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diff --git a/old/43770-8.txt b/old/43770-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 2166532..0000000 --- a/old/43770-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4981 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Gardens of the Caribbees, v. 1/2, by Ida May Hill Starr - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Gardens of the Caribbees, v. 1/2 - Sketches of a Cruise to the West Indies and the Spanish Main - -Author: Ida May Hill Starr - -Release Date: September 20, 2013 [EBook #43770] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GARDENS OF THE CARIBBEES, V. 1/2 *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - [Every attempt has been made to replicate the original as printed. -Some typographical errors have been corrected; a list follows the text. -Some illustrations have been moved from mid-paragraph for ease of reading. - (etext transcriber's note)] - - - - - GARDENS OF THE CARIBBEES - - VOLUME I - - Travel Lovers' Library - - _Each in two volumes profusely illustrated_ - - Florence - By GRANT ALLEN - - Romance and Teutonic Switzerland - By W. D. MCCRACKAN - - Old World Memories - By EDWARD LOWE TEMPLE - - Paris - By GRANT ALLEN - - Feudal and Modern Japan - By ARTHUR MAY KNAPP - - The Unchanging East - By ROBERT BARR - - Venice - By GRANT ALLEN - - Gardens of the Caribbees - By IDA M. H. STARR - - Belgium: Its Cities - By GRANT ALLEN - - L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY - Publishers - 200 Summer Street, Boston, Mass. - -[Illustration: WHERE THE POMEGRANATE GROWS - -CHARLOTTE AMALIE, ST THOMAS.] - - - - - GARDENS OF - THE CARIBBEES - - Sketches of a Cruise to the West - Indies and the Spanish Main - - By - Ida M. H. Starr - - IN TWO VOLUMES - VOL. I. - _ILLUSTRATED_ - - [Illustration] - - Boston - L. C. Page & Company - _MDCCCCIV_ - - _Copyright, 1903_ - By L. C. PAGE & COMPANY - (INCORPORATED) - - _All rights reserved_ - - Published July, 1903 - - Colonial Press - Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co - Boston Mass., U. S. A. - - To - My Beloved Children - - - - -TO THE READER - - -These sketches were written during a memorable cruise to the West Indies -and the Spanish Main in the winter and spring of 1901. There has been no -attempt to write a West Indian guide-book, but rather to give preference -to the human side of the picture through glimpses of the people and -their ways of life and thought. With this idea it was thought best to -give attention only to such of the ports visited as were full of human -interest and typical of the life about the Caribbean Sea. - -There was a strong feeling that we were sailing in romantic waters, and -there has been no desire to eliminate the element of fancy from these -pages. - -It may be of interest to remember that at no time since--and perhaps -never before--could this voyage have been made under the same -conditions. Since then man and the greater powers of Nature seem to -have conspired to make much of this delightful region forbidding to -strangers. Several ports have become dangerous because of fever and -plague; proclamations in French and _pronunciamientos_ in Spanish have -adorned West Indian street corners; Haïti has reverted to its almost -chronic state of riot and revolution; the Dominican republic has again -chosen a President whose nomination came from a conquering army; -Venezuela has been full of alarms and intrigues; while already the -Germans are beginning to show their hand in the Caribbean; Martinique -and St. Vincent have been desolated by volcanoes then thought to be -practically extinct; and of delicious St. Pierre there remains but a -sadly sweet memory. - -I. M. H. S. - -_10 June, 1903._ - - - - -CONTENTS - - -CHAPTER PAGE - - I. THE VOYAGE 11 - - II. PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAÏTI 35 - - III. SANTO DOMINGO 83 - - IV. SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO 124 - - V. CHARLOTTE AMALIE, ST. THOMAS 162 - - VI. MARTINIQUE 197 - - VII. MARTINIQUE, "LE PAYS DES REVENANTS" 246 - -VIII. ISLAND OF TRINIDAD. PORT OF SPAIN 275 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - -VOLUME I. - - - PAGE - -WHERE THE POMEGRANATE GROWS, CHARLOTTE -AMALIE, ST. THOMAS _Frontispiece_ - -MAP OF THE CRUISE _facing_ 34 - -THE LANDING-PLACE, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI 39 - -WAITING FOR CUSTOMERS, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI 43 - -THE "COACHES," PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI 47 - -MAIN BUSINESS STREET OF THE CAPITAL OF THE -REPUBLIC OF HAITI, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI 51 - -A PUBLIC FOUNTAIN, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI 59 - -A WEST INDIAN AFRICA, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI 71 - -COURTYARD OF THE AMERICAN LEGATION, HAITI 77 - -A MILL FOR SAWING MAHOGANY, HAITI 81 - -THE OLD FORT AT THE RIVER ENTRANCE, SANTO -DOMINGO 87 - -A CLOSER VIEW OF THE OLD FORT, SANTO DOMINGO 91 - -THE CATHEDRAL AND THE STATUE OF COLUMBUS, -SANTO DOMINGO 95 - -RUINS OF CASTLE BUILT BY DIEGO COLON, SANTO -DOMINGO 99 - -WHERE COLUMBUS PLANTED THE CROSS, SANTO DOMINGO 103 - -ENTRANCE TO THE FORT AND MILITARY SCHOOL, -SANTO DOMINGO 109 - -LOOKING ACROSS THE PLAZA, SANTO DOMINGO 113 - -ALONG THE OZAMA, SANTO DOMINGO 119 - -LOOKING TO SEA FROM SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO 125 - -BOAT LANDING AND MARINE BARRACKS, SAN JUAN, -PUERTO RICO 135 - -THE FIRST TROLLEY-CAR IN SAN JUAN, PUERTO -RICO 141 - -THE MILITARY ROAD ACROSS PUERTO RICO, NEAR -SAN JUAN 145 - -INLAND COMMERCE, PUERTO RICO 151 - -A RANCH NEAR SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO 159 - -THE HARBOUR, CHARLOTTE AMALIE, ST. THOMAS 165 - -HILLSIDE HOMES, CHARLOTTE AMALIE, ST. THOMAS 171 - -IN CHARLOTTE AMALIE, ST. THOMAS 175 - -CHARLOTTE AMALIE FROM "BLUE BEARD'S CASTLE," -ST. THOMAS 183 - -ON THE TERRACE, CHARLOTTE AMALIE, ST. THOMAS 187 - -COALING OUR SHIP, CHARLOTTE AMALIE, ST. -THOMAS 191 - -THE SUGAR MILL NEAR ST. PIERRE, MARTINIQUE 203 - -COMING TO WELCOME US, ST. PIERRE, MARTINIQUE 207 - -LOOKING FROM THE DECK OF OUR SHIP, ST. PIERRE, -MARTINIQUE 213 - -THE HARBOUR AND SHIPPING, ST. PIERRE, MARTINIQUE 217 - -THE LIGHTHOUSE ON THE BEACH. ST. PIERRE, -MARTINIQUE 221 - -THE STREET ALONG THE WATER-FRONT, ST. PIERRE, -MARTINIQUE 225 - -THE CATHEDRAL AND WATER-FRONT. ST. PIERRE, -MARTINIQUE 231 - -THE CITY AND ROADSTEAD, ST. PIERRE, MARTINIQUE 249 - -NEAR THE LANDING-PLACE, ST. PIERRE, MARTINIQUE 259 - -THE RIVIÈRE ROXELANE, NEAR ST. PIERRE, MARTINIQUE 271 - -THE DRAGON'S MOUTH, ENTRANCE TO GULF OF -PARIA, BETWEEN SOUTH AMERICA AND TRINIDAD 277 - -THE BUSINESS SECTION, PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD 283 - -A VILLAGE GREETING, SAN FERNANDO, TRINIDAD 289 - -WHERE THE LEPERS LIVE AND DIE, TRINIDAD 303 - - - - -Gardens of the Caribbees - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -THE VOYAGE - - -I. - -"Thank you, Rudolph, I believe I will take some lemonade and one or two -of the sweet biscuit; that will do;" and I settled back in my ship -chair, feeling as serene and happy as a woman in a white linen frock can -feel. Every one must have gone down into every one's trunk this morning; -was there ever such a change? Why, the count and his brother are fairly -blinding to the eyes, in their smart white flannels. They actually look -a bit interesting. Here they come now; the count has evidently had his -lemonade, I see he is still nibbling a biscuit. - -This is the first time I have realised where we are going. This arraying -of one's self in cool things and white things makes one really believe -that, after all, the voyage is not a