting as
the most precious of their treasures the remains of the
man who laid the foundations of that slavery!

It is probable that the Spaniards took the ashes of
Diego, the only legitimate son of Christopher Columbus,
to Havana, and hence one hundred years later to Spain.
I do not ask anyone to accept this statement on my
assertion, but will now relate the discovery of the second
set of " remains," upon which the Dominicans found
their claim to the " real and only legitimate rcstos.''

In 1877, while repairs were being made in the cathe-
dral, a vault was discovered from which the workmen
took a leaden casket containing not only fragments of
bones, but a silver plate with an inscription setting forth
that these were the remains of Don Cristobal Colon, dis-
coverer of America, etc.

The leaden case also bore an inscription, ** Illustre y
esclarecido Varon, Don Cristobal Colon/' and there was
likewise a bullet, which, it was claimed, Columbus had
received in a skirmish with pirates in Africa. Here,
then, was evidence in abundance — more than was actu-
ally necessary, in fact — that the restos had at last been
found.

The island was shaken from center to circumference,
as it was quickly realized what a valuable asset these

194 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

remains could be made and the Dominican author-
ities really rose to the occasion. They carefully collected
the fragments of bones, ashes, bits of l^ad, and so forth,
and had them placed, together with the leaden case, in an
tirna, or casket, of satinwood and glass. This casket
was kept in a secure place, and three keys were provided,
all of which were necessary to unlock it.

One key was in the custody of the cathedral chapter,
another in the keeping of the President of the Repub-
lic, and the third of the Ayuntamiento, or city council.

At the time the ** legitimate " remains were found
another vault opened disclosed the restos of Don Luis
Columbus, Duke of Veragua, and as it was pretty well
known that the third Columbus interred in the Presby-
tery was Don Diego, who at one time was viceroy of
Santo Domingo, upon this inference is based the as-
sumption that it was he who was taken away in 1795.

At Pajarito, the hamlet that was shelled by the " New-
ark " on February 11, 1904, still stands the old chapel
from the doorway of which Bobadilla proclaimed his
authority to supersede Columbus, just prior to sending
him to Spain in chains. It would seem that this pre-
cious old city, with its historic relics and memorials of
an interesting past, has a rather precarious tenure of ex-
istence, what with the bombardment it has undergone
and is still likely to be subject to from one revolutionary
party or the other.

Whether they will hold the relics of Columbus in
greater veneration than they do the ancient structures
they so recklessly turn their fire against, remains to be
seen. It so happens, however, that some of the most
precious of American memorials are in possession of
men of alien race and sympathies.

MISGOVERNED SANTO DOMINGO 195

Whether they have a proper regard for them, merely
as reHcs of the historic past, may perhaps be gathered
from my own experiences. I refer now to the story
respecting the alleged sale of the remains.

It is not true that the remains of Columbus were of-
fered to me on sale, but it is true that there was a tenta-
tive memorandum drawn up regarding their transfer to
this country as an " exhibit." This memorandum is on
official paper bearing the imprint : " Republica Domin-
icana, Ministerio de Fomento y Obras Publicas."

The substance of the document is as follows:

I. — The Dominican Government is enthusiastic in its desire to
assist at said Exposition in 1893, for the purpose of exhibiting
there the products of the island, natural, mineral, industrial, etc.

2. — The Dominican Government would include in its exhibits
the remains of the great discoverer, Don Christopher Colum-
bus; provided, however, that the Government of the United
States of America, or duly accredited officials, would so manifest
their desire, and would guarantee to receive the precious relics
with all the honors due to a personage of the exalted station of
the great admiral; also with the proper guarantees for their
restoration.

3. — It would be expected that the Government of the United
States would waive the collection of duties on such articles as
were intended for exhibition, and that they might be sold at its
close.

4. — In order to accomplish its desires, it will be necessary for
the Dominican Government to effect a loan, in the United States,
of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), in gold, interest on
the same to be at six (6) per cent. ; and the principal to be re-
funded at the rate of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) annually.

As security for this loan, the Dominican Government will
pledge a portion of its annual revenues, guaranteed by an order
on the Casa de Recaudacion, and for the return of the propor-
tional amount as agreed upon.

5. — It is agreed that if the Commissioner be successful in
securing this loan (as above mentioned) of $100,000, he may

196 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

reserve the sum of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) for the
construction of a Government building at Chicago, said building
to be an exact reproduction of the old castle in this Capital,
known as the " Homenage," and conforming to the plans of the
architect in charge.

6. — To accompany the precious remains of Don Christopher
Columbus during their transportation and throughout the period
of their repose at the Exposition, the Dominican Government
will designate a commission of its most distingiiished citizens, to
the number of six, who will guard these sacred relics while they
are in the United States of America, and until they are again
returned to their final resting-place in this Capital.

This precious document, a speaking commentary on
the astuteness of Dominican diplomacy, was signed by
both the Minister of Public Affairs and myself, in the
presence of the late President Heureaux, who looked
smilingly on, nodding his approval.

That " Minister de Fomento " was Sefior Woz y Gil,
who was ousted from the presidential chair in 1903, hav-
ing succeeded, after several intermediaries, the gallant
and sanguinary " citizen president " of Santo Domingo
who now. sleeps his last with the great church of Santiago
de los Cabelleros as his solitary tomb.

XII
TREASURES IN SEA AND SOIL

Santo Domingo girdled with sunken treasure galleons — The
Treasure-trove of Silver Shoals — The fleet that went down
off Puerto Plata — What Davy Jones's locker contains —
Search of Sir William Phipps for the Spanish silver — Cot-
ton Mather's account of the voyage — How the Phipps for-
tune was acquired — Silver bullion brought up by the ton —
Lion's share appropriated by the Duke of Albemarle —
What his heirs did with it — The harbor of Puerto Plata —
Beautiful bay and harbor of Samana — The Samana penin-
sula and Bay of Arrows — Santa Barbara, Sanchez, Savana
de la mar. La Vega, Moca, and Macoris — The railroad to
the interior — When Samana came near being annexed to the
United States — The regions for agricultural and mineral
development — When gold was first discovered by Europeans
in America, and where it was found — The River of Golden
Sands — Where gold may be found at the present time —
The natives wash it out with a calabash — Handfuls of nug-
gets and where they were obtained — The mystery of the
Cibao country.

WHILE I was in the town of Puerto Plata, at
one time, the people there were greatly ex-
cited over the rumored discovery of some
silver bars, found on or near a submerged reef known
as the Silver Bank or Shoals. Inquiry revealed the
fact that the submarine treasure had probably lain be-
neath the water for more than two hundred years, and
further research convinced me that a one-time resident
of my own State, Massachusetts, had searched for, and
had found some, of the treasure alluded to.

197

198 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

West Indian waters still conceal the wrecks of many
Spanish galleons sent to the bottom long ago by buc-
caneers, by storm and hurricane; and in fact the island
of Santo Domingo is completely girdled with them.
Probably the richest treasure ever sunk in any sea was
that contained in the galleon which sailed from the port
of Santo Domingo in 1502, with Governor Bobadilla,
the persecutor of Christopher Columbus, aboard. It
was lost in a terrible hurricane, predicted by Columbus,
who was the " weather sharp " of those days, and it lies
ofif the southeast coast of the island, near the islet of
Saona.

Among other treasures contained in this galleon
was a mass of pure gold, the largest nugget ever
found in the West Indies, perhaps in the world. As
neither wreck nor gold has yet been located, there is still
a tempting prize for some daring diver with modern
equipment to recover.

Four hundred years have passed since Bobadilla and
his ill-gotten gold went down, and two hundred and
seventy since the Puerto Plata treasure went to Davy
Jones's locker. The latter was contained in a Spanish
fleet homeward bound from the Isthmus laden with silver
from the mines of Peru. The commander of the fleet
was bearing up for the Bahamas channel, after passing
through which he would have an open passage all the
way to Spain. But Fate, in the shape of a great storm,
interposed, and the entire fleet went to the bottom not
far distant from Puerto Plata on the north coast of Santo
Domingo.

As to the sinking of this fleet with its vast treasure of
silver and rich freightage of pearls and gold, an authentic
account has been preserved in the pages of Cotton

> . » ' ^-

' ' t f < (

. TREASURES IN SEA AND SOIL 199

Mather's '' Magnalia Christi Americana/' published two
hundred years ago. It was not the erudite Mather's in-
tention, perhaps, to chronicle the happenings of a treas-
ure-seeking expedition per se, so much as to narrate the
adventures of a great hero of his, Sir William Phipps,
whose fortune and fame were based upon this expedition.
As an account by a contemporary, this narrative telling
how the " Phipps' fortune " was made, is exceedingly
valuable as well as interesting, and especially in connec-
tion with the investigation now under way for the re-
covery of treasure that is supposed to have been left
behind after Sir William's search in 1683.

"The subject of this sketch," says Mather, writing a
few years after he had relinquished his fanatical pursuit
of the witches of Salem, " was born February 2, 1650,
at a despicable plantation on the River Kennebec and
almost the furthest village of the eastern settlement of
New England. . . . His mother had no less than
twenty-six children, whereof twenty-one were sons ; but
equivalent to them all was William, one of the youngest,
who lived with his mother, his father dying, until he was
eighteen years old. . . . He then betook himself a
hundred and fifty miles afield, even to Boston, the chief
town of New England, where he learned, first of all, to
read and write, followed the trade of ship carpenter for
about a year, and by a laudable deportment he so recom-
mended himself that he married a young gentlewoman
of good repute, who was the widow of one Mr. John
Hull. . . . And he would frequently tell the gentle-
woman, his wife, that he would yet be Captain of a King's
ship ; that he would come to have the command of better
men than he was now accounted ; and that this would not
be all that the Providence of God would bring him to;

200 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

that indeed he should be the owner of a fair brick house
in the Green Lane of North Boston, etc. . . .

" Being thus of the true temper for the doing of great
things and upon the advice received of a Spanish wreck
about the Bahamas (said to have been given him by a
smuggler), he took a voyage thither, but with little more
success than what just served to furnish him for a voy-
age to England, whither he went in a vessel not much
unlike that which the Dutchmen stamped on their first
coins, with these words about it : ' None can tell where
Fate will bear me.' . . .

" Having first informed himself that there was another
Spanish wreck, wherein was lost a mighty treasure hith-
erto undiscovered, he had a strong impression upon his
mind that he must be its discoverer, and he made such
representations at White Hall that by the year 1683 he
truly became the captain of a King's ship, the ' Algier
Rose,' a frigot of eighteen guns and ninety-five men.
. . . In her he sailed to Jamaica, and thence to His-
paniola, where, by the policy of his address, he fished
out of a very old Spaniard a little advice about the true
spot where lay the wreck which he had been hitherto
seeking: that it was upon a reef of shoals a few leagues
to the northward of Port de la Plata [Puerto Plata] in
Hispaniola, a port so called, it seems, from the landing
of a shipwrecked company with a boatload of plate, saved
out of a sinking frigot. . . . Nevertheless, he had to
return to England [more likely to Jamaica] where at
length he prevailed upon the Duke of Albemarle and
some other persons of quality to fit him out again, and
then set sail a second time for the fishing ground that
had been so well baited half a hundred years be-
fore.

L*. UU lAI

TREASURES IN SEA AND SOIL 201

" Arriving with a ship and tender at Port de la Plata,
the divers were sent to explore the ' Boilers,' as the reefs
of shoals were called, but they discovered nothing. At
last, when about to return empty-handed and despondent,
one of the divers was sent down to bring up a sea
feather, which was espfed attached to a rock; and he
also brought up a surprising story, to wit, that he had
seen great guns in the water world below, the report of
which great guns [Mr. Mather's pun] exceedingly as-
tonished the whole company, who were at last assured
that they had lit upon the true spot of ground which they
had been looking for; and they were further confirmed
in these assurances when, upon further diving, the Indian
fetched up a ' sow ' — as they styled it — or a lump of sil-
ver, worth perhaps two or three hundred pounds. Upon
this they prudently buoyed the place, that they might
readily find it again, and then went back unto their cap-
tain, whom for a while they distressed wit4i bad news,
nothing but bad news; nevertheless, they so slipped the
sow of silver on one side under the table that when he
should look that way he naight see that odd thing before
him. At last he saw it and he cried out with some
agony: * Why, what is this? Whence comes this? ' And
then, with changed countenances, they told him how and
where they got it. ' Then,' said he, ' thanks be to God,
we are made! '

" And so away they went, all hands to work; and most
happily they fell upon that room in the wreck where the
bullion was stored up; and they so prospered in their
new fishery that in a little while they had, without the
loss of any man's life, brought up thirty-two tuns of sil-
ver; for it was now come to measuring silver by tuns!
Besides which, one Adderly of Providence [Bahamas],

202 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

who had formerly been very helpful to Capt. Phipps
in the search for this wreck, did meet him now with a
little vessel, and with his few hands took up about six
tuns more.

" Thus did there come into the light of the sun a
treasure which had been half a hundred years groaning
under the water; and in this time there was grown upon
the plate a crust like limestone, which crust being broke
open, they knocked out whole bushels of rusty pieces-of-
eight, which were grown thereinto.

'' Thus did they continue fishing till, their provisions
failing them, 'twas time to be gone. And it was remark-
able that thoi5gh the ' sows ' came up still so fast that on
the last day of their being there they took up twenty, yet
it was afterwards found that they had in a measure
wholly cleared that room of the ship where those massy
things were stored.

"But there^was one extraordinary distress which Capt.
Phipps now found himself plunged into; for his men
were come out with him upon seamen's wages at so much
per month; and when they saw such vast litters of silver
sows and pigs come on board at their captain's call, they
knew not how to bear it, that they should not share all
among themselves, and be gone to lead a ' short life and
a merry one,' in a climate where it was so delightful to
live. But still, keeping a most careful eye upon them,
he hastened back to England [first to Port Royal, Ja-
maica, in all probability], though he left so much behind
that many from divers parts made very considerable
voyages of gleanings, after his harvest."

From reading this involved marrative, it might be in-
ferred that Capt. Phipps very thoroughly ransacked the
sunken wreck oflf the reefs of Puerto Plata; but there is

TREASURES IN SEA AND SOIL 203

no evidence that he found and searched more than a
single galleon, while the Spanish records show, it is said,
that a whole fleet was sunk.

No doubt can attach to the authenticity of the Mather
narrative of Capt. Phipps's wonderful voyage; but if
additional evidence were desired, it could be adduced
from a history of Jamaica written more than a hundred
years ago, in which is given a curious sequel to the
adventure. In the year 1687, it says, Christopher, Duke
of Albemarle, was appointed Governor of Jamaica.
" This hobleman was the only son and heir of Gen. Monk,
who had restored Charles II. Brought to beggary by
vice and extravagance, he was reduced to the necessity
of imploring bread from James I., and the king sent him
to Jamaica, where he died soon after his arrival. He
lived long enough, however, to collect a considerable
sum of money for his creditors, for, entering into part-
nership with Sir William Phipps, who had discovered
the wreck of a Spanish plate ship, he was greatly en-
riched.

" On the death of the Duke, his coadjutors in the div-
ing business, many of whom were buccaneers, complained
that they had not received their full share of the prize
money, and her Grace, the Duchess, who had got posses-
sion of the treasure, refusing to part with a'shilling, they
formed a scheme to seize her person in the King's House
at Spanish Town and carry her ofif. Luckily she re-
ceived some intimation of the plot and communicated her
apprehensions to the House of Assembly, who thereupon
formed a committee of their ablest members to guard her
day and night until she safely embarked in one of the
King's ships for England.

'• She arrived home with all her treasure, at the be-

204 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

ginning of June, 1688; but some years afterward fell
into a state of imbecility, in the progress of which she
pleased herself with the notion that the Emperor of
China, having heard of her immense riches, was coming
to pay her his addresses. She even made magnificent
preparations for his reception.

" As she was perfectly gentle and good-humored in
her lunacy, her attendants not only encouraged her in the
folly, but contrived to turn it to good account by per-
suading a needy peer, the first Duke of Montague, to
personate his Chinese majesty, and deceive her into wed-
lock, which he actually did; and with greater success
than honesty by this means got possession of her wealth
and then confined her as a lunatic.

" Cibber, the comedian, who thought the circumstance
a good jest, introduced it on the stage, and it formed a
scene in his play called ' The Sick Lady Cured.' Though
her Grace survived her husband, the pretended Emperor,
for many years, dying at last in 1734 at the age of ninety-
eight, her frenzy remained to the last, and to the day of
her death she was served on bended knee as the empress
of China."

Puerto Plata is the chief seaport of the north coast,
and the brightest, most cleanly and most progressive of
any town in the island. It derives its name from the time
of Columbus, who called it the Port of the Silver Moun-
tain, the beautiful elevation behind it being frequently
capped by a wreath of silver clouds.

As a railroad connects the port with Santiago, and the
adjacent country is rich, picturesque, and healthful, it is
likely that Puerto Plata will become an attractive resi-
dential region, should- peace ever prevail in Santo Do-
mingo. There is a good landing-place in the shape of a

TREASURES IN SEA AND SOIL 205

jetty thrust out from the shore; but as the water is shal-
low, the interesting sight is afforded of native ox-carts
floating in the harbor, with the oxen attached wading
about with the w^ater up to their noses.

The harbor is small but deep, serving well for coast-
wise commerce, but hardly sufficing for large steamers.
The best harbor in Santo Domingo lies about a night's
run to the southeast of Puerto Plata. This is its great
natural basin and glorious harbor, Samana Bay.

The real harbor of the great bay of Arrows lies five
or six miles within the gulf, and, together with the town
adjacent, is known as Santa Barbara. A series of small
cays lies opposite town and harbor, between the islets
and the main, being a perfect cul-de-sac, with deep water
close to shore. Steep, cultivated hills rise directly from
the shore, with offshoots offering choice sites for dwell-
ings; the lateral valleys are fertile and filled with every
tropical product, the beaches are smooth and fringed with
palms, the bay within the reefs delightful for bathing,
boating, and fishing.

The Samana peninsula is about forty miles in length,
and consists of a range of hills thrust right out into the
ocean to the north of the bay. These hills, swept by cool
breezes, covered with tropical vegetation, and with their,
feet on either side plunged into the sea, offer desirable
sites for farms and winter settlements.

About sixty years ago a colony of blacks was settled
here from the States, and the American traveler will have
the pleasure of hearing his own language spoken, instead
of Spanish, which prevails elsewhere in the island. These
black people have held their own, have built schools and
churches, and have set a good example of thrift and so-
briety to the shiftless natives. They were, President

2o6 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

Heureaux once told me, the most reliable and peaceful
of his subjects. That is, they did not aspire to furnish
a presidential possibility every few months, like their
neighbors, and had no political ambitions likely to prove
disastrous to himself.

At the head of the bay is the straggling settlement of
Sanchez, hardly more than a streak of buildings showing
against a background of forest-covered hills. The bay is
shallow here, but great importance attaches to Sanchez,
on account of its being the coast terminus of the
longest railroad in the island. This road is between
sixty and seventy miles in length, and extends to the
town of Concepcion de la Vega, but was projected to
unite the bay with the important city of Santiago de los
Caballeros, and perhaps with Monte Cristi.

So far as its natural features are concerned, this Vega
Real is one of the most beautiful regions in the world,
the soil is fertile, and the productions limited only by the ■
labor of the inhabitants. Unfortunately the natives are
lazy and shiftless, working only for the satisfaction of
their present needs; their dwellings are mere huts of
straw and slabs of palm bark, without windows and
floors, except for holes closed at night with boards, and
mud hardened by the passing of feet.

The Samana Bay country came within an ace of being
annexed to the United States, during President Grant's
administration, as " old-timers " may recall, for, after
commissioners had been sent out to inquire into the con-
dition of things and the desires of the Dominicans, a con-
vention for a treaty of annexation was entered into ; but
the Senate rejected the treaty by a tie vote, June 30, 1870.
It has always attracted the attention of enterprising
Americans, and there are several nuclei for colonies along

TREASURES IN SEA AND SOIL 207

the shores of the beautiful bay, one of them, on the south
shore, at Savana la Mar, being finely situated and flour-
ishing.

The great peninsula extending eastward from a line
drawn due north and south between the head of Samana
Bay and Santo Domingo City contains vast and fertile
regions almost as little developed as during the times of
the aborigines. Here dwelt the Higueyans, among whom
was settled for a period stout old Ponce de Leon, the
conqueror of Puerto Rico. Along the south coast of the
islands, as at Macoris and Azua, are extensive sugar plan-
tations, some of which are very remunerative, needing
only protracted peace and capital to become as profitable
to their owners as the ingcnios of Cuba — provided, of
course, they could receive as fair treatment from the
United States in the way of reciprocal duties as Cuba is
receiving to-day.

The region for agricultural development lies adjacent
to the coast, and in the rich valleys of the Yuna, and of
the Yaqui, north and soufh. That for exploitation with
a view to unearthing gold and other minerals, is the Cor-
dillera country of the interior.

It was in Santo Domingo, really, that the first gold was
discovered by white men in America, for, though Colum-
bus had seen gold in the Bahamas and in Cuba in the
shape of nose and ear ornaments worn by the natives, the
latter always pointed to Haiti or Santo Domingo as the
home of the precious product. When he arrived ofif the
coast of Haiti, in December, 1492, he was given a great
deal of dust and some nuggets, and when he finally
reached the bay of the present Cape Haitien he found
himself on the threshold of the golden country, the
'* Cibao " of the Indians.

2o8 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

I once saw a handful of fine nuggets, obtained from
near the head waters of the Cibao, by washing with the
primitive apparatus consisting merely of a wooden dish
and a calabash. The largest of these nuggets weighed
five ounces; I bought one weighing half an ounce, and
have heard of lumps eight ounces in weight. This gold
is remarkably fine and sells in London and Hamburg for
about $20 per ounce. It is thought to be derived from
placer washings of unknown deposits in the distant
mountains ; but no one seems to have visited the original
sotrrce, which is still a mystery. Before me, as I write
these lines, lie some grains of gold from the Cibao reigon,
which I obtained at Yanico, where the second Spanish
fort was erected four hundred years ago.

XIII
AMERICA'S OLDEST CITY

A reproach to Americans — The first Spanish colony in America

— Cokimbus an explorer, not a colonizer — His brother, the
Adelantado — How gold was discovered in Santo Domingo

— The city founded on Ozama River's banks — Why it was
named "Santo Domingo" — The disastrous hurricane of
1502 — A mediaeval city wall — House where Diego Columbus
lived — Where lords and ladies held their court — The
Columbus tower, date 1509 — The old historian's description

— Ruins within the battlemented walls — The old monastery,
mint, convents, and churches of the sixteenth century — Our
oldest university — The cathedral and its precious relics —
Last resting-place of Christopher Columbus — A cannon-ball
fired from a ship in the fleet of Sir Francis Drake.

YOU may search vainly, far and wide, for a more
interesting place than America's oldest city,
Santo Domingo, capital of the island of the
same name, in the West Indies. Notwithstanding its
antiquity, it has been shrouded in such obscurity, of
late, that there may be those who will deny its claim
to the title I have given it. It is often flung at
Americans, as a reproach, that they have no ruins of con-
sequence within the confines of their country ; but, if it
be true that they have no historic structures with dis-
mantled towers to show as evidence of ancestral great-
ness, the continent at large can boast some wonderful
groups of ruins in Mexico and Central America, where
indubitable evidence exists of a former civilization that

209

2IO OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

will compare favorably, so far as its architecture goes,
with any the world can show, in Europe or the Orient.

Still, Palenque, Uxmal, Chichen Itza, and Copan are
silent cities; their origin, their builders, shrouded in the
mists of antiquity. The fact remains that Santo Do-
mingo is America's oldest city, that is, of European foun-
dation, and continuously occupied since its first stone was
laid in place. One Spanish settlement, only, antedates it:
Isabella, on the north coast of the island, originally called
by Columbus " Hispaniola," and since named after the
city in question, Santo Domingo. After Christopher Co-
lunibus had first landed there, in the part known to the
natives as Haiti, and had sailed the length of it, he re-
turned to Spain. This was on his first voyage to the
New World, in 1492-93. On his second voyage he sailed
a more southerly course, at first, but eventually returned
to his point of departure, and on the north coast of His-
paniola laid the foundations for a settlement which he
called Isabella, after the Queen of Spain, his royal
patroness. Having established there the nucleus of a
colony, he sailed away on other voyages; for first of all
Columbus was an explorer, a discoverer; never a colo-
nizer. Having discovered a new world, he left the little
details of its colonization and conquest to others, pressing
on eagerly in search of other countries then unknown.

However, the site of Isabella was unhealthy; it was
situated at a distance from the rich gold region of the
interior; and the upshot of it all was that, some three
years after its settlement, while Christopher was away on
one of his numerous voyages of discovery, his brother
Bartholomew, who had been made '* adelantado " of the
island and left in sole charge of its conquest, abandoned
the place entirely.

AMERICA'S OLDEST CITY ^n

The Adelantado sent out exploring parties in search of
a more advantageous site for a colony than Isabella; but
what he sought was really found by accident. The fu-
ture capital of Hispaniola, in fact, w^as founded on a
romance. It owes its origin to the adventures of a Span-
ish soldier, one of Don Bartholomew's men, who, having
wounded one of his comrades in a fight at Isabella, and
fearing punishment, deserted. He wandered through the
interior forests and over the central mountain chain,
finally reaching the headwaters of the river Ozania, which
has its outlet on the south coast of the island. The
Indians north of the mountains had already been sub-
jugated, having lost thousands in the great fight the year
previous when Columbus had led his forces against them ;
but those to the southward of the cordillera were as yet
unconquered. Still, tales of Spanish prowess had pene-
trated to every portion of the island, inasmuch as a mail-
clad warrior might have wandered all over it without
meeting with opposition from the Indians. So it fell out
that when this common soldier, this fugitive, Miguel
Diaz, appeared among the Indians residing on the Oza-
ma, he was received with open arms. It happened that
these people were ruled over by a female cacique, who
was captivated by the .gallant figure cut by the soldier in
armor, and promptly surrendered her heart and fortune
to his keeping. Thus the Spanish soldier became cacique,
or head man of the tribe, and found himself lacking for
nothing which the heart of aboriginal man could desire.

Still, as time wore away he yearned for the former
comradeship, — such is the perversity of man, always
wanting something he has not, or once did have, — and
his queen perceiving him distrait, soon wormed his secret
from him. Being in love with the soldier, she did not

212 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

wish to have him leave her; but, being in love with the
soldier, she wished to gratify his desires. So, when he
informed her that he could return to Isabella for a short
visit, provided he might take with him a gift of gold to
his commander, and that having made his peace with Don
Bartholomew he would quickly return to her, his " first
and only love," she told him of great store of precious
metal which the earth contained, within her province.

And what is more, she took him to the mines and her
people dug out a backload of gold, which he lost no time
in conveying to Isabella, where he related such a wonder-
ful story that the Adelantado not only forgave him his
offense, but promoted him on the spot. He also accepted
his offer to guide him to the rich deposits of gold, which
impressed him so favorably that he returned to Isabella
and lading all the movable property there aboard ship
sailed around to the south coast, where he practically
founded a settlement by erecting a fort on the east bank
of the Ozama. The fort was the fourth of the kind
erected in the island, and consequently in the West
Indies ; but the settlement was the second ; and as Isabella
soon went to ruin, and has never been inhabited since the
Adelantado abandoned it, Santo Domingo (as stated at
the beginning of this chapter) has the honor of being the
oldest existing city settled by white men in America.

Don Bartholomew named his settlement after good
Saint Dominic, who was a native of Spain; and inci-
dentally honored his father, Dominico Columbus, the
humble citizen of Genoa. Christopher Columbus ap-
proved of all his brother had done, especially the peculiar
honor to their father.

After enduring the various vicissitudes of a tropical
settlement for six years, the new town on the east bank

AMERICA'S OLDEST CITY 213

of the Ozania was first attacked by an army of ants, and
then swept nearly out of existence by a hurricane, so the
survivi)rs removed to the west bank of the river, where
the foundations were laid for the city which actually
exists to-day. But it was while the Spaniards were in
possession of the town on the east bank that a scene was
enacted which has become historic, namely, the arrest of
Columbus by his successor in the government, Bobadilla,
and the sending of the King of Spain's " Admiral of the
Ocean Sea " to the mother-country in chains. The walls
of a chapel still stand on the east bank, from the doorway
of which the arrogant Bobadilla caused the royal procla-
mation of his authority to be read; but of the fort in
which by his orders Columbus was confined with fettered
limbs, a few bricks and stones alone remain, near the
bay at the mouth of the river.

Yes, here it was that Columbus received the first check
to his career of conquest, here began the long series of
misfortunes that ended only at his death. From this
harbor of Santo Domingo, in the year 1500, he sailed
back to Spain with manacles on wrists and ankles. Two
years later, having equipped another expedition, he was
denied admission to the harbor by Governor Ovando,
though he applied on the eve of a disastrous hurricane
from which he craved shelter and which he escaped by
seeking a haven further down the coast. His little fleet
survived the hurricane ; but all the vessels save one com-
posing the fleet then about to sail for Spain with the re-
turning governor, Bobadilla, went down before the
cyclone, carrying among others his arch-enemy to a
watery grave.

Columbus was indeed avenged on Bobadilla; but the
atrocious Ovando survived, to become the exterminator

214 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

of the Indians, and to bestow a reluctant welcome upon
the Admiral when rescued from the perils of the terrible
Jamaica voyage, in 1504. This was the -year in which he
sailed across the Atlantic for the last time — that in which
Queen Isabella died — and only two years before he him-
self passed away.

Shall we not hold these memories interesting, and
should we not accord to this old city on the Ozama's
banks a place apart and high, from its association with
one who — whatever his shortcomings — must be accred-
ited with the "discovery" of America?

The settlers removed to the west bank the year of the
great hurricane, 1502, and in course of time a massive
wall was built, landward from the river and the sea, en-
hancing the strategic advantages of a position naturally
very strong. This wall remains to-day, though four
hundred years have passed since it was built, with mediae-
val barbacans, fortalezas, projecting sentry-boxes, and
a gateway loopholed and battlemented. A plan of the
city made in the first decade of the sixteenth century,
shows this wall intact, also the old settlement on the op-
posite bank of the river, with the " Torrecilla de Colon,"
or tower in which Columbus was imprisoned, standing
near the sea, adjacent to It the gallows tree with its
human fruit, without which no Spanish settlement of
those times was considered complete. In fact, it was one
of the charges brought against Columbus when Bobadilla
was sent out to supersede him, that he always had some
one of his enemies hanging on the gallows. In this re-
spect, however, he diflPered little from the other colonists
of Santo Domingo, who when they had authority hanged
and quartered without mercy or restraint.

Above the wall around the city rises, from the river's

AMERICA'S OLDEST CITY. 215

steep bank, an ancient castle called the Homenage,
which, though the local traditioner will tell you that
Columbus was once a prisoner within its walls, was not,
in fact, erected until about the year 1509, when this ill-
used individual had been three years dead. However,
it is interesting enough of itself, without being bolstered
up by factitious traditions; architecturally a gem, his-
torically a nonpareil, for it is indeed the oldest structure
of its kind in America. The same year it was erected,
Don Diego Colon, son of Columbus, having at last come
into the rights for which he fought so pertinaciously,
came to Santo Domingo as viceroy, bringing a lovely
bride, Doiia Maria de Toledo, allied to an ancient and
powerful house, and with a splendid train of lords and
ladies from the Spanish court.

It was the most glorious assemblage that the New
World had then looked upon ; and in sooth, poor old
Santo Domingo has never looked upon its like since then.
For the fortunes of city and island were then in apogee,
the planters and merchants, .the gold-seekers and the
sailors, all, were in high feather, and it was widely ru-
mored that the ladies of Don Diego's vice-regal court had
all come out with a purpose, that purpose being to ac-
quire rich husbands, — and none was disappointed. That
is, no fair lady was disappointed in the getting of a
wealthy husband ; but as to the qualifications of those men
who lorded it over '' encomiendas " of servile Indians,
perhaps the less said the better.

Still, the fact remains that Don Diego brought with
him an elegant court, with gallant knights and maids of
high degree; and another fact is incontestable, namely,
that he caused to be built a beautiful palace, facing the
harbor, midv/ay between the river and the landward wall,

5i6 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

and connecting the two by means of massive fortifica-
tions. So far did he carry his defensive schemes, in fact,
that his enemies later informed his sovereign that he .
meditated intrenching himself within this fortified palace
and defying his King's authority. But that is a little
story aside ; we are concerned only about his palace,
which he built so as to tower above all other structures
there, save the grim Homenage, and adorned with the
beauteous ladies brought from Spain.

One of Don Diego's contemporaries, the historian,
Oviedo, wrote a description of Santo Domingo about this
time, which, as translated and published in black-letter, in
the year 1555, furnishes a quaint and probably authentic
picture of the place :

" To speak sumwhat of the principall and chiefe place
of the islande," says the historian, " whiche is the citie of
San Domenico : I saye, that as touchynge the buildynges
there is no citie in Spaine, so muche for so-muche, (no,
not Barsalona, which I have oftentymes scene) that is to
bee preferred to this generallye. For the houses of San
Domenico are for the moste parte of stone, as are they of
Barsalona.

" In the mydst of the citie is the fortresse and castle ;
the port or haven also is so fayre and commodious to de-
fraight or unlade shyppes, as the like is founde but in
fewe places in the worlde. The houses that are in this
citie are about syxe hundredth in number, of the whiche
sum are so fayre and large that they may well receave
and lodge any lorde or noblemanne of Spayne, with his
trayne and familie ; and especially that which Don Diego
Colon, viceroy under your majestic, hath in this citie, is
such that I knowe no man in Spayne that hath the lyke,
by a quarter, in goodnesse, consyderynge all the com-

\ c f \
c' C t

■■(If < c ' <:

, f f etc '

AMERICA'S OLDEST CITY 217

modoties of the same. Lykewyse the situation thereof,
as beinge above the sayde porte, and altogether of stone,
and havynge many fine roomes and large, with as goodlie
a prospect of the lande and sea as may be dcvysed,
seemeth unto me so magnifical and prince-lyke that your
majestie may bee as well lodged therein as in any of the
most exquysite builded houses of Spayne."

In this letter, written by Oviedo to Emperor Charles V.,
there was doubtless a grain of malice toward Don Diego
Colon, with his '' magnifical and prince-lyke house,"
which bore fruit later, when said Don Diego was sum-
moned to Spain to answer for his extravagance and prob-
able intentions. But here are the ruins of that house,
some of its walls still standing in a good state of preser-
vation, just above the entrance-way through the city wall.
It is roofless now, this ancient Casa de Colon, and
against its gray stone walls lean the tottering shanties,
palm-thatched and squalid, of degenerate Dominicans.
Its pillared corridors have long since fallen in, the great
halls and banquet rooms are now partly filled with filth
and occupied as stables for donkeys, goats, and horses.
But the " goodlie prospect of the lande and sea " is still
outspread before one so venturesome as to climb to the
upper rooms and dare the noisome effluvia arising from
the stables.

Outside the walls, close by the river, there is a spring
known as Columbus's fountain, and a great ceiba tree is
pointed out as one beneath which the Admiral himself
once rested. The intramural city can boast more than a
dozen structures still standing which date from the vice-
royal period. Largest, and, in some respects, most
fascinating of these is a vast and vine-draped pile entirely
gone to ruin. It is all that remains of the first Franciscan

2i8 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

monastery founded in the New World, its corridors
deserted, its cells, its chapel, and refectory alike roofless.
But somewhere here lie the ashes of brave and gallant
Bartholomew Columbus, once the Adelantado, or military
governor, of Santo Domingo ; and also buried in some
obscure corner of the monastery chapel, now unknown,
is another great-hearted adventurer, Alonzo de Ojeda.
Their exploits filled the world, at one time, four centuries
ago ; they did much to achieve the conquest of the West
» Indies; but now, no one knows the spot that holds their
dust. As a ruin, solely, irrespective of its historical asso-
ciations, with its picturesque, vine-draped walls and
cloister-arches, San Francisco is well worth a visit and
inspection, for we have few such in the United States.
Then there are other buildings of equal antiquity, such
as the casa de moneda, or the king's mint, with a fine
fa(;ade ; the convent-church of San Nicolas, founded in
1509, with a beautiful groined canopy over its presbytery;
the quaint and original church of Santa Barbara, on a hill
in an angle of the river-wall ; and San Miguel, near by,
which was built by the king's treasurer three hundred and
eighty years ago ; handsome Santa Clara, which has been
restored, and San Anton, a mere shell falling to decay.
But of the ecclesiastical structures within the walls, the
convent-church of Santo Domingo, dating frojn Don
Diego's time, is locally the most famous and possesses an
interest absolutely unique because of its associations.
Should any reader of mine ever visit Santo Domingo, I
beg him, or her, to closely examine the tessellated pave-
ment of the eastern transept, where may be found a large
tombstone with a carved coat-of-arms, the escudo of some
Spanish grandee who died centuries agone, consisting of
a shield disporting thirteen stars, the number and the

AMERICA'S OLDEST CITY 219

emblems of our thirteen original States; but chiseled in
that marble more than two hundred years before our
famous Declaration of Independence.

But this old church, with its serpent-supported pulpit,
its magnificent nave and tombs of Spanish worthies, has
an interest attaching to it far beyond its own attractions,
inasmuch as the same Dominicans who founded it at
about the same time established adjacent the first uni-
versity in the New World. The ruins of this university'
have been w^ell-nigh demolished, existing only in a lam-'
entable state of neglect; but they should be sacred to all
lovers of learning for what they represent. In the struc-
ture once attached to the church, and now represented by
mounds of crumbling stone, at one time resided that fore-
most man of his age as a philanthropist, Bartolome de las
Casas. He came here with Ovando, in 1502, lured hither,
perhaps, by the tales told by his father, who was with
Columbus on his second voyage. After going with
Velasquez and Cortes to Cuba, in 151 1, after his dis-
astrous experiment at civilizing the Indians of the " Terra
Firma," about 1521, he returned to Hispaniola and
immured himself for years within the walls of this uni-
versity and monastery. Here he produced that great
monument to learning and industry, or at least began and
carried well forw^ard toward completion, his " History of
the Indies."

There is, indeed, one structure alone which would repay
all the discomforts of a pilgrimage — even assuming them
to exist — and that is another sacred shrine of early Amer-
ican history, the noble cathedral, which was founded in
1 5 14, and finished thirty years later. It has been shaken
by earthquakes, sacked and bombarded by pirates, and
at times all but abandoned; yet its massive walls still

520 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

stand, and its roof of Spanish tiles protects many a holy
relic. Exteriorly, the cathedral is not impressive, per-
haps; but its glorious nave and transepts, with massive
pillars supporting groined and lofty ceiling; its lateral
" chapels," twelve in number, filled with saintly relics in
age from two to four centuries, and finally, its magnificent
retable richly carved and gilded, rising behind an altar
plated with silver, make up for all possible deficiencies in
its superficial aspect. One of the most precious of relics
here, in the estimation of the natives, is a fragment of the
cross of La Vega, upon an arm of which an angel once
descended, it is claimed, at the battle waged by Columbus
with the Indians, in 1495. It is set in gold and inclosed
in a silver casket, and is shown to the faithful only once a
year. Then there is the first great cross set up on the site
of the cathedral, in 15 14, which is nine feet high, and is
made of native mahogany. There are paintings here
ascribed to Murillo, and portraits of the twelve apostles,
whichi are probably the work of Velasquez.

Reference having been made to the fear entertained
by the Dominicans of English pirates, it should be
explained that it was Sir Francis Drake, the famous and
piratical adventurer, of whom they stood most in awe.
And with good reason, for at various times he assailed
their capital and sacked it, a memento of his attack of
1586 being still preserved in the shape of a cannon-ball,
once fired from his fleet, and which is imbedded in the
roof of the cathedral. That assault of 1586 was unpro-
voked, as shown by Drake's own historian, who says :

" We spent the early part of the mornings in firing the
outmost houses; but they being built very magnificently
of stone, with high loftes, gave us no small travell to ruin
them. And albeit, for divers days together, we ordeined

AMERICA'S OLDEST CITY 221

ech morning by daybreak, until the heat began at nine of
the clocke, that two hundred mariners did nought els but
labour to fire and burn the said houses, whilst the
souldiers in like proportion stood forth for their guard,
yet did we not, or could not, in this time, consume so
much as one-third part of the towne ; and so in the end,
wearied with firing, we were contented to accept of five
and twenty thousand ducats, of five shillings and six-
pence the peece [about thirty thousand dollars] for the
ransome of the rest of the towne."

Soon after this attack, Santo Domingo fell into a
decline, and the theater of action being transferred to
Cuba, Mexico, and Peru, it never recovered. To-day it
presents but a pitiful picture of its former self. Its resi-
dents speak the language of its original settlers ; but they
are mainly of alien, African descent, the white people
being so few that they may be counted on one's fingers.

Still, what other city of America can boast as its one-
time citizens a great discoverer like Columbus ; a fifteenth-
century humanitarian like Las Casas ; a monster of
depravity like Ovando, and a quartet of conquerors like
Velasquez, who subjugated Cuba ; Cortes, who conquered
Mexico; Balboa, the explorer of Darien, discoverer of
the Pacific ; and Pizarro, who stole the treasures of Peru ?

XIV

PUERTO RICO, SPANISH AND AMERICAN

My first glimpse of Puerto Rico — The policeman with the itching
palm — Editorial amenities — West-Indian newspapers —
Descendants of Columbus — What our Government has done
— Ungrateful Puerto-Riquefios — The laboring classes, who
do not labor — The gibaro and his hut of palm leaves —
Inexpensive living in Puerto Rico — Suppose one were to
adopt it? — Thanksgiving Day and its observance in the
island — What the hurricane did — The natural resources
available — Birds and quadrupeds of this island — Temperate
and tropical regions compared — The population — No stand-
ard of morality — Possibilities in tropical agriculture — There
is gold in the mountain streams — History of its discovery —
What Agueynaba did to the Spaniards.

IT is a long look backward to my first glimpse of
Puerto Rico, in the winter of 1879-80, yet I can
easily recall many incidents of my voyage around
that island, the interior of which was then a veritable
terra incognita. I remember, for instance, that when
I first entered the harbor of San Juan, on board
the " Hadji," a British built " tub," sailing under Amer-
ican colors, the Spanish customs official, who had been
put aboard off the harbor-entrance, promptly stepped in
front of my camera when I attempted to photograph the
Morro and the fortifications.

He was, in fact, put there for the very purpose of pre-
venting inquisitive foreigners from making, sketches or
photographs of the ancient walls, and it was all I could
do to preserve my property from confiscation. I had to

222

PUERTO RICO, SPANISH, AMERICAN 223

promise, under oath, that I would make no more expos-
ures while in Puerto Rican ports, and was kept constantly
under surveillance, not only at San Juan, but at Ponce,
and other ports at which we touched.

I had a belated revenge, though, about ten years later,
when I went to the island as the accredited representative
of our Government, and received a special permit to
photograph from the alcalde municipal of the capital. It
was most grudgingly bestowed, to be sure, and I was
cautioned not to turn my camera toward those obsolete
fortifications. Still, I succeeded in securing some photo-
graphs of the same ; but it was only after my friend, the
policeman, who had been detailed to guide and watch me,
had been told to turn his face the other way, and hold his
hand behind him! He was so much impressed with the
subsequent ceremony that whenever I pitched my camera,
after that first operation, he voluntarily performed this
act of courtesy, not once only, but several times, plainly
showing that, like many another Spaniard, he was afflicted
with the disease known as the '' itching palm " for pesos.
I had up to that time thought it peculiar to customs
officials; but this experience convinced me that it was
universally prevalent.

I think it is a contagious disease, also, for even the
press of Peurto Rico seemed inoculated with its virus,
at the time of my second advent in the island, I distinctly
recall. The editors I met often reminded me of my friend,
the policeman — they so frequently turned their backs and
held their hands behind them ! For example, when a
member of the diplomatic corps called with me upon the
newspaper fraternity, though I was received with appar-
ent cordiality, there was yet a certain constraint which to
me was unaccountable. My friend, the diplomat,

224 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

explained to me afterward that perhaps it might be well
to insert an advertisement of my mission in the most
prominent papers, and also purchase a goodly number of
each issue containing it.

Acting upon this disinterested advice I at once sent
word to each editor that I would like 50 copies of his
paper when it should contain items of importance to the
great American government ! The result was that the
next day all the important papers of San Juan vied with
each other in most flattering notices of the " eminent
commissioner, whose opportune arrival had caused such
great excitement."

There was more than a column of this sort, showing
plainly that vast leisure was the portion of the insular
editor and that he was sorely put to it for news. I had
felt sure that the receipt he sent me was more than ample
recompense for the price of 50 copies without fulsome
eulogy. The following is a literal translation of that
receipt : " El administrador of the Integridad National,
who kisses the hands of your worship, presents his com-
pliments to Sefior Don F. A. Ober and has the great pleas-
ure of inclosing a receipt for the fifty numbers he had the
distinguished honor of remitting to him yesterday of the
above named periodical."

Now, that was an ordinary receipt for a small sum of
money, and the editor wrote it himself, which speaks vol-
umes for newspaper methods as they prevailed in the
island before the capitulation.