delusion. - -"Rudolph, you're a dear," this to myself, but aloud, as the faithful -steward comes with my lemonade, I thank him and take the glass while he -goes on in search of the youngsters. What a comfort that old soul has -been to us! He began by being willing to speak German, and certainly -that was an indication of a great deal of character. I think he was the -first German I had ever met, who, knowing enough English to carry on an -ordinary conversation, would, at times, express himself in his native -tongue. That was good of Rudolph; of course we had to tell him not to -speak English at first, but he never forgot. And such care as he gave us -those horrible days, when we didn't drink lemonade or sit on the deck; -when the ship wouldn't go anywhere but up and down; when it fairly ached -to turn itself inside out, I know it did. It was then that Rudolph was -neither man nor woman, but the incarnation of goodness and patience. -Dear old Rudolph! - -Let me see--how many meals is this so far? Breakfast at eight o'clock -makes one; bouillon and wafers at half-past ten, two; lunch at -twelve-thirty makes three, and here I am hungry as ever, simply -revelling in number four. I wish I had another biscuit. This is -delicious! I mean the sky and the sea and the ship and all the people -dressed so airily and looking so unconscious of what has gone before. If -no one else will testify, Rudolph certainly can, that much has gone -before. But this sea, this straightaway plowing into Southern waters is -beginning to make me forget, and for fear that I may do so I must tell -you how it happens that I am feeling so blissfully relieved at this -moment. Of course I am not perfectly at ease, for I don't think a woman -in a white linen frock can be until it has passed the stage where she -has to be thinking of spots. - -Six days ago I was not sitting here in a white frock. I was bundled in -furs, and even then cringed and shivered with the cold. Ough! it was raw -and bleak that sad day of our sailing. The January wind, chilling us to -the marrow, swept in from the desolate ocean like the cruel thrusts of -so many icy knives. Even the prospect of a voyage to the _Islands of the -Blest_ left us indifferent and shivering and blue. I vaguely thought -that when we were once on shipboard we could get warm, but the doors -were all open and the passages so blocked with visitors that even had it -occurred to any one to shut the doors I don't think it could have been -done. - -My handsome cousin from New York came with a big bunch of lovely -violets, and I thought, as I touched their cold faces to mine, that -they, too, must certainly be suffering and homesick. - -This voyage had been one of our dreams. We two--Daddy and I--had sat -many a night by the crackling wood fire in our dear library talking it -over. We planned how we should take the little girls and leave the four -boys; how we should for once really go off for a glorious lark; but now, -alas! every vestige of romance faded from our firelight dreams as we -pulled ourselves away on such a bleak day, with not a gleam of sunshine -to cheer us. - -Had there been at that last moment any sane reason for turning back, I -should have done so. I do not see why I had expected anything else but a -bleak wind on the North River in January, but certainly I did have a -sort of a fancy that, once on shipboard bound for Southern seas, the -glamour of our voyage would warm me to the very heart, but it didn't. I -grew colder every minute, and after the cousin had said "Good-bye" and -his tall silk hat was lost in the crowd at the gangway, it seemed to me -that we were all bereft of our senses to think of leaving the library -fireplace; but Daddy was beckoning me, and the little girls were making -off in his direction; there was no escape. All I could do was to shiver -and follow them. They were in tow of a red-nosed, white-coated steward; -that was Rudolph. We didn't know it then, and even if we had I hardly -think we would have cared. Rudolph had our luggage, loads of it, our -bags, our rug rolls, our numerous duffle; he had it all well in hand and -he forged ahead through the crowd with good-natured indifference to the -wrath of those going the other way, loaded down in similar fashion. We -were trying to find Numbers 41 and 44. Everybody else was trying in -like haste to find some other number. There were more crooks and turns -and funny little corridors running off in different directions than you -would imagine could be built into a self-respecting ship, with here and -there a constricted spot where a narrow steel door led through some -"water-tight bulkhead." Now and then I lost sight of the little girls' -bobbing ribbons and found myself peering down the wrong corridor, -following some other person's luggage; then I would turn and elbow -through the crowd, and bolt down the wide passage again to catch a -glimpse of Little Blue Ribbons and Sister, both fairly dancing at the -prospect of a real voyage in a real ship. And then came the appalling -thought, "If I don't hurry and push through these swarms of people, -those youngsters may disappear for ever in a sort of Pied-Piper-of-Hamelin -Fashion." - -In a dazed way I stumbled and hurried on, and finally, to my great -relief, I heard the children's voices issuing from Number 41, which -proved to be well aft on the upper deck. It was a beautiful, large room, -with big lower berths on opposite sides, and convenient mahogany -wardrobes for the clothing--quarters quite befitting the dainty little -maids who were to call it home for many weeks. My traps were left in the -other room with Daddy's, and as it was but a few moments of sailing -time, we left things as they were, ran up the stairway near our door -just as the stiff German bugler was sounding the warning for visitors to -leave the ship. Then the last preparations for departure began. The -gangplank was taken in, and we began to move, ever and ever so slowly, -and, shuddering, I turned around to see how the deluded people looked -who were going to death and destruction with me. "It is all the fault of -that wretched sun," I thought. "Why doesn't it know enough to shine on -sailing day? If the clouds don't shift, we'll all go to Davy Jones's, -and only think of the trouble I have had getting ready!" Much as I -commiserated as a whole my fellow sufferers, outside of our own little -group there was only one couple of which I have now any distinct -remembrance, and I noticed them because I was quite sure they were bride -and groom. "It is just too bad of her to wear that lovely gown to a -watery grave! She ought to have left it at home for a relative. -Anything would have done to swim in if it was only warm," I thought; but -the bride leaned over the rail and waved her handkerchief at some one -and laughed, and then wiped her eyes and laughed once more, but she kept -the gown on. - -A horribly blatant German band, on board an Atlantic liner which lay -alongside, bellowed forth national airs, and I wished I could choke it. -The dwindling crowd on shore waved and shouted, and I went off alone and -directly rubbed against some fresh white paint. That was too much! I -just sat down and cried, and wondered why I hadn't brought some -turpentine and why I had ever left the babies, why I had ever forsaken -the comfortable library in midwinter; but alas, I wondered a great deal -more a few days later! - - -II. - -Contrary to all precedent, instead of watching the fast-fading shores of -New York Harbour, I simply went to the stateroom and began to find -myself, and certainly I did not regret it afterward. I unpacked our most -necessary clothing, got out the brushes and combs, unstrapped the roll -of rugs, stowed away in a handy corner my smelling-salts, and small -convenient bottles of various kinds,--all the time accusing myself that -I had not been satisfied with the calmer view I had had of "The Islands -of the Blest" from our library window; that I must need hunt the real -thing by steamship; an ever impossible method, as Kipling had warned me -long ago: - - "That route is barred to steamers: you'll never lift again - Our purple-painted headlands or the lordly keeps of Spain. - They're just beyond the skyline, howe'er so far you cruise - In a ram-you-damn-you liner with a brace of bucking screws. - - "Swing round your aching search-light--'twill show no haven's peace! - Ay, blow your shrieking sirens to the deaf, gray-bearded seas! - Boom out the dripping oil-bags to skin the deep's unrest-- - But you aren't a knot the nearer to the Islands of the Blest." - -I shall always believe that the force of suggestion was the cause of our -undoing. When a lot of people sit down to luncheon, all with one fixed -idea, with one definite question in their minds, sooner or later that -question is bound to be answered in one way or another. All one has to -do is simply to wait long enough and the answer will come. "Mental -Science" and "Christian Science" notwithstanding, there wasn't a soul in -that dining-room but was wondering with all his faculties whether he -would be or would not be. Incidentally, the ship felt the pulse of old -Atlantic, and he began to be. And, as time wore on, the dining-saloon -became deserted, and the question was answered. I never knew nor cared -where the people went. As for myself, I took a rug, made for the warmest -corner of the deck I could find, covered myself head and ears, and -wanted to be alone. I was conscious that Little Blue Ribbons had tucked -herself under my wing, a sad little birdling; but Sister and Daddy were -very grand. They gaily walked the decks and laughed when they passed -us,--but we didn't laugh! No, we didn't even smile. The ocean had never -troubled me before,--that is not to any extent, for I had had a theory -that if I could only keep on deck and wear a tight belt, the worst -would soon be over. But there are seasons when all signs fail, and this -time everything turned out wrong. - -The following day I managed to dress and get upon deck with the others. -Oh! if I only had a chance at a good railroad, those who would might -hunt up the islands; I had had enough already. I made up my mind to one -thing, I should give up my ticket at Nassau and go home alone by rail -through Florida. I didn't say anything of this plan to Daddy, but I -thought it all out and had it all arranged, when I found that I could -not get warm and could get so miserably seasick. I considered it a -brilliant and original inspiration, and I clung to it with all my feeble -strength. - -Sunday it commenced to blow furiously, coming first from the southwest, -and increasing as the day wore on, until by night, with the wind shifted -to north of west, a howling gale was on, outer doors battened down, -promenade decks swept by water, and everybody curled up in bed, bracing -themselves as best they could, trying to keep from rolling out of their -berths. I wish it understood that the word _everybody_ is used -reservedly, for there were a few exceptions, Daddy being one of -them,--cranks who prided themselves on not missing a meal. Then came -that awful night! This was the time Rudolph shone. It was he who -suggested champagne and ship-biscuit. Daddy didn't know how many bottles -he brought to our room, and we didn't, until it came time to pay the -bills. Then Daddy was surprised, but Rudolph wasn't. "Rudolph," I said, -that terrible night, as he brought in the bottle, and steadied himself -to pour a glassful, "were you ever in such a storm as this before; don't -you really think we're in great danger?" He assured me that he had been -in much worse storms, but I knew he hadn't. I could tell by the way he -looked that he was only trying to cheer me up, for he was dreadfully -solemn, and had a big black lump on his forehead where he had hit his -head as he came in with the bottle. I listened while he told of other -storms ever and ever so much worse; how he had been thirty years a -steward, how he swore every voyage would be his last; but how somehow he -kept on shipping; he didn't mind storms. "So you have never gone down at -sea, Rudolph? Oh, I am so glad, for then you wouldn't be here, would -you?" He forgave me of course. I was not the first sufferer Rudolph had -brought champagne and ship's biscuit. - -When Sister was a babe, Daddy gave her a little Jap toy, which we called -the "Red Manikin." He was round as an apple, with his face one big grin. -Whichever way we stood him, Manikin would jump up serenely on his plump -little legs, always smiling and jolly. But one day there came a sad -ending to Manikin's smiles. He was smashed in a nursery storm, and we -found him under the bed standing straight on his head. Through snatches -of sleep, my disordered dreams made a grinning, red Manikin of our ship. -I wondered when the final smash would come and our big toy no longer -swing back on its round legs? Over and over the great ship went, and I -held my breath. "Now this time it will never come back. I know it. Oh! -how terrible to have the water pour into our staterooms and never a -chance to swim. No, there we go the other way. Now we go, go, go! Oh, if -I wouldn't try to keep the ship from rolling over! What good can I do by -holding my breath and bracing back in this way? I wonder how the bride -feels by this time? That lovely brown dress, she'll never wear it -again. Well, I'm glad I'm not a bride." - -Whatever happened just then I could not tell, but there was a curious -sort of a dull explosion, and all the electric lights went out. Then our -trunks broke loose and went crashing back and forth at each other, -whack, bang, with a vicious delight. - -"I'll not endure this suspense another moment," thought I, "I must have -a light and I must know what is the matter, and I must bring Daddy in -here this minute. If we are going down I want him to be with us." So I -swung myself out of the berth, dodged a trunk, groped my way to the -door, and ran barefooted to Number 44. I didn't stop to knock, but -turned the knob, as a terrific lurch of the ship threw me against -Daddy's berth, where the only man who knew anything about running that -ship lay fast asleep. - -Of course you'll think that an absurd thing to say, but then you don't -know Daddy. He is the kind of a man who was born with expedients in both -hands. However much I doubted the wisdom of confessing it to Daddy, -away down in my heart I felt that if he would only wake up and come -into our room, he would devise a way to save us, if every one else went -to the bottom. Hadn't he time and again rescued us from dreadful -disasters by fire and water, didn't he in his quiet way master every -situation at the right moment; was there any one more skilled in -handling boats, more subtle in knowledge of winds and waves than Daddy? -Wasn't there just cause that I should wake him up? Of course there was! -It wasn't right that he should be sleeping so peacefully while his wife -and children were waiting for the last trump. No, it wasn't right. So I -touched him rather lightly, somewhat hesitatingly, because he never -likes to be awakened, and I said--well, I don't recall just what I said; -you know how I felt; and he, the man of expedients, the man of many -rescues, turned over and grunted out, "What on earth are you making such -a fuss about? Go and see the captain? No, I'll not go and see the -captain or any other man, and I don't want to sit on your trunk. Go to -bed, we're all right; the sea isn't