There was a " crying need " for a good periodical
printed in Spanish and English (it appeared to
me) ; but if it existed, that '* long-felt-want " has been
filled, for a printing press went along with the advance
g^uards of the American army of occupation. Hardly

PUERTO RICO, SPANISH, AMERICAN ^25

had our gallant soldiers ceased shooting leaden bullets
into the resisting Spaniards in Puerto Rico, on receipt of
the news that the peace protocol had been signed, than
they began firing paper billets at the inoffensive Puerto-
Riquefio. Desire for the latter's enlightenment caused
" the little red schoolhouse " to be erected on almost every
hill in the island ; and we know what an army of school-
ma'ams and masters succeeded to the army of invasion !

As an index of West Indian enlightenment, the news-
papers throughout the islands are likely to lead one far
astray, for they are mostly edited with an eye to the adver-
tising columns — strange to say — said advertisements con-
sisting mainly of Spanish, French, or English proprietary
medicines, chiefly pills and plasters. They are printed on
coarse paper, and sold at a high price. As a means of
disseminating information among a population largely
composed of illiterates, they apparently fail to achieve
their destiny.

This brings me to remark upon the characteristics of
the Puerto-Riquefio. He did not seem to have any,
before the arrival of the Americans, in 1898; or if he had
any he kept them to himself, having been minded thereto
by the long centuries of Spanish oppression. Not only
could I obtain no expression amounting to an opinion
from the average islander, but absolutely no information
respecting the island itself save what was open to my
visual organs. There was a great highway, the *' King's
Road," running over the mountains from Ponce to San
Juan ; several sporadic attempts had been made to build a
railroad in various parts of the island, but little had been
accomplished. There was no more information available
as to the interior of Puerto Rico than there was at that
time as to the unknown interior of Africa. A rumor wa§

526 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

prevalent that at one time a German naturalist had some-
how worked his way to the interior hills and mountains ;
but he kept his mouth shut as to what he saw — and per-
haps this was the price of his permission to explore.

At the outbreak of the Spanish-American war, one of
the-editors of a famous and popular magazine came to me
with a request that I would write an article on Puerto Rico
for that magazine, as I was the only man he could find
" who knew anything about the island " ! This may seem
in the nature of an equivocal compliment ; but I wrote the
article, nevertheless, and illustrated it with some of the
photographs I had taken when the policeman's back was
turned. At that time I drew all my material from Span-
ish sources, and that same year wrote a book on the island,
which was probably the first work in English on the sub-
ject in more than half a century.* Immediately the way
had been opened by the army, there was a deluge of news-
paper correspondents and " scientific " writers, who had
been detached from the various departments in Washing-
ton, so that the great public, which had been presumably
hungering and thirsting for information on Puerto Rico,
was more than appeased. Hence, I feel that another
chapter on the subject will be looked upon as somewhat
supererogatory.

But, however much the island has been " written up "
since the American occupation, there is still something left
that may be considered worth the while to investigate.
Regarded as a whole, and as our only possession in the
American tropics, Puerto Rico has many charms for both
student and casual tourist. It seems so to me ; but I may
look at it through glasses that exaggerate its importance.
I will confess that since the mystery respecting its moun-
*" Puerto Rico and its Resources," New York, 1B98.

PUERTO RICO, SPANISH, AMERICAN 227

tains and inland forests has been dispelled, the charms of
Puerto Rico have lost their freshness. One should gather
facts, even statistics, while the morning dew is on them,
as one would gather strawberries. An oft-reiterated fact
gets stale to nauseousness ; there is no pleasure in follow-
ing after a party that has beaten a trail to the mountain-
top. My most blest experiences have been those face to
face' with what I then thought was primitive nature.

So with Puerto Rico: to visit it now, after other thou-
sands have tramped its trails and raised the dust on its
roads, would be wearisome. And if to me, why. not, then,
to others?

True, why not? Well, the only reason I can give, is
that perhaps there may be some few who have not yet
been in Puerto Rico! To such, perhaps, the island may
yet gleam afresh in pristine lovdliness. For, after all, we
cannot expect the great Creator to make a new island or
a new continent for every generation ! It is our misfor-
tune that the world was made so many years ago, and to
us is now old, and to some of us, perhaps, somewhat stale.

I found in an old history of Spain, not long ago, an
item to the effect that the King of Spain, Ferdinand, hus-
band of Isabella, had signed a " capitulation " with
Vicente Yanez Pinzon, quondam companion of Columbus
on his first voyage, for the conquest and settlement of this
island, subsequently known as Puerto Rico. Be that as it
may, it was not until 1508 or 1509 that Ponce de Leon
landed here, and soon after established a settlement.

After the Indians had been reduced to subjection the
Spaniards were for many years harassed by foreign foes
and by the buccaneers. Historic personages, like Drake
and Hawkins, and two hundred years later Abercromb}
(who, like Admiral Sampson, in 1898, vainly bombarded

228 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

San Juan), honored the Spaniards with frequent visits.
But, notwithstanding these persecutions, and the occa-
sional hurricanes, which devastated the island, Puerto
Rico continued to flourish. While Cuba was the prime
milch cow of Spain, yet Puerto Rico yielded freely, and
many an official owed his rise to a position here.

Past and present are inseparably linked, in the affairs
of this island. For instance, in the Presupiiestos, or esti-
mates, for the fiscal year 1887-88, I found this curious
item, under the head of obligaciones generates: " Article i
— To Don Cristobal Colon, Duque de Veragua, three-
quarters of the obligation acknowledged in favor of his
defunct ancestor — pesos 3400. To Don Fernando Colon,
Marques de Barboles, one quarter part of said obligation
— pesos 850."

The Duke of Veragua,' it may be remembered, was our
guest during the Exposition year, and a suppliant for our
favor in the shape of a pension or donation, in recognition
of the doings of his reputed ancestor, Don Cristobal
Columbus. He was not a bad-looking man, as I recall
him, having the air of a well-to-do ** Britisher," and in
fact was a breeder of fine bulls for fighting in the ring.
His degenerate brother, the Marquis de Barboles, was a
shrunken, monkey-like apology of a man, who went
about clinging to his elder brother's coat-tails, and fre-
quently ejaculating, at intervals, " Where do I come in?'*
meaning, thereby, that he wanted his proportional share
of the donation, whenever it might be donated. And
these two, following after a long line of non-resident an-
cestors, depended upon Puerto Rican bounty for many
years.

Spain did all she could to wreck the island; and yet
after the, United States government took possession, it

♦ ' • •■3 5

PUERTO RICO, SPANISH, AMERICAN 229

was charged that the Spanish market more than com-
pensated for the Spanish stealings. After the great hur-
ricane of August, 1899, it became the custom to charge
all evil happenings to the change of ownership, and the
new government was made a universal scapegoat. And
yet, see what that government has done for Puerto Rico.
Look at the schools it has founded, the money it has lav-
ishly poured out, in an effort to make amends for the
sins it never committed!

The enthusiasm with which the islanders received our
army continued to sustain itself until it was seen, by one
class, that the incoming Americans had not made them
all independently rich, and by another that they had not
freed them from their century-long condition of abject
poverty. Havmg welcomed their ** Heaven-sent deliv-
erers,*' as they styled them, with effusive joy, and in the
Spanish fashion invited them in to help themselves, the
natives next looked forward to receiving an exceedingly
great reward. But it did not immediately materialize,
and they became, if possible, even poorer than before.
Then came the hurricane, the most disastrous 'in cen-
turies, and that, too, was charged against the Yankees.
Thus, for a time the military government of the island
had a very '' hard row to hoe." But it hoed it, neverthe-
less— at the expense of our government. The Puerto
Ricans were fed from our overflowing granaries, they
received millions of rations gratis, and, after that, mil-
lions of dollars were returned to them which had been
received as duties on their goods. Still, it is not a matter
of record that the islanders ever murmured a single
expression of thanks!

It was ascertained that most of the sugar-planters,
instead of having been ruined by the hurricane, as was

230 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

pathetically reported, had actually benefited by it, owing
to the sedimentation from the hill-washings, which was
spread like a fertile blanket over their lowland acres,
enriching their exhausted soils beyond belief. The cof-
fee planters suffered more ; but they soon rose from their
ashes and joined in the general hue and cry that they had
lost the market of Spain, without having received an
adequate return. That they, in common with all others,
had received the priceless boon of freedom, did not count
for anything at all, in their estimate of results.

There remain the laboring classes, which comprise the
bulk of Puerto Rico's population, and which were the
recipients of charity from the United States to such an
extent that the term " laboring class " was practically
discarded. It was a misnomer, anyway, for there is no
class in the island that has ever earned this distinctive
appellation. They reside mainly in the mountain dis-
tricts, but their mouth-pieces, the native politicians, dwell
in the towns and cities of the coast, where they readily
reached the ears and the purses of sympathetic Amer-
icans. Accepting their doleful tales, thousands of poor
people starved to death during the military interregnum,
and in proof of the truth of their assertions they dis-
patched carefully-coached delegations of emaciated men
and barefoot women to San Juan, there to beard the
governor in his castle.

To one who knows the island and its almost limitless
resources, this story of starvation seems false on its face ;
but perhaps the best refutation of it — at least inferentially
— is to recite why the Puerto Rican need not starve,
instead of entering a simple denial.

In the first place, compare the climatic conditions of
the tropical zone in which lies Puerto Rico with those of

PUERTO RICO, SPANISH, AMERICAN 231

our own so-called temperate region: perpetual summer
on the one hand, contrasted with most rigorous winter
on the other more than six months of the year. The
Puerto Rican, then, has no winter to provide against, with
its consequent expenses for comfortable habitation, fuel,
and clothing. And by the Puerto Rican is meant the
gibaro, or peasant laborer, about whom the politicians
were so tenderly solicitous. He is the present repre-
sentative of a long line of paupers extending through
centuries, not one. of whom ever possessed a dollar
over night or had a voice in the management of insular
affairs.

He is a veritable peon, or slave of ancestral and cumu-
lative debt, and in probably nine cases out of ten is owned
body and soul by the sugar, coffee, or tobacco raiser, who
was clamoring so loudly that he should *' have his rights,"
and so insistent upon the return of those " millions wrung
as customs from unwilling contributors."

Well, without seeking to involve the gibaro in politics —
except, perhaps, to show how he has been a contributory
cause of discontent, let us show how nearly impossible it
is for him to starve, or even to suffer severely, save
through his own fault. In the matter of a habitation he
is content with the merest shelter from the elements, and
if he were ordinarily industrious (which he is not) the
head of a family might erect such a shelter as suffices the
average Puerto Rican in less than two days. First, four
holes are dug in the ground, into which four posts are
inserted and set erect. These are connected by frame-
works of smaller poles, which are covered with palm
leaves, and the " house " is made. This is the simplest
type of dwelling, such as generally answers the needs
of the peon. The floor is of hardened mud or clay, and

232 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

sometimes the wattled sides are plastered over with mud
or mortar; sometimes the hut is constructed of palm
boards, and well thatched with palm leaves or yagua
shingles, made of palm spathes.

The giharo's house costs him nothing but a little labor,
and is mainly set up without nails, or any furnishings
whatever from the stores. The palms, growing every-
where in the country, yield all necessary materials. For
the simple utensils used in his domestic economy, the
householder goes to another tree, the calabash, the fruit
of which is converted into vessels of various sizes, such
as dishes and water bottles, plates and spoons, while the
yagua of the royal palm furnishes tubs for washing
clothes in, cradles for the babies, wrappers for cigars,
and all bundles that are to be kept dry, and even founda-
tions for the rude beds which, when hammocks are not
used, are spread upon the floor at night. From two
species of palms, the royal and the cocoa, and the cala-
bash, the Puerto Rican obtains ample material for his
house and its equipment.

This hut is called a bohio, in contradistinction to the
house of the town, which is usually built of stone, is much
more pretentious and is known as the casa.

To establish the fact already asserted, that the natives
of the island are extremely poor and shiftless, I will refer
to the report of Brigadier General Davis, in which he says
of these people :

" They live in huts made of sticks and poles, covered
with thatches of palm leaves. A family of a dozen may
be huddled together in one room, often with only a dirt
floor. They have little food worthy the name, and only
the most scanty clothing, while children of less than seven
or eight years are often entirely naked. A few may own

PUERTO RICO, SPANISH, AMERICAN 233

a machete or hoe, but more have no worldly possessions
whatever. Their food is fruit, and if they are wage-
earners, a little rice and codfish in addition. They are
without ambition, and see no incentive to labor beyond
the least that will provide the barest sustenance."

We have seen that a newly coupled pair of Puerto
Ricans just starting out in life incurred no expense what-
ever for a dwelling; and, judging from the statistics, fur-
nished during Spanish domination, no great amount was
squandered on the marriage ceremony ; for out of twenty-
five thousand births in 1887, for instance, eleven thou-
sand were illegitimate.

Let it be assumed, then, that a pair of gibaros may be
established in domicile, or en casa, without the expendi-
ture of a dollar. What will be the household expenses,
as the months and years roll by ?

House and furnishings they already have. The first
necessity, fuel for fire (for culinary purposes only), lies
in the fields or woods at or near their door. An iron pot
has been begged, borrowed, or stolen, and no other kitchen
utensil is actually necessary except a knife, which is sup-
plied by the machete, universally carried by the peon, and
which is never out of his sight or grasp. The machete
is so much a part and parcel of the giharo's outfit that he
only attracts attention when it is absent. He acquires it
early in life, and parts with it only through stern neces-
sity, as, for example, when funds are needed for gambling
or for betting on a favorite fighting cock.

With the machete the peon hews down the trees for
corner posts to his hut, lops ofT the leaves of palm for
thatch and bedding, digs holes for setting out tubers and
plants, and sometimes, though rarely, removes the weeds
from his garden.

234 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

" Fingers were made before forks," is an axiom so self-
evident that no peon ever gives it a thought, and the Httle
toddlers that soon in time gather around the household
hearth, or the fire-bed in the center of the hut, follow the
example of their elders and eat without any other assist-
ance than their owfi chubby hands, which they dip into the
pot, like the others.

The only expense for garments is incurred by the adult
members of the family, and probably does not aggregate
$5 a year. Until the age of seven to ten, the children go
about as naked as they were born.

In order to impress my readers with the fact that the
Puerto Riqueno, even the poverty-stricken giharo, may
have quite an extensive range to his dietary, I have ven-
tured to imagine him engaged in celebrating the last of
the dias de fiesta, or feast days, which has been bestowed
upon him by a paternal government — our time-honored
*' Thanksgiving."

Taking the island of Puerto Rico as typical of our
tropical possessions, lying as it does nearer to our shores
than Hawaii or the Philippines, and on a median line of
latitude as compared with the others, we shall find
Thanksgiving Day, or Dia de Gracias, as it is there
termed, honored by the closing of government offices and
appropriately observed. The stores are open on half-
time only, the plantation works are idle, and the people of
town and country seize the occasion for visiting.

As an excuse for idleness merely, the Puerto Rican
laborer hails the Dia de Gracias with joy and promises
himself indulgence in a dan::a, or, perchance, a sur-
reptitious cock-fight. Coming, as it does, at or near the
end of the much-dreaded hurricane season, Thanksgiving
offers even the punctilious Puerto Rican a good excuse

PUERTO RICO, SPANISH, AMERICAN 235

for joining in festivities, participation in which he might
be averse to by training, though not from temperament.

Distant from the equator less than twenty degrees,
Puerto Rico's Thanksgiving event takes place in sunny,
summer weather, with the temperature somewhere up in
the nineties. All nature is abloom at this season and the
air is filled with the promise of harvests. Provided the
season has passed without the visitation of a hurricane,
evidences of the fruitful soil are on every hand. Along
the coast the cocoa palm droops its head above heavy
clusters of nuts shining golden in the sun; warm-hued
bananas hang invitingly from their stalks ; breadfruits
are ripening on stately trees with deep-lobed leaves. Then
there are oranges, limes, lemons, guavas, sapadillas,
mangos, custard apples, etc., — in fact, all fruits that are
grown in equatorial regions. Prominent among the
fruits native to Puerto Rico and the West Indies in gen-
eral is the delicious pineapple^ which the first Spanish
conquerors found growing here, cultivated by the natives.

So far as the gibaro's table is concerned, it cannot be
said, in the language of Pope, " Viands of various kinds
allure the taste," for they certainly do not. The average
Puerto Riqueno is a vegetarian, perforce ; yet there are
certain indigenous animals, both birds and quadrupeds,
that would yield him at least a taste of flesh on occasion,
were he possessed of any skill at all as hunter or trapper.
While the fauna of Puerto Rico is not extensive and nq
large animals have there their habitat, there are a few
small quadrupeds that would serve excellently to furnish
the Thanksgiving table in the giharo's humble hut. There
is the agouti, for instance (Dasyprocta agouti), a little
hare-like and inoffensive animal, with glossy, snuff -brown
coat and a sensitive nose with which he sometimes ferrets

236 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

out the native tubers, like the yam and eddoe. Inasmuch
as he prowls about the " provision grounds " on the
borders of the woods and takes toll therefrom, it is no
more than just that the native biped should make him pay
therefor — always provided he can catch the agouti.

He would prove a welcome substitute for turkey, and
so would another small animal which, like the agouti, is
getting scarce in Puerto Rico, the armadillo. Properly
cooked in his shell (which shell, according to Sir Walter
Raleigh, *' appeareth somewhat like unto that of a Rino-
cero"), the armadillo surpasses quail or turkey in the
flavor of its tender flesh. It must be cooked by a master,
though — a " real and truly " chef, one who has been bred
on a plantation and taken a cruise or two along the Span--
ish Main.

There is but one meat tenderer than quail or armadillo,
and that is of the iguana, the large arboreal lizard that
inhabits the lowlands of all the West Indian islands. It
should be stewed with yam, plantain, etc., to be perfectly
palatable. The streams of Puerto Rico still yield abun-
dantly of crayfish (in the Spanish islands called camar-
ones), and in the hills are found the migratory land
crabs, both crustaceans forming delicious adjuncts to a
Thanksgiving menu and eagerly sought by the natives.
From the salt waters that surround the island a great var-
iety of fish may be extracted, and there are mussels and
oysters, but of inferior quality.

Leaving the native fruits aside, it is not likely that
strangers temporarily resident in Puerto Rico, such as the
soldiers and office-holders, will draw heavily upon the
articles enumerated as provand for the '* Dia de Gracias" ;
at least, not so long as the steamers connecting with the
United States run regularly %x\A Qold-storage plants of

PUERTO RICO, SPANISH, AMERICAN 237

capacity exist at Ponce and San Juan. In point of fact,
the non-resident Americans, as well as the natives of
town and city, are becoming increasingly dependent upon
cold storage, especially for viands of superior quality.
Throughout the West Indies, not alone in Puerto Rico,
fruit and fowl are generally regarded as " by-products,"
that may come up somehow, anyhow, in the nature of a
providential dispensation. This may account for their
general inferiority, for the tropical climate is particularly
adapted to the raising of both, especially domestic fowl.

And as to turkey, that bird without which Thanksgiv-
ing Day would be considered lacking in the first requisite
for feasting, it may be remarked that Puerto Rico proba-
bly received it many years before the territory now
known as the United States was permanently settled by
Europeans. It is generally conceded by naturalists that
the first European turkey came from Mexico ; though
there are those who declare that the Cabots took it to
England in the last decade of the fifteenth century.

This sketch of the island's resources in the matter of
providing for the table from its own products suggests
comparison with some land less favored by nature in
the North, New England, for example. See what enor-
mous natural advantages the former possesses over the
latter. Note the great central range of mountains,
rising 3600 feet in Yunque, with ramifications east and
west, north and south ; with its thousand rivers, short-
lived, it is true, but with great possibilities for irrigation,
electric and water power. There are scores of water-
falls, some of large size, and at least one stream has
been found by American engineers capable of 1000
hor3e-power.

Compare these two regions climatically, and contrast

238 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

New England, with its rigorous winters and short
summers, with the perpetual summer-land of Puerto
Rico. Lying between the i8th and 19th degrees of
north latitude, its climate is tropical along the coasts,
but in the interior almost temperate. One can secure
a radical change of climate by riding a few hours
mountain-wards, as well as a change in fruits and veg-
etation.

The population of the island, about 900,000, and
composed in great part of poverty-stricken half- and
quarter-breeds, ignorant, even illiterate, we may also
compare with that of New England, with its high
standards of education and morality. There is no
standard of morality here, all observers agree ; but it is
not altogether the fault of the simple-minded people.
They found obstacles in the way of lawful wedlock,
so they dispensed with the ceremony to a great extent.

They have felt the oppressive restrictions of a distant
and severe government, so they have concluded it to be
altogether futile to attempt the laying up of riches or
the accumulation of worldly goods. Their antepasados,
also, some of them leading back to paupers and criminals,
transported at the state's expense, have not bequeathed
to them a very hopeful heritage.

The Rev. Father Sherman, who traveled over the
island shortly after we took possession, reported the
children as quick to learn, precocious even, and very sus-
ceptible of becoming Americanized. He found the
natives, though nominally Catholics, practically pagans;
a large proportion of them illiterate, and resorting to
most barbarous practices respecting the inhumation
of their dead.

Church and State have gone hand in hand here in

PUERTO RICO, SPANISH, AMERICAN 239

Puerto Rico, as in Cuba, and the first step of our govern-
ment will be — has been, in fact — to dissociate them,
to the vast benefit of the people at large. Intramural
inhumations will no longer be permitted and the people
will no longer support a church which they have out-
grown or discarded.

In attempting to predict the future of this island, one
must base his assumptions upon its permanent possession
by the United States, and the integrity of those delegated
to authority here. We cannot doubt that, unless
deprived of it by unforeseen casualties of war, we shall
always hold it as an integral portion of our great Repub-
lic. We cannot assume otherwise than that those sent
to rule it shall be actuated by the highest motives of
patriotism and disinterestedness.

Here, then, are two factors making for success at the
outset, and calculated to infuse new vigor into the
jaded proprietors of overworked lands and estates.
Scientific agriculture will become the hand-maiden of
government, and there is not a square mile of the island
that will not feel its beneficent influence.

There are, as we know, limitations to tropical agri-
culture in a small island like Puerto Rico, with its 3600
miles of area; but what, in my opinion, will be the most
interesting, if not profitable, outcome of this acquisition
by our government of a truly tropical possession, will be
the opportunity for experimentation in a field entirely
new to us. That is, we have never yet entertained the
possibilities of tropical agriculture ; we have devoted all
the great resources of our agricultural colleges and
departments to the exploitation of products solely of the
temperate zone.

Does it not now dawn upon us that here before us is

240 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

outspread a limitless field for investigation and experi-
ment? Tropical agriculture has never been subjected to
the scientific harnessing, to the analysis of trained profes-
sors and experts, as it will be soon. I predict, in truth, that
not many years will elapse before we shall have chairs
of Tropical Agriculture and Horticulture in our colleges.
A new world has been opened to us — whether we retain
the Philippines or not; whether we continue in control
of Puerto Rico or not — by the mere suggestion of their
occupancy, be it permanent or temporary.

It is not on record, I believe, that our governmental
geological surveys have ever located any great bodies of
mineral lands; but there ought to be a field for an
expert in the West Indies, one who could authorita-
tively inform us as to the existence of auriferous terri-
tory, if there be any. However, there is gold in Puerto
Rico. There was gold there before its discovery by
Columbus in 1493, ^^ the golden ornaments of the natives
proved. When, in 1508, Ponce de Leon, the famed
seeker after the Fountain of Youth, first reached the
island, he was hospitably entertained by the Indian
cacique Agueynaba, who presented him with fine speci-
mens of gold obtained from the river beds in the western
part of the island. Ponce was so excited that he could
hardly rest until he had sent to Santo Domingo, the
island whence he had invaded Puerto Rico, for soldiers
to accompany him in his search for gold in the interior.

It was gold that he was after, as well as Columbus
and all the other Spaniards of their time, and that they
got the precious metal in quantities the official records
of the Spanish Government attest. The city of Caparra
was founded in 15 10, but owing to the strong desire of
the Spaniards to search for gold it was practically

PUERTO RICO, SPANISH, AMERICAN 241

without inhabitants during the first two years of its
existence, since every able-bodied man was sifting the
sands of the rivers that came down from the mountains.
The Indians were impressed at the very outset, and soon
all those who came within reach of the white men were
aiding the Spaniards in their investigations. At last it
became so unbearable that Cacique Agueynaba resolved
to either put an end to Spanish oppressions or himself
receive his quietus.

He had been told that the Spaniards were immortal,
and for a time he believed it, seeing them come up out
of the sea in almost endless processions. But, like the
canny Scotchman who lived in story afterward, he had
his " doots " at last, and resolved to test the theory by an
original application of the water cure. That is, he cap-
tured a Spaniard alone in the mountains, and held his
head under the water of a stream for two or three hours.
Then he took him to the bank and sat beside him for
two days, or until he received incontestable evidence of
his demise. Such heroic treatment put an end for a time
to gold hunting in Puerto Rico, for, the Spaniards resent-
ing it and getting after the cacique, an insurrection
followed which was not put down until the Indians were
practically exterminated.

Still, traditions of gold in the island lingered through
the centuries, the stories stimulated every now and then
by rich finds by natives who washed the sands in a
shiftless manner with wooden dishes and without system.
There are, in fact, people living in Puerto Rico to-day
who gain a livelihood by gold washing, pursued in just
the same way as their ancestors before them followed
it, and as it is carried on, also, in the adjacent island of
Santo Domingo.

242 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

The same conditions prevail in Puerto Rico as in Santo
Domingo, though gold washing in the former island has
not been so persistently carried on as in the latter, where
the rivers are less numerous, but at the same time larger.

It is safe to say that the mineral resources of Puerto
Rico have not yet been fully exploited, though the rivers
may no longer pour down golden sands, as of yore. It
is in the heart of the mountains, in the great Luquillo
range, that search should be carried on, where many of
the rivers running to the coasts have their origin.

XV

THINGS WORTH SEEING IN PUERTO RICO

How the writer is handicapped — The two great attractions of
the island — San Juan, the Morro, and walls of circumval-
lation — Casa Blanca, one-time residence of Ponce de Leon

— Whence he sailed to search for the Fountain of Youth —
The courteous Puerto-Riqueiios — When the Stars and Stripes
were first unfurled here — The Governor General's palace —
Suburbs of San Juan — The glorious views down the coast —
A fragmentary railroad — Arecibo and Aguadilla — Monkey
Island and the Mona Passage — Mayaguez, Hormi-
gueros, and San German — Yauco and the port where Amer-
ican troops first landed — Ponce and its Parque de Bombas —
Schools, teachers, and scholars of the island — The com-
posite population — The Spanish-Arabic fonda and the siesta

— The great road over the mountains — Mineral baths of
Coamo — Aybonito, and the fighting there when the protocol
was signed — Tropical scenery and temperate climate — Re-
gion of coffee, cacao, and royal palm — Descent of the moun-
tains from Cayey to San Juan.

SINCE the island of Puerto Rico became an Amer-
ican possession, many meritorious works have
appeared describing it and treating of every
phase of life and nature there. As our first, and at
present only holding in the American tropics, it has
received particular attention, and like Cuba has, perhaps,
been " done to death " by bookwriters and newspaper
correspondents. Still, the newspaper article is ephemeral,
and the life of a book scarcely ever exceeds two or three
years, while new readers are constantly appearing; so I

243

244 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

will venture anew to exploit the attractions of an island
which I was among the first, if not the very first, to bring
to the attention of the American public.

The two great attractions of Puerto Rico, in my hum-
ble opinion, are the city of San Juan and the military
road over the mountains between that city and Ponce. San
Juan is the oldest city in the United States — assuming
the island to be actually ours — as it is a contemporary of
Baracoa and Santiago de Cuba, and forty years older
than Saint Augustine, in Florida. It is also the only
walled city within our jurisdiction, and is universally con-
ceded to be among the finest specimens of military archi-
tecture in the New World. Situated as it is, upon an
island standing well out from the main into the sea, with
its massive walls of circumvallation from fifty to one
hundred feet high, it presents a most imposing spectacle.
Trapezoidal in shape, the city rises amphitheater-like
from the peaceful bay within the curvature of its walls,
while upon the ocean front of the little island upon which
it is built heavy surfs of the Atlantic roll and thunder.

The seaward or western front of the island is so pre-
cipitous, and the water close to land so deep that one
might toss a stone ashore as the steamer enters. Here
stands the faro, or light-tower, which has for many years
borne a lantern 170 feet above the sea, and is one of the
first artificial objects to claim attention as the island is
approached. This lighthouse stands within the citadel
known as Morro Castle, which in Spanish hands was a
small military town in itself, with chapel, barracks, bomb-
proofs, and dismal dungeons down by the sea. It was
completed as long ago as 1584, and is in shape an obtuse
angle, with three tiers of batteries facing the sea, placed
one above another, so that their concentrated fires shall

SIGHTS IN PUERTO RICO 245

cross. This old citadel was the beginning of the vast
wall which completely incloses the city, and which was
planned in its entirety in 1630, but not completed until
1 77 1. The complement of the Morro in the west end of
the island is the fortress of San Cristobal at the east,
which faces oceanwards and also guards the approaches
from the mainland. It is entered by a ramp on the high-
est part of the hill, where its fortifications are cut out of
the solid rock, and commands, with its tiers of guns, the
city and the inner harbor.

Beneath the ocean wall of the citadel lies the cemetery,
where, in old-world fashion, most of the dead are
" pigeon-holed " in Columbaria, and where, until the
American occupation, the graves of common people were
merely rented for a term of years, at the end of which
their remains were turned out to make room for others.
All this is changed now, as well as the rigid rules relaxed
by which the fortifications were rendered inaccessible to
strangers. There is now no need for secrecy, and with
a permit from the commandant one may ramble at will
over walls and into casemates which at one time could
only be visited at the peril of one's life.

While the churches, with their wealth of treasure and
ornament, their priceless relics and ancient architecture,
will claim much attention, of course, yet the structure
that will most occupy one's thoughts will probably be the
" Casa Blanca," one-time castle of old Ponce de Leon.
It stands within a garden surrounded by a crenelated
wall, upon a bluff, from which, through the cocoa palms,
there is a glorious view of the beautiful bay and the dis-
tant mountains. Be sure to visit it at sunset, or by moon-
light, and, sentiment aside, those who love the beautiful in
nature will be well rewarded.

H6 our V/EST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

It might be well to inquire, at this point, into the his-
toric values of this Spanish-American city, with its
memories extending back to the days of Ponce de Leon
and Columbus.

It was in November, 1493, that Columbus, then on his
second voyage to America, first sighted the lofty moun-
tains of this island, and called it San Juan Bautista. Its
native name was Borinquen, and subsequently, in some
way it came to be called Puerto Rico, or the Rich Port,
after the harbor of Aguadilla, on the western coast.
Columbus did not revisit the island, and for several years
it was left alone by the European voyagers, who were
now flitting to and fro in the West Indies. But in 1509
the governor of the eastern province of Hispaniola, or
Santo Domingo, Ponce de Leon, made an expedition
hither and discovered that the island was inhabited by a
gentle tribe of Indians, who warmly welcomed him to
their country. Wherever the Spaniard went war was
inevitable, and soon the Indians suffered so much that
they attacked the invaders in sheer desperation. The
eventual outcome for them was extinction, and not one
descendant of those people remains alive to-day. Having
" pacified " the country, after the customary Spanish
fashion, Ponce de Leon founded a city, which he called
Caparra, and from which he removed to the site of San
Juan, in 151 1.

It was in 1 5 12, as all Americans know, that he set forth
on that romantic quest for the " Fountain of Youth,"
which resulted in the discovery of Florida, and it was on
his return from this voyage that he built the castle now
called Casa Blanca. It was from this castle that he went
out on his last voyage, in 1521, and from which he never
(Came back alive. Slain by an Indian arrow, on the coast

SIGHTS IN PUERTO RICO 247

of Florida, his remains were borne back to his home in
San Juan, where they have been kept in a leaden case,
in the church of Santo Domingo.

Such are some of the fascinating historical reminis-
cences that recur to one, while looking out, from the
citadel or from Casa Blanca, down upon the beautiful
bay which has been the scene of world-renowned exploits.
There is no other such spot within the confines of our
country where such great names are linked with such
deeds and scenery.

Within the walls of the city are gathered about 20,000
people, with perhaps half as many more in the suburbs
outside ; and it is among these natives that the visitor will
find much material of interest for note-bcok and camera.

Although brought within the restraints of American
rule, the natives still hanker for the pleasures of the bull-
fight and cock-pit, and Sunday is their chiefest holiday.
But they are mild and courteous, even the raggedest of
them, and (unless their opinion changes) seem to think
the conquering Americanos the greatest people on earth.
It is in the plazas and the market-places that they should
be studied, where many of the poorer people come with
the produce of field and garden, and the richer come to
buy. They are thoroughly Hispanicized, like their archi-
tecture, which is well adapted to the exigencies of the
tropical climate.

It was on the i8th of October, 1898, that the Stars and
Stripes first flew officially above the ramparts of San Juan
and the Morro. On that day, at noon, the United States
Commissioners, General Brooke, Admiral Schley, and
General Gordon, met the officials designated by Spain,
and coming out of the palace with many naval officers,
formed on the right side of the plaza. At the report of

248 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

the first gun from the Morro, the flag of our country
was hoisted, while the band played the *' Star Spangled
Banner." It was not until the ist of May, 1900, that
military rule in Puerto Rico was replaced, and the first
civil governor, Mr. Allen, a native of Massachusetts, was
installed. The ceremony took place at the palace, where
the Spanish governor general had once resided, and was
a function of considerable importance.

The governor general's palace, built upon the " plata-
forma " of Santa Catalina, San Juan, is now, as it was
under the Spanish regime, the official residence of the
military commander-in-chief and civil governor. It is a
large and handsome structure, adorned with marble and
elegantly furnished.

There are interesting suburbs within easy reach of the
capital, such as Rio Piedras and Carolina, connected by
tramway, the former with about a thousand inhabitants,
a theater, casa de recrco, or country palace for the author-
ities, etc., and beyond which runs the great military road
to Ponce. Then there is the hamlet of San Turce, the
pretty suburb of Cangrejos, with its summer gardens and
summer houses, and across the bay the quaint Catafio and
Bayamon, in a district where lie the ruins of the first set-
tlement, Caparra.

A week might well be passed in and about San Juan,
but two or three days will suffice to exhaust its major
attractions ; though the time is coming when the city will
be chosen as an all-the-winter resort, with its equable
temperature of from 75 to 80 degrees, its cool sea breezes
from the northeast " trades," and its most fascinating
architecture.

The coast views are glorious, and may be enjoyed
from the decks of comfortable steamers, or while travel-

SIGHTS IN PUERTO RICO 249

ing by rail on land. A comprehensive railway system
was at one time projected around the entire island, to be
more than 300 miles in length, the first section being from
San Juan to Camuy, 62 miles, passing through the flour-
ishing town of Arecibo, in the roadstead of which the
steamers stop for cargoes of sugar, coming out of the
fertile valley that here descends from the Utuado moun-
tains. The main stream, at the mouth of which lies
Arecibo, is fed by numerous others, which form beautiful
cascades and are overhung with luxuriant vegetation,
while seven miles distant is a great cave, which is locally
famous.

Aguadilla, the west end of the island, is the port at
which Columbus landed in 1493, and is famous for its
fruits, flowers, and tropical scenery. Off in the channel
between Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo rises the soli-
tary and unique island, Mona, or the Monkey, which
gives its name to the Mona Passage between the two
larger islands. It is apparently of volcanic origin, its
shores rising perpendicularly to a great height, and at
the north end is a bold headland capped by an overhang-
ing mass of rock with the suggestive name of Caigo 0
no Caigo — "Shall I fall or not?" A few half savage
fishermen, wild goats, bulls, and swine, inhabit the island,
while waterfowl innumerable make it their home.

Next south from Aguadilla is Mayaguez, a larger city,
ranking the third in the island after Ponce and San Juan
as a commercial center, exporting large quantities of cof-
fee, pineapples, and cocoanuts. The contiguous moun-
tains reduce the temperature to less than eighty degrees
throughout the year, and send down delightful streams,
among them the River Mayaguez, the sands of which at
on^. time yielded gold.

250 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

Beyond Mayaguez lies the straggling village of
Hormigueros, eight miles from which is the city of San
German, which lies astride a long, uneven hill above the
double valley of Boqueron-Juanajibos, and has been com-
pared to a vast garden, filled with orange, lemon, and
tamarind trees, coffee, cotton, cacao, and sugar-cane.

Sixteen miles southeast of San German is the hamlet of
Yauco, connected by railroad with the city of Ponce. It
has a fine climate and good water, and has a cart road to
the port of Guanica, which has a population of about
looo people. The port, in fact, is better known than the
town, for it was here that General Miles landed his troops,
in July, 1898, when for the first time Puerto Rico was
invaded by the Americans. Here began those military
operations which took our soldiers as far as Mayaguez,
and subsequently from the port of Ponce to Aybonito on
the military road.

Ponce, which bears the name of the first Adelantado, is
the chief city of the island, and has the most numerous
population. It cannot be considered an attractive city,
situated as it is three miles from its port right down in a
dusty plain ; but it may be worth visiting for the sake of
comparison with other places.

The central feature of Ponce is its plaza, in the center
of which is the Parque de Bomhas, or firemen's parade
ground, where the bomberos frequently come out for
exercise, in all the pomp of uniforms and with antiquated
" tubs." Without the picturesque accessories of San
Juan, Ponce yet holds its own, its houses being well built,
and its markets well supplied. During the heydey of
Spanish occupation it boasted three fine hotels, three large
military barracks, two excellent hospitals, two or three
casinos, a municipal library, a bank, a home-of-refuge,

SIGHTS IN PUERTO RICO 251

two churches (mcluding the only Protestant church in
the island), a town hall, parks, plazas, gas works, and two
cemeteries. One of the first centers of population to feel
and yield to American impressions. Ponce soon forged
ahead at a lively pace, and promised great things for the
incoming foreigners.

Here you will find some of the best schools in the
island, which were established under American super-
vision. If there is one thing more than another that
strikes the visitor with surprise, it is the wonderful ad-
vance the native pupils of the average schools have
made in the acquisition of English. It was, to be sure, a
novelty, and they seized upon it with avidity; but aside
from this, it is an admitted fact that the Puerto Rican
children are remarkably bright and acquisitive. This is
shown by the fact that they mastered in six months all the
studies usually allotted for a year in the schools of their
grade in the States. This precocity does not necessarily
indicate a high degree of intelligence, but rather an apti-
tude for elementary learning. There is no discrimination
in the schools on account of birth or color, for these new
neighbors of ours are strictly democratic in the best sense
of the term.

As to the teachers, most of whom are natives of Puerto
Rico, it may be said that they are competent, faithful,
conscientious, and earnest in their endeavors to bring
their work up to the American models. Several hundred
of them visited the United States in the summer of 1904,
for the purpose of study and sight-seeing. Photographs
of the native teachers, as well as of the pupils, indicate
that a large proportion of the island's population shows
traces of negro or Indian blood; yet there are many
families directly descended from ancestry of high degree

252 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

in Spain, as well as others of French, German, and Italian
lineage. Nearly all are of a pronounced brunette type,
the blonde being a rarity, as in old Spain. If there are
any characteristics for which the ladies are distinguished,
they are amiability, intelligence, and sweetness of disposi-
tion. They are not now so rigidly secluded and guarded
as their sex in the mother country, especially since the
advent of the Americans; but the best of them were not
often seen outside their houses in the daytime, except at
some festive or religious function, when they were usually
accompanied by attendants.

It is not often that one may ride from the coast of an
island to the summit of a mountain nearly three thousand
feet, over easy gradients and without fatigue; but one may
do it here. One of the most creditable works here of the
Spanish engineers (perhaps the greatest since the fortifi-
cations of San Juan were built) is this wonderful highway
across the island, connecting the two chief ports of Puerto
Rico. The island itself is only one hundred miles in
length by about thirty in breadth, and the distance
between Ponce and San Juan not over 60 miles, in a
straight line; but as the high mountain chain lies between
them (and owing, as some say, to the fact that the road
was built on contract, by the mile) the connecting high-
way is about 85 miles in total length.

The capital is due northeast from Ponce, but for nearly
half the distance out from the former the course is almost
south, with many a curve and twist, and then westerly,
gradually approaching the southern coast. Although the
Spaniards are not celebrated as road-builders, nor for the
attainments of their engineers, yet this road is a monu-
ment to Spanish pluck and skill.

The first place of importance is the hamlet of Coamo,

SIGHTS IN PUERTO RICO 253

which has most wonderful medico-mineral springs, sup-
plying the baths of an establishment which has existed
for centuries, known as the " Bafios de Coamo." The
water is thermal, clear, and limpid, with strong sulphur-
ous odor, and gushes forth in great volume.

Coam.o was entered by American troops, pressing up
from Ponce, in August, 1898, and was quickly captured
without resistance. It Hes at an elevation above the sea
so great that the breezes from the coasts are now appreci-
ably cooler; but the highest point is reached at Aybonito
(or Aibonito, meaning " How Beautiful !'), which is
3000 feet above the city we left in the morning. As
Aybonito is about midway the journey, it would be an
agreeable resting-place for the night, even though its
buildings are not in keeping with its natural charms. At
this elevation, nearly half a mile above the sea in perpen-
dicular height, will be found much to enchain the atten-
tion of the traveler.

It was at Aybonito, the middle of August, 1898, that
the news reached our army of occupation of the signing
of the protocol that terminated hostilities between the
United States and Spain.

At Aybonito we have reached an altitude equal to half
that of Mount Washington, yet as it is within the tropics
we find — instead of chilly winds, snow and ice, that half
the year make the latter impossible of ascent — the flow-
ers and plants of spring and summer time. We have left
behind us the heated coast, with its fields of sugar cane
and groves of cocoa palms, and are now in a region where
the temperature is equable and delightful. The road dips
into valleys and sweeps around the slopes of hills, cross-
ing roaring streams over arched bridges of solid masonry,
and plunges into the shade of sweet-scented forests. We

254 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

are now in the region of coffee, cacao, tobacco, and the
royal pahn, where the possibiHties for agricultural opera-
tions seem limitless, though not half developed.

Passing over the crest that divides the southern from
the northern slopes, with their hundreds of streams flow-
ing in different directions, we descend towards the ham-
let of Cayey, which is 2300 feet above the sea, and only
37 miles distant from San Juan. Here a road branches
off to the coast, passing through Guayama to Arroyo.
Cayey has a delightful climate, and is a favorite resort
with those who wish to escape the heat of the coast.

About the same distance from Cayey as the latter place
is from Aybonito, lies the town of Caguas, at a lower
elevation, and the junction-point of several mountain
roads, including one from Humacao and the southeast
coast. All along the line, connecting with the great high-
way at intervals, are roads and bridle-trails, which lead
away into fascinating tcrroc incognita, to secluded valleys
and isolated mountain peaks, which one is constantly
tempted to explore. Horses and guides are not difificult
to obtain, and if one should desire to break away from
the paths of civilization and devote a few weeks to that
unknown interior country, the adventure would be well
rewarded.

XVI
THE DANISH ISLANDS AND VIRGINS

How Uncle Sam dashed the hopes of the Danes — Charlotte
Amalia's peerless port — Some ports of Puerto Rico —
Culebra as a coaling station — Santa Cruz and its scenery —
When the " Monongahela " went ashore — Saint John and its
haven, Coral Bay — An island of spices and fragrant forests
— The attractiveness of Saint Thomas — Its capital and chief
port, Charlotte Amalia — How Saint Thomas has changed,
for the better and worse — Its harbor compared with that of
San Juan — Best in the West Indies as a coaling and refitting
station for war-ships — The attempt made by President Lin-
coln and Secretary Seward to secure it — Denmark's price
and America's offer — An affair that dragged through three
administrations — When the King of Denmark said farewell
to his West-Indian subjects; and then took them back —
What the latter think of Americans — Visits to Tortola,
Virgin Gorda, and Anegada.

WHEN Uncle Sam appropriated Puerto Rico,
as his reward for services rendered to Spain
in divesting her of Cuba, he dashed the
hopes of three islands in the Virgin group, lying fifty
or sixty miles to the eastward. These islands are Saint
Thomas, Saint John, and Santa Cruz, the inhabitants
of which had been casting sheep's eyes at the United
States for several years, hoping we would go down
and possess them. Severally and collectively, they can
boast many and varied charms; but the chief inducement
they had to offer was the peerless harbor of Charlotte

255

256 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

Amalia, in Saint Thomas. At first the Danes asked fif-
teen millions for it, then ten, then dropped to seven, with
the three islands '' thrown in " ; but when the harbor of
San Juan fell to us, as part and parcel of the Puerto Rican
conquest, it was no longer needed. For we then
had not only San Juan, but the entire island of Puerto
Rico, ten times as large as Saint Thomas, and vastly more
fertile, with a population of 900,000, the traditional "thou-
sand hills " — with cattle on them, too — sugar and coffee
lands, rivers and harbors.

Intrinsically considered, the Danish West Indies are of
small account to the rest of the world, but through their
geographical position they are of inestimable value to a
portion of it. Strategically, they hold the key to the
West Indian and South American situation in case of
war; they control, or may be made so as to control, the
ocean pathway from our Atlantic ports to the projected
Isthmian Canal, which in the future will be an appre-
ciable factor in forming an estimate of values. They are
situated within the tropics, and consequently beyond the
ken of the average American citizen, who generally has
contempt for things not within the range of his vision.
Tropical they are, in situation and production; yet they
are not physically volcanic, and have produced nothing
worse than tidal waves and hurricanes.

The largest member of the Danish West Indian group
is Santa Cruz, or Sainte Croix, depending upon whether
the original Spanish name bestowed by Columbus is
chosen, or the more recent French. Largest of the trio,
being 19 miles in length by 5 in breadth, Santa Cruz is
also the most fertile, yielding vast crops of sugar cane
and some coffee; level in the main, with only one eleva-
tion over locx) feet; containing a population of about

DANISH ISLANDS AND VIRGINS 257

25,cxxD people, more than half of whom are to be found
in the two towns of Christian and Frederichstaed.

Santa Cruz has a reputation (achieved by a single
swoop of a hurricane and tidal- wave combined) which
it may never outlive. It was acquired in 1867, when the
old '' Monongahela," United States war-ship of that
period, broad of waist and rotund as to bows, was sent
high and dry ashore by the forces aforementioned, and
landed in a roadway quite a distance from the sea at its
normal level. Not a small amount of money was neces-
sary to return the old tub to her aqueous habitat ; but the
feat was accomplished, and she sailed away, to return
again after many years and receive a royal welcome.

The island has proved so attractive to several Amer-
icans that they have forsworn allegiance to their flag
and settled down here in the midst of bucolic delights.
There are many things to allure, many to conjoin in fix-
ing a foreigner to the soil, particularly if one be in search
of the dolce far niente — for this is its home, they say.

The "smallest of these tropical Danes is Saint John,
which is only eight miles by four in area, or just about
one-half the size of Santa Cruz. It is more rugged,
however, is watered by numerous small streams, and its
hills are covered with second-growth forests of woods
like the bay and cinnamon, wild coffee, and mahogany,
the infrequent plantations devoted to sugar cane being
sandwiched in between. Its total population will not
exceed 2000, all the people, with very few exceptions,
being poor, and nearly all black, or colored, as to
complexion.

Saint John, with its fragrant forests and numerous
beaches of snowy sand, would be beyond all price were it
more accessible ; but at present it languishes in an obscur-

25S OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

ity which has been unbroken for centuries. Only in the
good old buccaneer times was Saint John well known,
for it possessed, as it now possesses, a pearl of price in
its landlocked haven known as Coral Bay. It is doubtful
if the waters of this secluded haven were ever cleft by
keel of craft larger than the droghers that sometimes flit
along these islands coastwise, but within its confining
hills, it is said, a small navy might find shelter.

It is reckoned as hurricane proof — that is, a safe
anchorage during the season between July and Novem-
ber, when the tropic cyclones rage. It is a triple harbor,
sheltered by a lofty promontory, with good anchorages
in nearly every part, and with a depth of thirteen fathoms.
These facts are mentioned because it is for the harbors
they contain, and not for what their soil may be made to
bring forth, or their people contribute, that these islands
are esteemed as of prospective value to the United States.

There is still another island in this trio which owns
a harbor far outclassing any other in that portion of the
world. While both Santa Cruz and Saint John possess
many natural attractions, their companion isle. Saint
Thomas, has received far more attention than either.
Saint Thomas is only thirteen miles in length by three
or four in breadth, and has neither the fertility of Santa
Cruz nor the beauty of Saint John, its soil having long
since been washed from the hills by torrential rains and
its forests having been converted into charcoal, centuries
agone. But it has color and contour, and directly beneath
its central ridge, about 1500 feet in height, lies the famous
town of Charlotte Amalia, in a hollow of the hills, the
buttresses of which run out into the sea and half inclose
its peerless harbor.

There is no more picturesque town in all the West

DANISH ISLANDS AND VIRGINS S59

Indies than Charlotte Amalla, and this is saying much
when one has seen Havana and San Juan, Port au
Prince, and Santo Domingo. Built upon and between
three rounded hills, one of which is topped by a castle
of buccaneer origin, with red-roofed houses standing in
the midst of beautiful gardens reached by tortuous flights
of steps, and with cocoa palms leaning over the beaches
that border the bay, Charlotte Amalia is a shining
example of what a West Indian town may become when
it has the benefit of an unexampled location. It used to
be scourged with cholera and yellow fever and it also
used to be rich and running over with Mexican dollars;
but now it is tolerably healthful and undeniably poverty-
stricken; for a short cut through a coral reef created a
current for the stagnant waters of its harbor, and the sub-
stitution of steam for sails has carried ofif its commerce.

It always was, and still is, a free port, and every article
from foreign parts is cheap; but the bulk of Charlotte
Amalia's population purchases little from foreign parts,
owing to the fact that it has nothing to purchase with.
The barrows laden with dollars that were once trundled
through the streets have long since been trundled out of
sight, and the chink of silver is rarely heard by the aver-
age citizen of the capital, which, as it includes nearly all
the total of 13,000, may be said to represent the island.

But, poor and despised as Saint Thomas has become,
it still retains its hold upon that magnificent harbor into
which the Danish Charlotte dips her dainty feet. Its
average depth is more than six fathoms, its entrance is
open and about half a mile across, while within it is a
mile in breadth and with sufficient accommodation for at
least one hundred sail. On its west side is the " careen-
ing cove," where there is a large floating dock and a depth

26o OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

of more than twenty feet of water. On every side rises
a hill, except to the southward, where Hes Santa Gruz,
forty miles away, and, according to naval experts, the
harbor might be made a veritable Gibraltar, with com-
paratively little expense to whatever government owned
it. At present there are diminutive forts perched on the
hills that guard the harbor mouth, and down at the water-
edge of the town stands a small red fort with rusty iron
guns pointed in aimless manner at the heavens above.

This is the harbor so highly commended by Admiral
David D. Porter, many years ago, who told Gharles
Sumner that there was none other in the West Indies so
well fitted for a naval station. As to its location, he said,
it lies right in the track of all vessels from Europe, Brazil,
the East Indies, and the Pacific Ocean bound to the West
Indies or the United States. He called it " the keystone
to the arch of the West Indies," as it commanded them
all, and added that it would be of more importance to the
United States than to any other nation.

The harbor of San Juan looks northwardly, that of St.
Thomas opens southwardly; the one is already defended
by massive fortifications, but the other can be made far
safer by one-tenth the expenditure made by the Spaniards
at San Juan during three centuries. Captain G. V. Fox,
of our Navy, once reported : " This harbor of St. Thomas
is one of the best in the West Indies, admirable for naval
purposes, and fully equal to all the requirements of the
commerce of those seas. . . The eminent strategic,
geographical, and commercial position which St. Thomas
occupies arrests the attention of the most casual observer
of the world's chart."

This much as to the location of the harbor; now let us
inquire into the movement made at one time toward its

DANISH ISLANDS AND VIRGINS .261

acquisition by the United States. There was one Power,
during the dark days of the American Civil War, always
consistently friendly, and that was little Denmark, whose
ports were open to our war-ships on the same terms that
others obtained. Notably free to our naval commanders
was the port of Charlotte Amalia, and there was estab-
lished a coal yard for the use of our ships. It was the
one port to which we could have free access, and, what
is more to the point — egress, when a Confederate cruiser
or blockade runner, having availed itself of this port for
coaling and refitting, was about to depart.

When, therefore, a coaling station was thought of, and
the subject broached to President Lincoln, in January,
1865, it was with the Island of St. Thomas in mind that
Secretary Seward " broke ground." He lost no time in
sounding the views of the Danish minister at Washing-
ton, and in inducing him to communicate with his govern-
ment. He and Mr. Lincoln had agreed upon this partic-
ular island of St. Thomas, for the reason that it was most
commandingly situated as to the other West Indian
islands ; also, it belonged to a nation friendly and, what is
of importance, impecunious. It was shrewdly con-
jectured, by our astute Secretary of State, that Denmark
might wish to sell this outlying possession of hers, for
reasons of her own; at all events, that she would entertain
the proposition in a friendly spirit. It so happened that
Denmark was in need of several millions of dollars to
strengthen her defenses; at the same time she did not
dare risk ofifending her sister powers by openly assenting
to a sale of even so small a portion of her territories as
that bit of earth and rock in the far Caribbean Sea.

But her objections were finally overcome, although she
was very coy at first, and insisted upon knowing just how

262 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

much Uncle Sam was willing to pay for her West Indian
Islands before proceeding further. Her minister was
instructed to obtain a reply, when there intervened that
terrible tragedy by which our nation lost its President,
and Mr. Seward himself was prostrated by the hand of
a would-be assassin. A natural delicacy prevented the
subject from being reopened by the Danish minister, and
it was not until January, 1866, that Mr. Seward, having
meanwhile made a voyage to the West Indies for the
restoration of his health, resumed negotiations. He had
visited St. Thomas, and all his previous impressions as to
its being a desirable acquisition for our government were
confirmed.

A basis of negotiation was finally secured, and our
minister at Copenhagen was instructed to 'ofifer $5,000,-
000 for the three islands — St. Thomas, Santa Cruz, and
St. John. This olYer was declined, but Denmark made a
counter proposition, offering to cede the three islands for
$15,000,000, or St. Thomas and St. John for $10,000,000,
with an option of Santa Cruz for $5,000,000 more. A
compromise was finally effected at $7,500,000 for the two
first named — St. Thomas and St. John. It was in July,
1867, that Mr. Seward cabled to Copenhagen : '' Close
with Denmark's offer ! St. John, St. Thomas, seven and a
half millions. Send treaty ratified immediately."

But the Danes are a leisurely people, and it was not
until October that the treaty was signed and concluded.
Meanwhile there was a question as to the wishes of the
inhabitants of the islands with reference to a transfer of
allegiance, and an agent was sent by each nation for the
purpose of taking a plebiscite. They arrived in St.
Thomas about the middle of November, 1867 5 ^ ^^w days
later occurred a terrible earthquake and a tidal-wave,

V

DANISH ISLANDS AND VIRGINS 263

which have become matters of historical importance, inas-
much as the tide of sentiment in the United States was
doubtless turned against the treaty. It is not known that
the island ever experienced a similar visitation of such
terrible character; it certainly has never had one since.
But this was sufficient to set in motion all the antagonistic
elements of earth and sea, as if the very stars and planets
fought against the project.

Notwithstanding the predictions of the superstitious
people of the island, however, a vote was taken, which
was nearly unanimous, for transfer to the United States.
Considering the preliminary convention as binding
equally upon both parties to the agreement, the King of
Denmark had sent out, by his commissioner, a royal
proclamation, announcing the severance of their relations,
beginning :

"We, Christian the Ninth, by the grace of God King of Den-
mark [etc., etc.], send to our beloved and faithful subjects of
St. Thomas and St. John our royal greeting. We have resolved
to cede our islands of St. Thomas and St. John to the United
States of America, and have to that end, with the reservation of
the constitutional consent of our rigsdad, concluded a convention
with the President of the United States."

Concluding :

" With sincere sorrow do we look forward to the severment of
those ties which for many years have united you and the mother
country, and, never forgetting the many demonstrations of loyalty
and affection we have received from you, we trust that nothing
has been neglected upon our side to secure the future welfare
of our beloved and faithful subjects, and that a mighty impulse,
both moral and material, will be given to the happy development
of the islands under the new sovereignty. Commending you to
God.

/

264 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

"Given at our palace of Amalienborg, the 25th of October,

1867, under our royal hand and seal.

''CHRISTIAN, R."

The popular vote was taken on the 9th of January,

1868, which was made a universal holiday, and the Amer-
ican flag substituted for the Danish on every point of
prominence, tower, and hilltop.

The treaty was submitted to the Danish rigsdad, and
promptly ratified, the king affixing his signature the same
day, June 30, 1868.

The position of Denmark, acting in good faith, and
presupposing that the United States would do the same,
now seemed irrevocable. She had offended several of
her mightier neighbors, Germany, France, England, who
looked upon this acquisition by the United States as
prejudicial to their interests.

Over the subsequent proceedings we must draw the
veil of charity, to avoid the use of harsher epithet; for
the conclusion of this chapter is by no means creditable
to the United States. Four months were allowed for the
ratification of the treaty by our Senate, then extended to
a year; again extended to the 14th of April, 1870, when
the committee of foreign relations recommended suspen-
sion of action, and indorsed it adversely.

The afifair had dragged through three administrations,
and had been the sport of different sessions of Congress,
only to be ignominiously smothered in committee and
pigeonholed, with Denmark's royal signature affixed and
the ratification of her Senate. Thus the treaty intention
was ignored ; thus the King of Denmark had the humilia-
tion of recalling his disappointed but still loyal subjects;
and the flag of Dannebrog yet waves over the islands of
St. Thomas and St. John.

DANISH ISLANDS AND VIRGINS 265

Associated as it has been with pirates, buccaneers,
smugglers, men-of-war, and men-of-peace, the harbor of
Saint Thomas has seen some strange, eventful happen-
ings. Having sailed 'into and out of it several times, it
may be impossible for me now to portray it as it should
be, the novelty having worn off; but in another book of
mine (which few, if any, ever read) is an account of my
first impression, which I fain would quote.

It may be night when the steamer arrives at the harbor
of St. Thomas, but the land-breeze brings off the fra-
grance of a thousand flowers, the strange, pungent odors
of the terrene tropics, and you know that a new land is
reached at last. New scenes await you, if it be your first
trip to the tropics, and they cannot but interest and de-
light.

Arriving at the harbor at night, one might well
imagine he had by mistake been brought to the borders of
the infernal region, for flaring flambeaux illumine the
dark waters, dusky forms glide about with discordant
cries, yells, and whistlings. A weird procession of black
and hideous hags, clad in ragged raiment, bearing on
their heads great baskets, and shuffling clumsily up and
down the gang-planks, has established connection with
the shore and is supplying the steamer with coal. It is
merely an episode in the life of the voyager; but it is a
matter of vast importance to those wretched negresses,
who get but a penny a basket for their toil, and who are
always ready, by night and by day, to respond to the
blast from the great horn blown by the contractor from
the parapet of Bluebeard's Castle, on the hill across the
harbor.

Making Charlotte Amalia headquarters, many a pleas-
ant trip can fee taken to the isles and islets in adjacent

266 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

waters, being sure not to omit beautiful Saint John, nor
quaint and almost deserted Tortola, the Isle of the Dove ;
nor Virgin Gorda, the " Fat Virgin," which has a moun-
tain 1300 feet in height well charged with gold and cop-
per. The extreme tip of the Caribbean chain crops out
at Anegada, the " Submerged Island," which lies just
north of Virgin Gorda, and of old, like all the other Vir-
gins, was the resort of buccaneers, having many secluded
coves and hidden harbors into which they ran their ves-
sels while the enemy was nigh. This island is, or was,
famous for its great Flamingo Pond, the resort of the
big birds in pink and crimson livery, which come up from
the Orinoco regions at certain seasons of the year and
enliven the landscape with color.

Great veins of silver and copper have been traced at
Gallows Bay, and sometimes old coins and jewelry are
found in the island, worth far more than their weight in
gold, and probably left there by the pirates who used to
rendezvous around the bay named after Sir Francis
Drake.

XVII
THREE LITTLE DUTCH ISLANDS

Some islands decidedly Dutch — The northernmost isles of the
Caribbees — Where to find the West-Indian volcanoes — Saba,
an island unique — The town of Bottom in its crater-bowl —
Bonaparte's Cocked Hat — The author's adventures in Saba
— Left at the Ladder with strangers — The climb to the town
in the crater — Homes of the sturdy Dutch sailors — Gardens
two thousand feet above the sea — Saba's mountain peak and
the view from it — Northern limit of the garnet-throat hum-
ming-bird— Sulphur as good as that from Sicily — Where
the beasts of burden are human beings — In a land of yes-
terday— 'Statia, the island sacked by Lord Rodney — Loot
that amounted to $15,000,000 — A place that few travelers
visit — Spending a night on a crater-brim — A hegira of the
Hebrews — The author's passport in Dutch — The first salute
paid to our flag by foreign people — Thirteen an unlucky
number for 'Statia — A pendant for Miss Columbia's neck-
lace— Curasao, on the Venezuelan coast — Dutch islands and
their area — A little Dutch Paradise — Papiamento, the
pepper-pot language — The harbor-lagoon of Curasao — How
the island may be reached — A near neighbor of the Lake
Dwellers.

SOUTHEAST of the Saints and the Virgins,which
themselves lie to the eastward of Puerto Rico,
stretches the chain of volcanic islands known as
the Lesser Antilles. They are included within latitude
10 and 18 degrees north, and are arbitrarily divided into
the Leeward and the Windward groups, the former lying
to the north, and the latter to the south of north latitiude
15 degrees.

267

268 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

The new moon in her earUest stages describes no more
nearly perfect crescent than this " string of emeralds on a
silver zone," which those prone to alliteration term " the
crescentic chain of the Caribbees." Every island in this
chain, beginning with diminutive Saba in the north, and
ending with Grenada in the south, is volcanic in char-
acter, and the chord of the arc they collectively describe
is about three hundred and sixty miles in length. Each
island is practically a single mountain shot up from the
ocean depths, the altitudes varying from 2000 to 5000
feet, and so evidently volcanic of origin that one may not
err in ascribing it to old Vulcan, or whoever has been
allotted to perform his work in the nether world.

Pinnacles, mountain-tops, spires, thrust up through the
sea, suggest also (as remarked in Chapter I) the remains
of a lost continent — or perhaps the beginnings of a newer
one — and around them we may well weave myths, not
only Antillean, but Atlantean. They are all volcanoes, in
fact, and were thought to be extinct, until May, 1902,
when occurred the terrible eruptions in Saint Vincent and
Martinique, by which thousands of homes were destroyed
and between fifty and sixty thousand people lost their
lives.

At all events the silence has been disturbed, and most
effectually. Atlantis may yet appear out of the debris
of wrecked isles a resurrected continent, above the sea,
and verify the Platonian legend.

But, should these islands be destroyed, and, in effect,
disappear, one cannot conceive of their places being taken
by any more beautiful. Doubtless God might have made
better, and more beautiful isles — to paraphrase old Wal-
ton's remark anent a certain fruit — but doubtless God
never did; or if He did, the writer never saw them. As

o

a
u

U

THREE LITTLE DUTCH ISLANDS 269

every mountain shoots upward abruptly to an altitude
that gives it practically the range of two climatic zones,
temperate and tropical, every beautiful aspect of vegeta-
tion may be noted here. The sides of each partially sub-
merged volcano, from base to peak, and even some of the
crater-walls, are hung with richest tapestries in varying
shades of green.

The northernmost of the volcanic islands — or to be
exact, the northwesternmost — is Saba, a mountain rising
above the ocean floor nobody knows how many thousand
feet, but with about 2800 of them sticking up above the
water. What nature intended it should become when
finished is not evident, for it seems only just begun; but
it is a Dutch possession now, has been for many years,
and is Holland's smallest property in the West Indies,
perhaps in the world.

What is rare in these islands, the majority of the popu-
lation are white ; and not only white, but Dutch, the good
old-fashioned kind, with blue eyes, freckled sandy com-
plexion, and flaxen hair. There are Dutch residents in
San Martin, Saint Eustatius, and in Aruba, Bonaire, and
Curacao, off the Venezuelan coast ; but they are not the
sturdy, clear-complexioned Dutch of Saba Island. The
secret of their sturdiness and their healthfulness is found
in the altitude, at which they Hve ; not one of them less
than 800 or 900 feet above the sea.

In fact, when Nature made Saba, she forgot to indent
the coast-line with a harbor, hardly a landing-place;
least of all a spot big enough to build a house on, so all
the Sabans live at an elevation above the sea, perforce, of
near a thousand feet. Nine hundred and sixty feet, to
be exact, is the height of the town of Bottom above the
sea. That is where most of the Saba people live (those

270 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

that do not dwell there being still higher up, among the
crags of the volcano). The town of Bottom is so called
because it lies at the bottom of an extinct crater. At
least, it is supposed to be extinct, and will probably be
considered so, until some day the victims of a mistaken
confidence in the quiescence of a volcano may find — if
any survive — that the real bottom of the crater was con-
siderably below the level of their settlement! Their
dwelling here in fancied security illustrates the apathy
that possesses all those who take up their residences in
precarious places merely because they have advantages
over others less exposed to danger. They know well
enough that the volcano towering above their quaint little
town once went on a rampage, and peppered the whole
island and surrounding sea until the soil of the former
was nearly hidden from sight, and the latter made to boil
like a witch's caldron. The Saba people ought to know
what volcanic rock and scoriae are, of a surety, for they
have had to painfully clear their lands of both, before
planting the neat little gardens that surround their houses.

Saba, in olden times, was known to the sailors as
" Bonaparte's Cocked Hat," and certes, there is no
quainter country in the world than this same speck of an
island in the Caribbean Sea, which forms one of the links
in the chain connecting North and South America.
Sweep the map with a glance, and you would be likely
to overlook it entirely, so snugly is it sandwiched in
between the others ; but it has its own attractions, never-
theless.

A friend of mine, a geographer and man of learning,
once congratulated me as the only man he had ever met
who had visited Saba, and declared that the first thing
he should do when he had leisure would be to follow in

THREE LITTLE DUTCH ISLANDS 271

my footsteps. Be that as it may, I can recall that no land
I ever set foot on caused me to thrill with such satisfac-
tion and pleasure as when at last I found earth beneath
me in Saba's only settlement. Not so much on account
of the quality of the earth, as from the fact that it was
earth, and not bounding billows or tumultuous seas. For
I had been two days tossing up and down in a small
drogher plying between St. Thomas and St. Kitts, and
was sick nigh unto death, when we sighted Saba's peak
piercing the gloom of a tropic twilight.

The trade wind blew fiercely through the mountain
gorges, and beat us off from the island again and again;
but at last we got in near enough to launch a boat, into
which I was tumbled, together with my belongings. Two
stalwart black men pulled it within hail of the shore,
and then, instead of landing, they split the darkness
with shouts for help, yelling to some invisible person
in the clouds to " come down." It was nearly an
hour before a response was wafted out to the boat, and
quite another ere someone shouted a welcome from the
base of the frowning cliffs. He, she, or it, whoever or
whatever, might have been a disembodied spirit, for all
we knew, for nothing could be seen but the foaming
breakers on the shore and huge bowlders, dim and indis-
tinct ; but in we went, in obedience to the siren's call.

The boat shot ahead with terrific speed straight for
the rocks, and just as the shock of the impact with those
rocks sent me tumbling heels over head, a strong arm
seized me, yanked me out unceremoniously, and set me
upright at the base of the cliff. The process had been
materially assisted by a thumping wave, which had
whelmed the boat and smacked me in the back, at the
same time setting my luggage all afloat. Other strong

272 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

arms pulled the boat upon the rocks, emptied her of my
effects and sent her back again on the breast of a wave,
before I had wiped the salt water from my eyes. So
there I was, alone with several strange folk, number un-
determined until a lantern was lighted, when it was re-
duced from a multitude to two.

They were black, both of them, and evidently friendly,
for after piling my luggage at the foot of the precipice
they took me by the arms and guided me to what they
called the '' Ladder," which was a narrow trail up the side
of said precipice. It was fortunate for my shattered
nerves that the darkness hid the dangers of that trail
from sight, for when I afterward saw it by daylight no
money would have tempted me to essay it. But up we
went, my guides climbing like goats and never making
a misstep, until at last we reached a path which was not
quite so steep as the side of a house, and I sat down to
breathe.

My sable friends assured me that the dangers were
passed, and they told me that of the two landings which
the island possessed this was the worse. When the wind
was west they used the eastward landing, called the Fort,
and when it was east they used the Ladder ; but whichever
was used, and whatever the weather or wind, the sea was
nearly always rough.

Here, however, the sturdy Dutch sailors of Saba, many
of whom are descended from men who had sailed with
Van Home and Von Trompe, when these seas were
infested with pirates and buccaneers, had resided all their
lives. It was lucky for Saba that most of them met their
ends at sea, for really there is not soil enough there to
bury them in. Still, no other place in the world had the
attractions for them held by this small islet, and if per-

THREE LITTLE DUTCH ISLANDS 273

chance any removed to other parts they always came
back, being homesick for their beloved mountain and its
crater.

Faint from hunger and tottering with weakness, I was
piloted to the harbormaster's house ; for, though Saba had
no harbor, yet it had an official who drew pay as captain
of the port, and by him, after I had satisfied his curiosity
as to my business, my birth, and my respectability, I was
permitted to sleep on his floor. Strangers seldom landed
in Saba, and the last one, a dozen years before, had come
by daylight and with proper credentials. I satisfied him
in the morning as to credentials, and after being taken to
the governmental chief, who gave me a passport for two
guilders permitting me to reside in the island without
molestation, I was introduced to the widow of a departed
mariner, who agreed to board and lodge me.

Her little house was neat and painted white, with a
garden surrounding it filled with crotons, limes, and
orange trees, and in front a paved walk with comfortable
benches, from which was a general view of the settlement.
This is the town of Bottom, and which I thought might
better have been named the Summit, being so hard to
reach. Though surrounded on all sides by steep hills,
with breaks in the brim only at the east and the west,
through which the landing-places are, reached, yet the
bottom of the ancient crater is quite broad and compara-
tively level. That the volcano once vomited out many
million tons of rock and scattered them all about is only
too evident, for the people here have had to pick up the
rocks and stones and pile them in heaps before they could
get any garden spaces. Each little garden is inclosed
within walls so high that the one street and the bypaths
wind between artificial cliffs.

274 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

Saba, as the most northern of the true volcanic islands,
is the home of some birds not to be found anywhere
nearer the temperate zone than here. It was the north-
ernmost habitat, as I ascertained, of the beautiful hum-
ming-bird known as the garnet throat, which is one of the
largest found in the West Indies, and has plumage like
velvet, shot with iridescent and metallic hues of wine or
garnet.

As the ascent is made above the ravine the tree ferns
and mountain palms become very numerous, the wild
plantains, with golden and crimson cups, hang athwart
the path hew^n by the cutlass, and a wilderness of orchide-
ous plants covers the trees. There is no trail above the
" provision grounds " for the natives of Saba, though the
men make voyages round the world, and are constantly
at sea, have no love for mountain climbing. As for
the women, if they get from one door to another, and once
a year or so make the trip of forty miles to St. Kitts,
they think they have done wonders.

But the view from the peak is worth voyaging far and
climbing high to see, embracing, as it does, a wide sea-
scape dotted with the islands of St. Barts, St. Martins,
and Anguilla to the east ; St. Thomas, Santa Cruz, St.
John, and the Virgin group to the north ; St. Eustatius,
St. Kitts, Nevis, and Montserrat to the south — all historic
islands, and every one a gem.

Being a volcano, though quiescent, Saba yields, of
course, the natural concomitant of lava and scoriae — sul-
phur, and in a very pure state. It was claimed for the
vast deposit, which was then being exploited toward the
heart of the volcano, that it was the only mine of pure,
cool sulphur in this hemisphere — the only one outside of
Sicily, in fact. I have seen the sulphur of Popocatapetl,

THREE LITTLE DUTCH ISLANDS 275

Mexico, in situ, and it was to gratify my desire to see that
of Saba that, one very hot day, I descended the eastern
cHffs, nine hundred feet below the heights. There I
found the black miners working heartily, in a tempera-
ture too hot to mention in polite society, at a level about
two hundred feet above the sea. The great cliffs were
seamed with veins apparently inexhaustible, and owing
to the purity of the crude sulphur, it is blasted from their
faces and shot down a wire tram to the holds of vessels
anchored near the shore. Only in good weather is this
possible, and even in the smoothest sea there is some
danger, for the " trades " blow straight against the cliffs,
and there is no shelter nearer than the west shore of
'Statia, fifteen or twenty miles away.

I once found myself in a land of yesterday, stranded
on an island which the mutations of trade had left on the
verge of the world, so far as modern progress was con-
cerned. It is an island of the Caribbees, belonging to the
Dutch, and lies about midway between Saba and Saint
Kitts. When Christopher Columbus sailed this way, in
1493, he named it Saint Eustatius.

One of the earliest accounts I have seen calls it a huge
rock rising out of the waves, in the form of a pyramid,
about fifteen miles in circumference. It consists, in fact,
chiefly of an extinct volcano and the detritus washed
down from its cliffs, together with the eruptive matter
from the crater. There is no real peak to this isolated
mountain, but a circular crater brim, 1950 feet above the
sea, and the sweep of its pyramidal sides makes it one of
the most symmetrical natural objects anywhere to be
found in the world.

Neither is there any harbor or good landing-place, and

276 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

the visitor has to take his chances of getting safely
through the surf that beats continually upon its sandy
shore. Yet, time was when this surf-pounded shore was
strewn with the products of every clime, and merchandise
of incalculable value lay unprotected on the strand.

About the middle of the eighteenth century, during the
general war in Europe, the Dutch, taking no part in
belligerent operations, were the greatest gainers, as they
supplied the other powers with naval and military stores.
And at the beginning of the last quarter of that
century, when that little dispute occurred between Great
Britain and her American colonies, the Dutch again, by
sending out all sorts of stores and munitions to their West
Indian colony of St. Eustatius, were of very material
assistance to both France and America. John Bull sus-
pected something wrong was going on, but could not
prove it until, by the capture of an American packet, his
eyes were opened to the true inwardness of the situation.
Then, with a promptness that fairly took the Dutchmen's
breath away, he declared all treaties between his court and
Holland abrogated and sent out a fleet to investigate. In
the roadstead of Port Orange, 'Statia's apology for a har-
bor, a large fleet of East Indiamen was congregated,
laden with cargoes of immense value, and the beach was
piled high with what former ships had landed there and
for which there was no storage room.

A declaration of war against Holland and a powerful
fleet under Lord Rodney had been sent out simultane-
ously, so that when the British admiral hove in sight,
having on board his ships a large land force under Gen-
eral Vaughan, poor 'Statia was thrown into consternation.

The island was under the rule of brave old Governor
DeGraafT, a Creole of Dutch parentage, whose sympathies

THREE LITTLE DUTCH ISLANDS 277

were decidedly with the struggHng American colonies,
but whose forts and military force were inadequate to
combat this immense aggregation and armament under.
Rodney. So he surrendered, of course, and the island,
with its vast riches, all conveniently stored in the ships
and piled up on shore, fell into British hands.

With an instinctive attraction toward the place that
would afford the greatest loot, the British had pounced
upon this island, and the plunder far exceeded their most
sanguine expectations. It was estimated at more than
$15,000,000; but while Rodney and Vaughan were quar-
reling over its distribution they let slip the golden oppor-
tunity for crushing the rebellious Americans, and in the
end the capture of 'Statia cost John Bull rather more
than it was worth. In other words, if Rodney had sailed
to the relief of Lord Cornwallis, then penned up at York-
town, instead of tarrying at this little island, he might
have changed the history of our Revolution. He tried to
make amends afterward by the destruction of the French
fleet under De Grasse; but that was more in the nature
of revenge than a compensation for the loss of the
colonies.

And again, it happened that as the riches thus acquired
on this occasion were in transit to England, the ships con-
taining them were intercepted by the French and twenty-
one of them taken. The French, also, later captured the
island and held it for some time ; so after all the British
made little out of their breach of faith with the Dutch.

As I went to 'Statia seeking rare birds, it was part of
my province to explore the woods and mountain districts,
so I passed one night on the crater brim, with an old black
man as guide and companion, in order to acquaint myself
with the phenomena of nature there. We slept on the

27S OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

ground, and I had a blanket, but my sable friend had
nothing between him and Mother Earth ; yet in the morn-
ing he was awake with the dawn, and led me into the
depths of the crater. It is like a huge bowl, the sides
precipitous, but fringed with trees and vines, and at the
bottom are immense ceibas and gommiers, with trunks
two feet in diameter, showing that many centuries have
elapsed since the last eruption there.

Once was the time when the island was like a vast
garden, when fields of waving sugar cane covered the
plains, tobacco, indigo, and cotton the foothills, and coffee
groves the mountain slopes, even to the crater brim. Then
there were 20,000 people living here, 5000 white Hol-
landers and 15,000 blacks; now there are but 1500, and
the white man is a rara avis. The climate is healthy, but
good water is scarce (I believe there is not a stream on
the island), and frequent hurricanes have completed the
ruin that Lord Rodney began.

- SIGNATURE OF GOVERNOR JOHANNES DE GRAAFF

In the good old times before emancipation an acre of
soil was reckoned to produce from four to six hogsheads
of sugar of 1500 pounds to the hogshead ; but to-day there
is hardly that much raised on its seven square miles of
territory. Most of the sugar land lies over on the wind-
ward or eastern side of the island, for the leeward or
western is almost too hilly for that sort of cultivation.

THREE LITTLE DUTCH ISLANDS 279

There are several elevations of respectable height, as the
White Wall, 900 feet; North Hill, 960; Signal Hill, 750;
Round Hill, 500 ; Old Fort, 300, and the town of Orange
itself is well set up above the beach, the tower of its'
Dutch Church being 175 feet above sea level. The old
church, like the mansions of those who built it, has fallen
into ruin, but when I was there the quaint sounding-
board still hung above the pulpit, and the pew was shown
in which the representative of their High Mightinesses,
Governor Johannes De Graaff, used to sit.

The island is Dutch still, like Curagao, but the language
of commerce and common use is English. That the
official language is Dutch, the passport, or permit to
shoot, without which I was not allowed to wander around
with a gun, and which cost me two guilders, amply tes-
tifies. It recites that De Gczaghchher van St. Eustatius
hereby permits the bearer to carry abroad ecu diihhel-
loop achterlaad scheitgeween during his stay, and the
police force of the island (one man strong) is cautioned
not to interfere with my explorations, " which are in the
interests of science," etc.

On the top of a hill was the caved-in magazine of the
old fort, three hundred feet above the sleepy town, where
a few rusty cannon of the last century poked their muz-
zles out of a tangle of cactus and acacia. They were
obsolete and dismounted, not worth taking away as old
iron, even, or they would not have remained in the fort
so long ; but what an interest attaches to those antiquated
guns ! What an interest to an American, I mean ; for
the salute fired from them on a certain day in 1776 was
the ostensible grievance urged by England when she
broke the treaty with Holland that precipitated Rodney,
like a thunderbolt, upon this island.

28o OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

I must not forget to mention that what John Bull made
the greatest fuss over was the firing of a salute in honor
of the American flag by order of the Dutch governor of
'Statia. And, moreover, it was probably the first recog-
nition of the sort received by our flag in a foreign port.

According to the annals of the time, a certain privateer
from Baltimore, named the " Andrew Doria," came here
for supplies in November, 1776, flying a flag that had
never been seen in these seas before. It was not the flag
officially adopted by Congress, of course, for that was
made a year later; but it probably resembled the naval
flag of the Netherlands, with alternate red, white, and blue
stripes. However, when the saucy privateer came sailing
into Orange harbor, with its red, white, and blue flag flut-
tering, and gave the fort a salute from its guns, sturdy
Governor De Graaff ordered the salute returned, and the
old cannon on the hill, now so rusty and useless, spoke
out loudly, thirteen times, in honor of the thirteen stripes
and colonies.

But thirteen was an unlucky number for the governor
and the island, whatever it may have been for our
colonies, for before their High Mightinesses could comply
with the British demand for a disavowal, along came
Rodney and his fleet and put poor 'Statia out of the reck-
oning altogether. She was throttled, then and there, and
our colonies obtained no further aid from her. Thus
she suffered, in a sense, on our account, and that our
freedom might be achieved.

And, as I sat amid the ruins of the old fort, and looked
down upon the sad little town at my feet, I could not but
feel that something was still due the island, in the nature
of amends for the loss of that fifteen millions and depart-
ed prosperity. It would form a very pretty pendant to the

THREE LITTLE DUTCH ISLANDS 281

necklace of insular emeralds that Uncle Sam will some
day throw about the neck of Miss Columbia !

If the American eagle ever should conclude to extend
its protection to the islands south of us known as the
West Indies, probably among the first to scramble 'neath
the shelter of its wing would be those at present owned
by the Dutch. Not that the Hollanders do not bestow
upon them the best sort of a paternal government ; but
for the same reasons that the Danes are anxious to dis-
pose of their own West Indian possessions — economic
considerations. It is almost pathetic to observe the tenac-
ity with which these once-powerful governments still
cling to their tropical holdings in America. But it is
possibly for the same reason that the hunter held on to the
tail of the wild cat — because nobody would help him
let go !

The Dutch possessions of the West Indies are com-
prised in the Islands of Curagao, Buen Ayre, and Aruba,
off the South American coast; Saba, St. Eustatius, and
part of St. Martin, in the northwest Caribbean Sea. Their
aggregate area is only 403 square miles, their population
50,000, and the annual deficit in their revenues is about
60,000 guilders, which is made good by the mother
country.

The seat of government is at Curagao, where the chief
magistrate resides, and each outlying island is under an
officer appointed by the sovereign, entitled the gezagheh-
her. Curagao is the largest, 210 miles in area; Buen
Ayre next, 95 ; Aruba, 69; the moiety of San Martin, 17;
St. Eustatius, 7, and little Saba last with only 5 square
miles to its credit, and about 1800 inhabitants.

It is nearly thirty-six hours' steaming across the Carib-

282 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

bean Sea from Puerto Rico, Saint Thomas, or Saba, to
the island of Curacao, for it lies almost within sight of
the Venezuelan coast of South America. It is only forty
miles distant from that coast, on a clear day the con-
tinental mountains being discernible from the island.

Discovered by Vespucci, in 1499, Curagao was held by
the Spaniards until 1634, when the Dutch acquired it; but
how, no man seems to know. They probably found it
without an owner and simply annexed it, ever since hold-
ing it by right of possession. Curacao's architecture
shows that it has been a Dutch holding for many years^
for it is that of Holland, most assuredly ; and so are the
thrift and cleanliness displayed in this " little Dutch Para-
dise " ; which is hot enough, by the way, to be styled an
Inferno.

Somebody, I think it was Kingsley, called Saint
Thomas a *' little Dutch oven of a place," and the name
will apply equally well to Curagao. It is dry and parched
and in spots is barren ; but yet it has a charm all its own.
As a violent contrast to Saba and Saint Eustatius, it is a
perfect success ; but the inhabitants of the volcanic islands
seem to manifest a preference for their own mountainous
demesnes, notwithstanding the greater activity prevailing
in Curagao, and the more abundant lucre. It is difficult
to tear a mountaineer from his country, poor though it
may be, and few of the Dutch islanders in the northern
Caribbean ever come to Curagao " for keeps." Some of
the governmental officials of the latter island are obliged
to take the trip to Saba and 'Statia every few months,
because of business ; but otherwise there is scant inter-
change of visits. English is spoken in all the islands,
though the official language is Dutch. In addition, there
is spoken in Cura(;ao a barbarous mixture of Dutch,

THREE LITTLE DUTCH ISLANDS 283

Spanish, English, Indian, and African, known as Papia-
mento, which is a perfect pepper-pot, or hodge-podge, of
a language, and peculiar to the islanders themselves.

In choosing Curacao for their seat in the southern ^
West Indies, the Dutch pitched upon an island reproduc-
ing the salient natural features of Holland more than
any other in the Caribbean. There is none other with
just such a landlocked harbor as that of the Curasao
lagoon, the entrance to which is so narrow that it is
spanned by a bridge of boats, which is drawn aside for
steamers to enter. Two old forts guard the passage-
way, one on each side, where are mounted the most
obsolete of cannon, and paraded the funniest of little
Dutch soldiers, who hail each other across the inlet as
they feel inclined.

The inlet forms a capacious harbor half a mile long,
but opens beyond into a great lagoon called the Schat-
tegat, where the ships of a navy might float. This lagoon
was anciently the retreat of the famous pirates of the
Spanish' Main, behind a high hill guarding which, capped
by an old fort, they used to hide away their piratical
craft. From the island's name is derived that of the sweet,
insidious liqueur so grateful after dinner — curagao; but
only the orange peel with which it is flavored comes from
here, none of it being manufactured in the island.

Decidedly Dutch is Curasao, as anyone will say who
has sailed into its harbor-lagoon between Forts Riff and
Amsterdam, and looked upon the old houses ringing
around that landlocked body of water — houses which
might have been transported bodily from the Zuyder Zee,
as doubtless the tiles that cover their roofs were, long ago.
There is not much to see in Curacao ; but somehow, it
gets a hold on one's affections, and I must confess to a

284 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

liking for the island, barren as it is, and dreary as its
landscape is at times, from lack of rain and more than a
sufficiency of dust. It is reached by the '' Red D " line
of steamers, which perform the voyage thither from New
York, with a stop at Puerto Rico, in about six days.

As one is almost within touch of Venezuela, when
at Curacao, it rarely happens that the traveler tarries long
here, preferring to go on to Puerto Cabello, La Guayra,
and Maracaibo on the coast of Venezuela. All are within
a few hours' steaming, Maracaibo being the farthest and,
perhaps, the best worth visiting, what with its historical
scenes of buccaneer days, and its near neighbors, the
famous Lake Dwellers, discovered by Vespucci, in 1499,
and to-day living in huts over the water, exactly as he
found their ancestors, four hundred years ago.

XVIII
SAINT KITTS, NEVIS, AND MONTSERRAT

Saint Kitts and Mount Misery — Original home of the buccaneers

— Nevis, Redondo, and Montserrat — Lofty mountains of the
Antilles — .Sea-surrounded volcanoes — Climbing Mount Mis-
ery— How the hospitable planters supplied me for an expe-
dition— Through the high forests of the volcano — What was
in the hamper — Water from the wild pines, nature's punch-
bowls — Deferential darkies in attendance — On the peak
and what was found there — Brimstone Hill, once the " Gib-
raltar of Saint Kitts " — Sandy Point and Basse Terre — In
the crater of Mount Misery — The humming-birds' bath —
Mammals of the West Indies — How the African monkeys
got to Saint Kitts — What old Pere Labat has to say about
them — The skull in the soup — Sir Thos. Warner's epitaph

— Relic of a regicide — " Bobby " Burns came near becoming
a Kittefonian — The sunken city near Nevis — The barrister
of Booby Island — Fig-tree Church, where Lord Nelson was
married to the Widow Nisbet — The marriage register —
More quaint epitaphs — An old-time sanatorium — Birth-
place of Alexander Hamilton — Legends of the Amazons —
Madanino, Island of Amazons — Identical with the present
Montserrat — How Pat Mulvaney turned into a " naygur " —
Home of the lime-juicers — Origin of lime culture — A fine
old Quaker family — A new bird found by the author.

WHERE every island is a perfect gem, a
gigantic emerald, embraced by bluest of
waves and caressed by silvery clouds, it is
most difficult to select that which might be termed the
the finest; but there is none more attractive from the
sea than Saint Kitts, named by the modest Columbus

285

286 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

after himself, Saint Christopher. He discovered it, as
indeed all these islands of the northern Caribbees, in the
year 1493.

The highest peak in the island, about 4000 feet, is
Mount Misery, which conceals a fine crater in its bosom
— a crater that has sent out nothing worse than steam and
sulphur fumes within the memory of man. Brimstone
Hill, a detached peak 750 feet in height, was once fortified
by the British and called their " West Indian Gibraltar,"
a name now borne by Saint Lucia, to the south of Mar-
tinique. Saint Kitts possesses the richest soil in the West
Indies, hardly excepting Cuba; yet its planters are now
in the doleful dumps because we will not take them under
our protecting wing, and sturdy black men are going
begging at twenty cents a day.

The island was the original home of the buccaneers.
Off its leeward coast a great naval battle was fought
between English and French. Across a narrow channel
rises the symmetrical peak of Nevis, like Mount Misery,
forest-clad, and with a fertile, verdant belt around it.

Next south of Nevis lies Montserrat, smaller yet, and
between the two islands the great rock of Redondo, a pin-
nacle shooting up out of the sea. Montserrat has a fine
crater or " soufriere," and before it was devastated by a
hurricane a few years ago, was covered with groves of
limes. Nevis has no well-defined crater, but has numer-
ous hot and mineral springs.

There are lofty mountains in Cuba and Santo Domingo
which have scarce been climbed ; in Jamaica, the Bine
Mountains, above 7000 feet, and in our own Puerto Rico
peaks of not much lesser altitude. Although the Island
of Haiti-Santo Domingo was discovered in 1492, and the
first American cities of European foundation were

ST. KITTS, NEVIS, MONTSERRATT 287

attempted on its shores, yet the mountainous interior con-
tains summits never scaled, and valleys which have been
invaded only by Indians and fugitive blacks.

Mountains there are, scores of them, above 5000 feet in
height, awaiting the coming of the intrepid explorer ; but
the true volcanoes lie eastward of the Greater Antilles,
in the chain of the Caribbees. These islands are known
as the Lesser Antilles, and have been arbitrarily divided
into the " Windward " and " Leeward " isles ; but as a
group they have always retained the name they derived
from the cannibal Caribs by whom they were occupied
when discovered.