as bad as it was before midnight, -and what's the use of worrying anyway? Go to bed, that's a good girl." -What could I do but go? He wouldn't budge, so I went back to Number 41 -with all the injured dignity possible under the circumstances, and I -didn't care a bit when his door banged good and hard after me. I have -never since then been able to understand his utter indifference to our -distress that night. It must have been something he ate for dinner. - -It was a weird night outside; a white gray night, shone upon fitfully by -a sullen moon and a few lonely stars. Every other minute we were in -utter darkness, as a thunderous wave came surging deep over the -port-holes; then for a brief moment again the sickly light of the moon -would steal through the thick wet glass to where the little girls lay, -and I wondered if the morning would ever come. - - -III. - -The next day I did not dare look from my port-hole. I had not only drawn -the lattice-screen to keep out the water--for the ports were leaking -badly--but had even fixed up a curtain with some towels, so that I might -not see the storm-vexed sea without. I simply lay there wondering why, -why, why, I had ever come? But after awhile adorable Rudolph knocked at -the door and gave us each our glass of wine and biscuits, and we felt -encouraged, and asked him what had happened to the lights last night. He -looked blandly ignorant of any disaster, and shook his head and told us -nothing. He was a wise man, that Rudolph! Then he suggested that we get -up and dress, after he had lashed the trunks back where they belonged, -and had straightened up a nice little round spot in the middle of the -room, where we could stand and reach for things. With a grim -determination, I pulled down the towel, opened the lattice, and looked -out. There is no use in trying to tell you anything about the sea, -because I couldn't. All I can do is advise you never to round Cape -Hatteras in a gale. "But what shall we do about the Islands of the -Blest?" you ask. That is a simple problem, start from well down in -Florida, and take the shortest cut across! - -At seven o'clock by the ship's bell I went to work to keep my promise to -Rudolph. I have a distinct remembrance of having put both stockings on -wrong side out. I was an hour hunting for my shoes. Everything else had -to be scrambled for in the same way. It was two o'clock when I was -dressed sufficiently to make a decent appearance; but I needed to have -had no fear of criticisms, for as I made my way on deck, crawling up the -main cabin stairway, there wasn't a soul to be seen, except the jackies -in their oilskins, who looked rather amazed when I poked my head out of -the door. - -I then had a view of the ship's deck which I had not hitherto had. She -was very narrow and long, I hadn't before realised how long and how -narrow. No wonder she rolled like a gigantic log canoe, but she was a -beauty though! I began to forget her temper because of her looks--a -common blunder in judging her sex, I am told. She was stripped naked for -the plunge, and to see her pitch headlong into the seething water, -throwing foam to the mast-heads, sending a deluge of crashing seas adown -our decks, made me scream with delight. It was glorious, glorious, -glorious! Down she went,--the beauty,--roaring, cracking, twisting, -groaning, howling, and hissing. She fought as with a thousand furies, -plunging and rolling into and through the seas, which rushed down upon -her as if they would crush her to atoms. - -Just then the sun broke from out the fast-moving clouds, and sprang upon -the water in a million glistening rays of brilliant light, and my whole -being was filled with joy that I had eyes to see such wonders. The storm -was at its height the night before when we were to the southeast of Cape -Hatteras, after we had steamed well into that beautiful Gulf Stream one -reads about. There we were hove to, with head to the storm, engines -slowed down, and oil dripping over our bows for twenty-four hours, and -were carried one hundred miles out of our course. Unfortunately the oil -did little good, for we were in a cross sea which occasionally broke -with a thundering crash over our stern as well as over our bows, and we -were horribly twisted and shaken. But at last, on Monday afternoon, at -four o'clock, the storm quieted so we were able to square away again for -the Windward Passage. So much for that terrible gale from the Gulf, -which, as we afterward learned, did much damage to coastwise shipping. - -As the storm broke, one by one, poor forlorn remnants of our fellow -passengers began to appear in all possible states of dilapidation; and -for the rest of the day, inspired by a subject of common interest, we -sat about, clinging to fixed chairs, talking over our experiences, and -watching the fast disappearing tempest. - -It was then I learned that my original plan of buying a ticket home from -Nassau in the Bahamas and through Florida by rail was shared by every -second person I met, and whether the purpose is fully carried out or not -remains to be seen. - - -IV. - -There was one peculiar and unlooked-for feature in the experience of -seasickness which may be universal to all like sufferers, but it was -novel to me. It was when in one of my sane moments the morning before -the storm that I threw myself down on a couch in the main saloon, too -inert to lift my head, too woebegone to think that I could ever smile -again, that I raised my eyes and caught sight of a figure opposite me, -compared with which I was in a state of heavenly rapture. It was none -less than his Excellency, Herr Baron von Pumpernickel Donnerwetter -Hohenmaltsteinhaufen, high officer in the service of his Majesty, the -Kaiser. He was all in a heap, a big soft heap, wound about by a big -brown ulster. Poor soul, he didn't care much how it was buttoned, it was -all wrong anyway, but he was not thinking of trifles. On a bald pate was -a comical felt hat,--one of those little Alpine hats German tourists -affect,--jammed over the left eye; his face was unshaven, his hair -unshorn and uncombed, his nose big and red, and his eyes watery, -meaningless, colourless, glassy eyes rolling about in helpless agony. He -sat there with his arms dangling at his sides, mumbling to himself. I -hadn't anything else to do, so I watched him and listened. What can he -be saying? I suppose it's the "Lorelei;" maybe he dreams he's on the -Rhine! His sorrowful, wife-forsaken look aroused my sympathy; I listened -more attentively. I have always had a lingering affinity for the German -Folkslieder, but, oh, dear, it wasn't a Folkslied at all! He was -swearing volley after volley of feeble, limp oaths, uttered in a broken -and scarcely audible voice. I thought the sight of a woman might stop -his flow of wrath, so I lifted myself up a little and looked at him as -severely as I could under the circumstances, but to no purpose. His -monotonous oaths went rolling on and on, until a kind steward came and -asked his Excellency if he would have something to eat. Now that steward -ought to have known better. I knew there would be trouble. There are -times when men must be left alone, and this was his Excellency's time. -I tried to warn the steward, and even worked up an especial groan to -attract his attention, but, like a stupid old dunderhead, he stood -there with his mouth open; and then he caught it: -"_Verdamter--damter--damity--dam--_" it pealed, bellowed forth with -royal spontaneity, and the steward was a white streak out of the saloon -door. - -There were sufferers in the room besides myself, and it was remarkable -to note, how that full and complete expression of his Excellency's wrath -worked like a healing balm upon