Inclusive of the Virgin Islands, just east of Puerto
Rico, between latitude 18 and 19 north and the Island of
Trinidad, 10 degrees from the equator and off the Orinoco
delta, these Caribbees describe a perfect crescent. The
outer isles are mainly coralline, low-lying and featureless,
but sheltered within this great barrier chain lie the true
Caribbees, an archipelago of sea-surrounded volcanoes,
extending over six degrees of latitude and ranging from
2000 to 6000 feet in height.

I never knew until I had tried to gain its summit, why
the great central mountain of Saint Kitts was called
" Mount Misery." Then I understood ; for, although the
hospitable planter with whom I was temporarily residing
made most elaborate preparations for me, yet the discom-
forts of the ascent were multitudinous. The same old
negro who had guided me in search of monkeys, and
who was the watchman of the estate, was detailed to
accompany me up the volcano. He called me at four in
the morning, but I was already awake, having been kept
so nearly all the night through by the " bete rouge," or
minute red bugs that infest the forests and cling to the

288 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

limbs of intrusive strangers. An hour later we were
off, and, after riding about five miles, as far as the pony
could carry me, I dismounted, and the beast was turned
loose in the mountain pasture, where he browsed about
until our return in the afternoon.

We were joined here by two men who claimed to be
more familiar with the mountain trail than old Tucker —
black Jim Bass and " Yaller Charlie " — and the former
marched ahead to " cutlass out " a path, while the latter
divided with my old man the transportation of the pro-
visions. The commissariat, by the way, is the most
important feature of a West Indian expedition, and no
generous host like my dear friend Mercer would allow a
guest to set forth without ample stock of provand. Hav-
ing seen to it that his cook had filled a huge hamper with
cold fowl, cassava bread, crackers, etc., with an imposing
array of bottles containing various liquors, such as gin,
native rum, and '' beer " or Bass' ale, he even followed me
out to the garden gate as we rode away and shouted:
" Have you got a corkscrew ? " I had a corkscrew, hav-
ing been in the islands long enough to know the impor-
tance of such an article, and he went back contented.

It was three years since anybody had been over the
trail to the mountain-top, and Jim Bass had hard work
cutlassing out a path through the ferns and the razor
grass, which latter is here known as " cutnannie," and
inflicts terrible gashes upon unprotected limbs. It took
an hour to rise clear of the wild pasture and reach a
lateral knife-edge ridge of the mountain just wide enough
for the trail.

Soon after reaching it we passed through a natural
opening in a giant fig tree, which straddled the path,
leaving a portal higher than our heads, hung with vines

ST. KITTS, NEVIS, MONTSERRATT 289

and plastered with air plants, and which my guides called
the " gate." Beyond the " gate " the various earthquakes
with which the island has often been visited had shaken
the earth away from the ridge until in spots only a nar-
row blade was left, with deep ravines on either side, filled
with dense vegetation of gommiers and mountain palms.

The upper edge of the forest was reached an hour
before noon, and, as they had had nothing to eat or drink
since their morning coffee, six hours before, my men
unanimously declared that we must halt and breakfast.
" Mus' feed de ole man in ma belly," said Bass.

" Ma belly tech ma back ; him mus' t'ink ma t'roat cut,"
added Tucker.

"' You t'ink yo' mos' dar," said Yaller Charlie to me,
" but lemme tell yo', we on'y begun de climb. Dem
climbin' ferns yander de wus t'ings in de wuld fer get
t'ro'. When I make de fus' track I hab on pair new
briches, and when I come back dey mash to cuss."

The peak was then in sight, it seemed to me, and I
wished to push on and breakfast on the summit; but my
men were obdurate. The huge basket, nearly three feet
across, and which Yaller Charlie had carried on his head
over places where I had to cling with both hands to ferns
and trees, and so carefully balanced that not a glass was
broken or a bottle disturbed, was let down to the ground
and our breakfast spread out on wild banana leaves.

Upon examining the hamper I found that while three
kinds of liquor had been provided, there was not a sign of
water. Neither was there any spring or stream within a
mile or more. But while I was debating with myself
what I should do old Tucker took a cutlass, and, stepping
to the nearest tree, severed from one its horizontal limbs
a great wild pine which sat astride of it, and from the

290 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

cavities within the leaves poured out more water than
was actually needed for diluting- the cane juice in the bot-
tles. This water was clear, cool, and refreshing, and the
wild pines, which are called " punch bowls " by the
natives, are never without a supply.

I told Tucker to take one of the bottles of rum and
divide it among the trio. He needed no second invitation,
and receiving the bottle from me deferentially, retired
with it behind a clump of palms, where it was soon emp-
tied, without recourse to water from the " punch bowls."
Heartened by this al fresco lunch, and blessing my good
planter for his providence, we soon set out for the peak
again, this time stumbling and wallowing through masses
of climbing ferns and slipping over dank fields of mosses
many feet in depth.

It was well we had refreshed ourselves at the forest-
edge, for there would have been no opportunity there-
after, and it was full three hours before the peak was
reached. The last half hour was the worst climbing I
ever did in my life, it seemed to me, for I had to hold
on with both hands and dig my toes into the slippery
mosses on nearly perpendicular rocks, while about us
the fog was so dense that we could not see five feet ahead.
Through it all, however, Jim Bass hewed out the old trail
so truly that, though obliterated, he disclosed the old
blazes every now and then, and Yaller Charlie followed
jauntily in his wake, balancing the hamper on his head.
He would not listen to me and leave it behind, saying
that it was no trouble at all to tote it, and we might need
a bite when we reached the summit, as sure enough we
did ; not only a bite, but a nip, to keep the filmy fog out of
our throats.

'' By de holp of de Lawd we reach dat top," said Bass,

ST. KITTS, NEVIS, MONTSERRATT 291

fervently and encouragingly ; and reach it we finally did,
casting ourselves down, quite exhausted, on the ridge
above the crater.

** When Mr. Norton reach heah," said Tucker, " he
done bus' right into teahs, and den he pray, and sing
* God Save de Queen.' "

I could understand Mr. Norton's enthusiasm, though
for the life of me I could not see what the queen had to
do with it. Fancy Queen Victoria, or King Edward,
either, as to that matter, waddling to the peak of Mount
Misery ! Neither of them ever saw it ; though the
Prince's sons, George, and his late lamented brother, once
visited the islands as midshipmen, and had everywhere a
royal reception.

The dense fog sweeping in from the Atlantic hid from
sight all the windward side of the island, from which we
had ascended, but to the leeward lay the encircling forest
just about the cone, beyond which were the sugar planta-
tions, divided into squares of light green where the cane
was growing, and brown where it had been cut or the
ground had been freshly broken. No bit of paradise
could appear more beautiful; and as to its fertility, I
knew that I was looking upon one of the richest tracts
of cane land in the world, where the volcanic soil is so
deep as to be inexhaustible.

Beyond the inclosing plantations, with their brown and
verdant checkers of cane and their tiny windmills with
slow-waving arms, lay the all-encircling sea, blue as the
clearest sky and flecked with vessels white and beautiful.
I could see Saba and 'Statia, Antigua Nevis, Montserrat,
and a score of lesser islets, lying like cloudbanks on the
wave, when the fog lifted and revealed them, and each
one was a vision of beauty.

592 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

The driving mist that so rapidly scurried over the verge
of the volcano was only now and then dispelled by the
Sim, affording but transient glimpses of the gloomy chasm
that lay beneath us. The walls on this side were too steep
to descend, being almost perpendicular ; but I vowed that
I would reach the crater, even if I took another trip as
hard as this to accomplish it. A week later I was on the
leeward coast of the island, and at six in the morning
skirting the base of world-renowned Brimstone Hill,
crowned by its fortress known as the " Gibraltar of St.
Kitts."

From the coast settlement of Sandy Point it is a hot
seven miles to the borders of '* Sir Gillis' Estate," in the
pastures above which I left my horse and found a guide.

Sandy Point, which lies at the north end of the island,
ten miles from Basse Terre, obtains its water supply from
springs in the hills at this place, and thence there is a
trail through the dense forest, up steep ridges, finally
turning the crest and descending the crater wall at an
uncomfortable pitch, but accompanied all the way by
clumps of tree ferns, wild plantains, and mountain palms.
The descent is steeper than that into the " bowl " of
'Statia, and, like that, it is lined with tropical vegetation,
even large trees finding a home here, and the distance
from the brim is about 700 feet.

In ordinary seasons there is a small lake here which
varies in depth, sometimes drying up entirely, and its
Avater, when there is any, is blackish-green. Above the
crater bed rises Mount Misery, the highest peak of the
surrounding wall, steep, precipitous, and on the opposite
side is a large body of palms. Amateur geologists say
that the adjacent Brimstone Hill looks as if it had been
cast out of this crater at some far-distant epoch, and that

ST. KITTS, NEVIS, MONTSERRATT 293

if it could be turned upside down it would exactly
fill it.

Under the clififs of the east side is the " Sulphur," a
steaming pool, where the surrounding rocks are stained
in various colors — red, yellow, brown — and the trees
near by are blanched quite snow white, their leaves
scorched and shriveled. Throughout the bed are numer-
ous black fumaroles leading far into the bowels of the
earth, from which sulphur fumes are belched, as in
Dominica and Guadeloupe," while a stream of acidulous
water runs from the great " Sulphur " into the lake.

At the spring in the forest, which I reached at mid-
afternoon on the return journey, I found " Mannie, the
Portugee," awaiting me with a basket full of solid and
liquid nourishment, sent by the proprietor of the Wing-
field estate, nearly nine miles distant. He had trudged
all the way in the tropic sun, and the beer was warm ; but
as I had eaten little and drunk nothing since morning,
and the sulphur water in the crater was not exactly palat-
able, I did not mind a little thing like that. The water
of the crystal spring was delicious, and far preferable to
any '' bottled goods," while the cold chicken and guinea
bird were as tender as the proverbial " Billy's mother " —
who, I believe, was the widow of a sailor.

While refreshing myself in this delightful spot I was
entertained by the antics of a gilt-crested hummer, which
not only flew under the sparkling drops as they fell from
the rocks, but also alighted and clung to the saturated
moss, allowing the water to run over his glistening back.
This seemed to be, in fact, the chosen bathing place of
the humming-birds, for while I was there more than a
dozen came and dashed into the water. The black rock
was clothed in soft mosses and ferns, the deep recess in

294 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

which the water dripped was overhung with begonias
having sea-shell tints, and above my head palms and
trumpet trees interposed their leaves between me and
the sun.

Down by the sea, near the base of Brimstone Hill, the
bottom of the bay is said to be unbearably hot, and the
sea-water charged with sulphurous gases, so it would
seem that the name is not inapplicable to this spot so
famous in West Indian history.

As I was inspecting the place a crowd collected, and
one old darky explained to the rest that I had '' come to
take de dimensions ob Sandy Point side," meaning that
I intended to write about it; and he was not far wrong,
after all.

It is a curious fact that, while there is abundant cover
for large game in the West Indies, few big animals are
found in a ferous state. Almost all of the little found
there has sprung from game animals imported many
years ago. When the first Spaniards arrived at Cuba
they discovered the natives in possession of a small
quadruped called the " dumb dog," which not only was
held in high esteem for the table, but was cherished as a
pet. Its chief peculiarity was its inability to bark or
make any sound above a grunt or moan.

There are, strictly speaking, no large arboreal animals,
if we may except the few species of squirrels, 'possums,
and 'coons, and the most noteworthy hiatus in the insular
fauna is the almost entire absence of monkeys throughout
the West Indies.

Until within less than a score of years the presence of
monkeys in these two islands and their entire absence in
other and larger, was a puzzle to the naturalists. It is
believed that no skins, even, of these monkeys were to be

ST. KITTS, NEVIS, MONTSERRATT 295

found in the United States, until the writer succeeded in
obtaining some, in the year 1880, and sending them to the
Smithsonian Institution. Then it was ascertained that
the vSt. Kitts species was the African green monkey,
known to scientists at the Cercopithccus callitricus, and
comparatively common. But for some time after this
announcement the naturalists cudgeled their brains to find
out how this species came to be so plentiful in an island
thousands of miles away from its accustomed habitat.

This was a poser, until I enlightened them by giving
them the results of my investigations. In an old history
of travels by Pere Labat, a Frenchman, who voyaged
through the x\ntilles in the early part of the eighteenth
century, reference is made to some African monkeys
that escaped from captivity, and, having gained the for-
ests, there propagated with great rapidity, until they had
become a nuisance to the planters.

Then the wise men breathed more freely, for the prob-
lem was solved at last ; the origin of an African monkey
in American islands was determined. The difference
between the monkeys of the old and the new world are
many, the most noticeable being shown in the shape and
uses of their tails. For, whereas the old world species is
stiff-tailed and has little use for that appendage which
has been such a stumbling block to the promulgators of
the evolution theory, the American species has a pre-
hensile tail and thus has many advantages over its
cousins across the water.

Speaking of the uses to which the early planters of St.
Kitts put the ravagers of their cane fields, the monkeys,
who used to descend in troops and eat all before them,
the old historian narrates how the planters aforesaid
applied the old aphorism and made " like cure like."

296 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

He says : " Being one day invited to dine with one of
the planters, I was horrified, when the soup was brought
to the table, to see what looked like an infant's skull
bobbing about in the tureen. But I was assured that it
was not that at all, but merely the skull of a monkey,
which had been deprived of skin and eyes and carefully
cleaned."

He goes on to say that he finally overcame his repug-
nance and ate with gusto of the savory dish before him,
which could not have been surpassed. Indeed, he took
care that it should form a feature of his repasts while in
the island, for the worthy father was a great gourmand.
The moral of which is, or should be : When monkey
soup is brought before you, shut your eyes and ask no
questions.

One would hardly expect to find in two small islands
like St. Kitts and Nevis, which together cover little more
than one hundred square miles, names that have become
familiar to all readers of American and English history.
As St. Kitts was the mother of the English colonies in
this part of the West Indies, and her immensely fertile
soil was easy of cultivation, many sons of distinguished
families came out here to seek their fortunes.

The founder of the colony was a Sir Knight, as is
shown by his quaint epitaph, which is still to be seen in
an ancient cemetery in the center of the island :

"An Epitaph upon the most honourable Noble and
much Lamented Gent Sir Thos. Warner, Kt., Lieutenant
General of Ye Caribbee Islands and Gov'r of ye Island
of St. Christ, Who departed this Life the loth of March,
1648."

The colony was always loyal to the English crown, in

ST. KITTS, NEVIS, MONTSERRATT 297

consequence of so many '' gentlemen " having been
employed in its foundation; but one of the judges who
signed the death-warrant of Charles I. somehow found
refuge there. In the possession of a family of planters
is a silver tankard, inscribed with the initials of this
" regicide," " J. N. H." — his name was Hutchingson — •
and the date, 1662.

Another family holds as a choice relic a letter from
Robert Burns, written about a hundred years ago, in
which the Scottish bard gravely considers the possibilities
of bettering his condition by removing to St. Kitts. It is
a credit to his sense and his loyalty that he vshould have
remained in comparatively sterile Scotland, for there is
no denying the fact that " Bobby " was inclined to a land
that was generous and where good liquors were to be had.

The literary remains of these islands are few and far
between, and they shine rather with a reflected radiance
than with an original luster of their own. Thi$ may par-
ticularly be said of the Island of Nevis, separated from its
mate by a sea channel less than three miles wide. The
islands were at one time contiguous, it is thought, and a
submarine passage exists from one to the other. This is
founded upon the statement of the monkey hunters, who
declared that they have chased troops of monkeys to a
cavernous region on either side, where they disappeared
as if swallowed up by the sea. It is a well-known fact
that monkeys are never numerous on both islands at the
same time, for, while they are ravaging the cacao groves
and cane fields of one island those of the other are usually
exempt. On the Nevis side of the channel, under the
grassy slopes of Hurricane Hill, the water covers the site
of Jamestown, the sunken city. It was submerged dur-
ing a hurricane, like Port Royal in Jamaica, and for more

298 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

than a century the waves have covered the roofs of its
houses. In midchannel rises a huge rock inhabited only
by sea birds and known as Booby Island.

An arrogant young barrister being asked by a certain
judge where he practiced, airily replied : '* Oh, between
St. Kitts and Nevis." ** Ah," said the judge, *' on Booby
Island, I presume ! "

Two events have happened in Nevis which will cause
the island to be kept in remembrance for many years to
come. Here was bom the great American statesman,
Alexander Hamilton ; and here Britain's peerless seadog,
Lord Nelson, fell victim to a widow's wiles and was
married.

In the year 1782 Horatio Nelson, then but twenty-four
years old, was appointed to the command of one of his
majesty's ships and sent to New York. The commander-
in-chief, Admiral Digby, congratulated him on this
appointment to a station where large sums of prize money
were to be obtained, when the young captain replied:
^' Yes, sir ; but I prefer the West Indies as the station of
honor." He was, though unwittingly, taken at his word,
and sent to the West Indies, where he became acquainted
with the best people of those hospitable islands.

Two years later, having made several voyages, and
acquired the confidence of his sovereign, Nelson was
again appointed to the West Indies, as a commander of
the twenty-eight-gun frigate the " Boreas," sailing from
Spithead the 19th of May, 1784. He carried with him
the rear admiral of the fleet. Sir Richard Hughes, and
his family, and, after their transfer, assumed charge of
the squadron assembled at Nevis. This island was then
a prosperous sugar-producing colony of Great Britain.

It was during this West Indian voyage that he met and

ST. KITTS, NEVIS, MONTSERRATT 299

won the fair Widow Nisbet, relict of a resident physician
who had practiced in Nevis. They were married, as the
register of Figtree Church affirms, on the nth of March,
1787. The marriage register is still in evidence, though
the leaves of the old book are tattered and worn, and
can be seen by visitors to the Island of Nevis. The entry
is as follows :

That is all. The unknown recorder of this affair could
not peer into the future and perceive that he was then in
the presence of one of England's greatest captains, for
the young man had not then won his successive titles of
Baron Nelson of the Nile, Duke of Bronte, etc. He was
plain Horatio Nelson, Esq. ; but doubtless considered a
good catch by a West Indian widow of little means.

In the cemetery attached to the little Figtree Church
are some very interesting epitaphs. One of the early
ones is that of an English gentleman who died while on a
visit to the island, as set forth :

" Here lyeth ye body of Mr. Arthur Ploner, of ye city of Bristol,
who departed this life ye 15th of May, 1702, aged 38 years.
" Tho' in ye grave ye widowed Carcasse lyes,
His Soul is living still ; yt never Dyes.

300 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

This too shall one day mount upon ye Wing,
As from dead Winter does ye vig'rous Spring;
So both, we hope, will meet at last in Joy,
And live in Pleasures Yt have no alloy."

The next is in the nature of an advertisement, as
follows :

" Here lies the body of John Huggins, Esq., who died 6th Dec,
1824, aged 58. Not many years before his death he became pro-
prietor of the neighboring hot springs, over which, out of good
will towards his fellow creatures, and not for any advantage of
his own, he erected convenient baths, and at a short distance a
large and expensive stone edifice, for the accommodation of in-
valids. This stone was put up by his widow."

The sanitarium so ostentatiously alluded to in the
epitaph is in existence yet, but merely as a mass of ruins.
The good intention of its builder miscarried, for though
the hot and mineral waters, which here gush forth from
natural springs, are renowned for their curative prop-
erties, yet they are not availed of as they should be. The
house itself is occupied by some wretched families of
black and colored people, who live here in a state of
squalor and misery. From the ruined parapet of the
castellated structure lies outspread a beautiful view of
Nevis : the mountains sweeping up from the sloping lower
land, where the town lies hidden in cocoa palms and with
St. Kitts, blue and misty, beyond — a fair picture, in spite
of the desolation.

Immediately below are the baths, in the open air,
beneath date palms and mango trees, with a tepid stream
running from them to the sea. Here the sound of blows
attracts attention, and soon the visitor finds that he has
invaded the sacred precincts of the washerwomen.

As the air is hot and the watQr is warm the women see

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ST. KITTS, NEVIS, MONTSERRATT 301

no need for attire of any sort, and most of them are in a
state of nudity. There are old black crones and young
brown matrons, slips of maids and skinny pickaninnies
hopping about and wading in the water like so many black
birds in the Garden of Eden.

On a hillside slope above the only town in Nevis are to
be seen the ruins of a once magnificent "great house,"
which once pertained to an estate of vast extent. Around
it spreads a terraced garden filled with the remains of
stately tropic trees and ornamental shrubbery. A mag-
nificent grove of mango trees, their dense crowns
spangled with golden fruit, surrounds the ruined house
and garden, isolating them completely. Some of the
mangos climb the hill and enter the forest which runs
down from the mountain and thus form a connecting link
between the different kinds of vegetation.

The upper cone of the mountain is completely encircled
by a forest of great trees, composed of giant gums, silk-
cottons, mountain palms, and matted together by miles of
vines and bush ropes. This is the natural home of the
monkeys, from which they go out on foraging excursions
to the deserted plantations. The nearest living neigh-
bors, in fact, to the house and plantation we have
described, are the wild monkeys of the northern forest;
and yet that ruined house, so desolate and fallen to de-
cay, is pointed out as the birthplace of Alexander Ham-
ilton.

The father of Alexander Hamilton was a Scotch
merchant, who had married a young French woman, and
their son was born in Nevis, the nth of January, 1757.
Here the boy lived until eleven years old, when he was
sent to Santa Cruz, whence he soon made his way to the
United States, never to return to his native island.

302 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

There is probably no legend of the Greek mythology
that dies harder than that of the Amazonas or Amazons,
fierce fighting women, who have held man at bay for so
many centuries. They were located in various parts of
Asia, and finally in Africa, but long after the crystalliza-
tion of the myth into the Grecian stories of gods, heroes,
and heroines, the tale survived, or rather reappeared, in
the new world.

Columbus, as we know, when seeking a passage across
to Asia, was all the time dwelling upon old-world tradi-
tions, and had in mind only what had been written by
voyagers and travelers in the east. In the Island of Cuba
he sought the court of the Grand Khan, in Haiti the
Cipango of Marco Polo, and throughout his first voyage
to America looked for the verification of Oriental fables
and expected at every turn to come across their fabulous
monsters.

Near the termination of that voyage, when in the Bay
of Samana, on the north coast of Santo Domingo, he
heard of something that set his blood tingling and caused
him to shape his course southward instead of toward
vSpain and the home port. Some of the Indians captured
there told him of an island of the Caribbees that was
inhabited solely by women, and, taking them aboard as
pilots, he steered in the direction they indicated, resolved
to add the discovery and conquest of the Amazons to the
fruits of that memorable voyage.

The prevailing trade winds, however, were baffling, his
provisions and water ran short, and instead he turned
about and bore up for the Azores and Spain, taking along
with him the unfortunate Indians.

But he did not lose sight of the story, and when, nearly
a year later, he set sail from Cadiz with his fleet of seven-

ST. KITTS, NEVIS, MONTSERRATT 30^^

teen ships and caravels he was so far influenced by the
reports of Caribs and Amazons to be found nearer the
equator than the island he had discovered on the first
voyage, that he vi^ent several degrees farther to the
southward, and discovered the island of Montserrat.

When a successful settlement was started by the
English in the near Island of Nevis, an overflow portion
went to Montserrat, allured by the rich lands suitable for
sugar cultivation. It was the discontented .part that left
Nevis for Montserrat, and composed mainly of Irish
Catholics. In proof of this, although the event occurred
as far back as 1632, may be pointed out the fact that
many of the present inhabitants, even the negroes, speak
English with a brogue, having an Hibernian accent per-
fectly delicious.

It is told of a modern exile from Erin, who had con-
cluded to seek a refuge in Montserrat, that as the ship
he was on cast anchor in the harbor of Plymouth, the only
town of the island, he leaned over the rail and entered
into conversation with a black bumboatman, who came
out to sell his provisions.

" Say, Cuffee, phwat's the chance for a lad ashore ? "

" Good, yer honor, if ye'r not afraid of wurruk. But
me name's not CuflFee, an', plase ye, it's Pat Mulvaney."

" Mulvanev ? And do yez mean to say ye'r Oirish ? "

" Oi do." '

" The saints dayfind us. An' how long have yez been
out here ? "

** A matter uv tin year or so."

" Tin year ! An' yez black as me hat ! May the divil
fly away wid me if I iver set fut on this ould oisland.
Save me sowl, I tuk yez fer a naygur ! "

Montserrat has been in continuous British possession

304 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

ever since 1784, and until about forty years ago its people
were almost exclusively devoted to the raising of sugar
cane. About that time some merchants having business
v^ith the island conceived the idea of planting a few
unprofitable estates that had come into their possession
with lime trees.

Over in the adjacent island of Dominica a resident
physician there, Dr. Imray, had made the experiment
with great promise of success ; and the physical character-
istics of both islands are the same. Each one consists
mainly of a mass of mountains thrown up from the sea,
with deep gorges running up into the central range and a
belt of exceedingly fertile soil around the coast.

Owing to the restricted area of soil suitable for sugar
plantations they had long since ceased to pay, one after
another becoming saddled with a mortgage that the
owner could not raise, and falling into the hands of Lon-
don merchants who had advanced money for their
working.

The taking up of the lime industry saved the little
island from actual distress, and to-day a single firm owns
more than 600 acres, and exports annually 100,000 gal-
lons of concentrated lime juice.

When I was in Montserrat a few years ago the leading
planters were the Sturges, English merchants of Quaker
stock, celebrated for their philanthropy. One of the fam-
ily, Joseph Sturge, was a friend and correspondent for
many years of the poet Whittier.

Beautiful Montserrat is associated in my mind with the
discovery there of a new species of bird. It was in 1880,
on my second trip to the West Indies, that I first heard
the note of this bird, issuing from the tree-ferns of a
ravine near the Soufriere summit. My ear had been

ST. KITTS, NEVIS, MONTSERRATT 305

trained to a nicety in detecting strange bird-calls, and
this one, I knew at once, I had never heard before.

Carefully parting the vegetation that obscured my
vision, I peered into the ravine and there saw a bird in
black and orange plumage, a modest imitation of our
golden oriole, poised upon a branch. The sad sequel
is that I shot it, and ultimately it was sent to Washing-
ton, where it was pronounced absolutely new and was
named after its discoverer. The genus to which it
belonged was well known, but not the species, so to the
generic name. Icterus, was affixed my own as the specific
appellation, making it the Icterus Oheri, by which it is
called by ornithologists to-day, after having existed
unknown and unnamed ever since the world and all living
things were created.

CHAPTER XIX

ANTIGUA, BARBUDA, AND OTHER ISLES

Antigua, capital of the Leeward Islands — Saint John and its
cathedral — The valley of petrifactions — English Harbor,
a forgotten naval station — Barbuda and its history — The
Codrington game preserve — An island of sinister fame
where many wrecks have taken place — Wild cattle, fallow
deer, guinea-fowl, pigeons, and doves — Buccaneer tower
and the great house — Two white residents and eight hun-
dred negroes — Shooting wild guinea-birds — Feathered
thunderbolts — Toothsome pullets with tropic concomitants
— Tramping over the island — The parson takes the author
out deer-hunting — The trip to Bat Cave — Migratory white-
headed pigeons — The sea-grape fruit — Shooting birds by
moonlight — What the West Indies got from Africa — Troll-
ing for kingfish and dolphins — The beach with blushes of
carmine — Anguilla, Sombrero, Saint Barts, and Saint
Martins.

FOR governmental purposes, the British islands of
the Caribbees have been arbitrarily divided into
the " Leeward " and " Windward " groups, the
former lying to the north and the latter to the south of
north latitude fifteen from the equator.

The seat of government and residence of the governor-
in-chief is Antigua, an island about a hundred square
miles in area, devoted to agriculture in general, and to
sugar, molasses, and rum in particular. It can boast of
having been a British possession for 270 years, and, like
Barbados, has never been anything but English since it
was first settled.

306

ANTIGUA AND OTHER ISLES 307

It was, the aboriginal Caribs said, too dry for them,
having no natural springs and streams, and it has proved
not much better for the British planters; but they have
stuck there with more than praiseworthy pertinacity, and
to-day its capital and only town of Saint John is a place
of some attractions and consequence. By a strange mis-
chance, however, the capital has been located on the
worst sort of a harbor; while the only good natural port
in the island, English Harbor, seized long ago as a naval
station, has hardly more than a single inhabitant.

I wish I could convey to the reader an exact estimate
of Antigua's charms; but that, I fear, is impossible, for
one must have been there to appreciate them, as they
were of the hospitable sort. The island has few natural
attractions; but there is a wonderful valley of petrifac-
tions not far from the capital, and at the right season the
lagoons and meadows afford fine plover, duck, and cur-
lew shooting to one inclined that way, while the fields and
pastures are always inviting — provided water enough has
fallen from the clouds to make them green. With a
gently rolling surface, rarely rising into hills, and with
large areas of sugar-cane in cultivation, dotted with mills
and habitations, Antigua is refreshing to view, as a
-decided contrast to the more rugged islands of the chain.

I do not desire to treat Antigua slightingly; but, taking
a general survey of its attractions, — or, rather, lack of
them, — there does not seem to be enough in the aggre-
gate to warrant a visit. And yet, if one should go there
furnished with the proper credentials to some member of
its official society, I doubt not that a month could be
passed very agreeably indeed. It may be my misfortune
— perhaps it is my fault — that I incline more to the lesser-
known islands, and those seldom visited, shunning cities

3oS OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

and society in general, and " taking to the woods " when-
ever opportunity offers. But I have held, for many
years, and hold to the opinion still, that the out-of-the-
way places are the best worth investigating. Now, there
is an island about thirty miles north of Antigua, of which
it is a dependency, where the steamers never touch
(except they run against some one of its numerous reefs,
and then they remain for good and all) and whtre the
tourist never goes. This island is Barbuda, about ten
miles long, with an area of seventy-five square miles, the
greater portion covered with dense forest or chaparral.

About thirty years after the planters had settled in
Antigua the French from Martinique combined with a
band of Carib Indians to ravage the island with fire and
sword, taking away all the negro slaves and plundering
the white people of everything they possessed, even to
the clothing on their backs and the shoes on their feet.
For several years after this event the Antiguans were
unable to make head against their many calamities, but
about the year 1674 there came here, from Barbados, a
wealthy and honorable gentleman of distinguished family.
Colonel Codrington, who set an example to the others
by planting the waste lands with sugar-cane. He was
later made captain-general and commander-in-chief of all
the Leeward Islands, and thus was the first of a long line
of sub-governors, which has existed to the present time.

To Colonel Codrington Barbados owes its charming
seat of learning, Codrington College, founded by him
about 1 7 10, and in many other ways he showed his pub-
lic spirit and interest in the welfare of these islands.

Colonel Codrington, it seems, had an eye to personal
aggrandizement, and early in his rule obtained possession
of the outlying island of Barbuda. It was not long

ANTIGUA AND OTHER ISLES 309

before he had stocked it with cattle, sheep, fallow deer
from England, and guinea-fowl, so that we may safely
say that the island was made a game preserve more than
200 years ago. And, as those cattle, sheep and deer soon
ran wild, while the island was the natural home of doves,
pigeons, plover, curlew and many other birds, it goes
without saying that Barbuda became so well stocked that
royalty itself would not scorn to own it and to shoot there
on occasion.

Some negro slaves and an overseer were sent over at
the time of the first settlement, and they, too (at least
the blacks), obeyed the injunction literally to increase
and multiply. At the beginning of this century there
were 200 negro residents and one white ; on the occasion
of my visit, a few years ago, there were about 800 black
residents and two white men.

In the year 181 3 the British man-of-war " Woolwich "
was wrecked at Barbuda in a furious hurricane. The
officers and crew escaped to the island, which was
described by the captain, who wrote that it had, at that
time, few blacks resident there, and one white man, the
overseer or lessee. An income of about $35,cxxd was
annually derived from wrecks and sales of live stock.
Almost the entire island was covered with wood and the
stock ran wild — reckoned at 3000 cattle, 40,000 sheep,
400 horses, and 300 deer. Bull-hunting was a sport fre-
quently indulged in with blood-hounds from Puerto
Rico. By means of cordons of negroes vast flocks of
sheep were driven upon narrow necks of enclosed land
between arms of the sea, and thus easily captured when
wanted for market. The wild cattle, when caught, were
lashed to the horns of tame oxen, who were then turned
loose, and never failed eventually to conduct them to

3to OUk WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

headquarters. Guinea-fowl, even then, were to be found
in profusion; also wild duck, plover, and snipe in their
season, pigeons, turtle-doves, etc. Captain Sullivan
mentions the stone castle, built by the buccaneers, who
used to resort here as a rendezvous, after the dispersal of
the French and English of St. Kitts about 1630.

The first object that attracted my attention as the little
sloop in which I had taken passage from Antigua arrived
within sight of Barbuda was a quaint old martello tower,
which once pertained to a castle, erected by the bucca-
neers. There were no other structures gf note in sight,
and only after a weary walk of about three miles was^ I
cheered by arriving at the " great house," built in the
flourishing times of the Codringtons. A great wall had
accompanied me along the road, broad-topped, high and
deeply based, showing that compulsory labor was at one
time abundant.

The white gentlemen residing there had leased the
island from the Crown and were '' working it for all it
was worth." One of them was a clergyman of the
Church of England, and the other a planter bred to the
raising of sugar-cane and the oversight of laborers; so
both together made a very successful combination. As
the '* parson " was pledged to attend to the spiritual needs
of the black people and the overseer to their physical
wants, the blacks were not neglected. They worked
hard in the fields six days in the week, under the eye of
the superintendent, and on the seventh attended services
at the chapel.

As the island had been without news from outside for
many moons, I was made more than welcome, and im-
mediately my wants were made known I was furnished
with a horse, a sable servant and dog, who accompanied

ANTIGUA AND OTHER ISLES 311

rue on my excursions afield. Our first visit was to a vast
inclosure where the guinea-fowl were said to be abun-
dant, and we arrived at their scratching ground about mid-
afternoon. The dog put up a fine male bird and I let go
both barrels at him without touching a feather. It was
the same with the second and the third bird that got up
and sailed away 'into the dim distance, like a railroad
train making up for lost time.

Puzzled and ashamed at my poor shooting, I vowed
that the next flock I saw on the ground should not be
allowed to take wing without a pot shot, anyway; but
even then there was somehow a discrepancy between my
anticipations and realizations. I never before in my life
saw such fast birds on the wing nor such rapid ones
afoot. They were thoroughly wild, and probably had
been for many generations.

At last, as the sun was sinking behind the sea-grapes
on the shore, we approached an old field where, my guide
said, there was sure to be a flock " dusting," and if warily
approached could be taken easily. This time, as the
chattering fowl hurled themselves into the air, I caught
two of them, right and left, by firing ahead of them about
half a rod, it seemed to me. Anyway, they tumbled end
over end, and I was rewarded for my hours of toil
beneath the ardent rays of a tropical sun. The pair
weighed seven pounds, and that night we had the
tenderer of the two, a comely pullet, roasted for dinner.
It was brought to the table garnished with all sorts of
good things, the huge platter on which it lay being borne
aloft upon the head of a grinning cook who could boast
lineal descent from the very first of his line brought to
the island by '' Massa Codrington."

And it was toothsome — the' pullet — despite the haste

312 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

with which it had been divested of its feathers and driven
direct to the spit. This hurried mode of preparation was
not due to any exigency of the occasion, but to the cuH-
nary customs of the tropics. The people of the islands
have no cold storage, hardly any of them refrigerators.
The journey from the coop or fowl yard to the pot or
spit is only delayed long enough to deprive the victim of
such portion of its tegumentary covering and internal
arrangements as are considered superfluous ; and the hen,
cock, or chicken that gazes up at you so unsuspiciously
as you arrive at the great house, an hour or so later may
be reposing on a platter with its toes turned up to the
ceiling. The smaller fowls, particularly pigeons and
chickens, are generally roasted with their feet on, and as
they lie on their backs in supplicatory pose they present
a most affecting spectacle.

After a refreshing night beneath the mosquito curtains,
at dawn next morning I was called for a bath, and then,
swallowing a biscuit and cup of strong coffee, was off
with my guide for the deer preserve. Whatever may be
the heat of the day in those islands, the nights and early
mornings are delightfully cool; so we tramped through
the lanes and cross the fields to the woods as vigorously
as though taking a spin in the north. The woods were
dense, and we merely skirted their borders, keeping well
in their shadows, for at that hour the deer would be feed-
ing mostly in the open fields. Finally my man pointed
eagerly ahead to a bunch of wild cattle grazing quietly
about 300 yards away, and exclaimed : " Look dah, sah ;
yander's a fine buck, right close t' dat ole bull. My heart,
what ho'ns he got!" Unfortunately for the success of
my plans, the cur dog with us, who always jogged at our
heels when wanted ahead on the trail, saw or sniffed the

ANTIGUA AND OTHER ISLES 313

deer at the same time, and immediately straightened out
his crooked legs and darted off in the direction of the
herd, yelping in a way that would have waked the dead.
Of course, no deer in possession of his faculties would
wait for us after that rude salutation, and there was a
lightning-Hke stampede, not only of three bucks and
does, which had been feeding unobserved, but of the wild
cattle in whose company they were.

We tramped all that morning, saw several deer at a
distance, and signs of an innumerable multitude; but the
only real satisfaction I experienced was when William
Jack, my guide, after a hard chase, captured and " lam-
basted dat fool dawg " until he begged for mercy.

Said Mr. Hopkins, the overseer, as we sat on the ve-
randa after dinner : " Day after to-morrow is Sunday,
and the only day I have off. Just keep shy of the parson
and I'll put you up to a bunch of deer that have never
been shot at. But mum's the word, my boy."

Said the parson, as he lighted me to my room that
night : "I've got my sermon finished and not much to
do to-morrow. I'll take you with me over to Bat Cave,
and if we don't get a fine, fat buck, going or coming back,
there will be something amiss."

When the overseer saw us ambling off, " an hour by
sun," on Saturday morning, he put his tongue in his
cheek and nodded significantly, as if to say : " So ho, if
you go with the parson to-day then you'll have to attend
chapel with him to-morrow." But he took it good-
naturedly.

It was a most enjoyable ride we had along the shore
to Bat Cave, where the Caribs once encamped and left
behind their stone implements of warfare as tokens of
their presence here in the distant past. Then we routed

314 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

and followed for a while a flock of wild sheep, finally
arriving at a big ceiba tree in the corner of a wall, where
the shade was grateful and the protection complete.

Directing our sable attendant to take the horses back a
bit on the trail, the parson told me to creep up to the wall
and peep through a chink between the stones, at the same
time making no noise. I did so, wonderingly but still
alert, for I knew there must be method in his proceedings,
and w^as rewarded by seeing something that caused me to
tremble and clutch my gun convulsively. I glanced back
at my friend to assure myself that he was not playing, a
joke on me; for, there in front of me, not forty yards
away, was a fallow " buck complete," as big and as stately
as any that ever coursed through any English park.

The wind was from him to us, so he suspected nothing,
and, with the suspicion still upon me that the parson was
putting me up to a domesticated deer, I asked him with
my eyes if I should shoot. He nodded yes, and shoot I
did, with the result that the spare horse we had brought
along — and ^t the sight of which Hopkins, the overseer,
had laughed himself almost ill — was laden with the big-
gest buck of the season as we returned homeward that
forenoon.

Toothsome venison that night for dinner, together with
the omnipresent guinea-bird and concomitants of tropic
vegetables and fruits, made a feast fit for anybody, the re-
membrance of which, even at this day so far distant,
causes a thrill of pleasure, thinking of what I once en-
joyed, though now debarred. And the next day not only
did I attend chapel (so grateful was I to the parson), but
also induced the overseer to go with me, much to the joy
of our clerical friend, who was nearly overcome by the
unusual happening.

ANTIGUA AND OTHER ISLES 315

I do not know if the genial overseer, Mr. Hopkins, is
yet alive, nor if the hospitable parson who " put me on
to " the fallow deer is still caring for the unregenerate
blacks ; but if they are not, doubtless they left successors,
who will accord the visitor a most generous reception.
One thing is certain, there is no island of the West Indies
better stocked with game of the sort I have mentioned
than this of Barbuda.

Along with the negro, when he was torn from his
native Africa and transported to the West Indies, came
some products of the animal and vegetable kingdoms not
enumerated on the manifests — as, for instance, a vStock
of African superstitions and religious customs which
have developed into the serpent sorcery practiced by the
mountaineers of Haiti and other islands; guinea-grass,
guinea-corn, and finally guinea-birds or fowls, all of
which have done well in the American tropics.

Like the negro, the guinea-fowl has found the climate
and productions of the southern islands just suited to
its warmblooded and vivacious nature, and in certain
parts of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and other smaller
islands, has become the leading game bird of the country.
There is, in fact, no wild feathered game to rival it, either
in size or quality, throughout all the West Indies.

Barbuda is not the only island of the Caribbees out of
touch with steamers and civilization, for there are some
much larger and more populous to the west and north-
west, like Sombrero, so-called because it resembles a gray
felt hat at a distance; Anguilla, the salt island; Saint
Barts, which was once owned by France and Sweden
conjointly, but now belongs to the latter country, though
the inhabitants all speak English ; and Saint Martin,
which, though only thirty-eight square miles in area, is

3i6 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

divided between the French and the Dutch. Of them all,
perhaps, the island of Saint Barts, or Bartholomew, is the
best known, though the phosphate workings on Sombrero
have made it somewhat celebrated ; for Saint Barts was
anciently the eastern headquarters of the buccaneers,
especially of the fierce Montbars, the '' Exterminator,"
who made its sheltered and beautiful port his rendezvous.
Along with 'Statia and the Dutch islands generally, Saint
Barts became the resort of privateers, as it had been of
buccaneers during the American Revolution, and lost, it
is said, more than two million dollars' worth of contraband
goods in 1782, which were seized by Admiral Rodney.
The island is practically defunct now, having lost all but
its prestige and its natural beauties of surface and shore,
being merely a dependency of Guadeloupe.

Saint Martin is the finest of the group, with lofty hills,
and one mountain. Paradise Peak, nearly 2000 feet in
height. The French population of its northern half reside
in or near the quaint old town of Marigot, while the Hol-
landers occupy the port of Philipsburg, on the south
shore, as their capital.

These islands may be reached by sailing vessels from
Antigua, Guadeloupe, or Saint Kitts, and to the student
of nature and man have much to offer in requital for
slight discomforts on the way thither and on shore.

CHAPTER XX
GUADELOUPE AND THE DIABLOTIN

Guadeloupe, largest island of the Caribbees — Famous navigators
who have sailed these waters — French thrift as contrasted
with Creole mismanagement — How the French islands are
governed — The preponderance of the blacks — A menace
to the Caribbees — The gendarmes of Guadeloupe and Mar-
tinique— French colonial system not yet perfect — Arson
and pillage by the blacks — The two parts of a twin island

— Pointe a Pitre and Basse Terre compared — The mag-
nificent mountains — Matouba and the coffee region — The
Governor's retreat in the hills — Hot baths and high-woods

— Climbing to the crater of the great Soufriere — On the
trail of Pere Labat — Hunting the devil-bird, or diablotin.

j4 BOUT one-third down the Caribbean Chain lies
/ \ Guadeloupe, the largest island in it. The dis-
X JL tance from Saba to Grenada, these two islands
representing the extremes of the chain, is just six degrees
of latitude. Guadeloupe is about the same distance from
Saba as it is from its sister French island of Martinique,
or nearly lOO miles ; Barbados, off to the windward, is
about as far from Saint Vincent as the latter is from
Grenada, and the last named equally distant from Tobago
and Trinidad.

Discovered by Columbus in November, 1493, the island
called by the natives Turuqueira was named by him
Guadalupe, since its occupation by the French being
known as Guadeloupe. For a while after the voyages of
Columbus made this region known, the Spaniards had

317

31 8 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

it all to themselves ; but about thirty years after its
discovery the French and English swarmed into the
Caribbean Sea, and began to squabble over the islands
as if they alone were entitled to them all. French cor-
sairs and British privateers made the Caribbee Isles their
rendezvous, while both combined to plunder Spanish
galleons coming up from the isthmus of Panama laden
with silver.

Of the score of islands which France won by her
sword and settled with her colonists but five and a half
remain to her now, within the confines of the Caribbean
Sea. The five are Guadeloupe, Martinique, Desirade,
Marie Galante, the Saintes, and a moiety of the insig-
nificant island, Saint Martin. Thousands of lives, mill-
ions of treasure, have been wasted in acquiring and
defending these islands of the West Indies, yet to-day
not one is profitable to the nation ow^ning it.

Of the two large islands owned by France in the West
Indies Guadeloupe is the greater in area, consisting
properly of two islands — one an immense mountain mass,
with beautiful valleys and forest-covered hills, an inac-
tive volcano, hot and mineral springs, and coflfee planta-
tions. Separated from the mountainous island by a
sluggish creek, the Riviere Salee, running through man-
grove swamps, is the lowland portion, called the Grande
Terre, with level surface, rich soil, and plantations of
sugar-cane. All over and throughout this double island
are the best of roads, even running up to the woods that
border on the gloomy crater of the quiescent volcano.