us all. I shall not confess to any such -lapses on the part of my immediate family and friends,--no, I shall -never confess to that! but I will say that there are times when the use -of strong language is an outlet most beneficial to overwrought digestive -organs. I _will_ say that much. - -The little blue map of the West Indies given to me at our departure, -which same map has lain very snugly between the unopened pages of my -journal until to-day, shows me, as for the first time I unfold the -wrinkled paper, that we have just passed Watling's Island (the San -Salvador of the early explorers) and a lot of other little islands; -while a row of tiny dots shows that we are somewhere near the Tropic of -Cancer. Daddy tells of watching until late last night to make out the -light on San Salvador, and how it blinked up finally from the waves far -ahead on our starboard bow and as quickly disappeared, to gradually grow -brighter as we brought it abeam of us--our first smell of land since we -dropped the bleak shore of New Jersey. My eyes tell me as they look -seaward that we have left the great lonely waste of the Atlantic and -have come into sweeter waters, on seas of heavenly rest, which flow away -from us as do the rolling white clouds above. I watch dreamily the -shoals of flying fish darting aside from under the bow in long low -lines of flashing silver; and I look away to where ships come up from -over the meeting of sky and ocean. - -I know now why Rudolph can not give it up. - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAÏTI - - -I. - -From the rising of the sun to its sudden drop into the sea, this has -been a funny day in Haïti, our first land-fall. All night we had been -threading through the dangerous shoals and past the lower islands of the -Bahama group, until at last we turned into that great thoroughfare, the -Windward Passage between Cuba and Haïti, and finally were at rest in the -harbour of Port-au-Prince. Knowing that we were to make port this -morning, I was awakened very early by the delightsome expectation of the -sight of a green earth; and long before Little Blue Ribbons and Sister -had stirred with the spirit of a new day, I had scurried through the -corridor to my delicious salt tub. The ship lay very still. It but just -felt the finger-tips of the ocean's caress. A sweet, warm, gentle, -alluring air filtered in through the open port-hole and permeated my -body with the delicious intoxication of summer. I threw myself into the -bath with every pore a-quiver for its cool refreshment, and as the briny -water spread its arms about me, I looked out upon the sea, where my -first tropical sunrise burst upon me. It was such a businesslike -performance that I laughed right in old Sol's face, and splattered water -at him through the port-hole; it served him right for being so -abominably prosaic. Five minutes before his appearance, there was not -the slightest indication in the sky that anything was about to happen, -no fireworks, no signals, no red lights, nothing but the dull blue sky -of early morning. When, all at once, a bright red tip peeps over the -water, and in three minutes the big, round ball is on hand, ready for -business, whereupon he blazes away _fortissimo_ from the start. It was -rude and ill-mannered of him to intrude upon my bath, but it seemed to -be his way with the ladies, so I fled to find Sister and Wee One in -wildest joy, on their knees in bed crowding their pretty heads together -for a peep at the wonderful land about them. The ship had swung to her -anchor, and lay bow-on to Port-au-Prince, while to starboard was a range -of lofty mountains which clambered and struggled and budded and -blossomed into the white sky of morning. - -The sudden call of Summer, the eternal loveliness of warmth, the -expansion of the soul from out the chill of ice and snow, into the bliss -of laughing seas and delicious sunlight; the sight of green, graceful -palms bending their stately heads to the summons of the morning, the -merry wavelets frolicking, splashing, laughing, calling to -us,--Summer--Summer--Summer--was all so intoxicating that, had the -choice been possible, who knows but we would have bartered our very -souls, with but little hesitancy, for a lifetime of such sensation! - -There was something akin to emancipation in the pile of airy frocks -which lay waiting for Sister and Little Blue Ribbons, and if our fingers -hadn't been all thumbs, and if we hadn't been on our knees half the time -in the berth, peering out from the port-hole, we could have donned the -summer glories a full hour sooner, and might have been on deck in the -open with all the sweets of the early tropical morning about us. But, -what could one do but look and marvel, when the sea about us was -swarming with tiny boats, laden with treasures of the deep and of the -forest? What would you do, now, tell me, if, after long dreaming of the -Islands of the Blest, you suddenly awakened to find them really true, -and your own dear self in the midst of them? Why bless your heart! You -would have looked, and laughed, and wondered, just as we did, and have -been for ever dressing, too. - -[Illustration: THE LANDING-PLACE Port-au-Prince, Haïti] - -Long, long ago, when I was a "Little Sister," my boon companion had a -parrot given her, and one day it screamed horribly and bit me, and ever -after I held a vengeful spirit for the whole parrot family. But that -morning at Haïti--ah! that first soft morning, when the jabbering black -Haïtiens came to us with corals and parrots and strange, freaky fruits, -a fierce fancy possessed me to buy a parrot. Of course, the morning was -to blame for it. I was really not a free agent. It was a delusion that, -somehow, if I bought the parrot, the summer would be thrown in with -it. But dear, sensible Sister, my judge and jury and supreme court on -all occasions, thought it a foolish idea, so we didn't nod "yes" through -the port-hole; we only shook our heads and laughed. But the parrot man -didn't have time to answer back, for, before he knew it, a newcomer -bumped into the bow of his skiff and made him very angry; so he gave way -in short order, for the late arrival didn't carry any parrots or coral, -or anything to sell; it carried a very tall, black man, who stood -immovably in the centre of the craft. "Oh! Come, Sister, I know it's the -President, it must be!" He wore a tall silk hat, with an ancient -straight brim, and a black frock coat and a terribly solemn expression. -But we were mistaken after all; it was only the health officer. We were -sure one of those rollicking waves would spill him over, but, alas, the -shiny old stovepipe rose and fell with the precision of a clock and -nothing happened, and we were so disappointed! Then it disappeared up -the ladder, and we buttoned up a bit more and were dressed at last. - - -II. - -Port-au-Prince is as daintily hidden away in the folds of the mountains, -as a lace handkerchief in the chatelaine of a beautiful woman. There -seemed to be nothing left undone by Nature to make it, in point of -location, a chosen spot, hidden from the curious world: a realm of bliss -for lovers to abide in. Port-au-Prince was once called the "Paris of the -West Indies;" that is, when the French were its masters and the blacks -their slaves. It is not so now, for when the blacks revolted and drove -their masters from the land, the death-knell of civilisation was -sounded. It is the capital of the Black Republic of Haïti, the paradise -of the negro, where to be black is the envied distinction; where the -white man can scarcely hold property without confiscation in some form; -where the negro is the high-cockalorum. Yes, it was called Paris, but -that was long, long