Here, as well as in the sister colony of Martinique, will
be noted the thrift and good management of the French,
as contrasted with the shiftless methods of the Spanish
formerlv in Cuba and Puerto Rico. Wherever the

GUADELOUPE AND THE DIABLOTIN 319

French go, there they carry with them good roads and
generally good government. We may truly term them
the Roman road-builders of the present day, for through-
out all their domains, colonial as well as continental, they
construct broad, straight highways, smooth as marble
and as hard as iron. The writer has seen them in these
islands as well as in Algiers, on the borders of the Sahara,
their smooth surfaces a delight to the eye and a joy to
travel over.

Although Guadeloupe is French all the way through,
French the language spoken, and a French patois the
speech of the lowliest, yet there are comparatively few na-
tives here now of La Belle France. In the matter of gov-
ernment the island is more at the mercy of the national
system than at fault through local blunders. That is,
since all Frenchmen persist in calling their compatriots,
home and colonial, " men and brothers," it has finally
come to pass that the local legislatures and assemblies are
controlled by the blacks, who are in a vast majority.

Their preponderance has become a grave problem, in
fact, not alone in the French islands, but in the English,
Dutch, and Danish. Whatever men may say to the con-
trary, it is the tendency of the black to revert to primi-
tive conditions, finally (as in Haiti) to lapse into a state
of semi-barbarism, unless held in check by a superior
body of whites.

Now, this is not a theory, but a very serious condition,
and it confronts the West Indians, menaces them contin-
ually, despite the fact that they have labored hard to bring
their respective colonial dependencies to the high level
of the home countries. It is only by the most earnest
and aggressive sort of work that they have been able to
keep their noses above water, even; and, as it is, they

320 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

have been forced to witness a constant degeneration of
moral tone in communities and a persistent deterioration
in realties.

Their only salvation, they now realize, lies in main-
taining the integrity of appointments by the home gov-
ernment as checks upon the extravagance and prospec-
tive lawlessness of the local assemblies. Thus, the head
of the insular government, the governor, is appointed
from France — invariably a white man of high standing —
as are also several of the higher officials. Again, to
further offset the possible centralization of power in the
hands of the island police, who are mainly black and
colored, in each important center, town, or village is
quartered a squad of picked gensdarmes, recruited in the
home country.

Respecting the French colonial system as applied to
the West Indian islands, an American resident at one
time in Guadeloupe wrote me : " Any system of govern-
ment primarily intended for the benefit of a colony will,
if persisted in, ultimately result in good for both colony
and mother country; but no system which is liable to
constant change, and which is consistent only in seeking
the immediate benefit of the home country, can result
otherwise than as here. Every new Minister of Col-
onies in France brings to his work the superb courage of
utter ignorance. He demolishes the half -completed
labor of his predecessor and leaves his own rough foun-
dations and scaffoldings to be destroyed by his successor.

" They all alike seek to make something out of the col-
ony merely, and have not the courage to work on broad,
generous lines for the benefit of both colony and mother-
land in the future. The history of this unfortunate
colony amply proves this. To-day we have a horde of

Cascade in the Jardin des Planter

GUADELOUPE AND THE DIABLOTLN 321

emotional negroes, drunk with a little learning, crazed
with anger against the ill-concealed scorn of the whites,
furious under a false equality they cannot sustain, blindly
seeking redress more for imaginary than real evils, and,
African like, finding their readiest remedy in blood and
fire (as in Haiti). They have sworn to drive the white
man hence — and they will do it yet! It will mean ruin
to them; but they cannot see that; they see only the
immediate destruction of the white man's property, and
himself, also — if possible."

This letter was evoked by the fact that incendiary fires
in Pointe a Pitre, the capital of Guadeloupe, accom-
panied by a rising of the blacks, had worked ruin and
destruction in that city. Arson and pillage are not new
troubles with which the island government has to con-
tend, for, looking back to my first visit to Guadeloupe,
more than twenty years before this letter was written,
I recall that even then they were going on. And yet, on
the surface, Guadeloupe appears to be the best governed
and most refined of the insular colonies.

Its chief port is that of Pointe a Pitre, which is in
the Grande Terre portion of the double island, and shel-
tered, but right in the path of the hurricanes; so that
between .the incendiaries and the cyclones the '' Pointe "
has suffered considerably. Writing twenty-five years
ago, on the occasion of my first visit there, I remarked:
" The loss of life in these successive disasters (of hurri-
canes, earthquakes, and fires) has been fearful; but these
courageous Creoles have faith in the future of their city,
and I doubt if they once give a thought to the rriighty
power against which they are contending — that they are
fighting forces controlled by nature's laws, that will
always operate in the same manner and place, without

322 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS .

regard to the little doings of mankind." The sequel has
proved that they had better have abandoned their badly-
situated capital once for all, especially as it is at times
fever-stricken, and always plagued with mosquitoes.

Then, as now, Pointe a Pitre was the center of business
and the outlet of the sugar industry, at that time even
boasting the second largest " ursine " or central sugar
factory in the world. The Grande Terre portion is
almost entirely level, having a siriiilar geological structure
or composition to Antigua, but being more fertile.
There are miles and miles of sugar-cane in that low-lying
portion of Guadeloupe, and nearest to it lie the imme-
diate dependencies, Desirade and Marie Galante, while
the Saintes are further to the south.

These are extremely picturesque islets, being elevated
and terraced, some of them having thermal springs, and
formerly in repute as watering-places. Historically,
they belong to the most interesting islands of the Carib-
bees, for they were among the first of any discovered by
Columbus on his second voyage in 1493, ^^^ still
retain the name he bestowed upon them, changed only
from the Spanish to the French, like the great island of
which they are dependencies.

A small steamer trips over to the islets once a week,
and there is a semi-weekly local connecting Pointe a
Pitre (through the Riviere Salee) with Basse Terre,
which is the seat of government and capital. There is
also a diligence route along the southern and eastern
shores of Guadeloupe proper, by which a pleasant jour-
ney may be made between the two points in about eight
hours, including a steam launch across the Cul de Sac of
Pointe a Pitre.

Basse Terre was found in 1703 by that good old

GUADELOUPE AND THE DIABLOTIN 323

preacher and traveler, Pere Labat. He was known as
the " belHcose White Father," the traditions state, because
he could fight as well as preach. The town is full of
his monuments — such as the hurricanes have spared
— chief of which is the old Basilique of Basse Terre.
Situated on an open roadstead, Basse Terre has not the
advantages of the Pointe ; but it is better worth seeing,
being so near the mountains as to partake of their attrac-
tions. It has a plaza, in the center of which is a fountain
supplied with water from the mountain streams, and sur-
rounding which are substantial houses of stone.

As the heat along shore is always intense, and particu-
larly in our summer months, all the w^hite people who can
do so take refuge in the hills and mountains. Guad-
eloupe has a vast range with numerous peaks rising
above two or three thousand feet, while its chief eleva-
tion, the volcano or Soufriere, is about 5000 feet. Good
roads lead into the hills and all the summits are more or
less accessible, especially the cone of the volcano.

During my first visit here I hunted in the hills and
scaled the Soufriere, sought out the beautiful water-
falls, and bathed in the tepid streams; so I may be
allowed to speak as if " by the card " of Guadeloupe's
various attractions. My first venture was at a little
mountain hamlet overlooking the Caribbean Sea called
Matouba, where for ten days I roamed the hills and
valleys in quest of birds. Learning that there was a
gentleman who spoke English in the neighboring com-
mune— of which he was the mayor, in fact — I one day
wended my way thither, to be greeted cordially by
Monsieur Saint-Felix Colardeau, a graduate of Yale, who
had lived for several years in the Northern States. Hav-
ing fallen heir to a beautiful coffee estate amid the foot-

324 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

hills of the Soufriere, he had abandoned his practice of
medicine and settled down to a life of seclusion.

Though a perfect stranger to him, he insisted that I
should take up my abode with him until I had secured
the birds I wanted and explored the volcano. This I
did, of course, and am indebted to my good friend for
many an hour filled with information respecting things
new and strange to me then. A dozen years later, when
I revisited the island, M. Colardeau, who was then
director of the Jardin* des Plantes, introduced me offici-
ally to the Governor, M. Nouet, who invited me to spend
a week or so at his " hotel " at Camp Jacob.

The Governor's country seat in the mountains was in
the vicinity of M. Colardeau's estate, where I had passed
so many happy hours, and whence I had made my ascent
of the Soufriere. There were at that time more than a
thousand coffee estates in Guadeloupe, all, of course, in
the mountainous island, and the air was fragrant with
coffee blossoms, the hillsides covered with plantations.
Governor Nouet had opened trails and bridle-paths
through the " high-woods," as the great mountain forests
are called, to the hot springs and baths therein concealed.
One of these is known as the Bain Jaune, probably so
called from the color of its water, which is tinged as
well as impregnated with sulphur.

This bath is near the skirts of the woods that cover
a shoulder of the Soufriere, above which is barrenness
and desolation. As the Governor and I were taking a
dip in it one day, and he was telling me of the beauty of
the ferns above on the trail to the crater, I asked him
if there were any descriptions extant of the Soufriere
which would inform me as to its salient features. I
recall that his eyes twinkled, while mine dilated, as he

GUADELOUPE AND THE DIABLOTIN 325

replied that the first description he had ever read, and
which inspired him with a desire to achieve the ascent
of the volcano, was one written by myself !

Of a truth, I had forgotten it, and was going to
" tackle " that volcano as if it were something I had never
seen. But, as the Governor reminded me of different
passages in my description of the ascent, it all came back
to me. I recalled the kindness of good Madame Col-
ardeau, who provided me with a knapsack full of cooked
provisions, and the thoughtfulness of her husband (dead,
now, and gone to heaven, rest his soul!), who furnished
an Indian coolie as a guide.

What joy was mine as I plunged into the fresh, dank
vegetation of the high-woods and essayed the climb up
the heights beyond ! There were the mighty gommier
trees, with broad buttresses twenty feet across, and leafy
crowns that merged in the common canopy a hundred
feet above my head. And the lianas, the vines and bush-
ropes, which descended to earth as if dropped down from
the skies, were, some of them, as large as hawsers and
cables, and adorned with a world of aerial blossoms.

Reaching a stream the waters of which were warm, I
traced it to its source in a spring that gushed from under
the hill, coming straight from Nature's arcanum in the
heart of the volcano. I followed it up, finally striking the
trail to the crater-cone, my guide going ahead and tunnel-
ing out a path through the ferns with his machete. For
hours, it seemed to me, we burrowed through the dank,
dwarfed growth, then suddenly daylight looked in and I
saw before me the cone of the volcano. Imagine, I
wrote at the time, an immense pyramid truncated by some
internal force, that has rent its sides at the same time,
leaving the summit-plane around strewn with huge rocks,

326 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

and a mighty chasm where 'twas reft in twain, and you
have the Soufriere of Guadeloupe to-day.

That " to-day " is now yesterday, a quarter-century
gone; but, so far as I can ascertain, the crater is
unchanged. Ravines seamed the sides of the cone in every
direction, some spanned by bridges of natural rock; but
that to which I constantly recurred was the great central
gorge, with its wicked-looking throat, from which there
have been only two eruptions recorded within little more
than a century: one in 1797, and another in 1815.
Doubtless it may again act as the vent for the internal
ebullitions of mother earth — as I wrote at the time in my
journal — but during the eruptions of Pelee and^ the
Soufriere of Saint Vincent, in May, 1902, the Gaudeloupe
giant held its peace. I have since climbed Popocatepetl,
in Mexico, and also nearly all the volcanoes of the Ca-
ribbees; but over no ascent was I so elated as on this
occasion — probably because it was my first one.

How the solfataras puffed and snorted, the sulphur
crystals gleamed, the blasts of hot air smote my face, as
I rambled over the area of desolation within the crater!
When the mist lifted, at intervals, I caught glimpses of
the forests down below in which, more than four hundred
years before, some of the company with Columbus were
lost. It was still a sloping plain of verdure, almost as
unbroken and impenetrable as in the last decade of the
fifteenth century, when it resounded to the blare of trum-
pets and firing of arquebuses.

Below me lay the Saintes, a cluster of islets, seemingly
close to the cliffs of the volcano, discovered and named by
Columbus on All-Saints' Day, 1493. Northeast from me
lay Desirade, the first island he sighted on that second
voyage, and almost due south again rose dear old

GUADELOUPE AND THE DIABLOTIN 327

Dominica, the island of Sabbath Day, which was the next
to greet his vision. Ere the curtains of mist drew to-
gether and condensed into rain, which was late in the
afternoon, I had penetrated to every accessible part of the
crater, not only in my pursuit of old Vulcan, but in search
of a bird which, according to tradition, used to have its
haunts here. Its life-story begins away back in the
seventeenth century, and was first told to the public at
large by the jolly Pere Labat, roving priest, bon vivant
and litterateur withal, who journeyed through the West
Indies more than two hundred years ago.

I have his book before me as I write: " Nouveau
Voyage aux Isles de I'Amerique," published 1722, and
crammed from cover to cover with interesting facts. And
the good old Pere (whom I have always loved, though
never have seen in the flesh), among other adventures,
gives a detailed account of his quest for the mysterious
Diablotin, or '' Little Devil," a bird that lived in the cra-
ters of the Caribbean volcanoes, and went forth only
at night — which devil-bird I thought probably identical
with the " Vedrigo " of Saba, or related to it, at least
generically. That it was not does not prove anything,
for I went in search of it, just the same, about one
hundred and eighty years after old Labat, and in the
same localities.

The bird had been discovered by another priest, one
Pere du Tertre, about 1640, and he had left such an
enticing account of the delicacy of its flesh that Pere
Labat must fain go also in quest of it. And he found it,
too, and ate of its flesh, which he pronounced very fine —
though savoring somewhat of fish — which is not to be
wondered at, as that was its sole subsistence.

After a toilsome journey up the sides of this very

328 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

Soufriere of Guadeloupe, Pere Labat arrived at the
crater-brim, where the devil-birds lived. The first day
he and his chasseurs obtained fifteen, which they killed
and cooked on the spot. They camped over night in the
crater, where the hunters built a frail shelter for the
priest; but the latter could not sleep, on account of the
great noise made by the Diablotins, as they went out to
sea and returned in the darkness. The next day Labat
and his black hunters caught 150 devil-birds, and ate
their fill before descending the volcano to the settlement
at Basse Terre.

My first hunt for the bird was in the island of
Dominica, which has a mountain about 5000 feet in
height ; but I did not find it, because, as I was told, it had
been exterminated by the manacou, a native 'possum,
which had sought it out in its holes and devoured its
eggs. Neither was I successful in Guadeloupe ; though I
had hoped the bird I found in Saba, another volcanic
island, might prove to be the veritable Diablotin.

The bird I never saw — or, at least, never knew it if I
saw it — was the impelling motive for many a hard climb
up the steep sides of those Caribbean volcanoes, and in my
search I ascended them all, from isolated Saba in the
north to the Soufrieres of Saint Vincent and Grenada
in the south. I passed a night one time on the brim of
Saint Eustatia's perfect crater-cone (as already nar-
rated) for the sole purpose of observing the nocturnal
sounds, and if possible scenes, as I lay there wrapped in
my blanket, with the fierce winds whistling around me.
I thought I heard the voice of the Little Devil, in the air
above me, and anxiously peered into the darkness, gun
a-poise ; but no form of bird rewarded my vigil, and in
the morning I returned empty-handed to the coast.

CHAPTER XXI
DOMINICA, AN ISLAND OF WONDERS

The largest island of the Caribbees — Mentioned in the " World
of Wonders " — Things that make Dominica fascinating —
An island beautiful — My first glimpse of it — Its fatal gift
— What Anthony Trollope said about it — How he spurred
me to exploration — Roseau the island's capital — Former
residents in Dominica — The foremost scientist in the Lesser
Antilles — Wooing Dame Nature in the woods — Zizi, my
mountaineer guide — Iguanas, trembleurs, mountain whis-
tlers, and humming birds — The sunset bird, which received
my name in " hog Latin " — Anecdote of Lucy Larcom and
Whittier — The region of the Boiling Lake — When it was
discovered, and when first photographed — An ajoupa in the
wilderness — Taking an old-time photograph — The petit
soufricre — Hot streams, cold streams, and boiling springs —
First glimpse of the Boiling Lake — The rent in the wall
through which Martinique was visible — The tragedy in
Dominica five months before the eruption of Mont Pelee —
A night march with corpses through the forest — The guide
who was scalded to death — Boiling eggs and yams in the
hot springs.

DOMINICA, largest and loftiest of the Lesser
I Antilles, is only thirty miles in length by fifteen
in breadth, yet contains within its confines so
many natural attractions as to have received merited
mention in an English publication called the " World
of Wonders." Its wonder-in-chief is a geyser in the
mountains known as the Boiling Lake; but the moun-
tains themselves, with their tarns embedded in tropical
vegetation more than two thousand feet above the sea;

329

330 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

the cascades and waterfalls that gleam against their lofty
walls of rock; the forest-covered monies and vine-hung
precipices; the Edenic vales filled with lime-trees and
fringed with cocoa palms, and the rivers that flow through
them and mingle their sparkling waters with the foaming
surf on silver-sanded beaches — all these combine to make
Dominica fascinating.

In my mind, for many years, Dominica has been mir-
rored, pictured, as the ideal " island beautiful," because,
in days when I was younger, I made within its forests
my first camp in region purely tropical. Sailing out of
the ill-fated port of Saint Pierre, Martinique, one
evening of a December long ago, with a fair land-breeze
from the mountains and a smart gale drawing through
the channel between the islands, the drogher I had taken
passage in arrived off the southern end of Dominica at
midnight. Then the wind died away, being cut off by
the mountains, and for twenty hours we drifted hither
and thither on a glassy sea.

During those twenty hours I had ample opportunity
to study the contours of the island, from curving shore
to central cordillera, and to watch the changes that came
over it as the sun dissipated the mists around its peaks
and in its valleys. The hill summits were blue and
purple in distance, within them a cordon of lower eleva-
tions, guarding valleys deep and dark, with a planter's
house here and there gleaming white, a palm-bordered
beach curving between frowning promontories. Domin-
ica, one writer has said, possesses the " fatal gift of
beauty," meaning, I suppose, that she has too many
charms to be useful; but this is not quite true. While
her mountains are lofty, her valleys traversed by swift
and turbulent rivers that often overflow their banks;

DOMINICA 331

and while miles and miles of forest cover the hills, she
has yet many thousand acres of level, fertile soil, much
of which has been brought under cultivation.

She has entered, her residents say, upon a career of
prosperity long-delayed, but now in sight, despite her
" fatal gift of beauty."

Some time before I first visited Dominica I read the
work of Anthony Trollope on the West Indies, and was
so much impressed by something which he said could not
be done that I straightway attempted it.

" To my mind," he said, " Dominica, as seen from the
sea, is by far the most picturesque of all these islands.
Indeed, it would be hard to beat it either in color or
grouping. It fills one with an ardent desire to be off
and rambling among these mountains — as if one could
ramble through such wild bush country, or ramble at
all with the thermometer at eighty-five degrees. But
when one has only to think of such things, without any
idea of doing them, neither the bushes nor the ther-
mometer are considered."

I not only thought of " such things ": — as, for instance,
camping out in the mountains and rambling through the
forests — but, after living a while in the coast town of
Roseau, just long enough to get acquainted and take my
bearings, I hied myself to those same mountains which
Mr. Trollope intimated were to be classed as among the
impossibles.

Roseau, the reader must know, is a little dead-and-
alive town, lying along the shore at the mouth of the
river from which it derives its name. It is exceedingly
picturesque, but still is not overwhelmingly attractive as
a place of residence ; though I am acquainted with some
very worthy people who have resided there for more

332 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

than the average span of Hfe. All were friendly to the
young naturalist who came to them a stranger, all assisted
me to achieve my ambition, which was to go camping
in the high-woods; but particularly was I indebted to a
young physician who had then but recently come out from
England as assistant to Doctor Imray. He had been
there three or four years at the time of our first meeting,
and, except for intervals of vacation now and then, he
has lived there ever since, or nearly thirty years in all.
Moreover, he has pursued as active a career as most of
his confreres in temperate climates can boast, working
night and day at his profession and at scientific research.
Since I shall not directly mention his name, I may say
that he is recognized as the foremost botanist and medical
Authority in the West Indies, and that his attainments
brought him an honorary title from the British Crown a
few years ago.

With that we have nothing to do, of course, except
that it is an indication of the great work this physician
has performed, and in an enervating tropical climate,
that it should have attracted attention at the British
court. His predecessor. Dr. Imray, was for many years
a friend and correspondent of that famous botanist. Sir
Joseph Hooker, and he has followed in his footsteps,
having not only a perfect acquaintance with the West
Indian flora, but a practical knowledge of tropical agri-
culture, on which as a topic he has written an authori-
tative work of surpassing value.

Having started out to give little Roseau a first-class
" character," I must not omit mention of its superlative
situation, at the foot of a glorious morne, its government
house, botanical gardens, and experiment station (where
so much has been done toward improving tropical agri-

DOMINICA 333

culture), its library, and its picturesqueness. Now let
us hasten to the woods and mountains ; for towns are
towns, all the world over, attractive according to the man-
ner in which man has fitted them to their environ-
ments ; while the hills and forests — are they not of God ?
For the blessed privilege of living many months in
communion with nature in her most lovable moods and
most beautiful garbs, I have always felt grateful to my
Creator, who directed my wandering footsteps toward this
island of Dominica.

Through my friend in Roseau I secured a guide to
the mountains that formed the central system of Domin-
ica's chain, and from one of the mountaineers, when
arrived at the little hamlet in the forest clearing, I
secured a cabin, where I lived for several weeks, in a
sense isolated from my kind. This hamlet was called
Laudat, and was at that time forest-surrounded, within
sight of the sea, but hidden from the distant town, and
two thousand feet above the Caribbean at its level.
Here, let me remark, instead of rising to eighty-five
degrees, as Mr. Trollope suggested, the thermometer
rarely indicated more than sixty-eight or seventy. I
know, because I had one hanging in my hut for months,
and frequently referred to it.

These mountaineers are colored people, bronzed as
to complexion, and very much mixed up as to ancestry,
in their veins the blood of three races mingling — that
of the French, the African, and the Carib Indian. They
speak a French patois, like all the islanders in English
Dominica and Saint Lucia, as well as in French Mar-
tinique and Guadeloupe. They are faithful, honest,
untiringly zealous in serving, and as woodsmen are un-
surpassed, The embodiment of all the servingman's vir-

334 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

tties was old Jean Baptiste, of whom I hired the cabin,
and who, a few years after, lost his life by venturing too
near that devil's caldron, the Boiling Lake. Zizi, as he
was called at home, had an overwhelming regard for the
white man — the white man whom he could respect — who,
he said, was next to the Bon Dieu. *' White man he
next to God; I tank ze Bon Dieu eef I can speks ze
Eengleesh."

To the worthy Zizi I was indebted for my first taste
of iguana, the arboreal lizard which looks like an alligator
with a serrated back and whip-tail. The flesh is not
always good, but in the spring of the year, when the
iguana comes out of its dens and feeds on grass and
leaves of trees, it is savory, tender, white, fit for any table.

Zizi and a small host of half-naked urchins, animated
creatures, yellow-bronze in hue, were my guides to
haunts of bird and beast. They showed me where the
delicious mountain crabs and crayfish lurked, the
quaint " trembleurs," or birds with quivering wings, had
their nests; the '' siffleur montagne," or mountain
whistler, trilled its melodious songs, in organ notes;
and above all, where the brilliant humming-birds dis-
ported, lighting the somber forests with their gem-like
plumage.

The primeval state in which this forest wilderness then
existed may be understood when I state that I secured
here six or eight new birds, which had never been seen
even by naturalists before, and among them one which
had the reputation of being a " jombie " bird or sort of
feathered spirit. It was also known as the soldi coiichcr,
the " sunset bird," because it uttered its cry only as the
sun went down at night. This bird, which I captured
by the aid of my boys (who were in a state of trepida-

The Boiling Lake of Dominica

DOMINICA 335

tion when I did it, fearing ghostly vengeance), was
named after me, the Myiarchus Obcri, making the second
species to which my name was applied, in " hog Latin,"
by the ornithologists at Washington, when it was sent
home to them for identification.

The discoverer of the bird also received a valued
tribute from a poetess whose sweet voice is nov/ hushed
forever: Lucy Larcom, a close friend of John G.
Whittier, and a writer of distinction. Meeting her soon
after returning from my first voyage to the Antilles,
and narrating to her the story of the Sunset Bird
(doubtless with many embellishments, to suit the poet's
fancy), she was captivated with the subject and wrote a
poem about it.* Shortly after, I remember, we both rode
over from my home to Danvers, where Mr. Whittier then
resided most of the time, and Miss Larcom mentioned
the theme to him. After she had concluded, the dear
old Quaker poet fell into a revery, from which soon
awaking he said earnestly: " Does thee know, Lucy, that
strikes me as a good subject for a poem? "

Miss Larcom laughed merrily as she replied, shaking
her finger at him playfully: *' Oh, you can't have that,
for I've already written about it! "

I fancied that Mr. Whittier looked disappointed, but
he, too, laughed as he rejoined in the same vein: "Ah,
Lucy, thee is always getting ahead of me! "

But, returning to our island, after this digression into
which I was led by reminiscence: there is still another
reason why Dominica should be regarded as almost a
terra incognita until within a comparatively recent

* " The Sunset Bird of Dominica," in " Wild Roses of Cape
Ann," Boston, 1881.

33^ OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

period. It is found in the existence within its sierras
of a gigantic geyser, which had blown out steam and
water, rumbled and roared, in uninvaded solitude for
ages, perhaps, undiscovered and unknown until the last
quarter of the last century had nearly arrived. It seems
incredible that in an island with scarce one hundred miles
of coast line, and containing only three hundred square
miles, there could exist not only a lake of boiling water,
detonating frequently with loud reports, but a large area
of volcanic activity, without any human being being
aware of the fact through several centuries.

Moreover, I trust I may be pardoned for remarking,
I was the first American to look upon it, and the first
of any nationality to take a photograph of Dominica's
since-famous Boiling Lake. An engraving from this
photograph was published in the London Graphic of
April 19, 1879, the first, I believe, to appear. Through-
out the islands (I may add) at the time I carried a " wet-
plate " photographic outfit, by means of which I secured
the originals of the illustrations that appeared in my
first book, before the era of " process pictures " and di-
rect reproductions.

One of the Laudat people had been the first guide to
the Boiling Lake, when it was discovered by Dr.
Nicholls, in 1875, but it was first sought by a local
magistrate, Mr. Edmund Watt, who was lost in the
forest the year before, in an attempt at exploring the
mysterious region. Mr. Watt came near losing his life,
and he also came near discovering the lake; but failed
through the defection of his men, who left him alone
in the trackless forest. Then, as one of my boys nar-
rated to me: '' M'sieu Watt he walk, walk, walk, pour
.ree day; he lose hees clo's, bees pants cut off; he make

DOMINICA 337

nozing pottr manger but root ; he have no knife, no
nozing ; hees guide was town neegah ; zey was town
neegah, sah, and leab him and loss him. Bien, he come
to black man's ajoupa in wood, an' ze black man sink
he jomhie an' he run ; when he come back wiz some
more men for look for jomhie M'sieu Watt he make
coople of sign — for he have loss hees voice and was not
to spek — an' zey deescovair heem."

It was none too soon, either, that this first seeker for
the lake was rescued, for he was nearly gone. He had
the pleasure the next year, however, of setting eyes on
the phenomenon, as one of the party led by Dr. Nicholls.

When my friend Zizi finally announced that " to-mor-
row make weddah " for the trip to the Lake, I had been
waiting for that same weather to " make " for quite two
weeks ; so there was no delay in starting out. Four
Laudat boys, two sons and two nephews of Zizi, went
with me as guides and porters, two of them being neces-
sary to carry the photographic outfit, consisting of dark-
tent, chemicals, and camera. Each of them also carried
a gun, as well as a rhachete at his side, and the muzzles
of the muskets were constantly, though not intentionally,
pointed at my head, thus adding zest to the occasion
throughout the trip. And it was a most wonderful
journey, consuming two days and a night, even starting,
as we did, from the mountain hamlet well on the way to
the lake. Plunging at once into the forest, I found
myself in the home of magnificent tree-ferns, which is
between fifteen hundred and three thousand feet above
the sea. On the way up to the hamlet from Roseau one
may see tree-ferns occasionally ; but not such rare speci-
mens as the great forest contains. These and the moun-
tain palms accompanied us nearly all the way, until near

338 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

the pctit^ soufrierc, or little sulphur valley, was
approached; as also the '" mountain whistlers," gaudy
insects, and rare types of humming-birds. It was late
in the afternoon that we reached the sotifriere region,
where all vegetation had been blasted by the sulphur
fumes, and the stench from sulphureted hydrogen was
nearly overpowering. The silver coins in my pocket and
the brass mountings of my camera were soon discolored
to a blue-black hue by the fumes; for we were now amidst
several sulphur streams, and clouds of vapor drifted con-
tinually across the valley.

Referring to my notes, I find that the heat was made
ten-fold oppressive by the moisture-laden atmosphere.
We descended between huge boulders and dead
blanched trees prostrate on the ground to a stream of
marvelous beauty, and entered a ravine through which
flowed other streams from above, their currents now
minghng, hot and cold together, where the scene changed
as if by enchantment. Everywhere plashed most mu-
sical cascades, and from every side came pouring in
rippling rivulets, some cold and sparkling, others boiling
hot, with wreaths of steam above them in the air. Along
their banks were all sorts of tropical plants, such as tree-
ferns, wild-plantains, orchids, and air-plants, the last
hanging in mid-air to lianes and lialines which formed a
perfect network alongside and across the streams. On
the sloping hillside here my boys chose a spot for a camp,
and two of them stayed to make an ajoupa, while the
other two went with me to the lake.

In the bottom of a vast bowl, with walls a hundred feet
in height around it, I finally found the object I had
come so far to see — the Boiling Lake of Dominica. But,
though all other visitors had seen it in a state of violent

DOMINICA 339

ebullition, when I first looked upon it there was hardly
a ripple on the surface. ' There was the geyser's token,
the swelling ripple in the center; but otherwise it was
quiescent. That was fortunate, as I viewed it, for other-
wise I could not have taken the photograph, which I
obtained by scrambling down the bed of a dried-up river
and pitching my camera at the lake marge, just as the
sun's last rays gilded the mountains and hill-crests
beyond the crater.

When the lake had quieted down nobody could tell, of
course, for visitors to the region were not frequent those
days ; but I was the first to secure an unobstructed view
of its surface without intervening clouds of steam, or to
listen at the solfataras without having the ears assailed
by violent detonations.

Opposite the spot where I had set my camera was a
great gap in the inclosing wall, through which the over-
flow from the lake had generally poured forth in a tor-
rent of sulphur water that descended to the coast.
Through this aperture, which was about fifty feet across,
I could look off, across and over verdant mountains,
southerly to the isle of Martinique, gleaming in the mist
and waning sunlight twenty miles away. There is situ-
ated grim old Mont Pelee, which, in May, 1902, over-
whelmed Saint Pierre and destroyed so many thousand
people. During that eruption and for some time after
it was feared that the Boiling Lake, which is a vent or
safety-valve for the internal volcanic forces, would
explode and devastate Martinique's sister island of
Dominica; but on the whole it behaved very well and
proved an agreeable disappointment. It roared and
fretted, now and then, and when the island was envel-
oped in smoke from neighboring Pelee and the lake sud-

340 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

denly subsided, many of the natives feared an overflow
to the valleys below ; but nothing of the sort happened,
and to-day (or by last accounts) the Boiling Lake pre-
sents no new or startling feature.

There have been victims of its insidious gases, how-
ever— two men, one a young Englishman, Wilfred Clive,
a descendant of the celebrated Lord Clive, and the other
his guide. The accident happened in December, 1901,
five months previous to the eruptions of Pelee in Mar-
tinique and the Saint Vincent Soufriere. Mr. Clive had
reached the lake and was setting his camera in position
near or at the spot I had selected years before, when one
of his two guides, who was sitting on a rock near a
stream, was overcome by lethal gases and toppled over
into the water. The other guide was also affected ; but
when young Clive discovered the first in an apparently,
dying state he immediately dispatched the second to
Laudat for assistance. The insidious nature of the
deadly gases may be inferred from the fact that Mr.
Clive was himself stricken as he was ministering to his
guide. He should have been on his guard ; but when
the relieving party arrived from Laudat, many hours
after, they found both men dead, the guide propped
against a boulder, and Mr. Clive in a recumbent position.

The rescue party arrived that night, but the sulphu-
reted hydrogen was so strong in the ravine where the
corpses lay that two days passed before they could get
them out. During two long days and terrible nights
they maintained their grewsome death-watch on or near
the hillside where, twenty-four years before, my boys had
pitched my camp and built our ajoupa. Through the
wild forests which we had traversed so light-heartedly,
over the rough trail beneath the giant trees, amid the dense,

DOMINICA 341

tropic growth, the relief party made their return march
by night, Hghted by torches of gum wood, and bearing
their ghastly burdens in hammocks between them. Years
before a similar party had borne to Laudat poor old Zizi,
my guide and friend, another" victim of the Lake, who
was scalded to death in its waters.

The temperature of the water when I was there, in
1877, was under 100 degrees ; but both previous and later
investigators have found it nearly 200, or very near the
boiling-point, at an elevation of two thousand feet and
more above the sea. Within the volcanic area, the
Soufriere region, there are many hot springs, and in one
of them, on the morning succeeding to our night in camp,,
my guides cooked our breakfast, then spread the repast
on the broad leaves of the wild plantain, and we feasted
merrily (I find recorded in my journal), though half-
strangled by the sulphur fumes.

CHAPTER XXII
THE LAST OF THE WEST INDIANS

Where the last of the West Indians are to be found — Caribs,
or Cannibals, discovered by Columbus, in 1493 — My first
acquaintance with those of Dominica --- The Carib reserva-
tion— History of the aborigines in epitome — Proofs that
the Caribs were anthropophagi — Their defensive weapons
— The people described by a writer of the seventeenth
century — Their beliefs in a God and the soul — The late
Doctor Brinton's theory of their origin — Probably derived
from Orinoco region of South America — If we could
summon their shades back to earth? — Only ritual cannibals
at the most — Why the Caribs rarely ate the Christians —
The writer's quarters in Carib country — Madame Jo and
her shock-headed children — A solitary life in pursuit of
birds — Favored guest of hospitable natives — Who had
more virtues than vices — How I became godfather to a
descendant of cannibals — A feast for the quondam hunter
of birds — The responsibilities of a godfather — What Time
had done to Madame John — Old and decrepit at forty —
Time and rum too much for Meyong — My rediscovered
relatives — The Carib tongue spoken only by a few old
Indians — Where French has supplanted both Carib and
English.

THE last of tke aboriginal West Indians, de-
scendants of the people found here by Colum-
bus more than four hundred years ago, are to
be found only in the islands of Dominica and Saint
Vincent, those comparatively obscure members of the
Antillean chain. Very few remain in the latter island,
having been practically exterminated by the outburst

342

THE LAST OF THE WEST INDIANS 343

of the Soufriere ; but there are between two and three
hundred in Dominica. They are the last remains of the
Caribs, Indians discovered in 1493 ^^^^ by Cokimbus de-
nominated cannibals after he had found what he claimed
was evidence of their man-eating propensities, in the
island of Guadeloupe.

More than a month was spent by me in the forests
of Dominica before I ventured over to the Atlantic coast
of the island where the Caribs lived. I had heard of
them, and from them, for now and then some of the
Indians made the journey across the mountains from the
windward to the leeward coast, and in doing so always
diverged from the trail at Laudat and passed some time
with their friends in that hamlet. While I was photo-
graphing the beautiful Mountain Lake, which fills with
its pure cold water one of the four dead craters existing
in Dominica, and is 2200 feet above the sea, I was sur-
prised by the approach of a stalwart, buxom girl of
twenty years or so, who swung along the trail with long
strides, in company with an older woman.

".Look, look, M'sieu," exclaimed my assistant, point-
ing at the girl, " that Indian, one of the Charaibes ! '^

She had just passed by us, but hearing this exclama-
tion turned, and with a broad smile on her bronzed;
chubby face said in patois: " Oiii, moi Charaibe; moi
faiyn, aiissi" — '*Me Carib; me hungry, also." This latter
remark was probably intended to suggest an invitation to
join in the repast which my boy had spread within the
cave in the clay-bank opposite the lake and at the side
of the trail. At any rate, the girl and her companion
were invited, and they both returned and sat down, with-
out any ado whatever at the lack of formal introduc-
tions. They enjoyed immensely the sardines and pate de

344 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

foic gras, the British beer and Danish butter and the
American welcome they received, which were doubtless
novelties in their experience, and after an hour or so
departed with the assurance that if I would visit Carib
country they would endeavor to requite my hospitality.

After dispatching my collections of rare birds to the
coast, thence to be shipped to the States by sailing vessel,
I packed up my belongings at Laudat, and in company
with two of my boys and two strapping girls, who car-
ried my luggage on their heads, started for the so-called
Carib country. There are few roads of any . sort in
Dominica at the present time, and there were none at all
in the days I write of, the only trail being a foot-path up
the mountains and down the vales, frequently interrupted
by rivers and at times skirting the brinks of precipices.
Two days it took me to perform the trip, but it might
have been done in shorter time, perhaps, if the people by
the way had been less inclined to hospitality. Most of
the Indians had heard of the white man who had cut
loose from civilization and became as one of them with
the mountaineers, and so they were well inclined toward
me in advance of my coming. It was with many a tarry
by the way, and many a halt at huts of smiling natives,
that I pursued the journey with my corps of attendants,
all of them bearing big burdens on their heads.

I found my resting-place at last, finally reaching the
Carib reservation, which extends from the River Mahoe
to the River Ecr^isse, three miles or more along the
Atlantic coast, and away back into the mountains as
many miles as the people chose to make their provision
grounds.

It has been often stated that the people of the United
States, when our pioneers came into contact with the

THE LAST OF THE WEST INDIANS 345

Indians of the frontier, took all the good lands for them-
selves and gave the red men the remainder. How false
this is we who have been in the Indian Territory and seen
the accumulated wealth of the noble red men there can
aver ; but whether this be so or not, in the Lesser Antilles
the white men practiced this policy centuries ago. First
the Spaniards, in Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, and Puerto Rico ;
then the French and English, in the southern or volcanic
islands of the Lesser Antilles.

At all events, the Indians of the Greater Antilles were
long ago exterminated, after first being deprived of their
lands, and only a miserable remnant of the Caribs- of the
lesser islands remains in existence to-day.

The Caribbeans, says an author of the seventeenth
century, are a handsome, well-shaped people, of a smil-
ing countenance, middle stature, having broad shoulders
and large hips, and most of them in good condition. The
description he gives of the Caribs will apply to-day,
for they have changed but little, except through intermix-
ture with the negroes and colored people during the past
200 years. Their mouths are not over large, he says,
and their teeth are perfectly white and close. Their
complexion is of an olive color, naturally; their fore-
heads and noses are flat, not naturally, but by artifice
(that is, artificially flattened), "for their mothers crush
them down at their birth, as also during the time they
suckle them, imagining it a kind of beauty or perfec-
tion."

" They believe in evil spirits and seek to propitiate
them by presents of game, fruits, etc. They believe that
they have as many souls as they feel beatings of the
arteries in their bodies, besides the principal one which
is in the heart and goes to heaven with its god, who

346 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

carries it thither to live with other gods ; and they
imagine that they live the same life that man lives here
below. For they do not rtiink the soul to be so far imma-
terial as to be invisible, but they affirm it to be subtle and
of thin substance, as a purified body, and they use but the
same word to signify heart and soul."

If we could but summon the shades of their cannibal
ancestors before us it is probable that (shades, ghosts,
apparitions, spooks, jombies, being supposed to tell the
truth) they might plead guilty to having been anthro-
pophagi ; but only in the " religious " sense. Like the
ancient Aztecs (who, though they had sacrificed thou-
sands of their enemies before grim Huitzilopochtli on
their temple-pyramid and had partaken of their flesh,
did not resort to cannibalism when pressed by famine at
the siege of Mexico), the Caribs sometimes ate human
flesh at their ceremonials. But it was merely a matter of
taste, so to speak. If an enemy fought well and dis-
played unusual valor, they saved his arms, legs, and other
portions as tidbits, by " boucanning " them over a slow
fire, for their religious banquets.

Later on, after they had well-nigh exterminated the
Arawaks of the more northern West Indies, they applied
the same process to the invading Christians. But never
to any great extent, because, as one of the Carib chief-
tains is said to have naively explained : *' The Spaniards
and Frenchmen tasted of garlic, and the Englishmen
were too strong of tobacco ! " So the Christians " saved
their bacon " ; though they rarely saved their lives when,
through the fortunes of war, they were taken prisoners by
the Caribs.

In the process of time, and through the drastic methods
of Spanish and English " civilization," as the Caribs

THE LAST OF THE WEST INDIANS 347

became decimated they lost their warUke nature, as well
as their desire for tasting human flesh ; and when, nearly
400 years after their discovery by white men, I found my
way to their settlement, on the windward side of Domin-
ica, less than 300 altogether, and hardly more than a
dozen of pure blood, remained alive.

As a naturalist, interested mainly in birds and inci-
dentally in anthropology, I became domiciled in their
midst at that time, and as the only white man resident in
their settlement I was the recipient of overwhelming
attention. The palm-thatched hut which they had built
for the priest to occupy in his semi-annual visits was
assigned me, and the middle-aged woman who generally
ministered to the holy man's creature comforts, by cook-
ing the food furnished by his parishioners, was charged
with the same duties in behalf of the white hunter from
the United States.

This woman, with her husband and a family of black-
eyed, shock-headed children, occupied a little hut on a
promontory overlooking the boisterous Atlantic, about
a mile distant from the priest's house, which, having
another within gunshot, was considered to be in the heart
of the settlement.

And yet it was lonely, as I remember, when, having
attended to her daily duties, '' Madame Jo " cleared away
the table, fastened up the cookhouse adjacent to the hut,
and left me alone, to listen over night to the soughing of
the ever-blowing tradewind and the monotonous beat of
the fierce waves upon the rocks. But I was then young,
active, and industrious, every morning rising at day-
break to range the forest all the forenoon for birds, after
a sunrise dip in the river; and so busy during the after-
noon writing up notes and preparing my *' specimens,"

348 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

that soon after dusk and dinner I became oblivious to the
sohtary nature of my surroundings.

My guide and companion was an Indian lad called
Meyong (contraction of Simeon), who knew all the
haunts of bird and beast on shore and in the mountain
forests. As the smoke arose from the little shack in
which Madame Jo prepared my morning coffee, Meyong
sauntered up in time to make way with the portion left
for him, and then led me away to the scene of the day's
investigations — it might be for iguanas and agoutis,
among the wild guavas of a deserted plantation, or yet,
farther afield, for wild parrots and great blue-headed
pigeons ; but we never returned empty-handed to the hut,
nor without having tramped for hours in the sweltering
atmosphere of the tropics.

Now and again we had Madame Jo put up a larger
portion of food than usual, and then wandered for days
and nights in the mountains, searching for the great
'* imperial " parrot (the Chrysotis aiigusta) and that some-
what mythical creature, the Diahlotin, or " Devil Bird."
At such times we were accompanied by Meyong's inti-
mate friend, Coryet, who carried the culinary implements
and made the ajoupa in which we slept at night. And it
was while I reclined upon the springy bed of palm leaves,
beneath the lean-to, in the light of a fragrant fire of gum-
wood, with pencil and note-book in hand, that my Carib
friends repeated to me tales of the ** loup-garous," or
were-wolves, and strange Indian traditions.

Happier days and nights have never fallen to my lot
than those I then experienced in the *' high-woods " of
that tropical island in the Caribbean Sea. Ardent and
enthusiastic, I entered with eagerness into the life of my
Indian companions, hesitated at no venture they pro-

THE LAST OF THE WEST INDIANS 349

posed, and endured gladly all the hardships incidental to
that wild existence. Charmed by its romanticism, fasci-
nated by its novelty, I possibly idealized the simple folk
among- whom I lived, and this in turn may account for
the manner in which they served me, which almost
verged upon actual worship.

Aside from the fact that the Caribs felt in honor bound
to supply the stranger in their midst with all their lands
afforded, they liked me because I became for the time as
good an aboriginal as any of my men, hunted and fished
with them, and took the keenest interest in their welfare.
And, indeed, they were a lovable people, honest, affec-
tionate, true to each other, and hospitable. They had
vices, alas! but they were those begotten of a tropical
climate, and an imperception of moral obligations ;
negative, not positive ; yet inimical to their well being.

In short, they had received me as one of themselves,
and when, just before the time arrived for my departure,
after two months in the Carib hamlet, the husband of
Madame Jo desired me to stand godfather for a female
child, which she had recently presented to her liege lord,
there could be but one answer to this request. The cere-
mony took place in the little chapel at Saint Marie, and
having paid the customary fee exacted from the sponsor
for a new-born child on such an occasion, I took leave of
the assembled Caribs, and departed for other isles, amid
a chorus of lamentations.