ago. Poor little town! It is now the forlornest, -dirtiest little rag-a-muffin in the whole world, still trying to strut a -bit, but in truth a ridiculous caricature of civilisation. - -[Illustration: - -Copyright, 1901, by Detroit Photographic Co. - -WAITING FOR CUSTOMERS Port-au-Prince, Haïti] - -As we approached land, the character of the place was indicated by -the boats lying at anchor, and by those which clung, like a forlorn -hope, to the rickety old piers along shore. They were the most -dilapidated, nondescript lot of craft I have ever seen. - -The "fort" at the harbour entrance was in a state of collapse, and about -big enough to shelter a basket of babies. The Haïtien "man-of-war" -anchored near the shore was an absurd old iron gunboat with rusty stacks -and dishevelled rigging, painted in many colours and temporarily -incapacitated because of leaky boilers and broken engines. The rest of -the "Haïtien Navy," _i. e._, another old rusty gunboat, was lying -neglected and half sunken near by. The pier where we landed was so -shattered by time and water that I had to pick my way very carefully in -order to keep from falling through. On shore, we were at once surrounded -by a mob of jabbering Haïtiens, speaking--well, it's hard to say just -what. It started out French and ended in an incomprehensible jargon, -intelligible only to the delicate Haïtien ear. As we picked our way -along the tumble-down pier, between piles of coral which had been -recently removed from the shoal water near shore (in order that small -boats could land at the piers), the tatterdemalion Haïtiens escorted us -to the city, under a tumble-down archway, into tumble-down -Port-au-Prince, to find waiting for us at the other side of this water -gate an assortment of vehicles which I find it quite impossible to -describe. They had had an earthquake in Port-au-Prince the preceding -October, and those carriages looked as if they had passed through the -whole shocking ordeal. The horses, not as high as my shoulder, were -simply animated bones,--"articulated equine skeletons" somebody -said--harnessed with ropes and strings and old scraps of leather, to -what were once "carriages," all of antiquated patterns,--anything from a -cart to a carryall; and to the enormous Americans, who doubled up their -precious knees in order to sit inside, they seemed like the veriest -rattletraps for dolls. Off they moved, the whole wobblety procession, to -the cracking of native whips and howls of the admiring vagabonds. The -white dust blew about us, and the sun beat down upon our heads, and we -were in the Tropics indeed. I do not know whether it was the result -of seasickness, or what it was, but everything in Haïti looked crooked. -Sister said that the Mother Goose "Crooked Man" must have come from -Haïti, and I agreed with her. - -[Illustration: THE "COACHES" Port-au-Prince, Haïti] - - -III. - -We preferred to walk up into the town,--not because we were more -merciful than those who had wobbled and rattled and jiggled on before -us, but because we thought it would be a little more Haïtien than if we -drove. We might have taken the tram, but it was more fun to watch it -hitch its precarious way along after its stuffy, rusty, leaky little -"dummy" engine, down through the crooked streets, than to jerk along -with it. The only sensible thing to do was just to stand there within -the ruins of a one-time beautiful city and look about us. It was the -worst, the forlornest, the most mind-forsaken place of which you can -conceive. Earthquakes had cracked and tumbled down some of the best -buildings, fire had destroyed many others, and the remains had been left -as they had dropped, under the blistering sun, to crumble away into -dust; and thronging in and through the ruins like black ants about their -downtrodden dwelling, were swarms of rag-tag human beings whom I call -such merely because no species of "missing link" has yet been recognised -by our anthropologists. - -It was an official building before which we were standing, and as we -were about to move on to a shadier spot, the guards, or the soldiers, or -whatever one might call them, approached and presented arms under the -crooked arch, and disappeared noiselessly within the inner court. This -barefooted squad, some ten strong,--negroes of all shades of -blackness,--were equipped in gorgeous red caps. Yes, they all had caps, -and muskets, every one of them; the remaining parts of the uniform, -unessential parts, were eked out with linen dusters and old rags which -happened to be lying around handy. I don't see why they should have -bothered about having the dusters, but I suppose it was traditional. - -[Illustration: MAIN BUSINESS STREET OF THE CAPITAL OF THE REPUBLIC OF -HAITI - -Port-au-Prince, Haïti - -Copyright, 1901, by Detroit Photographic Co] - -Just as we approached the main street under a blazing sun, there came -toward us two chariots, with wheels eight or ten feet high, harnessed -each to a mixture of tiny, woebegone donkeys and mules, about the size -of hairpins, going at full speed with the true negro love of display, -for the benefit of the strangers. The charioteers wore shirts and -tattered hats, and yelled like wild hyenas at the poor, astonished -mules. "Hurrah for Ben Hur!" we shouted, and the triumphant victor -rattled ahead in a cloud of dust. Then we went on to the next -performance, a Haïtien officer strutting past, bedecked with gold lace -and buttons, and great cocked hat, well plumed, and barefooted. There -was no use being serious; we couldn't be. We were in the midst of an -_opera bouffe_, with negroes playing at government, with the -happy-go-lucky African savage fully possessed of his racial -characteristics, fondly imagining himself a free and responsible man; -and it was one, long pitiful laugh for the poor black children who were -taking themselves in such dead earnest. - - -IV. - -It was not to imitate Mr. F. Hopkinson Smith in the least that we said -we must find a white umbrella, and yet even had we wished to imitate -Mr. Smith, could we have followed in the way of a more delightsome -traveller? It was simply because we were conscious that a white -umbrella, with a soft green lining, is a necessary adjunct to life in -the tropics. It is in harmony with its environment, because it is almost -a necessity; and being such, we were not to be dissuaded from our -desire. So, with that definite intent to our steps, we started to find -the white umbrella. - -Was every one else hunting for one, too, that the crowd was all going in -our direction,--surely not! No sun could ever blaze strongly enough to -penetrate those woolly tops. We go on a little farther, and then we -begin to understand from a wave of odours sweeping over us that it's to -market we're going with all the rest; and so for the time we are led -from the purpose of the morning. - -The stench grows more pronounced; we become a part of a black host, with -babies, children, men, women, and donkeys crowding into the square, -where a long, low-tiled market-building and its surrounding dirty -pavement becomes the kitchen for the whole of Port-au-Prince; a place -where filthy meats and queer vegetables and strange fruits are sold, -and where all manner of curious, outlandish dishes are being concocted. -The black women crouching on the ground over little simmering pots and a -few hot coals, jabbering away at their crouching neighbours, were more -like half-human animals than possible mothers of a republic. And in -amongst the women were the babies, rolling around on bits of rags, -blissfully happy in their complete nakedness. But there was something -about those black, naked babies which seemed to dress them up without -any clothes. Does a naked negro baby ever look as bare to you as a naked -white baby? - -Stopping a minute, where a louder, noisier mob of women were busy over -their morning incantations, my eye chanced to dwell for a second longer -than it should have done, on a pudgy little pickaninny, which was lying -in its mother's lap, kicking up its heels, with its fat little arms -beating the air in very much the same aimless manner that our babies do. -Seizing upon my momentary interest in the youngster, its mother caught -up the wiggling, naked thing, and with all the eloquence of a language -of signs, contrasted her naked baby with what seemed to her the regal -splendour of my white shirt-waist. For an instant I weakened and caught -at my pocketbook mechanically, but, as I did so, I glanced up just -quickly enough to see her ladyship give a laughing wink to one of her -neighbours, as much as to say: "Jest see me work 'em!"--and I caught the -wink in time to turn the solemn face into a crooning laugh, when, with -the worst French I could muster,--and that was a simple matter,--I told -the mother her baby was all right. It didn't need any clothes; I was -just wearing them because it was a sort of habit. People would be lots -more comfortable in Haïti without them. For a minute, those black, -beseeching eyes had had me fixed, but, fortunately for our further peace -of mind, I looked once too many times. - -The air was thick with horrible smells and horrible sounds as well. We -became a target for begging hands, and "Damn, give me five cents," was -every second word we heard. Where the poor creatures ever learned so -much English, would be difficult to say, but it was well learned. Over -the black heads, over the little cooking breakfasts, over the endless -procession of donkeys, carrying sugar-cane and coffee and all sorts of -stuff from off somewhere we didn't know about, to the market we did know -about--there arose an arch which was even more barbaric than the naked -babies and their half-naked mothers. It was just the thing for the -market--it fitted in with the smells; it was something incredibly -hideous and archaic. It was not French, it was purely an African -creation, made of wood, in strange ungraceful points and ornamented with -outlandish coloured figures; and yet it was an arch, and we ought to -forgive the rest. - -But the white umbrella! were we never to begin our search? We left the -market and took the shady side of the street. But, being a party of -four, we all wanted to do different things, yet, being a very congenial -party of four, we went from one side of the street to the other, as one -or the other happened to catch sight of something novel; thus, back and -forth, zigzag, we made for the white umbrella. - -Laddie, in far-off America, had been promised stamps; in fact he had -been promised almost the limit of his imaginary wants, if he would only -stay with Grandmamma by the sea, and not mind while we were off for the -Islands; so it was not only a white umbrella which kept us moving on up -the sunny streets, but Laddie and his stamps. Thus the post-office -stepped in where the white umbrella should have been ladies' choice. - -A nondescript following conducted us to the post-office, where we met a -very different type of man. The officials spoke such beautiful French -that we became at once hopelessly lost in our idioms. When the Creole -postmaster discovered our self-appointed escort of ragamuffins crowding -the entrance to the office, his black eyes flashed for a second, and -some terrible things must have been said to the crowd, which we did not -understand, for the office was emptied in short order. Here, we thought, -was the true Haïtien; the market-people were the refuse. - -[Illustration: A PUBLIC FOUNTAIN - -Port-au-Prince, Haïti] - -Another zigzag, and we stopped in at a _pharmacie_ to ask about the -white umbrella. We were met by another Haïtien, a courteous, delightful -gentleman, the chemist of Port-au-Prince, a man of rare charm and -courtly manner. He gave Little Blue Ribbons and Sister some pretty -trinkets as souvenirs, at the same time pointing the way to a shop -very near, where without fail we could find--you know! Ah! But between -that shop and us there was--well, what to call it I find it hard to say, -for it certainly wasn't a soda-water fountain, or an ice-cream haven, -but into it we went, all of us, and we sat down, while Daddy ordered -wonderful things for us to drink, and we had real ice, too; and in my -glass there was more than the limes and sugar and ice, which Sister was -sipping. There was certainly something more than mere lime-juice in my -glass, for I didn't care, after taking one taste, nearly so much about -the umbrella as I did before, and Daddy was so relieved. We sat there -very contentedly for quite awhile, but the little girls grew restless -and said we must go on to something else, so gathering up the fragments -of our Northern energy, we were out in the street again. - -A sleepy, honest little donkey, loaded with baskets of very diminutive -bananas, came our way. With malice aforethought, we made a raid to the -extent of three pennies' worth. The keeper sold reluctantly, for he said -we would surely die, if we ate bananas and walked in the sun. So we -walked in the sun and ate bananas, and didn't die; no, indeed not. We -lived to be very thankful for those bananas, as you shall hear later. -And then we went on past the guard-house, where the slumbering army -dozed by their stacks of rusty muskets; past unnumbered hammocks, out of -which long black legs hung in listless content; on past the sellers and -buyers of coffee who stood marking the weights of enormous sacks, swung -on huge, antiquated scales; on past the women, crouching over their -stores of pastry, fruits, sweets,--on to the shop where at last we found -the white umbrella, with a green lining, and then there was peace in the -family for awhile! - - -V. - -I could not tell you her name, for she did not tell us, and somehow we -didn't think to ask for it. She reminded us of Guadeloupe, our Mexican -maid, who had carried Laddie in the soft folds of her _rebozo_ so many -sweet days through the paradisiacal gardens of old Córdova. Shall I ever -forget the music of her voice, when, with Laddie snuggled closely to -her, she would stand in the early evening (amidst the flowers and the -rich, ripe fruits which seemed to be waiting for her touch), and say, in -a voice like a soft lute: "_Mira la luna, Guillermo!_" And his big, -brown eyes would turn from the face of the gentle Guadeloupe to where -her hand pointed to the high, sailing moon, throwing its silvery kisses -upon the willing earth below. The Creole and the Mexican were -affinities, although with seas between them. One was Guadeloupe, the -other--what shall we call her; Florentine? Proserpine? What mattered a -name! We were content. - -We had been strolling along away from the shops, out to where the -tramway came to an abrupt end; out to where the level country took to -its heels up the hillsides and went scampering off into the deep green -mountains. Out beyond the President's palace, whose one-time glories -were not yet quite effaced by the sad fortunes of Haïti, to where a row -of houses, evidently homes of the Haïtien "Four Hundred," hidden away -behind high French gateways and walls, were dropped from the glare of -the white sun under glistening leaves of heavy foliage. Deep red, red -flowers high in the tops of the trees hung like drops of blood over the -crumbling, broken fountains. A sad little marble Cupid, with his bow and -quiver gone, was still pirouetting in stony glee over a stained and -dried-up basin. The gateway--her gateway--a wonder in chiselled stone -and