It is rarely that civilized man, however savage his fore-
bears may have been in the distant past, suffers a recru-
descence of barbaric proclivities, and becomes atavic.
With most of us, the liking for a semi-civilized state of
existence is but a phase, which we outlive, and which
passes away with the bounding pulse and headstrong

350 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

ambitions of youth. And so in my case ; though I spent
several years in seeking adventure of some sort, chiefly
in roaming tropical forests in quest of rare birds, the time
came when I naturally settled down to soberer pur-
suits.

Now and again, as time rolled on, came a word of
greeting or a fragmentary message from my old friends
of the forest life ; but fifteen years elapsed before the
opportunity offered for revisiting the scenes of my early
exploits. When it came I seized it eagerly, and with
what emotions I once more gazed upon familiar scenes
of that long-past period, when I had roamed the woods
and gleaned the streams for prey, may perhaps be imag-
ined. My first disagreeable shock was experienced at
the mountain hamlet where I had made my first camp,
when I was told that my good old guide, Zizi, had been
scalded to death in the Boiling Lake.

I also learned, at this hamlet of Laudat on the Carib-
bean side of the island, that the residents of the '' Carib
country," or the windward side, had heard of my arrival
and had planned a royal reception for " M'sieu Fred,"
the quondam hunter of birds. At the same time I was
reminded of the responsibilities I had once assumed in
standing sponsor for Madame Jo's child, by a letter from
my commere, which also told me that her prsenomen was
not " Jo " at all, but Marie Antoinette. At all events,
she was, and always would be, my '' commere," or god-
mother, and equally I was, and always would continue to
be, whether I liked it or not, her compere.

After a two days' journey on horseback, over the
mountain backbone of Dominica and down its windward
coast, I at last reached the vale of Saint Marie, its beauti-
ful prospect before me and the sounding sea in my ears.

THE LAST OF THE WEST INDIANS 351

The little hamlet of three huts seemed as lone and world-
forsaken as when I had left it fifteen years before. As
I forded the stream that ran in front of the hut out burst
a little old Carib woman, faded and wrinkled. The name
she gave me, "Madame John," brought no trace of recol-
lection, but when she added : " I used to tell you old
Indian words, 'member?" I recalled then Evangelina, the
pretty maiden who could speak both French and English
and who assisted me in making a Carib vocabulary. But
she was such a shapely, graceful girl ; and this woman —
why, she was already old, decrepit !

And then Meyong, who came limping down the path
from his hut to meet me ; Meyong, who was a frisky boy
when he led me to the haunts of pigeon and parrot, was
now the staid and sober head of a family containing seven
" olive branches." It was high time, his neighbors told me,
for if he had not developed a desire for rum distilled from
sugar-cane he would not have lost all the toes of one foot,
which he had inadvertently chopped off while under the
influence of drink.

These two, Madame John and Meyong, had scarcely
installed me in the priest's house, with its two diminutive
rooms and roof of thatch, before I was greeted by my
commere, who had walked two miles in the blazing sun
to meet me.

"At last ! at last !" she exclaimed, falling upon my neck
and weeping tears of joy. Then, having plentifully be-
dewed my shoulders, she pointed to a comely maiden
standing near and said : " Look, Compe, look you god-
child ! Come, child, come kiss your dear godpapa, who
come such long, long way to see you."

The maiden shyly advanced, and, after imprinting a
chaste salute on my cheek, placed her little brown fingers

352 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

nervously in mine, the while regarding me with frank,
wide-open eyes.

And this was my Carib godchild, whom I had not seen
for fifteen years; this pretty, bronze-tinted girl, with
great black eyes, red rounded cheeks, and supple figure
already with the promise of womanhood. Old Time, the
indefatigable, had labored hard since I had left this ham-
let, though but for these human documents I, myself,
should hardly have known the years had passed.

And as if to support the illusion, there came Evan-
gelina's sister, the very image of what Evangelina was
when I used to know her — sweet seventeen, with arched
pouting lips, merry eyes, lissome shape in gaudy calico,
ready to sing for me and to tell me the Indian traditions.
When I went next morning down to the river that flowed
into the sea, to the wave-worn hollow in the great black
rock, erstwhile my favorite bathing place, a half -nude
Indian boy, a miniature of Meyong in golden bronze, fol-
lowed after with a towel and sat while I bathed, as his
father used to do on similar occasions in the years agone.

The great waves still sang in a fierce monotone, the
scurrying trade winds tore through the palm groves, lash-
ing the dead leaves against the trunks; the gilt-crested
humming birds still built their cup-shaped nests in the
rose apples and 'flitted among the- banana plants. All
these things were as of yesterday ; but there was the god-
child grown almost to maturity, the wrinkled mother, the
decrepit father; and of the old Caribs, who alone could
speak the ancient language, not ten remained.

The Caribs have forgotten their original tongue, and
in the island patois may be said to have a form of speech
not recognized by the schools of Europe or America.
Thus, as my protegee is one of these, I may claim the

THE LAST OF THE WEST INDIANS 353

unique honor not only of being godfather to a descendant
of cannibals, but of one who cannot understand, or con-
verse in, my own language, and whose speech is but little
used outside the island in which she was born.

An occurrence in August, 1904, by which the British
Government took possession of Aves Island, which lies
about 127 miles to the westward of Dominica, in the
Caribbean Sea, brings to mind an entry I made in the
journal of my first camp in the latter island, away back
in 1878. There are times, I wrote, when the sea does
not rise up to meet the sky, but spreads out for miles and
miles, until I almost fancy I can see to Aves — that soli-
tary islet far west in the Caribeean Sea, where a colony
of birds breeds on the sands.

Aves was rarely visited, except one had the misfortune
to be wrecked there, and save by the infrequent fisher-
men and turtle-catchers ; but it figures in Froude's " Eng-
lish in the West Indies," as well as in old Pere Labat's
" Voyages." The good old " Father " was once, in fact,
ashore there with a French buccaneer, who captured an
English cruiser, after a brisk fight, previous to which the
bellicose " Pere Blanc " had bestowed his blessing upon
him and his crew.

Canon Kingsley has a song referring to Aves, called the
" The Lay of the Last Buccaneer," which may have been
suggested by this incident, of which the second stanza is :

" There were forty craft in Aves that were both swift and stout,
All furnished well with small-arms and cannon all about;
And a thousand men in Aves made laws so fair and free
To choose their valiant captains and obey them loyally."

CHAPTER XXIII

MARTINIQUE AND MONTAGNE PELEE

Windward approach to Martinique — How the mass of Pelee
dominates the island — Flying-fish, cascades, and sand-
beaches — The city of Saint Pierre from the sea — Its houses,
streets, and people, years ago — Running streams in the
streets, and babies in the gutters — Bizarre dresses of the
Creole women, and their profusion of jewelry — The light-
hearted population — The fer de lance, or yellow serpent —
Morne Rouge as the writer saw it when hunting birds in
Martinique — Riviere Roxelane and the laundresses — Mon-
tagne Pelee viewed from the seaport — Climate and scenery
of lotus land — Brief mention of the island's history — Creole
patois and characteristics — The " empire gown " of Jose-
phine's time — Birthplace and haunts of Napoleon's first
wife — Present society contrasted with that of the past —
The catastrophe that desolated Martinique — Saint Pierre
overwhelmed and destroyed — The sole survivor — Aggregate
loss of life in the island — Neither saints nor prayers availed
— Saint Lucia, southward from Martinique — The harbor of
Castries — Features of the island and its history — A sickly
place and one to be shunned — Great fortifications erected
here — Diamond Rock, which was once rated and held as a
war-ship — Battles that have taken place in Saint Lucia —
The island's inferno, and the picturesque Pitons.

WHILE my reminiscences of Martinique, the
island next south in the Caribbean chain,
are quite as pleasurable as those of Dominica,
yet they are clouded over by the horrors of that cataclys-
mal catastrophe, the eruption of Pelee, and seem unreal,
weird, as though of a world and people that have passed

354

MARTINIQUE AND PELEE 355

away. Viewed in retrospect, as through the telescope
inverted, I see the island now as I approached it from the
Atlantic side, coming down from the Bermudas, where
our vessel had been wrecked and detained a month.

My first view is a long time to look back upon ; but no
one who has seen the north end of Martinique, with the
black, frowning mass of Montague Pelee rising from the
sea, its base wreathed in tropical vegetation, its denuded
peak peering through evanescent clouds rolled up from'
the ocean by the ever-blowing " trades," can forget the
picture.

Pelee, in fact, is the dominant feature in that picture,
rising as it does above a congeries of minor mountains, its
four thousand five hundred feet altitude giving it prom-
inence. Referring to my notes of that time, I find it
alluded to as an extinct, at all events quiescent, volcano,
whose last sporadic eruption, when it threw out smoke
and ashes only, occurred thirty years before. Approach-
ing the island from the Atlantic, the " windward " side,
the volcano appeared as a mass of dark-green with a
serried outline, cleft into ravines and black gorges
through which ran swift-flowing rivers by the score,
gushing from internal fountains and seeking the sea be-
neath tall cocoa palms.

Rounding the northern end of the island, of which
Pelee is the outpost, we sailed from the rough waters of
the Atlantic into the smoother seas of the Caribbean, the
hills and mountains at once afifording a lee, and the beau-
tiful flying-fish, hundreds of which had skimmed the
crests of the Atlantic waves, now disporting by thou-
sands. The great basaltic cliffs, which towered above
crescentic, palm-bordered beaches of golden sands, cut
off the breeze, and our sailing vessel scarce had wind

356 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

enough left to make the roadstead of Martinique's com-
mercial port, Saint Pierre. The " trades " still blew,
however, strong and moisture-laden from the windward
coast, as evidenced by the pattering showers educed by
condensation against the mountain-sides, and a glorious
rainbow spanned Saint Pierre's mile-long bay from north-
ern to southern headland, bathing the picturesque city,
tier upon tier of tinted houses topped with ferruginous
tiles, in a golden mist.

It may be owing to the fact that Saint Pierre was the
first tropical city I had ever seen that it appeared to me
the most fascinating; but of a truth it possessed many
quaint charms all its own. It occupied a narrow belt of
shore between high, cliff-like hills and the strand, its
stone-walled houses, white, red, yellow, terra-cotta,
solidly embanked along the shore and, higher up, scat-
tered in picturesque confusion among clumps of tam-
arind and mango trees, with here and there tall palms
waving their fronds aloft. It very much resembled the
city of Algiers, minus' the mosques and the Kasba, but
plus the palms. Algiers, as I saw it first, beneath a full-
orbed moon, impressed me as the most beautiful city I
had ever looked upon, but I think that if Saint Pierre had
not been so closely compressed between the encroaching
hills and the sea it could well have vied with the African
city. Still, nothing could compensate for the loss of that
magnificent wall of living green which served as the
background for Saint Pierre's architecture.

I cannot but admit that the city was disappointing at
close view, for most of the buildings were quite tropically
disregardful of appearance, being without windows, sans
chimneys, of course, and made of conglomerate materials.
Nature had done much— in fact, everything— for the

MARTINIQUE AND PELEE 357

commercial entrepot of Martinique ; man had made a few-
feeble attempts at adornment. The streets were narrow,
save along- the sea-front, where there was a broad quay
paved with basaltic blocks. The harbor — or, rather, the
roadstead, for it lies wide open to the sea — is deep enough
to have been the crater of old Pelee itself, all approaching
vessels having to run out an anchor at a short distance
from the land and then moor by a hawser ashore. There
they lay, their noses pointed seaward, lazily floating upon
the placid bosom of the Caribbean, with water just out-
side their berths a hundred fathoms deep.

This depth of water is not a peculiarity of Saint
Pierre's roadstead, however, for it is found off Roseau,
in the island of Dominica, next adjacent north, off Kings-
town in Saint Vincent, and especially in the harbor
of Saint Georges, Grenada, which is indubitably an old
crater invaded and filled by the sea.

Having visited Saint Pierre several times since my first
arrival there, and having retained the impression that it
was a beautiful, though not exactly an attractive, city for
residence, I think this must be correct. It is said that old
Montague Pelee probably blew its own head off, through
the generation of steam from water that had percolated
through its crater-sides. Well, this may be a correct as-
sumption, for certes there is water enough in the island
— or there was — and to spare. The atmosphere is ever
moisture-laden, streams and rivulets run everywhere and
in all directions, descending from the central mountain
masses. The strongest feature in Saint Pierre was the
abundance of AX^ater, running through side channels in its
streets at right angles to the quay, overflowing in numer-
ous fountains and oozing out above the city.

In the beautiful Jar din dcs Plant es adjacen*- to the city

358 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

a glorious cascade dropped over cliffs into a basin bor-
dered with palms and tree ferns. But for the water, in
fact, the city would hardly have been very desirable to
live in ; for, as it was, the odors at times were very nearly
overpowering, especially in the wee sma' hours, when the
domestics threw open the portals of their respective
domiciles and bore forth the garbage, which they dumped
in the streams flowing through the gutters. They ap-
peared only at appointed hours, the city being as well regu-
lated as any of its prototypes in France; but when they
made their exit all the sailor folk in the harbor knew of it,
from the noisome odors exhaled. Later on, about aft
hour after daybreak, the breakfast dishes were often
washed in the clear water running past the trottoirs; still
later, most attractive babies, variously colored, from ebon
and chocolate to cafe an hit and old gold, but all happy
as the morn and shrieking from overplus of joy. Should
breakfast-dish or baby be released but for a second, down
the steep incline it would glide, to be recovered, if at all,
only at the shore.

The public buildings of Saint Pierre — such as the
theater, the cathedral, bishop's palace, the great barracks
for the troops — were all massive structures and in good
taste. The magasins, filled with European products, were
sufficiently numerous, and the city was well equipped with
all the fittings demanded by an ambitious metropolis of
the twentieth century.

The greater portion of Martinique's inhabitants are
black or colored, the African-derived element being
vastly in preponderance and increasing -year by year.
The female colored Creoles of Martinique, particularly
of Saint Pierre, were celebrated for their quaint and bi-
zarre costumes — flowing robes of silk or calico, always

MARTINIQUE AND PELEE 359

loose and open and of the brightest colors. The dress
most affected by the domestics, hucksters, and even by
women of the better class, was designed especially for a
tropical climate and cut with the waistband well up under
the shoulder-blades. It was locally known as the " cos-
tume de Josephine," after a tradition that this famous
daughter of Martinique adopted it for negligee in the
seclusion of La Pagerie.

A love for bright colors and profusion of jewelry is
characteristic of the Creole, quadroon, and octoroon, even
the " Sambo " negress being very particular as to her
turban, which must be fashioned of the gaudiest ban-
dannas and ornamented to the extent of her means. She
must have coils of beads, gold brooches and pins, and ear-
rings, consisting of golden fasces as big as a baby's
fist.

Many of the mixed peoples were handsome withal, and
some of the girls who come over from the farther side of
the mountain, doing their twenty or thirty miles to market
and home again every day, were models of symmetry. I
used to see them swinging over the country roads with,
long, easy strides, immense loads of produce, such as
bananas, plantains, tanias, piled high upon their heads,
their forms erect as lances and their torsos such as might
have excited the envy of a sculptor. These people, and
in truth all, were contented and happy, prone to laughter,
filled to overflowing with an unfailing bonhomie. As I
recall in memory these mountain maidens that used to
come to town from the windward coast with their bur-
dens of produce, I see their supple forms swaying, their
bright eyes and white teeth gleaming, and hear again the
ripples of musical laughter and their cheerful ''Bon
jours'' and ''Bon soirs" floating on the morning or

36o OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

evening air. They were the brightest of the Martinicans,
truly sui generis, and it seemed to me that in them the
country and the cHmate had found a perfect type, as
suited to the tropics as the mango or the pomegranate.

As I was hunting birds those days, my first voyage to
the Lesser Antilles having been in the pursuit of ornithol-
o&y> I was always more in the country districts than in
the city, and so became acquainted with the simple, joy-
ous country folk. They were always willing to assist
me, and frequently a man cutting cane in a field would
stop his work to show me the haunts of some bird or
reptile, or one of the mountain maidens would lay down
her heavy load to point out a humming-bird or to warn
me of the serpent's lurking-place.

It was the " serpent " of Martinique, and the serpent
only, that the natives feared. They gave no heed to
Mont Pelee, believing it harmless ; but they were ever on
the alert as regards the " fer de lance," that most veno-
mous of American serpents, which makes its particular
habitat in Martinique and the near island of Saint Lucia.
It was their one haunting fear, by day and by night, for
its bite meant death. The serpent itself was so numerous
as to invade the houses even of Saint Pierre, and so ag-
gressively venomous as to seek out its victims — in this
respect being different from all others of its family.

When hunting in the Jardin des Plantes, which was
practically within the city limits, and one of nature's
beauty spots — with its tall " palmistes," its cascades, its
artificial lakes with every variety of tropical foliage
mirrored in them — I was always accompanied by an at-
tendant sent especially to warn me when in the vicinage
of the dreaded " lancehead." In one of my journeyings
I made my headquarters at the little village of Morne

MARTINIQUE AND PELEE 361

Rouge, from which I went out on hunting excursions
every morning soon after daybreak. I ranged over the
hills, such as Morne Calabasse and Morne Balisier, even
up and over the slopes of great Mont Pelee, without see-
ing any serpents, though having several '' close calls,"
my native attendant told me.

The name " morne " is applied throughout the French
West Indies to the high hills and low mountains, but not
to the greatest elevations ; so there are many " mornes "
in Martinique, but only one " montagne," that of Pelee,
which is further distinguished now from having caused
the greatest catastrophe within a century. This mountain
was the focal point of all views at the north end of the
island, visible all the way from Saint Pierre to Morne
Rouge — as one crossed the Riviere Roxelane, where
toiled half-naked washerwomen laundering their
" washes " with clubs ; across the savane, the level field
where military reviews were wont to be held ; through
vast cane fields and among luxuriant gardens — ever in
view was the Montagne, sweeping grandly up from sea
to cloudland.

I used to watch it, together with some of the few
white French people of Saint Pierre, sitting in the Jardin
or on a bench beneath the mango trees not far from the
Grande Rue. Twenty-five years ago the white popula-
tion of the island was relatively numerous ; ten years ago
I found it lamentably shrunken, and now it must be prac-
tically extinguished. First the black flood having its
origin in Africa, then the lava flood from the heart of
Pelee, swept the land ; now those French-born people,
some of them of lofty lineage, are almost extinct.

Not a few travelers have asserted that the island of
Martinique, when at its best, came as near to realizing the

362 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

ideal paradise on earth, so far as climate and scenery
could make it, as any portion of this mundane sphere.

The popular conception of an earthly paradise is always
a tropical one. Eden, the country of the blest, has a
climate of perpetual summer, where snow and ice are un-
known, except in refreshing confections and beverages ;
where stately palms wave their golden fronds in an at-
mosphere of eternal calm, and verdure-clad mountains
raise their sun-kissed peaks to an azure sky in a land that
is " always afternoon."

That was the lotus land of Martinique, as the casual
visitor saw it. Situated midway in the volcanic chain of
the Caribbees, and about half way between the equator
and the northern tropic, it was one of the Titanic step-
ping stones that connect the temperate North with the
tropical South. It possessed all the qualifications for the
traditional earthly paradise. Climate and scenery were
unsurpassed ; it had noble palms in ranks and groves,
o'ertopping silver-sanded beaches laved by sapphire-tinted
waves ; and, to complete the Edenic simile, it had its ser-
pent. No other fragment of a continent, torn from its
parent land and set adrift in mid-sea, can boast such a
venomous, pestiferous serpent as the terrible fer de lance,
or yellow viper, of Martinique.

In the last decade of the fifteenth and the first of the
sixteenth century, Spain discovered more lands than she
could very well populate, and many small islands, partic-
ularly of the Caribbees, were left in solitude, unvisited
for many years, some of them finally falling into the
hands of French or English, Danes or Dutch. France
happened to appropriate this beautiful island, and the
numerous river valleys being filled with fertile soil, the
French colonists prospered exceedingly. So great was

MARTINIQUE AND PELEE 363

their prosperity, in fact, that it attracted the attention of
EngHsh adventurers, who coveted and intended to own
the riches of the Antilles.

From the days of Drake and Hawkins to those of Rod-
ney and Bonaparte, both France and England poured out
unstinted gore and millions of treasure in the taking and
re-taking of the insignificant Caribbees. Martinique, as
well as some others, passed like a shuttle-cock from one
owner to another, and, as the eventual outcome of the pro-
tracted conflict, France now possesses five or six islands
of the chain, and Great Britain nearly all the rest.

Still, in one sense, as already intimated, the French
have triumphed over their erstwhile foes, for, though they
can show fewer terrestrial possessions in the Lesser
Antilles, their speech has been so strongly impressed upon
several of the islands, from which the British ousted
them in centuries past, that the language of the common
people is almost universally a French patois.

As the people of Martinique have a dialect of their own,
so also their appearance is distinctive. French Creoles,
especially those of the mixed caste, are famous for their
beauty, and in Martinique they seem well nigh to reach
perfection. There is, or was, a subtle alchemy, either in
the air or in their strain of blood, that gave them a birth-
right of physical charm. Whatever the cause, the island
had good reason to be proud of its beautiful octoroons
and quadroons, known generally as metis, with the purple
sheen of their long, abundant tresses and their deep,
searching, melancholy eyes.

The most beautiful types were to be found in the coun-
try interior — in the very district that has been devastated
by the eruption of Pelee ; but they were often seen in St.
Pierre, the city destroyed on the fatal 8th of May,

364 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

1902. Tall, straight as palms, yet with a languorous
elasticity of movement and a graciousne^s of manner
peculiarly their own, the native women of Martinique
were a very fascinating quantity in the personal equation
of the island.

It is possible that their attractiveness was enhanced by
the costume they wore — else, in truth, why should they
have adopted it ? The distinctive style in Martinique had
as its most marked feature a loosely flowing robe, high
waisted and short armed. It was, as someon.e has said,
the original conception of the '' empire gown " ; but its
fabric disported the most startling colors ever conceived
by art, the effect of which was generally accentuated by
a gorgeous bandanna turban.

No less interesting, though not quite so picturesque,
were the white Creoles native born in Martinique. The
white women were not so much in evidence as the others,
save at the band concerts on the savane, at church, or at
an occasional ball ; but to one who, like the writer of this
chapter, knew many of them in their homes, their gra-
cious charm is a memory most precious. The Martini-
cans were pleasure and laughter-loving, light-hearted,
hospitable in the French way ; mindful of the aristocratic
ancestry some few of them could boast ; and, whether
black or white, jealous of their island's traditions.

Perhaps no one life can so well exemplify the peculiar
fascination of Martinique's fair daughters, and at the
same time present, as in epitome, the vicissitudes of the
French colonists' fortunes, as that of the Empress
Josephine, first wife of the great Napoleon. Everyone
knows that she was a native of Martinique; that, like
Napoleon, she was island born, and a Creole in the true
^ense of the word. Her grandfather, M. Tascher de la

5 ',' ' ' c

MARTINIQUE AND PELEE 365

Pagerie, had come to Martinique in 1726. He settled in
the island as a planter; but that he was a personage of
rank was shown by his application, in 1730, for the regis-
tration of his letters of nobility. His eldest son, Joseph,
in 1761, married Mile. Rose Claire des Vergers de San-
nois, to whose beautiful sugar estate the couple retired
soon after the marriage.

Standing in the midst of the savane at Fort de France,
the capital of Martinique, and at present its largest cen-
ter of population, is an exquisitely carved statue of pure
white marble, representing the Empress Josephine in her
prime, when she was the wife of Napoleon. It has stood
there more than thirty years, or ever since it was pre-
sented to the people of Martinique by her grandson.
Napoleon III. The statue fronts the entrance to the har-
bor of Fort de France, but the face of Josephine is turned
aside, her wistful gaze being directed towards a low
range of hills across the bay, about five miles away, be-
hind which nestles the valley in which she was born.
There lay the estate of Sannois, to which Lieutenant
Tascher de la Pagerie took his bride, and where his
daughter, Josephine, first saw the light, on the 23d of
June, 1763.

A typical Creole, Josephine was lithe of limb and deli-
cate of figure, with the perfect grace and freedom of
movement that comes from an outdoor life and an in-
fancy innocent of the restraints of the conventional garb
of civilization. From childhood she possessed a surpris-
ing winsomeness that fascinated men and made women
jealous or suspicious. Her early years were not without
hardship. She was only three when a great hurricane
swept over Martinique, destroying much property and
many lives. The " great house " of the Tascher estate

366 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

was razed to the ground, and the whole family fled to the
case a vent, or hurricane cellar, from which they emerged,
after the storm was over, to find every structure but the
sugar mill without a rool Discouraged at the prospect
of rebuilding his dwelling in a land of hurricanes, M.
Tascher took up his residence in the sucrcric, or sugar
house, and in the upper room of this massive and pic-
turesque building the future empress, Josephine, lived
during nearly a decade of her youth. Later she passed
a few years in Fort de France, mainly at a convent
school, and as the guest of an aunt. At fifteen she went
to France to become the bride of Beauharnais, and after-
wards the consort of Napoleon.

Thus sails beyond our ken the most fascinating daugh-
ter of Martinique, and the best known in history. She
found fame as well as fortune — good and ill — in the
home of her ancestors ; but she often turned towards the
island of her birth as the scene of her happiest days.

At the time of the English attack upon Martinique, in
1762, there existed in the island a society which could
boast connection with the highest and the best of La
Belle France, for many of the colonists, like Beauharnais
and La Pagerie, were noble by birth. And, so late as the
second empire even, the island was noted for its aristo-
cratic colonists and numerous settlers of good lineage.
But within the last forty years the white population has
steadily dwindled — as, indeed, it has in all the islands of
the West Indies — and to-day only the scant remains of
the past attest to w^hat made the French possessions great
and prosperous. The French islands were more carefully
nursed than the British, and have been made to yield
more; but now that the volcano has destroyed Saint
Pierre, with its beautiful Jardin dcs Plantcs, its museum,

MARTINIQUE AND PELEE 367

cathedral, seminaries, schools — its centers of culture and
education — poor Martinique has fallen far to the rear.

It was on the morning of May 8, 1902, that the catas-
trophe occurred in Martinique, almost inconceivable in its
magnitude, and more disastrous than any similar the
Western Hemisphere has known. Mont Pelee had been
wearing its " smoke cap " for several weeks, but the in-
habitants of the north end of the island attributed the
phenomenon to the volcano's vagaries, and paid httle at-
tention to the matter. At last, however, on the 5th of
May, there was a tremendous eruption, by which vast
volumes of mud were thrown far up into the air, and a
sugar factory overwhelmed, with a loss of one hunderd
and fifty lives.

The people of Saint Pierre were moved from their
apathy to send a commission of investigation, composed
of local scientists, who returned from the district of dis-
turbance and reported the worst as over. They had
hardly made this report, however, than there was a recur-
rence of the strange tremors of the earth, caused, prob-
ably, by jets of steam from internal sources being forced
through the crust or crevices in the rock. There were
warnings in plenty, but they passed unheeded ; for, had
not the " volcan " stood there, within plain sight of Saint
Pierre, as long as man could remember ?

Pelee had blustered and sent out incipient eruptions
fifty years before, but nothing serious had resulted from
the demonstrations, so when at last the showers of ashes,
which had been falling continuously, though lightly, for
days past became so dense that the sun, on the morning
of that fatal 8th of May, was hidden from sight, even
then the people were not universally alarmed.

Suddenly, however, out of the darkness came a terrific

368 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

detonation, as if the plutonic forces enchained within the
volcano had loosed themselves at last and torn the
mountain from its base. The terrified inhabitants of
Saint Pierre had hardly time to exclaim : '' Pelee has
blown his head into the sky !" when the doomed city was
overwhelmed by a veritable cloud of fire, accompanied
by molten rock, poisonous gases, incandescent sand and
scoriae. The hot blast consumed the people ere they
could escape, and the fiery cinders covered the entire area
of the city with a pall of desolation. Within the space
of thirty seconds more than thirty thousand people were
wiped out of existence utterly, sixteen out of the eighteen
vessels in the roadstead were either sunk at their moorings
or consumed by fire, together with everybody on board,
and property to the value of one hundred million dollars
was destroyed

In addition to the city of Saint Pierre and its suburbs,
six other centers of population were then and later de-
stroyed, including the beautiful hill-town, Morne Rouge,
the total aggregate of lives lost being not less than fifty
thousand.

The obliterated towns were scattered chiefly along the
northern and northwest coast, and contained all the way
from two thousand to eight thousand inhabitants each.
The capital city of Martinique, Fort de France, on the
leeward coast, about twelve miles southeast of Saint
Pierre in an air-line, lay beyond the area of devastation,
and towards this city the various relief expeditions were
sent, the United States generously leading, for the suc-
cor of the terror- and famine-stricken refugees. Rescue
parties were sent from Fort de France to Saint Pierre as
soon as they could endure the terrible heat emanating
from the cinder-buried city, and their worst fears were

MARTINIQUE AND PEL^E 369

more than realized. A few wretched survivors were
snatched from the shore immediately after the eruption,
most of whom died; but the only actual survivor rescued
from the city itself was that miserable negro found in a
dungeon, who afterward came to the United States and
was exhibited in the dime museums.

Mounds of ashes and calcined rocks, mud-plastered
walls and blasted trees, hideous as caricatures of nature's
one-time beautiful productions, together with windrows
and heaps of contorted corpses, met the gaze of the awe-
stricken explorers amid the ruins of Saint Pierre. Na-
ture has since clothed some of the trees in verdure, and
brightened the ghastly gray and formless masses with
flowers; but Saint Pierre will ever remain a dead and
buried city. Never more will its streets be gay with
laughter-loving Creoles, or resound to mirth of any sort ;
for the tragedy was too vast, too terrible, for even light-
some natives to forget.

One might have expected to hear of accompanying
volcanic disturbances either in Dominica, to the north of
Martinique, or in Saint Lucia, next adjacent, to the south ;
but the first rumblings were heard from the subterranean
recesses of Saint Vincent's " Soufriere," about one hun-
dred miles, as the crow flies, southward from Martinique.
Between the two islands lies Saint Lucia, which is as
exact a duplicate of its northern neighbor in scenery, gen-
eral physical formation (and also in the habits and speech
of its people) as can be imagined. Only this feature Mar-
tinique and Saint Vincent have in common : that each
island's volcano is near its northern coast; while Saint
Lucia's soufriere, or sulphur mine, as it is locally called, is
at the south, near its wonderful *' Pitons," or pointed
mountains.

370 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

Like all the other islands of the Caribbees, Saint Lucia
consists of a mountain mass, volcanic in its origin,
thrown up abruptly from the sea. This congeries of hills
and mountains is covered with the beautiful vegetation
peculiar to the tropics, with palms and plantains, banana
and sugar-cane along the coast, tree-ferns and a
wilderness of gigantic trees in the hills. Although the
island is little more than twenty miles in length, with a
breadth of about ten, yet it contains many wonders, not
alone of vegetable growth, but in its physical features as
well.

The mountains rise to various heights, some of them
3000 feet above the sea, while deep valleys indent the
coast, containing lands of exceeding fertility. Numer-
ous bays, with beaches of yellow sand, lie embosomed
among the black, basaltic cliffs, and here are the small
villages, that are sprinkled around the bases of the
hills.

The extreme fertility of Saint Lucia is the bane of the
planter, as well as his source of revenue; for the island
is afflicted with terrible endemic fevers, arising from the
rich, deep soil and its decaying growth of vegetation.
Ever since its discovery, or say for 400 years. Saint Lucia
has been a scourge to the settler and soldier.

Thousands of brave men have left their bones in this
rich soil, and have drenched almost every hillside on the
northern shore with their blood. For, not only the native
fevers have decimated the garrisons during the centuries
this island has been in European possession, but they
have been subjects of attack from other foes. For
nearly two hundred years Saint Lucia was a bone of
contention between England and France. First one
power and then the other would prevail, until at last, in

MARTINIQUE AND PELEE 371

the early part of this century, it was finally taken from
the French by Sir Samuel Hood, and has remained in
British hands ever since.

Its history is that of nearly every island in the Carib-
bean Archipelago, except Barbados, for there is not one
of them that has not cost a hundred times its value
in blood and treasure. Although a long time in British
possession, yet it is only within a few years that Great
Britain has done anything to make this strong position
an impregnable one.

All these volcanic islands have, owing to their sheer,
abrupt mountain walls, running directly down into the
sea, deep water right up to their shores. Now and then,
as in the case of Saint Lucia and Grenada, there are deep,
fiord-like fissures running up into the land, forming ex-
cellent harbors. We may safely say that there is not,
anywhere in the West Indies, a better harbor than that
of Castries, on the northern coast of Saint Lucia. It is a
mile or so in depth, by a quarter of a mile in width, and is
completely sheltered and land-locked.

It was into the harbor of Castries that the crippled
" Roddam," the only vessel that escaped from Saint
Pierre's harbor on that dreadful day in May, 1902, came
steaming slowly, courageous Captain Freeman holding
the helm with burned and blistered hands. He and his
men went into hospital, and from the ship were taken
120 tons of ashes, showing the effects of that " cloud of
fire " which enveloped and nearly destroyed it. Here is
his story: "A burning mass thrown up by the volcano
struck my steamer broadside on. The shock was so ter-
rible that it nearly capsized the vessel, big as she is. On
hearing the awful explosion that had preceded the shock
to ourselves, and seeing what looked like a great wall of

372 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

flame rapidly approaching us from the volcano, all of us
on board sought shelter wherever it was possible to get
away from the terrible hail which then began to fall
around us. I myself ran into the chart-room, but the
burning embers were borne so swiftly upon us that they
swept in through the door, almost suffocating me and
scorching me very badly. I managed to reach the deck,
where I mustered a few survivors and ordered them to
slip the cables. While this was being done I leaped upon
the bridge, and instantly we w^ere clear I rang to the en-
gineer for full speed astern. The second and third
engineers as wxll as the firemen had escaped injury.
They bravely did their part at this awful time, but the
downpour on the deck was so terrible that the men could
not work there. The steering gear became choked by a
mass of debris that had fallen on the ship and clogged
up every part of her. Accordingly, after running for
some time astern, I rang again and went ahead, and con-
tinued this until the gear was cleared from the ashes and
dust that seemed to block everything."

Seven hours later the " Roddam " entered Castries.

At the head of the harbor is the principal town of the
island — Castries — composed of some good public build-
ings, a few hundred shabby dwellings, and a public
square and botanical gardens. The water is so deep that
the largest ships can steam directly up to the wharves;
but, having said that the harbor is safe, deep, and shel-
tered, one has said all there is to say in its favor. For,
owing to the very contiguity of the protecting hills, and
the obstruction to the free play of the air, this harbor is
one of the hottest and sickliest in southern waters.

Only the natives can live for any length of time in this
pestiferous hole. The choosing of this port for a gov-

MARTINIQUE AND PELEE 373

ernment depot was made the subject for parliamentary
inquiry, its insalubrity was so notorious. It is only the
fact of the almost impregnable strength of its position, and
its advantageous situation as regards the north coast of.
South America, that has warranted the choice. English
engineers have declared that, so far as natural situation
and features are concerned, the crest of the vigic — the line
of hills immediately above Castries — is unsurpassed for
the purpose of fortification.

Under their direction during the few years past a sys-
tem of fortification has been planned which, experts de-
clare, rivals anything on the American continent, not
even excepting Quebec. Perfect secrecy has been main-
tained during these operations, and no outsiders have
been admitted within the line of defense as marked out by
the engineers. All the laborers are guarded; and, as few
of them ultimately escape the deadly fever, most of them
have carried the secret with them to the grave.

Visitors are permitted to ascend the hills above the
town as far as the government house, about half way up,
and thence the view is magnificent. A goodly portion of
the island is within view, and also the shores of fair Mar-
tinique, across the channel of clear water. Between
Saint Lucia and Martinique, beyond the channel, rises
an immense mass of basalt, called Diamond Rock. This
isolated rock was at one time seized by the English dur-
ing their war with the French in the last century, pro-
vided with a garrison and fortified. It was entered on
the admiralty lists as " His Majesty's ship, Diamond
Rock "; and for a twelve-month the crew of gallant Eng-
lish tars held to their perilous position, bombarding
everything that passed between their ship and the main.
They were at last compelled to capitulate, their admiral

374 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

having gone off and forgotten them; but not until all
their provisions were exhausted.

Right across the channel from Diamond Rock, and al-
most within sight of the vigie of Saint Lucia, lies the
estate of La Pagerie, once the home of Josephine. The
ruins of the house in which she was born are yet pointed
out, and the pool in the stream where she used to bathe
may still be seen beneath the silk-cotton trees.

One should not leave this tropical island without mak-
ing a visit to the far-famed Soufriere, or sulphur de-
posit, at the other end of the island. Saint Lucia's in-
ferno is only about fifteen miles from Castries, and there
you encounter sulphurous smells, but far preferable to
those of the hill-beleaguered town.

The Soufriere is, in fact, the crater of an extinct, or
at least quiescent, volcano, about looo feet above the sea
level. It covers about three acres ; a vast caldron of sul-
phur water is in constant ebullition. The shell covering
the infernal hole beneath must be remarkably thin, judg-
ing from the rumblings beneath and the heat. Now and
then a person breaks through this brittle dome, and gets
his foot well scalded. An old negro was pointed out to
me who had lost a leg in this manner; in fact, the indi-
vidual was begging for pennies with which to purchase a
wooden leg to take the place of his original member.

Near the Soufriere rise those remarkable mountains,
the " Pitons," or cone-shaped hills, about 2500 feet in
height. They shoot straight up from the sea, a beautiful
bay between them, looking at a distance, as the sailors
in those seas say, like a pair of donkey's ears.

CHAPTER XXIV-
SAINT VINCENT AND ITS SOUFRI^RE

A camp on the summit of the Souf riere — A volcano that seem-
ingly slumbered — But awoke in 1902 — The eruptions, ninety
years apart, very similar in their phenomena — How the Carib
country was destroyed — The settlements of Yellow and
Black Caribs — Hemmed in by boiling lava rivers and
unable to escape — The devastated third of Saint Vincent —
Destruction of the Wallibou and Richmond estates — Friends
of the author killed by deadly fumes — When I was a guest
at Richmond estate, and climbed the great volcano — An essay
on a mule — Crossing the dry rivers made by former erup-
tions — A lunch in the high-woods — My camp 4000 feet
above the sea — Aspect of the two craters of the Soufriere —
A venturesome feat — In search of a mysterious bird — How
we lived in a cave five days and nights — A Christmas dinner
^t high altitude — Man Toby springs a surprise — A descent
to Yellow Carib country — Old friends with whom I had
fished and hunted — An Indian giant's descendant — A ban-
quet hall in the open and a varied menu — How to catch the
iguana — Food of the Caribs and their beverages — The
Indians now extinct as a community — A race with death —
Brained by the volcano — Kingstown the capital.

ONE of the strangest of my adventures occurred
in a spot which can no longer be located, except
relatively to its former surroundings, for it has
been removed from the earth. I refer to the summit of the
Saint Vincent Soufriere, as it existed before the terrible
eruption of 1902. If that eruption had taken place some
twenty-five years previously it would have deprived me

375

376 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

of an unique experience, and the scientific world of sev-
eral rare birds, for, in the last month of 1878, I was en-
camped in a cave in the volcano's crater-brim. At the
period of my ascent the volcano was only a harmless
giant with a past, gloomy and forbidding of aspect, tow-
ering above the coast and range of interior mountains in
majesty, but formidable only through tradition.

It was noted as the last West Indian volcano from
which the nineteenth century had witnessed destructive
eruptions, in the year 1812, the same day that Caracas, in
Venezuela, was destroyed, having let loose its internal
forces and devastated the north end of Saint Vincent.
Ten thousand people perished in Caracas that day, but in
Saint Vincent the loss of life was small, though the island
was covered with ashes, cinders, etc., and many estates
were ruined. Then the giant returned to its seemingly
sempiternal repose, during ninety years giving no sign
of the terrible potential energies which were to be used
against the unfortunate dwellers on its seaward-stretch-
ing flanks and spurs.

Saint Vincent, as I knew it in 1878 and '79, had
changed little when I revisited the island in 1891-92;
but ten years after this latter date it had been converted
from an abode of terrestrial delights into an isle of semi-
desolation. On the occasion of neither visit did I detect
any evidence of activity, present or prospective, in the
quiescent Soufriere that towered above the north end of
the island, one hundred miles due south from Pelee, the
eruption from which was synchronous with its own. At
the time of the eruption of 18 12, " a century had elapsed
since the last convulsion of the mountain, or since any
other elements had disturbed the serenity of this wilder-
ness besides those which are common to the tropical tern-

SAINT VINCENT 377

pest. It apparently slumbered in primeval solitude and
tranquillity, and from the luxuriant vegetation and forest
growth, which covered its sides from base to summit,
seemed to discountenance the fact and falsify the record
of the ancient volcano."

Nearly another century rolled round, or, to be exact,
within ten days of ninety years, before the giant stirred-
again, turned over in his sleep, and crushed the pygmy
dwellers within the radius of his activity. The second
time, within the memory of man, human beings were
caught napping, and human lives were lost, through a
disregard of this giant's warnings.

Nearly three months before the last eruption took
place the people resident at Balaine and Windsor Forest,
on the flanks of the Soufriere, felt repeated shocks of
earthquake and heard fearful gri mbling sounds proceed-
ing from the earth's interior.

They were disquieted, though .lot to the extent of
leaving their homes; but when, on Saturday, the 3d of
May, 1902, earthquakes occurred continually, they began
to pack their belongings; and on the 6th, when smoke
and flames were seen to emit from the old crater, the
more thrifty of the Caribs living on the leeward coast
started to trek to places of safety.

They started too late, for by that time the rivers run-
ning down to the coast were boiling hot, the mountain
slopes were enveloped in dense clouds of smoke and
vapor, shot through with brilliant flames which rose
high above and all around the original crater of the
Soufriere. All available boats were seized by fleeing,
terror-stricken people of the leeward coast, who hurried
toward Kingston, the capital, with tales of dreadful hap-
penings. On Wednesday, the 7th, the noises from

378 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

the crater were like the heaviest thunder, or the roar and
rattle of incessant cannonading. Vast columns of thick,
ropy smoke -were belched forth from the crater, while
the volume of pumice, grit, calcined earth, and stones
was so vast and was expelled with such force as to fall
on the roofs of Kingston, a dozen miles away, like a ter-
rific shower of hail. The roar and rattle of the falling
stones was deafening.

The grandest sights were witnessed from the town of
Chateaubellair, on the leeward or western shore of the
island, beginning at about noon of the 7th, with a
magnificent column of smoke rising toward the zenith,
climbing, ever climbing, 'and illumined by multiform
electric flashes darting in every direction. '' Sometimes,
like thin ropes of golden hue, they would rush, rocket-
like, up through the mighty pillars of smoke, through
which darted continuously the most awful flashes of
forked lightning." According to the reports of observ-
ers, the phenomena were exactly the duplicate of those
which occurred in 1812, and an account of the former
would answer for the latter.

The later eruption, however, was of longer duration
than the former, for the Soufriere simmered and boiled,
muttered and growled, intermittently, for days, weeks,
and months, keeping the inhabitants of the island in a
state of constant terror and suspense. When the first
outbreak had somewhat subsided, it was found that fully
one-third the island, north of a line drawn from Cha-
teaubellair on the western coast, to Georgetown on the
eastern, had been devastated, while the eventual total of
victims killed amounted to more than two thousand.
A larger area had been overwhelmed than in Martinique,
but, as it was less densely populated than the former, there

SAINT VINCENT 379

had been a lesser loss of life. The chief loss fell upon
the Caribs of the island, who were practically exter-
minated.

The " Carib Country " of Saint Vincent comprised — on
paper — all that portion of the island on both coasts to
the north of a line drawn across from the town of Cha-
teaubellair on the leeward coast to Georgetown on the
windward ; but in point of fact the Caribs possessed but
a small fraction of the lands. There were two colonies :
one settlement of '' Black Caribs," as those were called
in whom the negro blood was predominant, and another
of " Yellow Caribs," who had less negro blood in their
veins, and some of whom could boast an uncontaminated
line of descent from cannibal ancestry.

Strange to say — and at the same time it is a reflection
upon the manner in which the British have treated these
brave people — the comparatively pure-blood Caribs had
no reservation in tribal or individual name, but were
compelled to rent land of the white proprietors of Saint
Vincent. Their principal settlement was at Sandy Bay,
in the most secluded part of the island, at the northeast
end. The Bay settlement took its name from a beach of
gray sand guarded by volcanic rocks, overtopped and
tapestried by tropical vegetation. The seas are heavy
here on the windward coast exposed to the fierce Atlantic,
and the Caribs, though expert watermen, were some-
times weeks without fish food of any ,kind. Around
their wattled huts of palm, however, they all had gardens
filled with tropical vegetables and fruits, their chief
cultivation being cassava and arrowroot, for which there
was a good sale.

The Black Caribs lived on or near the northwesterly
tip of the island, at a place called, from the shape of a

38o OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

high hill there, Morne Ronde. In habit and disposition
they were similar to the Yellow Caribs, but there were
many so black as to be hardly distinguishable from
negroes. Both settlements were on the slopes of the
volcano, from the Yellow Caribs' country the great
Soufriere resembling a gigantic lion couchant. With
lava rivers descending both flanks of the volcano, and
their escape cut off by sea, it is not strange that nearly all
perished in the great " Terror."

History repeated itself in this latest eruption, for, as
in 1 812, it began with terrible detonations, followed by
dense columns of smoke, and then the crater burst its con-
fines and overflowed the adjacent country with molten
mud, with an accompaniment of poisonous gases which
killed whomsoever were not whelmed by the flood of mud
and lava. The Soufriere, in fact, surpassed all previous
perforrriances, and slew hundreds of people where it had
killed only scores before. The estates on the leeward
shores nearest to the volcano, Wallibou and Richmond,
which suffered somewhat in the olden time, were in this
latter instance utterly destroyed. A torrent of boiling
mud swept over the sugar mill" of the Wallibou estate,
and then, in the midst of night's darkness through the
obscuration of the sun by smoke and vapors, the " great
house " of Richmond was carried from its foundations,
eight people perishing in its ruins.

In that same Richmond great-house, then occupied by
the hospitable Evelyns, I had stopped for a week on my
first visit in 1878; and on my second, thirteen years later,
I was the guest of a jovial Scotchman, Alex. Eraser,
and his wife, both of whom were killed in the eruption
of 1902.

In response to my inquiry, about a month after the

SAINT VINCENT 381

first volcanic eruptions, there came a letter telling me that
while most of the white people I had known were alive,
though in straitened circumstances and in a constant state
of alarm, all the Carib Indians of my acquaintance had
been killed by the deadly fumes.

" The only white people killed whom you formerly
knew," my correspondent wrote, " were the Frasers, who
had just removed from the Richmond estate, on the lee-
ward coast, to Orange Hill, on the windward. They had
been at the latter place only three weeks when the erup-
tion took place, and they both fell victims to the poisonous
fumes. Mr. Fraser was found sitting in an easy chair in
his gallery, with a smile on his face, and his wife in the
garden, both dead. Just a few hours before a friend of
the family tried to persuade them to leave the plantation,
as the crater was showing signs of eruption; but they
would not, though the friend escaped."

" The physical features of Richmond and Wallibou,"
wrote my correspondent, " have changed entirely, the
latter presenting the appearance of one broad stretch of
limestone, with only scant remains of the sugar factory;
while the former shows hardly more than the foundations
of the house. The heat during the first few days was so
great that no one could approach the scene of devasta-
tion ; but when finally surveyed, it was found that the
shore had receded, and deep water covered spots once
accessible by foot or on horseback."

How different was the aspect of the region when, one
Christmas week, I found myself a guest at Richmond
great-house. The season's festivities had well begun,
work in the sugar mills was entirely suspended, and
(aside from the difficulties of securing a guide for the
trip) the time was auspicious for an ascent of the Sou-

382 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

friere. The rains that always accompany" the hurricane
season — extending from July to November — had entirely
ceased in the low lands, and the weather was serene.

I made a preliminary ascent and return one day to
ascertain the necessary equipment for a prolonged stay
on the summit, and two days afterward essayed the final
journey. My host had provided a mule for me to ride
and a black man as servant and burden bearer, while a
small boy trotted alongside, laden with a huge hamper
or Carib basket filled with good things to eat and drink,
which he carried well balanced on his head.

We followed, first, the road along the shore, at the
base of great clififs and between clumps of gru-gru
palms, then forded the turbulent river, which was entirely
extinguished by the last eruption, finally arriving at the
bed of the " dry-river," a channel filled with lava in the
outpouring of 1812. The steep banks on either side this
lava river were like hanging gardens of vines, palms, tree
ferns, and wild plantains ; but the broad, rocky beds
were barren of all vegetation as well as without water.
After passing through an attractive cane-field (which is
now but an area of desolation) we reached the still more
attractive foot-hills, where the real climb began, over a
ridge dividing two beautiful valleys, at that time verdant
and smiling, but now denuded of all vegetation, lava-
choked and blasted by fiery gases.

Two hours' riding took me to the forest edge, well
within which was a vast " gommier," locally known as
the " maroon," or picnic, tree. Here custom ordained a
halt for breakfast. My man unpacked the smaller hamper
and spread out a fine repast which had been prepared in
advance by the good people of Richmond. We were
then in the " high-woods," or forest belt, that engirdles

SAINT VINCENT 383

all the hills of the island above an altitude of 1500 feet.
The heat of the lowlands was here tempered by altitude
and the cool breezes that played through the leafy canopy
overhead, while the gloom beneath the great tree was
enlivened by the play of humming-birds' wings. In the
tree tops cooed the wood pigeons, from a distance came
the subdued chatter of wild parrots.

Another mile of climbing over a steep but well-made
trail took us along the back-bone of the ridge, well above
the high-woods, where the surface was covered with a
densely woven carpet of ferns and lycopodiums, and when
we had reached an altitude of about 4000 feet wafts of
sulphur fumes warned me that we were near the crater's
edge. Here my mule balked violently, either at the nar-
row, tortuous trail ahead or the objectionable fumes of
sulphur, and I had to dismount and proceed the rest of
the way on foot.

Suddenly I came upon the crater, descending from the
narrow brim upon which I stood like an amphitheater,
nearly circular, and about a mile in diameter. It formed
an almost perfect bowl, with sides, in places, almost per-
pendicular. There were two craters, in fact, divided by
a jagged escarpment, one known as the " old," and the
other, which is said to have been formed by the eruption
of 1812, called the " new." It used to be a feat of ven-
turesome sailors to swarm across the dividing wall, one
of the famous personages to attempt it, in 1861, being the
late Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The double crater
was lowest at its northeast brim, over which, in the last
eruption and in that of ninety years ago, poured the
floods that devastated Morne Ronde.

I watched the placid lake during the greater part of a
week, for in a scooped-out hole just under the dome-

384 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

shaped summit of the southern wall (by courtesy called a
cave, though scarcely ten feet deep) I took up my abode.
It was a crazy thing to do — granted ; but I had an object
in camping there which (at least at that time) seemed to
me worthy the means I was compelled to adopt. In
brief, the real object of my trip was not so much to study
meteorological or other conditions on a volcano summit
in the tropics, four thousand feet above the sea, as to
obtain a new bird.

This was about the end of my first year in the West
Indies, and I had already been fortunate enough to find
several new species of birds. So, when I was told in
Kingston, the capital of Saint Vincent, that there was a
bird resident on the Soufriere which no man had ever
seen, much less taken, alive or dead, I was inspired with
the desire to get it. In my preliminary trip I had heard,
but had not been able to find, the " mysterious Soufriere
bird," as it was called; hence the second ascent and the
camp in the crater.

My black man, Toby, was late in arriving at the cave,
burdened as he was with an enormous load of provisions,
and the sun had set before our preparations were finished
for the night. I had made many camps before, and by
my direction Toby planted four small trees, which he
hewed down with his cutlass, about eight feet apart, over
the crotches of which I stretched a line and hung my
hammock. A pole above served to spread a square of
canvas, which was fastened at the corners to pegs driven
into the soil, an army blanket was bedding, and an old
overcoat served as a pillow.

As for Toby, he crouched in a sheltered corner of the
cave, after we had munched sardines ahd crackers and
drunk some coffee, and from the way he snored I fancy

SAINT VINCENT 385

he did not much concern himself as to his environment.
He was a philosophic negro, and after passing the first
night in some discomfort he next day built a shelter of
sticks and balisier leaves, accepted, though not without
protest, one of my blankets, and seemed perfectly con-
tent— or he was until he learned the object of my visit —
the shooting of the Soufriere bird — when his belief in
jombies and obeah asserted itself so strongly that it was
with difficulty I persuaded him to remain until the end.

After three days had passed without even a glimpse of
the " invisible bird," and I had suffered considerably from
bruises received by falling into pot-holes and ravines
concealed by the dense matting of ferns and lycopodiums,
Toby asserted " him was jombie-bud, sah; him bring yo'
bad luck, ef yo' don' watch out ! "

I was then anxious to shoot the bird, if only to prove to
Man Toby the fallibility of his argument, and at dawn of
the fourth day, after passing a restless night drenched by
the mists from the " trades," I wandered out, determined
to get the bird, if it lay in my power to do so. Fortune
favored me, at least to the extent of granting my desire,
and before ten o'clock I held in my hand the first bird of
its kind ever seen and identified by man. I had brought
it within range by a bird-call the Dominican Caribs had
taught me, and which I had forgotten to. use before on
this trip. After the capture of the first bird I merely
waded into the dense growth of ferns, keeping myself
concealed, and called others of the species to me, procur-
ing in this manner a sufficient number for my purpose.

The fifth morning of our stay dawned, like all the four
preceding days, with the mountain and crater wrapped in
mist. Having my birds to skin and notes to write up, I
had concluded to refrain from hunting, especially as it

386 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

was Christmas morning, and we had a long afternoon
journey to make down the windward coast to Carib land,
Toby sat in the cave's mouth, gloomy and glowering. An
I rolled out of my hammock, he said :

" Massa, you know what day dis is ? "

" Yes, Toby ; it is Christmas, and a mighty gloomy one,
too, it seems to me."

" Dat am fac, massa. Ain' seen de sun good sense we
come heah, fo' truf. But dc sun am gwine ter shine, sah,
'bout noon. Now, me massa, me ax as 'tic'lar favah dat
you go 'way about er houah while I gits de brekfus'
ready. I'se gut a s'prise fo' you, sartin shuah."

Loath as I was to leave camp, I could not but see that
Toby had some particular reason for desiring my absence
a while, and so humored him. Taking my gun, I wan-
dered away to the verge of the western crater, where I
was given, as the sun dissolved the mists that hung about
the mountain-top and over the valleys, what seemed to
me then like a foretaste of heaven, in the view outspread
below. The leeward coast was drawn out for miles, and
looking over a vast expanse of verdure-clad hills and
valleys, beyond the glittering waves of the Caribbean Sea,
I saw the pointed Pitons of Saint Lucia, with a water-
spout trailing along between the islands, connecting sea
and sky.

When I returned, Toby had the cave newly swept and
garnished, while on the balisier leaves spread upon the
ground (which served us in lieu of table) was a Christ-
mas breakfast fit for anyone to eat. As we were to be
on the move in the afternoon, Toby had combined dinner
and breakfast in one meal, so there was the inevitable
*' guinea-bird," plump and browned to bursting, flanked
by a small English plum-pudding and a pile of fruit. A

SAINT VINCENT 387

glass of java-plum wine stood by my plate (which was
of tifi, by the way, though it shone like silver), and a
bottle of " shrub," a Hquor distilled from rum and lime^
juice, was conveniently at hand. In the background,
standing beneath the over-hanging roof of our cave, was
Toby, rubbing his hands with glee at sight of the aston-
ishment depicted on my. face.

" Um t'ought you'd be s'prised, me massa. Um done
keep da guinea-bud an' da pudden secret all to mase'f.
Massa Ebelyn an' missus done sen' 'em up wid da com-
pluments ob de season, sah. Dey bery nice pussons
down at de gret-house on Richmond 'state, sah."

" Indeed they are, Toby, and here's to their health," I
said, taking up my glass. " Fill your dipper with shrub,
my man, and we'll drink to them : Long life and pros-
perity for the generous people on the Richmond estate ! "

After breakfast was over, the bird skins prepared, and
notes written out, we broke camp in our cave on the
crater, and shortly after noon took the trail for the wind-
ward coast and Carib country.

Christmas week was well along toward its ending when
I descended the windward slopes of the Soufriere and
sought the shores of Sandy Bay, where lived the last rem-
nants of the Carib Indians. But the Christmas rejoic-
ings were by no means over, for they last a fortnight in
that favored land down near the equator ; and, moreover,
word had been sent and passed along that I was coming,
so if necessary the festivities would have been protracted.
For this was my second visit to the Caribs ; and as on the
first one I had remained for weeks, had hunted with them,
fished with them, eaten at their tables, and, in fact, had
been as good an Indian as I knew how to be, on this my
second coming I was more than welcome.

388 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

I was met at the ''dry-river" (a stream the bed of
which had been filled with lava from the volcano in a
previous eruption) by the sub-chief, old Rabacca, who
conducted me to Overland, a village of mixed Indians
and blacks, whence my trip to Sandy Bay was a con-
tinuous ovation. Rabacca was descended from an Indian
giant, who, after killing many white men of the island
more than a hundred years ago, was finally captured and
gibbeted in chains, surviving a week in dreadful torment
and dying with imprecations against the English on his
shriveled lips. Rabacca, however, had inherited no
animosity against the white man, his worst enemy being
that West Indian substitute for *' John Barleycorn,"
aguardiente, or native rum. When not in his cups
Rabacca was the best worker on the windward sugar
plantations, none other, be he white, red, or black, being
his equal at loading a " moses boat " in the heavy surf
that beats continuously on the island's east shore.

Rabacca conducted me to a little hut of reeds, wattled
and thatched with palm leaves, where, after my hammock
had been swung and my effects installed, he acted as
master of ceremonies and reintroduced me to the old
friends of many years agone. This done, I was invited
to accompany the assembled Caribs to the banquet hall, a
little distance away, where the feast was already set out
that had been prepared against my arrival. The " hall,"
by the way, was merely a vast roof of palm thatch set
upon stout poles, open on every side, shaded by palms,
with entrancing views outspread around of smiling sea
and gloomy, forest-clad mountain slopes. Beneath the
thatch was a long table of rough boards, covered with
plantain leaves, upon which were spread not only such
products of land and sea as bounteous nature has lavished

SAINT VINCENT 389

upon dwellers in the tropics, but many viands imported
from abroad. For instance, there was " tinned " mutton
from London, genuine Southdown, flanked with heaps of
breadfruit, roasted as well as boiled. And, by the way,
if there is anything more palatable — at least to a hungry
hunter — than boiled breadfruit with Southdown mutton
and drawn butter, it is that same fruit similarly served
after having been roasted in the ashes of a campfire.

As to farinaceous foods, the Caribs, as well as all the
natives, revel in them, as well as in all kinds of tropical
fruits; for what with yam, the eddoe, the banana and
plantain, the cassava, arrowroot, etc., they can boast an
inexhaustible supply. Their chief source of reliance,
however, is the cassava, from the tubers of which they
prepare " farine," or flour. In their raw state the tubers
are exceedingly poisonous, but after they have been
deprived of their outer cuticle, thoroughly washed and
grated into farine, which is baked in thin cakes over a
quick fire, they form a wholesome and nourishing food.
The farine cakes are made about two feet in diameter,
and after having been hung out in the air to dry they
will keep a long time.

Besides the omnipresent cassava cakes, we had that day
another product of the root, or rather an article In which
it is the chief constituent, the renowned West Indian
pepper-pot. Now, the genuine pepper-pot is something
that must be made in tropical countries to be at its best,
for its peculiar quality depends upon the " cassareep "
that is in it, and this is derived from the juice of the cas-
sava. The poisonous juice, its noxious principle dissi-
pated by heat, forms when concentrated a preservative
peculiar and powerful, which is the basis of the pepper-
pot. After a certain quantity is placed in an earthen ves-

390 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

sel its antiseptic property serves to preserve fish, flesh, and
vegetables for an indefinite period. As a consequence
the pepper-pot jar is always at hand, into it being thrown
the odds and ends of repasts — in fact, " any old thing "
in the way of food. The Spaniards call the mess an
'' olla podrida," literally " rotten pot," but nevertheless
the pepper-pot will continue to hold its own as a piquant
comestible for a great many years to come.

The Caribs of St. Vincent are now extinct as a com-
munity, their settlements at Morne Ronde and Sandy Bay
having been completely obliterated. Of all those who
received me so hospitably, setting forth nearly all their
substance at this Christmas dinner, not one remains alive
to-day. They have perished from the earth, and every-
thing they possessed has been utterly destroyed.

On that fateful 7th of May, 1902, when the crater
was ablaze, torrents of boiling mud rolling down the sides
of the Souf riere, and millions of stones hurtling through
the air, the Caribs of both coasts w^ere engaged in a race
with Death — and Death won ! Twenty-six were killed
in a single house, one man was brained by a stone thrown
by the volcano nine miles from the crater; hardly any
Caribs within the ** death zone " escaped alive, for the
demon of the Soufriere seemed resolved upon their exter-
mination.

I would there were space in which to mention all there
is in Saint Vincent worthy description; then the re-
mainder of this book would be devoted to that island. Its
capital is Kingstown, with a nonnal population of five
thousand, and picturesque dwellings scattered through
groves of palms lined up around a curving beach. A
fort is perched upon the northern promontory of Kings-
town bay, six hundred feet above it, and valleys run back

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SAINT VINCENT 391

into the hill country filled with all sorts of tropical trees.
Near to town is the old botanic garden, in which are nut-
megs and other spice trees which have been long in culti-
vation, for this is the oldest botanical station in the
Lesser Antilles. There, also, is situated Government
House, where, in the old times, I was a guest of good
Governor Dundas, and where to-day the Administrator
resides.

The peak of Morne Saint Andrews overlooks the town,
and the mountain ridges run down the leeward coast,
jutting out in promontories between which lie the most
beautiful of valleys filled with sugar-cane and arrow-
root plantations. One of them, Rutland Vale, has been
bought by the Government with money contributed in
England and the United States, and devoted to the ref-
ugees from Carib country, and others, who were domi-
ciled there and assigned lands for cultivation. The land
is rich, and the scenery beautiful, as I recall the estate in
its prime, having been there once for a month while con-
valescing from a fever, the guest of a noble Scotchman,
James Milne, who, with his good wife, has gone to join
the great majority. Their graves are in the churchyard
at Kingstown, but their blessed memory is alive in many
hearts.

CHAPTER XXV

BARBADOS, GRENADA, AND TOBAGO

An island highly cultivated — A bit of Old England — Where
people are poor, but happy — The Old Man of Africa —
Rotating the seductive swizzle — B'ados once visited by
George Washington on his only foreign voyage — Typical
tropical homes abounding in hospitality — Bridgetown and
Carlisle roadstead — Codrington College — The beautiful
country districts — Grenada and Grenadines — The Carib's
"jumping-off place" — Grenada's capital, Saint Georges —
Its interior region of delights — Land of the " black proprie-
tors," who are thrifty and thriving — Colonial officialdom in
the islands — Fruits and spices — Tobago, the true Crusoe's
Island, and facts to prove the same — Where Crusoe was
wrecked — Brief mention of history — Perhaps the original
home of tobacco — At least some people think so — A tropical
island with fine forests — The author once camped in Tobago,
a la Crusoe, and had adventures of the Crusonian kind —
Tobago's scenery and products fit Defoe's wonderful story.

NEARLY one hundred miles to the windw^ard
of Saint Vincent lies the coralline Barbados,
a flat but fascinating isle, almost one vast sea
of sugar-cane, at least a hundred thousand of its 106,000
acres being in a high state of cultivation. Unlike the
majority of the Lesser Antilles, Barbardos is mainly level,
without good harbors, and indefensible as a military
station; but at the same time it is one of the most im-
portant of Great Britain's possessions in the Caribbean
Sea. It has been English — and so thoroughly English
that it seems like a bit of Old England taken out bodily

392

BARBADOS AND GRENADA 393

and dropped down into the Tropics — for nearly three
hundred years, never having been taken by a foreign foe.

To the '' windward " of Saint Vincent it is situated, the
great aerial river called the " Trades " flowing west-
erly toward the former island ; yet during the great erup-
tions from the Soufriere, in 1812 and 1902, it was covered
with a thick layer of ashes from that volcano, and the
atmosphere above it was obscured for days. These
trade winds, blowing continuously from the eastward over
a vast area of ocean, keep Barbados in good health all the
time, and, in fact, are about the only medicine the poor
people can afford. For, people are poor in Barbados, en-
during a poverty such as is hardly known elsewhere,
even though the island is rank with rum and sweet with
sugar. There are quite 196,000 of them, nine-tenths of
the number black or nearly so, — mostly so, in fact, — or
about 1200 to the square mile. As the total area of the
island comprises but 166 square miles, and is incapable of
expansion, while the population goes on recklessly re-
producing itself regardless of the consequences, there is
certainly a reckoning coming in the future. The home
government has sent out missionaries to labor with the
inconsiderate blacks, but without avail ; it has tried to get
them to emigrate ; but the proudest boast of the black
Barbadian is that he is a " B'adian bawn an' bred, sah,"
and he chooses to continue in his native island. And
while the birth-rate goes up, the great and only staple,
sugar, persistently goes down, carrying wages along with
it, until big, brawny blacks are going begging at twenty
cents a day, for males, and half that wage for females.

Dear old Barbados, with its spread of goodly acres
ringed around by the ever-smiling sea, its palm-dotted
landscape, its wind-milled sugar buildings, using ancient

394 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

processes for extracting the sweets from cane ; its old
English society and system of education ; its traditions
of century-long loyalty to Britain ; some time — let us
hope a far time — it must succumb beneath its terrible bur-
den. For, it cannot go on carrying that Old Man of
Africa on its shoulders much longer; he is getting too
ponderous; he is a dead weight that even a more pros-
perous colony might stagger under.

Still, the blacks of Barbados are, to all appearances,
happy — probably because they have not brain enough to
be otherwise. The " divine discontent " of the " Buckra
man " has not yet found lodgment in their craniums. All
classes there nobly cling to and support each other,
realizing that when one goes, all go, to the bad
together.

Living in the Tropics, where every sort of fruit neces-
sary to man's subsistence can be raised with least labor,
yet the natives are ever close to starvation. But they are
not afraid of it, they laugh in its face — and fight. Yes,
they fight — not among themselves, but the stranger com-
ing to their shores. They fight and they beg, both lustily
and without shame. I once saw a body of boatmen in
Carlisle Bay fight over and drown a passenger whom they
were trying to get into their respective boats. They
overturned his boat, and while he and a woman drifted
away from the steamer, wildly waving their hands and
shouting for help, they continued their squabble, until
and long after one of the two was drowned.

The stranger arriving in Bridgetown, capital and only
port of Barbados, may consider himself fortunate if he
be allowed to land without losing some portion of his rai-
ment, or some article from his outfit. Once landed, how-
ever, he will desire to divest himself of what remains, for

BARBADOS AND GRENADA 395

the heat is something terrific, the sun is truly a *' scorcher,"
in Bridgetown, and rules the day throughout. But there
is the " ice house," a combination of boarding-house,
hotel, and cafe, where things to eat may be had, but more
especially things to drink. And it is at the ice house that
bibulous man quenches his raging thirst, perhaps for the
first time imbibes the seductive cocktail, which is con-
cocted by experienced " druggists " after a recipe handed
down from past generations. It is then stirred with a
'' swizzle," a pronged stick that fits into the bottom of a
large tumbler, and is rotated rapidly between one's twO
hands. It is not solely the rotation of the stick that gives
the renowned " swizzle " effect, but some saponaceous
quality in the cambium layer of the wood. Whatever it
is, it seems to '' fill the bill " with the majority of ex-
perimenters, and generally one may find, among the
effects of the returning voyager to the Antilles, a bunch
of swizzle-sticks.

There is a real hotel out on the strand, where the
smooth sand-beaches of Hastings invite the traveler to
rest, and as the only railrocid in the island affords a most
attractive ride to the highlands of " Scotland," one should
by all means include both in his itinerary.

There is one feature of Barbados that cannot be over-
looked: its substantial air of permanent residence. The
original settlers of B'ados were not all good men, nor
were they great. Many of them, in fact, were sent out
here much against their inclinations, and of some it may
have been said, as of others that came to Saint Kitts:
'' They certainly are a parcel of as notorious villians as
any transplanted this long tyme." But, when they got
here, they stayed here, and their descendants after them,
so that B'ados and its " Bims " are more in the nature of

396 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

permanencies than any other island and its people in the
West Indies. The Badians used to claim that they had
the longest pedigrees, and their cats the longest tails, of
any existing people and cats whatever. This statement,
however, must be taken on trust, for the world at large is
not sufficiently interested to measure either the tails or the
pedigrees.

One thing the Bims should be everlastingly proud of —
though really they don't seem to be aware of the honor
that was done them — is that the only foreign voyage ever
taken by one George Washington was to their island of
Barbados. He had not then become the Father of his
Country, for he was only in his twentieth year when he
and his brother Lawrence came to Barbados for the bene-
fit of the latter's health. They were very well received
by the landed proprietors, themselves belonging to that
class, and many were the dinners and entertainments that
George attended, and afterwards admiringly wrote of
in his diary. Many, that is, in the short time at his dis-
posal ; for after he had been two weeks ashore — the voy-
age having consumed five weeks — he was taken down
with the smallpox, the marks from which he carried all
his life in that face which has become so familiar to all
Americans.

Even at the time of Washington's visit the planters
were becoming embarrassed, many of them being in debt,
as he records in his journal. *' How persons coming to
estates of two, three, or four hundred acres can want, is
to me most wonderful," he wrote at the time; but that
was before he had himself entered " into possession of
Mount Vernon, which was bequeathed him by Lawrence,
who died a few months after his return from Bar-
bados.

BARBADOS AND GRENADA 397

It is the country region of Barbados, more than the
town and city, that fascinates the visitor open to impres-
sions of the sturdy home-life here implanted. It will be
indeed a sad day for civilization, as well as for Barbados
in particular, when the presumably inevitable breakup
comes to pass. For here are homes, in every sense of the
word they are homes, albeit tropical ones, which are the
bulwarks of the white race and its religion. From Far-
ley Hall, the Governor's residence, to the home of the
planter of moderate income, there is a harmony in archi-
tecture as well as in hospitable sentiment, that suggests
the " mother country." The churches and chapels of
ease, the cemeteries, the parks and gardens, all carry out
the suggestion of English influence in the higher aims of
life. Then there is Codrington College. Have you ever
seen it? — that seat of learning nearly two centuries old,
with its environment of tropical trees, of palms holding
their golden coronals a hundred feet aloft and circling
about the great stone buildings?

When Mr. Froude was in Barbados he found the model
habitation in the home of Sir Graham Briggs, " perhaps
the most distinguished representative of the old Barba-
dian families " ; a man of large fortune, whom it w^as my
privilege to meet, one time, at Nevis, where I was his
guest for a night and a day. Speaking of Sir Graham's
magnificent house in the country, Mr. Froude says, after
mentioning the rare and curious things there gathered
together : *' There had been fine culture in the West
Indies when all these treasures were collected. The Eng-
lish settlers there, like the English in Ireland, had the
taste of a grand race, and by-and-by we shall miss both
of them when they are overwhelmed, as they are likely
to be, in the revolutionary tide. Sir Graham was stem-

398 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

ming it to the best of his abiHty, and if he was to go
under would go under like a gentleman.

'* A dining room almost as large as the hall had been
once the scene of hospitalities like those which are cele-
brated by Tom Cringle. A broad staircase led up from
the hall to long galleries, out of which bedrooms opened,
with cool, deep balconies and the universal green blinds.
It was a palace with which Aladdin himself might have
been satisfied, one of those which had stirred the envying
admiration of foreign travelers in the last century; one
of many then, now probably the last surviving representa-
tive of Anglo-West Indian civilization. Like other forms
of human life, it has had its day and could not last for-
ever. Something better may grow in the place of it, but
also sornething worse may grow. The example of Haiti
ought to suggest misgivings to the most ardent philo-
negro enthusiast. . . . Hospitable, generous, splen-
did as was Sir Graham's reception of me, it was never-
theless easy to see that the prospects of the island sat
heavy upon him."

Yet these two, both Sir Graham and his distinguished
guest, have gone to join the silent host, while Barbados
and its teeming population still exists — and casual visi-
tors (like myself) still *' point a moral and adorn a tale "
with their prospective woes. *' I've had a deal of trouble
in my time," mused the old man ; *' but most of it never
happened!" Perhaps Barbados will never collide with
its expected catastrophe ; perhaps sugar will go up, and
blacks will cease from troubling; so the end may never
come ! Let us hope so, for there is a great deal worth the
while in isolated Barbados, and should it be wiped out a
lamp of British tropical civilization would have been ex-
tinguished.

BARBADOS AND GRENADA 399

In the Carlisle roadstead of Bridgetown many ships
assemble, at times, and it is one of the busiest places in
the West Indies. As the rendezvous of the ships of the
English Royal Mail, and a port-of-call for the Que-
bec and other lines, Bridgetown is easily accessible, as
well as readily left when the time comes for departure.

Returning to our route of travel down the Caribbees,
we shall find in the islands of Grenada and the Grena-
dines the exact antitheses of B'ados in every respect of
surface, soil, and scenery. The Grenadines begin right at
the door of Saint Vincent where it opens south, and
stretch away for sixty miles or so, sometimes their tops
above the water a few feet ; sometimes, like Bequia and
Carriacou, large, cultivable, and habitable. They are all
interesting, of course ; but what boots it- if one cannot
reach them without the discomforts of a sailing voyage, in
stale and dirty droghers ?

Best of all and richest of all is Grenada, southernmost
of the volcanic Caribbees, an island whose history has
been repeated in that of Dominica, Martinique, Saint
Lucia, and Saint Vincent. Like the first named and the
last two, Grenada is British, and has been so for many,
many years. It is said to have been bought from the
Caribs, originally, by the French, for two bottles of rum.
After the rum was gone, although they had signed a
formal treaty with the keen-witted Frenchmen, the
Caribs made war to recover their insular paradise; but
in the end were defeated and driven away, never to re-
turn. Their last " jumping-ofif place " is shown at the
north end of the island, the " Morne des Sauteurs," or
hill of the leapers, for here they leaped from a precipice
into the sea and were drowned.

The capital of Grenada is Saint Georges, a town astride

400 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

a hog-backed peninsula, guarding one of the finest har-
bors in the chain, occupying the crater of a volcano con-
sidered extinct. Since the " bobbery " in Saint Vincent,
however, no crater and no volcano is held to be more than
quiescent; for the Soufriere had a big lake in its crater
and yet blew it off into steam at the slightest provocation.

Saint Georges is picturesque, and is also the entrance
gate to a country yet more so. Had I space, I might tell
of an interior region of terrestrial delights : a crater with
a blue lake in its bosom, only a few hours' ride from
town; of forests haunted by the most gentlemanly and
ladylike monkeys man ever hunted, who live at ease in
the tree-tops, descending occasionally to deprive their
common enemy of cacao, bananas, and sugar-cane, etc.,
etc. But the delights of Grenada are those of Saint
Vincent and Dominica — plus the monkeys.

There is also one other attraction — to the native —
which consists in the beautiful surplus the island treasury
contains, at the end of each fiscal year! Grenada used
to have a deficit, like all its sister islands ; but some time
ago it quietly abandoned the sugar cultivation, to which
for many generations it had been chained, and began the
culture of cacao, nutmegs, and all kinds of spices. It is
now known as the island of black proprietors, for three-
fourths its residents are individual owners of estates,
small but profitable, from which they ship annually great
quantities of special products. I will not give the statis-
tics, because, in the first place, I abhor them, and in the
second, I haven't got these handy. But no matter ; none
of my readers wants to go to Grenada and engage in cacao
cultivation, and thus, perhaps, be the means of depriving
some poor " black proprietor " of his daily chocolate.
Truth to tell, though, there are worse forms of solitary

BARBADOS AND GRENADA 401

confinement than isolating one's self on a cacao planta-
tion, amid scenery that is grand and decorated with all
the " frills and fancy fixings " of the tropics. And Gre-
nada is a tolerably healthy island, too, with streams of
sweet water, forests of gum and liquid-amber, fairly good
roads to the country districts ; but with its prospects be-
clouded (for the white man) by that horde of ''black
proprietors."

It is the truth, and nobody can refute it, that the fairest
islands in this archipelago — in fact, all the islands of the
West Indies, south of Cuba — have been practically aban-
doned to the black man. But this island of Grenada has
yet a white man at the helm — mark that ! — and so long as
he remains, there will be no danger of a lapse into condi-
tions prevalent in Haiti. British officialdom in Grenada
is not so expensive a luxury as in some other islands,
though it is the seat of government of the so-styled
Windward Islands, consisting of itself, Saint Vincent,
and Saint Lucia. In Grenada the colonial secretary re-
ceives a salary of only $3000, against $4500 paid the ad-
ministrator of Saint Vincent, and $6500 paid the same
official in Saint Lucia. There has been a mighty protest
against the stipends paid these strangers in the West
Indian islands, who are there only by courtesy of the
natives, and of late years there has been shown a ten-
dency to scaling down their salaries. Thus, the governor
of Barbados gets only $14,500 now, when a few years
ago his salary was $18,000, which is more than most of
our ambassadors receive.

It may come as a surprise to some, and be resented
by others, to be told that Robinson Crusoe, the hero of
the great eighteenth-century story of adventure, never

402 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

saw the island of Juan Fernandez, on the coast of South
America. Even were he real or fictional, the scene of
his adventures was not there, but nearly forty degrees
farther north, on an island in the West Indies. And had
he lived till this time he might find himself a neighbor of
ours, for his insular domain lies only five hundred miles
to the southeast of our newly acquired tropical island,
Puerto Rico.

Yes, the place where Defoe wrecked his hero, and
where for twenty-five years or so he lived a solitary life, is
the British island of Tobago, which lies about twenty miles
from Trinidad, and one hundred from Barbados. Can I
prove it ? Most assuredly, and out of the narrative itself.
If my readers have not forgotten their " Crusoe," and can
remember the opening scenes of his adventures, they will
recall that Robinson ran away to sea when he was quite
young. After being wrecked on the coast of Africa and
living for two years as a Moorish captive, he escaped and
finally arrived off the coast of Brazil. A great gale over-
took his vessel, and they were driven before its fury until
— " the Storm abating a little, the Master made an Ob-
servation and found that he was in about eleven Degrees
(ii) of north Latitude, so that we were gotten beyond
the coast of Guiana and beyond the river Amazones, to-
ward the river Oroonoque [Orinoco] commonly called
the Great River."

This quotation from " Crusoe " shows the approximate
latitude just before the wreck of his vessel, and totally
precludes the supposition that he could by any means
have doubled Cape Horn and reached the island of Juan
Fernandez, forty degrees to the southward of his last
observation.

There is no doubt whatever that Selkirk's island is the

BARBADOS AND GRENADA 403

real Juan Fernandez, for he was left there, did live there
four years, was rescued by an English captain of repute.
This much is authenticated; but further than this, and
that perhaps his yarn suggested the Crusoe story, that
island has no connection whatever with the real and gen-
uine " Robinson Crusoe." And after all, what a ridicu-
lous story it is. Defoe had never been at sea — at least, not
as a sailor — and he makes poor old Robinson do all sorts
of silly things. For instance, he first strips him of all
clothing (at the time of the wreck) and then has him swim
ashore with his pockets full of biscuits ! He saves a chest
full of fine clothing, yet weeps over the loss of all his
clothes ; Man Friday was well acquainted with the habits
of bears, yet there never were bears in either island; he
dresses the sweltering Robinson in garments of goatskin,
in a tropical climate, where no cloth^es at all were prefer-
able; he makes him carry a hand-saw, a broad-sword,
two big guns, a hatchet, brace of pistols, etc., whenever
he goes out of his cave, even to feed the goats; he has
him climb up into a tree, '* much like a Firr, but thorny,"
where he sits all night trembling for fear of wild beasts,
when there was not a harmful creature on the island.
But he is true to nature in at least one instance, when
Robinson, real sailorman that he is, finding a jug of rum
in the cabin, takes a " bigge, bigge Dram," with a capital
D, to be sure.

Imprimis, then, that island is Tobago, and lies ofif the
mouth of the Orinoco, within sight of Trinidad, as it lay
when it got in the way of Crusoe's ship and brought him
temporarily to grief. It was discovered by Columbus,
in the year 1498, but was not inhabited then, and the first
attempt at settlement, by white people from Barbados,
was repulsed by Indians who had come over from Trini-

404 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

dad. For nearly two hundred years thereafter it was
the sport of whatever nation chose to take a hand in
its affairs. First the Dutch, then the French, then the
Enghsh made settlements there, only to be driven out
with slaughter.

In the year 1632, the date of Crusoe's birth, 200 people
from Holland came here, but were driven away by the
savages. In 1677 the Dutch again attempted to live
there, but were set upon by the English under Sir Tobias
Bridges, who took 400 prisoners. So it will be seen that
the history of Tobago and probably its resources were
well enough known at the time Defoe wrote " Crusoe,"
just prior to the year 1719. As late as 1684 it was un-
inhabited, and by treaty between France and England
made a " neutral island," for Indian settlement, and to be
visited by white men only for food and water. In fact,
an ideal residence for a hero — a desolate but fertile island,
teeming with all the bounties of nature, and upon which
the foot of civilized man had left no impress.

To conclude these historical references of Tobago: the
island in 1802 had a voice in the election of Bonaparte,
and the same year was the residence of John Paul Jones,
the gallant privateer. There is a dispute between philolo-
gists and botanists as to whether Tobago gave its name
to tobacco, or whether it was derived from the weed it-
self. It has been said that Sir Walter Raleigh got his
first seductive whifT of nicotiana out of dried leaves
sent from Trinidad and obtained in Tobago; though
the weed was introduced in Europe long before his time.
The plant is a native in Tobago, and grows well there,
as well as all the products of the tropics. The climate
of the island is tropical, situated, as it is, but eleven
degrees north of the equator, but not altogether healthy.

BARBADOS AND GRENADA 405

A mountainous and forest-covered island, its fertile
soil is but partially cultivated, though there are many val-
leys covered with sugar-cane which yield prolifically.
Tobago is about 1 14 square miles in area, with a total pop-
ulation of less than 18,000, most of the inhabitants being
descendants of the freed negro slaves, and very few white
people living here. There are but two towns on the
island, the larger of the two, Scarborough, the capital,
situated on a broad bay, having about a thousand inhabit-
ants. There is no hotel here, and but an indifferent
boarding house, where " all the luxuries of the season "
are conspicuous by their absence.

Shall I produce further proof in support of my asser-
tion that the real " Crusoe's Island " lies, not in the South
Pacific, but in the Caribbean Sea, within six days' voyag-
ing of New York? Well, then let me cite another,
though modern, hero of literature, Charles Kingsley,
who, in his "At Last, A Christmas in the West Indies,"
declares : " Crusoe's Island is almost certainly meant for
Tobago ; Man Friday had been stolen in Trinidad."

When I read that, I determined to go there myself. I
took a copy of the book along, and not only covered the
ground entirely, but actually lived as Crusoe lived two
hundred years before. I had my hut by the seaside, my
camp in the forest, my ** poll parrot," and my hammock
under the palms. I had everything, almost, that Crusoe
had, and a great deal more than he ; for much has been
discovered since he flourished. I had no Man Friday,
in Tobago; but, a few months before going there, I had
lived with the Caribs of Dominica and Saint Vincent, the
only descendants of the tribe to which he belonged.

Tobago is a beautiful island, with tropical forests, in-
teresting birds, and a fine climate. The scenery almost

4o6 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

exactly fits the story, and I used my camera in obtaining
mementos of my visit. It is comparatively accessible,
and the language spoken there is our own. To reach it,
take steamer for Barbados or Trinidad, and transfer to
a smaller craft which plies among the islands. Its in-
habitants, who are mostly of African descent, know
nothing of Robinson Crusoe, probably owing to the fact
that their ancestors were brought there long after he left
the island.

CHAPTER XXVI

TRINIDAD, AND THE ISLANDS' RESOURCES

Southernmost of the West Indies — English for two hundred
years — An expensive government — Port of Spain and the
botanic gardens — Forestal attractions of Trinidad — Sir
Walter Raleigh and the things he saw in Trinidad — The
story he told Queen Elizabeth — Why he lost his head —
Why he deserved his fate — His description of the great pitch
lake — How he missed becoming a millionaire — Excursions
in the Gulf of Paria — Islets and caves near the Boca — As
to the future of the islands — Old and new times — A con-
trast— Coolies and John Crows — The numerous fruits of
the West Indies — Where crown land can be obtained —
Area and population of the West Indies.

TRINIDAD, an island lying between the tenth
and eleventh degrees of north latitude, may
be called the sovithernmost of the West Indies;
but properly speaking, it really pertains to South America,
for its physical characteristics, its fauna, and its flora are
continental, and not insular. At some time, quite remote,
it was probably cut oiT from the northeast coast of South
America, from which it is now separated by two straits.
These channels of turbulent waters were first seen by
Columbus in 1498, when he was on his third voyage to
America. He called the island Trinidad, after the holy
Trinity, having made a vow previously to sighting its
mountains that he would so name the next land he
discovered.

407

4o8 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

Toward the end of that third voyage Columbus imag-
ined himself drawing near some sub-tropical inferno,
for he had sailed farther southward than on any previous
voyage, and was within ten degrees or so of the equator.
Reasoning from what he had read in the books of specu-
lative philosophers, he expected to find all the vegetation
parched by the heat, and the inhabitants of such lands as
he hoped to discover black as jet, from continued ex-
posure to a tropical sun. Reasoning thus, he was not
alarmed at the heat which opened the seams of his ships
and drank up the contents of his water-casks, for it was
no more than he expected.

As he approached the land he argued, according to an
old historian of his voyages : " The earth is not round,
after the form of a ball or an apple, but rather shaped like
a pear as it hangeth on the tree ; and this region is that
which possesseth the supereminent or highest part there-
of, nearest unto heaven. Insomuch that he contended
the earthly paradise to be situated in the tops of those
three hills, which the watchman saw out of the topcastle
of the ship; and the outrageous stream of fresh waters
which did so violently issue out of the Gulf of Paria and
strive so with the salt water, fell headlong from the sum-
mits of said mountains."

Columbus entered the Gulf of Paria, which lies be-
tween Trinidad and the mainland of South America,
through the southern channel, which he named the Boca
del Serpiente, or the Serpent's Mouth; and the northern
exit of the gulf into the Caribbean Sea (which he
reached after coasting the western shores of Trinidad)
he called the Boca del Drago — Mouth of the Dragon —
because both were filled with rushing, roaring waters that
nearly overwhelmed his ships

TRINIDAD AND OTHERS 409

Ninety years elapsed before the Spaniards colonized
Trinidad, and they held it two hundred years, or until it
capitulated to the British under General Abercromby, in
1797. Ever since this last date it has been in British
hands, having been confirmed to them by the treaty of
Amiens, in 1802, and is now, as is well known, one of
their most important possessions, with its commanding
situation off the Orinoco's mouth, at the northeast tip of
South America. Fifty-five miles in length by forty in
breadth, with an area of about 1750 square miles,
Trinidad is ten times as large as Barbados, yet has only
eighty thousand more inhabitants. But much of its ter-
ritory is mountainous, and some is swampy and rnala-
rious, unlike clean-skirted, breezy Barbados, with nearly
all its acres available. About two hundred thousand
acres are under cultivation, devoted mainly to sugar-cane,
cacao, cocoanuts, spices, and tropical fruits in general,
and as the island has an equatorial range of fruit and
vegetable products, with rich soil in unlimited tracts, and
a climate, in the highlands, not inimical to white people,
it should prove attractive to settlers.

Great and varied as are the resources of Trinidad,
yielding a revenue of nearly $4,000,000 annually, the
island does not progress as one might expect it to,
for its expenditures more than keep pace with its income.
This, however, is not to be wondered at, when its official
list is scanned, with a governor at $25,000 per annum, an
attorney-general at $7500, a colonial secretary and a di-
rector of public works at $6000 each, and fifteen 6ther
public *' servants " with salaries ranging from $3000 to
$5000 apiece. Think of a relatively insignificant country
like Trinidad, with less than half a million inhabitants,
and most of these blacks, coolies, and colored people,

4IO OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

living from hand to mouth, paying their " governor " a
salary half as large as that received by the President of
the United States! And the Trinidadians wonder why
they cannot save up something for a rainy day, and why
their debt has continued to grow and grow, until it is
now many million pounds !

When, only, as Mr. MacNish, of Jamaica, truly says,
the British West Indians become wise enough to pay
salaries commensurate with services rendered, and ship
back to England their high-priced and purely ornamental
officials, may they enter upon the paths of progress. But
they cannot save anything from their revenues so long as
the " wise sharps of Downing Street " have the handling
of them. So long as there is a tempting revenue to ex-
ploit, like that of Trinidad, just so long will these non-
working, non-producing, non-^esidents absorb the whole
of it — and a little more.

The governor's residence, in the beautiful botanic gar-
den, near Port of Spain, is not ** half bad " for an exile
from the mother country to be quartered in, with or with-
out a salary attached, and the domiciles of the under
officials are by far the best in the colony. That may not
be saying too much, for Port of Spain is not the hand-
somest city in the universe, nor the most attractive. It
has bravely wrestled with many natural disadvantages, in-
cluding the shallow, filth-contaminated harbor, w^here
steamers of any size have to anchor miles from the shore.
It has been burned to the ground several times, but has
not suflFered from storms to any extent, being below the
hurricane line. It need not be affirmed of Port of Spain
that it is hot, perhaps unhealthy, for it stands with its feet
in hot water all the time, in the northeastern bight of the
great Gulf of Paria. It is a busy place withal, as well as

TRINIDAD AND OTHERS 411

an ambitious one, forty steamers making calls here, going
north among the islands and to the States, east to Vene-
zuela, south to Orinoco towns, and to the chief ports
of the continent. This British port is the first of impor-
tance near the Orinoco's many mouths, and draws from
the great river stores of gold, hides, woods, and medicinal
plants. There is a line direct from the United States, as
well as another that calls here on the way to Demerara,
while small steamers make the wonderful voyage up the
Orinoco as far as navigation permits.

Hot, but not notoriously unhealthy. Port of Spain sim-
mers calmly in the tropical sun without complaint, takes
its siesta at the noon hours, wakes up toward evening, be-
coming as active as a temperature of eighty-five or ninety
will permit, and settles down to silence only after the mid-
night hour. Its people are famous for their gambling
propensities, horse-racing, and even athletic games, like
cricket and base-ball. They like to picnic and pleasure-
seek, in the beautiful forests back of town amid the
mountains, where are many bowers of beauty and water-
falls uncounted.

But the forests of Trinidad are too vast for us to essay
them. Canon Kingsley almost filled a book about them
thirty years ago. Get it — ''At Last, a Christmas in the
West Indies " — and if you read it you will have ac-
quired much information on tropic vegetation. Kingsley
was an enthusiast, and that trip down the islands, with
Trinidad as his principal tarrying-place, was his first to
the tropics — also his last, more's the pity. The first time
I looked upon Port of Spain was one Fourth of July, nine
years after Kingsley's visit, and there were many people
who remembered him and his exuberant enthusiasm ;
some few who took his criticisms much to heart, but none

412 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

who dissented from his estimate of Trinidad's attrac-
tions.

It would be unpardonable in me not to make mention
of the greatest Englishman who preceded Kingsley to
Trinidad, one Walter Raleigh, who first sailed into the
Gulf of Paria in 1595 ; who, like Columbus, made note of
the " oisters " growing on the mangrove trees, and, un-
like Columbus, was kind to the natives whom he met
ashore. He was then in search of El Dorado, the Gilded
King," who was said to have his residence on an island far
up the Orinoco ; and though he did not find him, nor even
catch a glimpse of his wonderful retreat, he informed
Queen Elizabeth, on his return, that he not only had an
interview with the Gilded One, but that he, at sight of
her portrait, had fallen in a faint from sheer admiration.
Inasmuch as the great Bess had " a face that would stop a
clock," as the saying is, she swallowed the story entire,
and richly rewarded Sir Walter for his fib. He was com-
pelled to swallow it himself, twenty-two years later, when
that '' wise idiot," King James, sent him back to verify
the yarn. But it stuck in his throat, and on his return
the King felt constrained to cut off his head to get it out.
At least, he deprived poor Sir Walter of his caput, os-
tensibly on account of having fought the Spaniards at
Trinidad when it was more in accord with British policy
at that moment to keep the peace.

To cruise in Spanish waters and invade a Spanish col-
ony without getting into trouble was, as King James well
knew, quite the impossible thing — and that is why he sent
Sir Walter out to Trinidad on his second adventure. He
lost his son, young Sir Walter, in the fight with the
Spaniards; he lost. his reputation, and finally he lost his
head — all which must have been rather disquieting to

TRINIDAD AND OTHERS 413

Sir Walter; and it must have convinced all who were
cognizant of the facts that, in the words of our great
professional humorist, " when in doubt one should always
tell the truth."

Certain wealthy Americans should erect a monument
to Raleigh, provided they be penetrated with the grati-
tude they should be penetrated with, because of his, the
first, mention of that wonderful Pitch Lake which is to
be found right where he discovered it more than
three hundred years ago, at about sixty miles distance
from the present Port of Spain. Many a description
of it has been written since his was penned, but none,
perhaps, that describe it better : " We came to anchor at
Tierra de Bri, short of the Spanish Port some ten
leagues. This is a piece of land some two leagues long
and a league broad, all stone pitch or bitumen, which
riseth out of the ground in little springs or fountains,
and so, swimming a little way, it hardeneth in the air and
covereth all the plain. There are also many springs of
water, and in and among them many fish. . . . There
is that abundance of stone pitch that all the ships of the
world may therewith be laden from thence ; and we made
trial of it in trimming our ships to be m.ost excellent
good, and melted not with the sun as the pitch of Nor-
way, and, therefore, for ships trading with the south parts
very profitable."

Trinidad's deposit of asphalt has most assuredly proven
very profitable to the syndicate that works it, paying the
government $60,000 per annum for the privilege, on a
forty-years' lease ; and that " all the ships of the world
may therewith be laden from thence," is as true now as it
was in good Sir Walter's time. Verily, it seemeth bot-
tomless, he might have said, for the more the exploiters

414 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

take out of it the more they may, some occult force con-
tinually pressing it up from beneath. A million tons, in
all probability, have been taken out of the '' lake," and
millions more remain.

Alas that Sir Walter told that fib about the Gilded One 1
for it profited him nothing to romance in that manner
to a vain old spinster who, by accident, wore a crown.
What opportunities, forsooth, he threw away ! One of
the first to exploit the Trinidad asphalt, and also first to
smoke and appreciate tobacco, he should have formed
a company, issued unlimited stock — and exploited the
stockholders. He might thus have lived a life of ease,
and died an honored millionaire ; but, he never formed
a trust ! No wonder he lost his head. Some there be, in
sooth, who think he richly deserved his fate for twice
turning the cold shoulder to Dame Fortune.

A substance similar to the Trinidad '* pitch " occurs in
Barbados, where it is called " manjak"; but not in such
quantities, being found in shallow beds only a few feet in
width ; while the lake at La Brea contains more than a
hundred acres, and is practically bottomless. A small
steamer runs down from Port of Spain once a day, and
the Quebec Line excursionists are usually taken thither;
but it should be stipulated that the trip be made so as
to arrive at the landing-place early in the morning,
as the heat of mid-day is something almost beyond belief.
So, too, are the odors which greet one there, as well as
the sights. In fact, the pitch lake must be regarded as a
monstrosity, solely, and viewed in that light, one will be
willing to endure discomforts in getting a glimpse of it.

Several interesting excursions offer from the Port, be-
sides the trip to La Brea, as, for instance, to the islands in
the Gulf, which are extremely picturesque, some of them

TRINIDAD AND OTHERS 415

occupied as summer watering places, where the bathing,
boating, and fishing are excellent. Then there is the won-
derful cave at Huevos, the abode of the Guachero Bird,
or Diablotin, a species of goatsucker, by some highly
esteemed as a boiibouchc, and which may be found by the
thousands. It was first described, I think, by Humboldt,
and is particularly mentioned by Kingsley, whose guide
to the cave was yet living a few years ago. The islands
near the Dragon's Mouth, like Monos and Huevos, are
washed by the waves of swift currents, worn into caves
and draped with vines, but have beaches of fine sand in
cliff -sheltered bays.

Stretching away westward from the Boca may be seen
the point of Paria, a bit of South America's mainland, be-
yond which are the once-famous Pearl Islands, Margarita
and others, whence Vespucci and Ojeda, in 1499, and
after them many other voyagers, drew large supplies of
pearls, from which they made their fortunes. These
islands are difficult to reach, and moreover can hardly be
claimed as West Indian, since they are biit detached por-
tions of the great continent, at the northern coast of
which our voyage comes to an end.

A final word as to the prospects, resources, the possible
future, of these islands seems imperative in this connec-
tion. There is no denying the fact that, with the excep-
tion of Cuba and Puerto Rico, possibly of Trinidad, the
West Indian islands have retrograded in the past century.
They have grown poorer, the British islands especially,
their population blacker, hence they are less desirable as
places of residence for white folk. Time was when
there were vast plantations of cane, which, converted into
sugar at $150 to $200 per ton, and rum at $1.50 to $2.00

4i6 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

per gallon, supported in idleness a luxurious aristocracy,
who lived in London or at the capitals of Europe and al-
lowed their agents to manage their estates. So it fell out
finally, after the slaves were freed, and after beet-sugar
competition brought down the prices, that most of the
sugar estates became the properties of those thrifty
agents, or " attorneys " ; but eventually even these sharp
lawyers failed to make them pay.

Sugar is just as sweet, and rum as insidious, as ever;
but demand has fallen with sharp competition. The im-
portation of coolies to supply the places of lazy negroes
has not proved entirely successful ; though these former
now swarm in Trinidad, and form a most picturesque
element of the population. In fact, the coolies in the
country and the " John Crow " scavengers at the Port
add greatly to the attractive features of Trinidad. The
first were imported, under contract, to work nine hours
per day at tenpence per diem; the latter are natives and
work for nothing; but both support themselves mainly
on the refuse of the island.

In some of the islands the attention of proprietors has
been turned from sugar-cane to the raising of fruits and
the " small cultivations," such as cacao, bananas, nut-
megs, and spices generally; limes, oranges, pine-apples,
and arrow-root. It is in these '' cultivations " that young
men going to the islands with the intention of establish-
ing homes therein will find their fortunes — if at all ; and
it will be through the failure of the islands to continue
sources of revenue to their present possessors that they
will consent to their passing into the hands of a contingu-
ous country capable of making them tributary to her
greatness, and at the same time raising them to pros-
perity.

TRINIDAD AND OTHERS 417

All sorts of fruit — perhaps it is needless to mention —
may be raised in those favored islands, as the grape, date,
fig, orange, lime, lemon, sapadilla, pine-apple, shaddock,
mango, cocoanut, citron, guava, plantain, banana, star-
apple, pomegranate, plum, cherry, mammie, custard-ap-
ple, avocado pear, tamarind, mangosteen, chrimoya, water
lemon, bread-fruit, sugar-apple, sour-sop, acajou, — their
name is legion. At ordinary elevations all the vegetables,
such as eddoes, yams, peas, parsnips, cabbage, beans,
spinach, radish, egg-plant, beet, celery, maize, cassava,
sweet potato, mountain cabbage (from the palm), pump-
kin, melons, ochra, etc., etc. There are, in addition, many
special products, like coffee, cacao, cinnamon, nutmeg,
ginger, vanilla, pimento, clove, aloes, arrow-root, bread-
nut, tea, tobacco, etc., which either cannot be raised in
the United States, or else only in certain restricted areas ;
though in the West Indies everywhere prevalent, accord-
ing to altitude and the character of the soils.

Lands for settlement and cultivation are available in
Cuba, Santo Domingo, nearly all British islands except
Barbados, and in some few of the English isles crown
lands may be obtained in small or large tracts, as in
Dominica, Saint Vincent, Tobago, and Trinidad. Domin-
ica has a particularly choice tract of land, about 60,000
acres, known as the Layou Flats. This has but recently
been opened to settlement, by the construction of a good
road from Roseau, and already quite a number of young
Englishmen have availed themselves of the low price of
ten shillings per acre to establish themselves as planters
of limes, coffee, cacao, and tropical fruits in general.

It happens by a fortunate chance that both crown lands
and good climate are found in Dominica, and also good
government, while the population, though very dark com-

4i8 OUR WEST INDIAN NEIGHBORS

plexioned in the main, contains some very vigorous
examples of Old England's best stock, who have been

transplanted to a tropical clime, where they thrive to
perfection.

Here are the islands of the West Indies, proper, w^ith
their respective areas and populations given approx-
imately, from latest statistics :

Area in Popu-

square miles. lation.

Cuba 45,872 1,573,800

Bahamas 5,450 66,400

Jamaica 4,000 740,000

Haiti 9,240 1,240,000

Puerto Rico 3,600 950,000

Santo Domingo «... 20,590 600,000

Danish West hidies — St. Thomas, Santa

Cruz, and St. John 142 33-000

French Islands — Guadeloupe, Martinique,

and smaller islands 1,100 360,000

Leeward Islands — Antigua, St. Kitts and
Nevis, Montserrat, Virgin islands,

Dominica 641 130,000

Windward Islands — St. Lucia, St. Vin-
cent, Grenada, Grenadines 510 136,000

Barbados 166 198,000

Trinidad and Tobago 2,000 290,000

Dutch Islands — Curagao, Saba, St.

Eustatius 436 52,000

THE END

INDEX

•Abaco, Great and Little, 20,
22

Aboriginal West Indians,
342, et seq.

Aborigines of the Bahamas,
9; of Cuba, 39; of His-
paniola, 177

Acklin Island, parrots of, 19

Adelantado, B. Columbus,
210, 12, 18

African ancestors of Haiti-
ans, 170; birds and grains,
315; fetichism, in Haiti,
167

Agassiz, Prof. A., on Car-
ibbean Sea, 3

Agouti, the inoffensive, 235

Agriculture, tropical, 239.

Agua Alta, river, Jamaica,
123

Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, 249

Agueynaba, Cacique, Puerto
Rico, 241

Air plants, abundance of,
88

Almendares River, 58

Ajoupa, or forest camp, 338

Albemarle, Duke of, in
Jamaica, 147; Duke and
Duchess of, 203, 204.

Alger's "Spanish- American
War," 43

Alpargatas, Moorish San-

. dais, 91

Alto Cedro, station of, Cuba,
31,87

Amazon Island, or Madinino,

203
Amazones, legends of the,

302
Americanized Spaniard, the,

62
America's oldest city, XIII.,

209
Anana, or pineapple, first

found in Bahamas, 18
Andros Island, flamingoes of,

19
Anegada, Island of, 266
Antigua, Island of, XIX.,

306, 307
Antillean Outposts, 2
Arawaks, Indians of West
' Indies, 22
Area and resources of islands,

415, 418
Arecibo, Puerto Rico, 249
Aristocracy, The, of Haiti,

172, 174, 175
Armadillo, The, in West In-
dies, 236
Arrows, Bay of, Samana,

205
Asturians, in Cuba, 97
Atares, Castle of, Cuba, 27
Atlantis, The Lost, theories

of, Z
Atlantis and Antillean leg-
ends, 268
Atrocities in Haiti, 170
Aves Island, Caribbean Sea,

353
Aybonito, Puerto Rir-o, 253
Aztecs, compared with Car-

ibs, 346
Azua and sugar country,' 207

420

INDEX

B

Bagley, Ensign, and compan-
ions, 28

Bahamas, attractions of, o;
population of, 6, 8; statis-
tics of, 6; number and ex-
tent of, 1, 2, 4; when dis-
covered, 1 ; farming in the,
17 ; peculiar productions of,
18; important islands of,
20,21

Bahia Honda, 24, 113

Baracoa, Port of, Cuba, 29,
35

Barbados, Grenada and To-
bago, XXV., 392; popula-
tion of, 393

Barboles, Marquis de, 228

Barbour, Sir David, K. C. S.
I., 133, 135

Barbuda, Island of, 309, 316

Basse Terre, Guadeloupe,
322, 323; Saint Kitts, 292

Batabano, Gulf of, 114 ; town
of, 52, 71

Bath, Springs of, Jamaica,
143

Bayamo, Cuba, 51

Beauharnais, Husband of
Josephine, 366

Bejucos, or bush-ropes, 88,
99

Bellamar, Caves of, 80

Bermudas, compared with
Bahamas, 16

Bimini Cays, "Fountain of
Youth," 20

Bird, A new, discovered by
Author, 305, 335

Birds of the Bahamas, 19

"Blackbeard," or John Teach,
11, 12, 13

Black Caribs, St. Vincent,

379, 380
Black King of Haiti, see

Christophe.
"Black Republic," The, by

Saint John, 166
Blacks, of Jamaica, 147, 148,

49
Blacks, Colony of, at Sa-

mana, 205
Blake, Sir Henry, Jamaica,

127
Blockade runners, in Nassau,

14
Blockhouses, Spanish, 82
Blue Mountain Peak, Ja-
maica, 121, 138, 139
Bobadilla, rival of Columbus,

194, 213
Boca del Agua (Bog Walk)

River, 123, 142
Bohio, or native hut, 75, 89,

99; the Puerto Rican, 232
Boiling Lake, of Dominica,

329, 336, 311
Bombas, Parque de, Puerto

Rico, 250
"Bonaparte's Cocked Hat,"

270
Booby Island, Story of, 293
Botanic Garden, St. Vincent,

391
Bottom, Town of, in Saba,

270
Boyer, President of Haiti,

171, 76
Brea, La, Trinidad, 413, 414
Bridgetown, Barbados, 394
Briggs, Sir Graham, Barba-
dos, 397
Brimstone Hill, Saint Kitts,

292

INDEX

421

Buccaneer, Lay of tlie Last,
353

Buccaneers, of the Bahamas,
11; of Cuban Coast, 119; in
Jamaica, 123; of Tortuga,
157, 158, 159; resorts of,
266.

Bull-fights and Cock-pits,
247

Bull Hunting, Barbuda, 309

C

Cabanas Fortifications, 26
Cacocum, Station of, 86
Caguas, Puerto Rico, 254
Caicos Islands, 21
Caimanera, Cuba, 37
Camagiiey, Hotels of, 84
Camisa, The Cuban's, 91
Camp in a Cave, My, 383-88
Canarreos, Archipelago of,

52
Cane River, Falls of, Ja-
maica, 144
Caney, El, 43, Fight at, 44,

47
Cangrejos, Puerto Rico, 28
Cannibalism in Haiti, 161,

C6, 67, 170
Cannibals, 343, 346, etc.
Caparra, Old city of, 240, 249
Capital and Colonists, VL,

108
Capromys, or Utia, where

found, 19
Caribbees, Chain of the, 268
Carib Country, 379, 387
Caribg of Antigua, 307, 308 ;

of Dominica, 343 et seq.;

of Saint Vincent, 377, 79

81,88

Carlisle Roadstead, Barba-
dos, 399
Casa Blanca, P. de Leon's

castle, 247
Casa de Colon, Sto. Domingo,

217
Casas, Bartolome de las, 219
Case a vent, hurricane cel-
lar, 366
Cassareep, or pepper-pot, 389,

90
Cassava, Tubers of, 389
Castries, Harbor of, 371, 72
Cat Island, Bahamas, 18
Cathedral of Havana, 64
Cathedral of Sto. Domingo,

220
Cauto River, Cuba, 50, 51, 87
Cayey, Puerto Rico, 254
Caymans, group of islands

bet. Cuba and Jamaica
Cayo Srjf]ith, Santiago, 49
Ceballos, Colony of, 83
Cedar, Logs of, 85
Ceiba, or silk-cotton, 15
Cervera and squadron, 40, 41
Chaifee, General, at El Can-
ey, 47
Champ de Mars, Port au

Prince, 152, 154
Charlotte Amalia, St.
Thomas, 255, 58, 59, 61, 66
Chateaubellair, St. Vincent,

378
Christian, King of Denmark,

263
Christophe, black king, 156,

57, 59, 169, 171, 76
Churches of Sto. Domingo,

219
Chrysotis Augusta, The, 348
Cibao Region, Sto. Domingo.
207, 208

422

INDEX

Gibber, comedian, tale of, 204

Ciego de Avila, Town of, 82

Cienfuegos, City and Harbor
of, 52

"City of the Gentlemen," Sto.
Domingo, 182

Clive, Wilfred, death of, 340

Coamo, Baths, Puerto Rico,
252, 53

Cobre, Mines of, 49; Virgin
of, 49, 50

Cockpit Country, Jamaica,
143

Codringtons, The, Barbuda,
308, 310

Codrington College, Barba-
dos, 397

Coffee Country of Cuba, 38

Colardeau, M. St. Felix, 323,
325; Madam, 325

Colonial System, French,
320

Colonies in Cuba, 113, 114,
115

Colonist, The, in Cuba, 111,
112, 113, 116, 117

Columbaria of San Juan,
245

Columbus, Bartholomew, 210,
211, 212, 218; ashes of
Christopher, 64, 65, 66, 191,
et seq. ; in chains, 213;
Christopher in Cuba, 23,
29, 30; landfall of, in
Bahamas, 18, 21; flagship
of, 156 ; discovers Jamaica,
123; first voyage to Haiti,
etc., 210; discovers Puerto
Rico, 246; in search of
Amazons, 302 ; discovers
Trinidad, 407, 408; Diego,
son of Christopher, 193

Concepcion de la Vega, 182,

206
"Conchs," in the Bahamas,

13
Conquistadores, The Spanish,

159, 178, 221
Constant Spring Hotel,

Jamaica, 127
Coolies, Pay of, in Jamaica,

133
Coral Bay, Harbor of Saint

John, 258
Cortes, Hernando, at Santi-
ago, 42; Trinidad, 52
Costumbres, Habits, of

Cubans, 103, etc.
Crater of Mount Misery, 293
Creoles of Martinique, 363,

365
Creole Dialects of Haiti, 170
Cringle, Tom, in Jamaica,

126
Cristo Station, and fruits of,

89
Crooked Island, Bahamas, 21
Croton eleutheria, 18
Crown Lands in W. Indies,

417
Crusoe, Robinson, in Tobago,

401, 402, et seq.
Crusoe's Island, where situ-
ated, 401, et seq.
Cruz, Cape, 52
Cuba Railway, 73, et seq.,

110
Cuban, as author knew him,

90, et seq.
Cubana. Female Cuban, The,

105, 106
Cubano, The, 91, 105
Cudjoe, Jamaica Maroon,

145

INDEX

423

Culebra, U. S. Naval Sta-
tion bet. P. Rico and St
Thomas.

Curaqao, Coast of Venezuela,

281, 282, 283, 284

D

Daiquiri, Coast of Cuba, 38
Danish Islands of West In-
dies, 255 et seq.
Davis, General, on Puerto

Eico, 232
Deer Shooting, Barbuda,

313, 314
DeGraaf, Governor, of

Statia, 276, 279^
Denmark, Negotiations of

U. S. with, 262
Desirade, Island of, 326
Dessalines, Haitien ruler,

159, 169, 171, 176
Devaux, Colonel, captures

New Providence, 14
Dia de Gracias, Thanksgiv-
ing, 234
Diablotin, Little Devil, 327,

328, 348
"Diamond Rock," the ship,

373
Dias de fiesta, or feast days,

234
Diaz, Miguel, finds gold, 211
Disappearing rivers in Cuba,

70, 71
Dominica, Island of, 327,

XXI.
Dominica, lands in, 417
Don Diego Columbus, 215,

216
^'Don Jorge Juan," 32

Don Luis, grandson of Chris.,
194

Dorado, El, the Gilded One,
412

Douglass, Erederick, in
Haiti, 152

Dragon's Mouth, The, 408

Drake, Sir Francis, 54, 220

Dutch Islands in West In-
dies, XVII.

<'Dutch Loan," The, Sto. Do-
mingo, 190

Dutch sailors of Saba, 273

E

Editors of Puerto Rico, 224
Edwards, Bryan, historian of

Jamaica, 130
Eleuthera, Island of Ba-
hamas, 18, 21
Elizabeth, Queen, 412
Encomiendas, of Indians, 179
English rule in W. Indies, 7
Epitaphs, quaint, in Nevis,

299, 300
Escondido, Hidden Harbor,

Cuba, 37
Evelyns, the hospitable, 380
Exuma Sound in Bahama

archipelago, 21
Eyre, Governor, 143

Fallow deer, Barbuda, 309
Farinaceous Foods of Caribs,

389
Faustin I., Emperor of

Haiti, 172

424

INDEX

Fer de lance. The, Mar-
tinique, 360

Ferdinand VII., statue of, 66

Ferriere, la, wonderful castle
of, 157

Fig Tree Church, Nevis,
299

Filibus teres, The, 158

Flamingoes in the Bahamas,
19

Foreigner in Haiti, The, 174,
175

Forests of Cuba, 85, 87;
Guadeloupe, 325; of Do-
minica, 330, 338

Fortune Island, Bahamas,
21

Fountain of Youth, Bim-
ini Cays, 20

Fraser, Alex., death of, 380,
381

French Islands of West In-
dies, 318

Froude, J. A., 132, 397

Fruits, native, of the Ba-
hamas, . . ; of Puerto E-ico,
235; of West Indies, 417

Fuerza, old fort in Havana,
67

G

Galleons, treasure-laden, 118,

198
Gallows Bay, treasures of,

266
Gallows Point, Jamaica, 125
Game birds and fish,

Jamaica, 147
Game preserve, a fine, 309,

312
Garden River, Jamaica, 143
Gardens of the Queen, 51
Garrote, The, in Havana, 68

Geffrard, President, Haiti,

172, 176
Georgetown, St. Vincent, 378
Geysers, of Dominica, 336
Gibara, town and port of, 29
Gibaro of Puerto Rico, 231
Gilded One, The, El Dorado,

413, 414
"Glass Windows," Eleuthera

Island, 21
Gloria, La, Cuban colony,

115
"Goat without Horns," The,

167, 169
Gold, first American, 207,

208 212
Gold in Puerto Rico, 240, 241
Gold washing in West In-
dies, 240, 241
Gomez, General Maximo,

101, 187
Gonaive, Island of, 155
Gordon Town, Jamaica, 138
Gosse, P. H., naturalist, in

Jamaica, 147
Grande Terre, Guadeloupe,

318, 322
Grenada, Island of, 399, 401
Grenadines, The, 399
Gritos, political, in Cuba,

101
Guacanaybo, Gulf of, 50
Guachero Bird, The, Trini-
dad, 415
Guadeloupe, Island of, XX.,

317, et seq.
Guaguas, or Omnibuses,

Havana, 60
Guanahani, Island of, 18
Guanajay, excursion to, 70
Guanica, Port of, 250
Guantanamo, Bay of, 36
Guarico, Port of, Haiti, 156

INDEX

425

Guinea Fowl, wild, shooting,

311, 316
Guines, Cuba, soil of, 112

H

Habanilla, Falls of, 52
Haiti, routes to, 150
Haiti-Santo Domingo, area

of, etc., 104
Haiti, great resources of,

163, 165, etc.
Haitien, Cape, 155, 156
Haitian Soldier, The, 154,

155
Haitians, acuteness of the,

160
Haitians, The, according to
St. John, 167, 169, etc. ; pe-
culiarities of the, 171, 172,
173, 174
Hamilton, Alex., birthplace

of, 298, 301
Hammocks, Indian, 18
Harbor Island, 20
Havana, Harbor of, 53
Heureaux, President Ulises,

184, et seq.
Hidalgo's Pass, Sto. Do-
mingo, 181
High Woods, The, 325
Higueyans, The, 207
Hispaniola, when settled, 164,

177
Hobson, Lieut., in Cuba, 41
Hole in the Wall, Abaco,

Bahamas, 20, 22
Holguin, railroad to, 86
Homenaje, Castle of the, 189
Hood, Sir Samuel, 371
Hooker, Sir Joseph, 332
Hormigueros, Village of, 250
House, how to make a, 231

Huevos, Island of, 415
Humboldt, Alexander, on

Caribbees, 4
Humming-bird's antics, 293
Hurricane as a scapegoat,

229
Hurricane Hill, sunken city

of, 297
Hyppolite, Pres., of Haiti,

152, 160, 176

Icterus Oberi, bird discovered

by author, 305
Iguana, flesh of the, 236, 334
Imray, Dr. John, 304, 332
Indians, The Carib, XXII.
Ingenio, or sugar-mill, 30, 75,

113
Insects, poisonous, of Cuba,

116
Institute of Jamaica, 146
Isabella, first American city,

210
Isle of Pines, 52, 114;

Americans in, 71.

Jacmel and Port-au-Prince,
Haiti, 150

Jamaica exports, imports,
revenues, etc., 135 ; laborers
and taxpayers, 133; impor-
tance of, to United States,
129; counties of, etc., 128;
distance, etc., from U. S.,
128, 129; natural resources
of, 122; mountain views
and features of, 121

James, King, and Raleigh,
412

426

INDEX

Jardin des Plantes, Mar-
tinique, 360, 366

Jesus del Monte, Cuba, 56

John Crow Mountains,
Jamaica, 144

John Crows, or buzzards,
416

Josephine, Empress, birth-
place of, 365, 366

Jucaro-San Fernando rail-
road, 83

Judgment Cliff, Jamaica, 144

Kettle Hill, 45
"Knights of St. Henry,"
Haiti, 171

Kingsley's "West Indies,"

405, 411
Kingston, Jamaica, 121, 126
Kingstown, St. Vincent, 390

Labat, Pere, 295, 323, 327
Laborers, The Cuban, 102
"Ladder," The, of Saba, 272
"Lake of Fire," near Nassau,

17, 20
Lake Dwellers of Venezuela,

283
Landfall of Columbus in

Bahamas, 18
Lands available in West In-
dies, 416, 417
Larcom, Lucy, talented poet-
ess, 335
Las Casas and the Spaniards,

93
Las Guasimas, 43
Laudat, Hamlet of, 333
Lawton, General, in Cuba, 47

Leclerc, General, and sol-
diers, 156

Leeward Islands, 306

Leger, Minister J. N., on
Haiti, 159, 172

Lemonade, the Duke of, 172,
175

Leogane, Gulf of, Haiti, 155

Leon, Ponce de, in Sto. Do-
mingo, 207

I^wiston, Station of, Cuba,
87

Lianas and Lialines, 88

Lime Culture, Montserrat
Island, 304

Little Devil, or Diablotin,
.327, 328

Lloyd, Commodore, reference
to, 124

Lodge's "War with Spain,"
43

Long Island, Bahamas, 21

Loup Garou, or were-wolf, of
Haiti, 166

Ludlow, General, at El
Caney, 47; on Cuban cli-
mate, 115

Luquillo Eange, Puerto RicG,
242

M

MacNish, Mr., on Jamaica,

133, 134, 135, 136, 410
Madruga, Springs of, 81
Mahogany, forests of, 85, 86
"Maine," The, wreck of, 27
Maisi, Cape, Cuba, 35, 36
Maja, or Cuban boa, 116
Maman-lois, Vaudoux priest-
ess, 166
Manchioneal Bay, in "Tom
Cringle's Log," 144

INDEX

427

Man Friday, Crusoe's, 403
Manjak, or Barbados Pitch,

414
Manopilon, on Nipe Bay, 31,

32
Manzanillo, Cuba, 51; Bay

of, 180
Margarita, Island of, 415
Mariel, Port of, 70
Marianao, suburb of Havana,

69
Marmalade, Duke of, Haiti,

172
Maroons, The, of Jamaica,

144, 145
Martinique, Island of,

XXIII.
Matanzas to Havana, round-
trip, 74; city of, 78; bom-
bardment of, harbor of, 28
Mather, Cotton, treasure

story, 198, et seq.
Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, 249
Mayari River, Cuba, 33
Maynard, Lieut., captures

Blackbeard, 13
"Merrimac," The, Cuba, 41
Miles, General, in Puerto

Rico, 250
Military rule in Puerto Rico,

248
Milk River Baths, Jamaica,

144
Millot, vale of, Haiti, 156
Milne, James, St. Vincent,

391
Minas, Las, Cuban colony,

115
Mole San Nicholas, Haiti,

155
Mona Passage and Island,
. 249

Moneague, Jamaica, 143

Mongoose, The, in Jamaica,
125, 126

Monkeys of Saint Kitts, 294,
295

Monos, Island of, 415

Montbars the Exterminator,
316

Monte Christi, Sto. Domingo.
180, 181

Montego Bay, Jamaica, 120,
127

Montserrat, Island of, 303

Monte Tina, highest Antil-
lean peak, 165

Moore Town, Jamaica, Mar-
oon's capital, 145

Morant Bay, Jamaica, 143

Morgan, Sir Henry, 123, 125

Morne Calabasse, Mar-
tinique, 361; Balisier, 361,
368; Rouge, 361; Ronde,
St. Vincent, 380, 383, 390;
of Roseau, Dominica, 332;
St. Andrew, St. Vincent,
391

Morro Castle, Havana, 67;
Puerto Rico, 244, 245; of
Santiago, 39, 40, 41

Mountain climbing in West
Indies, 287

Mountain Lake, Dominica,
343

Mount Misery, Saint Kitts,
286

Mountains of the Caribbee
chain, 286, 287

Mountains, of Dominica, 330

Munson Line to Cuba, 32, 33,
35

Myiarchus Oberi, new bird,
335

428

INDEX

N

Napoleon, first wife of, 364,

365, 366
Naranjo, Port of, Cuba, 29
Nassau, description of, 15;

New Providence, pirates

of 12; hotels of, distance

from U. S., 16
Natural history of Jamaica,

147
Negro pioverbs, West Indies,

148, 149
Nelson, Lord, married in

Nevis, 298, 299
Nevis, beautiful island of,

297
New Providence, captured by

Americans, 14 ; when

founded, 10
Nicholls, Dr., of Dominica,

332 337
Nipe,'Bay of, Cuba, 31, 32
Nipe Bay, railroad to, 87
Nissage-Saget, President,

153, 172, 176
Nord Alexis, President of

Haiti, 1903, 176
Nouet, Governor, 324
Nuevitas, Harbor of, 29 ; rail-
road to, 84

O

Obeah, sorcerers of, 145
Obispo Street, Havana, 62
Ocampo, navigator, 23
Ojeda, Spanish explorer, 415
Olla podrida, pepper-pot, 390
Orange, Port of, 30; Port of,

'Statia, 276
Orchids in Cuban forests.

Ovando, The atrocious, 213
Oviedo, historian, 216
Oxen, Cuban, how yoked and

worked, 103, 104
Ozama River, Sto. Domingo,

212, 214

Pagerie, la, Josephine's

home, 365
Paisano, The Cuban, 92, 98,

112
Pajarito, hamlet in Sto. Do-
mingo, 194
Palisadoes, Jamaica, 121
Palma, Don Tomas Estrada,

51, 101, 102
Pan de Cabanas, Cuba, 24,
Pan de Mariel, Cuba, 24
Panama, The sack of, by

Morgan, 158
Pantalones, The Cuban, 91
Papa-lois, high priest of the

Vaudoux, 166
Papiamento, patois of Cur-
acao, 282
Paradise Peak, St. Martin,

316
Parasitic plants, Cuba, 88
Parque Isabel, Havana, 60,

67
Parrot, The imperial, 348
Parrots, of the Bahamas, 19
Patois, spoken in Haiti, 170
Pelee, Montagne, 326, 354,

355, 357, 361, 367, 368;

eruption of, 367, 369
Penn. Admiral, captures

Jamaica, 123
Pensions, Cuban, how ab-

sorbed> 100
Pepper-pot, or cassareep, 389

INDEX

429

Pesos, The itching palm for,

223
Petion, Haitian president,

171, 176
Phipps, Sir William, in

Jamaica, 147 ; and treasure,

199, et seq.
Photographing in Puerto

Eico, 223, 226
Pimento groves of Jamaica,

146
Pinar del Kio, 71, 112, 114
Pineapple, where first found,

18
Pink Pearls, in Bahamas, 13
Pinzon, Vicente Yanez, 227
Pirates in Cuba, 84; of the

West Indies, 11, 13
Pitch Lake, Trinidad, 413,

414
Pitons, The, St. Lucia, 374
Pitt, William, on reciprocity,

130,131
Planters, Hospitable, of Saint

Kitts, 288
Plowing in Cuba with a

stick, 78
Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe,

321
Pdnce, City of, Puerto Kico,

250
Ponce de Leon in Puerto

Rico, 227, 240
Ponce de Leon's castle, 246
Poey, Senor, on Cuban fishes,

70
Port Antonio, Jamaica, 121,

127, 145
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 151,

152, 154, 155
Port de Paix, Haiti, and Tor-

tuga, 157

Port Royal, Jamaica, 121,

122, 123, 124
Port of Spain, Trinidad, 410,

411
Porter, Admiral D. D., on St.

Thomas, 260
Portland Parish, Jamaica,

143
Prado of Havana, 59, 60
Presidents, various, of Sto.

Domingo, 186
Products, varied, of Cuba,

111
Proverbs of the Blacks,

Jamaica, 148, 149
Puerto Plata, Sto. Domingo,

197, et seq., 204
Puerto Principe, City of, 29
Puerto Ricans, ungrateful,

230; typical, the, 231
Puerto Rico as author first

saw it, 222; natural feat-
ures of, 237
Puerto Riqueno, traits of the,

225
Punta, The Point, Havana,

68
"Purchas his Pilgrims,"

quoted from, 93

Q

Quadrupeds, indigenous, of

the Bahamas, 19; of

Puerto Rico, 235
Quebec Line, The, 414
"Queen of the Antilles," 110,

120
Queen's Staircase, Nassau,

17

430

INDEX

R

Habacca, Carib Indian, 388
Railroad, Havana-Santiago,

IV., 73
Railroads in Sto. Domingo,

189
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 404, 412,

414
Reciprocity between U. S.

and Jamaica, 129, et seq.
Redonda, Rock of, 286
Registry of Nelson's mar-
riage, 299
Remains of Columbus, 195
Resources and area of
islands, 415, 418; of Cuba,
109
Restos, or remains of Colum-
bus, 191, et seq.
Revolutionist, A Cuban, 99
Richmond estate, St. Vin-
cent, 380, 382
Rio Cobre, Jamaica, 123, 142
Rio del Oro, or Yaqui, St.

Domingo, 180
Rio Piedras, P. Rico, 248
Roads and byways of

Jamaica, 137
Roaring River, Jamaica, 146
Roddam, The steamer, 371
Rodney, Lord, sacks 'Statia
Island, 276, 277; statue of,
Jamaica, 142
Rogers, Capt. Woods, in

Bahamas, 11, 13
Roosevelt, Lieut. Col., in

Cuba, 43, 45, 46, 48
Roseau, Dominica, town of,

331, 333
Rough Riders, The, 43, 47

Royal Mail steamers. West
Indies, 128, 150

Royal Road of Puerto Rico,
252

Roxelane, Riviere, Martin-
ique, 361

Ruined cities of Mexico, 210

Rulers of Haiti, 171, 172, 175,
176

Rum Cay, 21; wreckers of,
22

Rutland Vale, St. Vincent,
391

Ryswick, Peace of, 158

S

Sacrifices, Human, in Haiti,

166, 167, 168, 169
Saba, northernmost Carib-

bee Isle, 269
St. Ann, Parish of, Jamaica,

143, 146
St. Parts., Island of, 315,

316
St. Eustatius, Volcano of,

277; island, 275, 276, et

seq.
St. John, Island of, 257, 258;

Sir Spencer, on Haiti, 165,

166, 167
St. Georges, Grenada, 399
St. Kitts, Nevis, Montser-

rat, 285, et seq.
St. Lucia, Island of, 369, 374
St. Martin, Island of, 316
St. Pierre, Martinique, 356,

357, 358, 360, 361; de-
struction of, 367, 370
St. Thomas, Island of, 258,

259, 260, 261, 262

INDEX

431

St. Vincent, Island of,
XXIV., 375

Salee, Kiviere, Guadeloupe,
318

Salnave, Haitian President,
172, 176 '

Salt pans in the Bahamas,
21

Salute, first, to American
flag, 279, 280

Samana Bay, 180, 205, 206

Sampson, Admiral, report be-
fore Santiago, 40

Sanchez, Santo Domingo,
180

Sandy Bay, St. Vincent, 387,
390

Sandy Point, St. Kitts, 292

San Juan, 43, 44, 45, 46; in
Puerto Rico, 244

Sannois, estate of, 365

San Salvador, Bahamas, 18,
21

Sans Souci, Palace of, Haiti,
156

Santa Barbara, Town of, 205

Santa Clara, City of, 81

Santa Cruz, Island of, 256,
257

Santiago, City of, Cuba, 42,
43, et seq. ; arrival at by
rail, 89; de los Caballeros,
179 ; Province of, 85

Santo Domingo, natural re-
sources of, 178; old de-
scription of, 216; city of,
209, et seq.

Savana la Mar, Sto. Do-
mingo, 207

Sayle, Captain, founds New
Providence, 10

Schools of Puerto Rico, 251

Sea of Fire near Nassau, 20

Sea Gardens of Nassau, 19
Sea Treasure off Coast of

Sto. Domingo, 197, et seq.
Security of life in Cuba, 106
Senoras, senoritas, 106
Serpent, The, Per de Lance>

360
Serpent's Mouth, The, 408
Serpent worshipers of Haiti,

166, 167, 170
Sevilla, first town in

Jamaica, 123
Seward, Secretary, treats for

islands, 261
Shafter, General, 38, 44
Sherman, Rev. Father, on

Puerto Rico, 238
"Sick Lady Cured," The, 204
Sierra de Cristal in Cuba, 34
Sierra Maestra of Cuba, 51
Siesta, in Cuba, 116
Siffleur montagne, a bird, 334
Silk-cottons, bulks of the, 88
Silver, barrow loads of, 259
Simon Sam, President of

Haiti, 176
Slavery in Haiti, 169, 170 ^
Slave trade, debate on, in

1775, 130, 131
Sloane, Sir Hans, on

Jamaica, 147
Soleil Coucher, or Sunset

Bird, 334
Soltera, A, or spinster, 105
Sombrero, Island of, 315
Soufriere, Guadeloupe, climb-
ing the, 324; crater of the,
326; the, of Montserrat,
305; the petit, 338; of St.
Lucia, 374; of St. Vincent,
375, 380; camping on the,
383, 387; crater of the, 383;

43^

INDEX

eruption of the, 375, 380;

Bird, St. Vincent, 384,

385
Soulouque, "emperor" of

Haiti, 171, 172, 176
Spaniard, The, in history, 93
Spaniards in the Bahamas.

10; in Cuba, 95, 96, 9'r"
Spanish Town, Jamaica, 123,

127, 192
Sturges family, Montserrat,

304
Subterranean Rivers, Cuba,

70
Sucrerie, la Pagerie, 366
Sugar cane, extent of culti-
vation, 75, 113
Sulphur found in Saba's

volcano, 275
Sunset Bird of Dominica,

334, 335
Surrender Tree, The, 44
Swizzle-stick, uses of the, 394

Tanamo, Port of, Cuba, 29,
34

Tasajo, or dried beef, 99

Tascher de la Pagerie, M.,
364, 365

Teach, John, or "Black-
beard," 11, 13

Tertre, Pere du, mention of,
327

Three-iingered Jack, Ja-
maica, 144.

"Thunderbolts" (celts) in tho
Bahamas, 10

Tobacco, cultivation of, 76
113; first found in Baha-
mas, by Columbus, 18;
Vuelto Abajo, 70

Tobago, Island of, 402, et
seq.; history of, 404; re-
sources of, 405
Toledo blades, found in Sto.

Domingo, 183
Toledo, Donna Maria de, 215
Tories, irruption of, in Baha-
mas, 13
Torrecilla de Colon, 214
Tortola, Island of, 266
Tortuga, buccaneer's island,

Haiti, 157
Toussaint I'Ouverture, 169
Trade, between Jamaica and

U. S., 134
Trade Winds, 393
Treasure-laden galleons,

where sunk, 118
Treasure, sunken, in the sea,

202, etc.
Trembleurs, the, 334
Trinidad, Cuba, 51
Trinidad, Island of, XXVL,
407, et seq.; area, popula-
tion, etc., 409 ; discovery of,
407, 408; Columbus in,
408; Pitch Lake of, 413-
414; salaries paid in, 409
Trocha , the, of Ciego do

Avila, 82
Trollope, Anthony, 331, 333
Turkey, origin of the, 237
Turks' Islands, Bahamas, 21
Turquino, Rio, 50; Pico, 50
Turuqueira, Guadeloupe, 317

V

United Fruit Company, Ja-
maica, 128, 145

United Railways, of Cuba,
58, 71, 74

INDEX

433

U. S. Government in Puerto

Eico, 229
United States, importance of,

to Jamaica, 129
Utia, of Bahamas, 19

Van Home, Sir William, 31
Vaudoux, or voodoo, in Haiti,

161, 166, 167, 168, 170
Vedado, baths of, 6, 69
Vega Keal, or Koyal Plain,

182
Vegas, the, of Vuelta Abajo,

113
Vegetal wonders of Cuban

forests, 87
Veragua, Duke of, first, 194;

last, 228
Vernon, Admiral, in Cuba, 36
Vespucci, and Ojeda, 415
Victoria de las Tunas, 85
Vieque, island near P. Kico.
Vigie, the, of Saint Lucia,

373
Villa Nueva, station of, 71,

74
Ville de Paris, frigate, 142
Virgin Islands, Virgin

Gorda, 266
Volante, where used, 79
Volcanic island, most north-
ern, 273
Volcanoes, Caribbean, 326
Vuelto Abajo, The, 70

W

Wag Water, River, Jamaica,

123
Wallace, A. W., on ancient

West Indies, 3
Walled city of Sto. Domingo,

217

Wallibou, St. Vincent, 380,

381
Warner, Sir Thomas, epitaph

on, 296
Washington, George, in West

Indies, 396, 397
Washington, Lawrence, in

Cuba, 36 ; in Barbados, 396
Water Supply of Havana, 58
Watling's Island, 12, 18
Watt, Edmund, Dominica,

336
"West Indian Gibraltar," the

286, 373
West Indians, the last,

XXIL, 342
White man, in Haiti, 174
"White Wings," the Cuban,

57
Whittier, the Poet, allusion

to, 304, 335
Windward Islands, 306
Wood, General, in Cuba, 47,

48, 60
Woz y Gil, Senor, 196
Wreckers of Bahamas, 22

Yallahs River, Jamaica, 144
Yaqui River, Sto. Domingo,

180
Yaqui and Yuna, valleys of

the, 207
Yellow Caribs, St. Vincent,

379, 380
Y. M. C. Association * in

Cuba, 60
Yumuri, valley of, 79
Yunque, Mountain in Cuba,

35

Z

Zizi, guide in Dominica, 334

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