blossoming work of iron, was all but hidden by a mass of heavy, -tangled vines. The white umbrella paused; we stood enchanted before the -outspreading garden, and, while there, she of the wondrous face came -down the steps of the mansion and out into the garden toward us. Down -the path she came with a swift and graceful movement, not walking but -gliding; her garments fell from her in loose, sweeping lines of grace. - -As she approached us, a delicate pink flush spread over her olive face, -while with an exquisite charm,--in most perfect French,--she invited us -in to the cool seclusion of her veranda. She was the colour of a -hazel-nut. Her hair hung in two long, glorious braids, and it was just -half-inclined to wave in sweet caresses about her oval face. Her eyes -were of a radiant brilliancy, and, as she spoke, the light from them -broke full upon us like something sudden and unlooked-for. She was -straight as a cypress, and her head was set with the poise of a young -palm-tree. - -Her family came out to meet us,--the brothers and sisters,--they were -all very much at ease, but none of them had the charm of our hostess. -Our conversation amounted to very little; it was one of the times when -words seemed a bit out of place, particularly so with the sudden demand -upon our slumbering French verbs. But she was forgiving, and we were -appreciative, and the time passed delightfully. - -In the corner of her garden, there was a little out-of-door school, -whither she led us to hear verses and songs by the solemn-eyed Haïtien -_noblesse_, and we listened, as it were, to the remnant of a once -brilliant people in its last feeble efforts to resuscitate the memories -of courtly ancestors. It did not seem credible that there could exist -any relation between these intelligent children, this brilliant young -goddess, and the half-human beings crouching over their sizzling pots in -the market-place. - - -VI. - -This is the way it read: - - "HOTEL-CASINO BELLEVUE - - Champ de Mars--Port-au-Prince. - - DIRIGÉ PAR FRÄULEIN J. STEIN, DE BERLIN - -Chambres garnies, avec ou sans pension. -Bassin-douche--Jardin d'agrèment. -Table d'Hôte de 8 à 9 hs--de 1 à 2 hs--de 6 à 7 hs. -Salon de Lecture--Billard--Piano, etc. -Journaux français, allemands, americaines et anglais. - - Cette établissement jadis si bien connu, somptueusement remis à - neuf, se recommande aux voyageurs et aux residents par le confort - d'un hôtel de 1er ordre et par les divertissements que sa situation - et ses dépendances offrent au public." - -You know there are some things in this world of uncertainties of which -one is sure. One is sure of certain things without ever having seen -them--something like the pyramids; one takes them for granted. Just how -it came about that we took the "Hotel-Casino Bellevue" for granted it -would be difficult to say, but we did. It was the one established fact -about Port-au-Prince. It had been passed from one to another before we -made port that the "Hotel Bellevue" was the _summum bonum_ of Haïti. -Thither, never doubting, we faced about at high noon, following the -small brother of our lustrous Creole beauty, and we found it, the Hotel -Bellevue, as did others. - -Little Blue Ribbons, Sister, and I were placed--dumped into--three -waiting chairs on the white veranda. And then Daddy disappeared, with -others, all with the same air of confidence, to order dinner--it was to -be dinner, you know, for did not the card say: "_Table d'Hôte de 1 à 2 -hs?_"--of course it did. And we all had those little cards and they were -all alike. They were our souvenirs. - -Why the Hotel Bellevue hadn't any shade-trees in front; why it was so -glaringly hot and dusty and brazen-faced, we didn't see. Oh, yes! It was -on account of the "Bellevue"--out to the ocean! "_Dirigé par Fräulein -Stein_;" that was it. She didn't like trees; she wanted the "Bellevue." -She had chopped down the trees--we knew she had. "_Dirigé par Fräulein -Stein_"--we didn't care for Fräulein Stein at all. - -Some one on the other side of the veranda drops down an awning, and we -drop the awning on our side. Blue Ribbons takes off her hat, and Sister -wonders what keeps Daddy so long. I think of Fräulein Stein. She's in -there, of course; that's why he's so long. That's why all the other men -stay so. She is another Circe. - -Here he comes. He looks mildly happy. - -"It's ordered. I ordered it in German first, then French, and then -Fräulein Stein,"--but there he hesitated. - -"Yes, it's Fräulein Stein, of course," I reply. "What did she have to -say?" - -"No, it wasn't Fräulein Stein at all," he answers, "it was Fräulein -Stein's manager; he's a Norwegian, so of course he speaks English -fluently." - -"What did you order?" Sister asks. Then Daddy looked a bit sad. - -"I couldn't order just what I thought you'd like of course, because they -didn't have it, but I did the best I could. Let me see--I think the -first was sardines. I thought after the bananas you'd need a kind of -appetiser, so I ordered sardines first, and some other stuff,--and -turkey." - -"Turkey? Oh, Daddy, this is not Thanksgiving Day!" - -"No, it's not Thanksgiving, but there was something said about turkey, -and I thought we might as well have what the others ordered." - -We didn't think we cared much for turkey, but we weren't hungry enough -to argue, so we let the bill of fare go at that, and started out to -investigate the premises. Ever since we had been at the Hotel Bellevue, -we were unconsciously aware of curious droning sounds. We scarcely -noticed them at first, for they were not aggressive,--they were merely -persistent, like the sleepy humming of insects. They fitted in with the -white light and the hot stillness of noonday. But, after waiting for -Daddy, and thinking about Fräulein Stein, the sounds became more -distinct; they grew more insistent. The people on the other side of the -veranda quieted down, and there wasn't so much chattering as there had -been when we first arrived at the Hotel Bellevue. No, it was much -quieter. As the voices ceased with the spreading of the scorching -noonday light on the dry walks and the denuded garden,--its few, stiff -little lonesome shrubs gasping for water,--the sounds grew to a positive -delirium. - -We stole out into the "_jardin d'agrément_." If I could only glorify -that back yard I would,--indeed, from my heart I would! But "_es hat -nicht sollen sein_!" It was not La Bellevue there! Oh, no! It was not! -There was a little gutter running through the yard, and there was some -slimy liquid in the gutter which might once have been water. But the -ducks didn't mind; they waddled around in the puddles just the same. By -the cook-house, a Witch of Endor was browning some coffee over an open -fire. Out of respect to the cook, I say she was browning the coffee. She -was indeed browning the coffee with a vengeance; she was burning it -black--fairly to cinders. Around with the ducks was _the_ turkey. He was -the master of that back yard, but alas! he was having his last fling! He -did not know it, nor did we; we knew soon after. - -[Illustration: Copyright, 1901, by Detroit Photographic Co. - -A WEST INDIAN AFRICA - -Port-au-Prince, Haïti] - -But what right had we to be in the back yard of the Hotel Bellevue? If -we didn't find the gutter agreeable to our over-refined sensibilities -why not go where it was "Belle"? But there were those sounds and we were -keen on the trail. We should not be thwarted by a flock of waddling -ducks. It was evidently from a neighbour's the sound came, so, picking -our steps carefully over a heap of rubbish and broken bottles and -discarded ducks' feet and hens' feathers, we peeped through a crack in -the high board fence and saw in the neighbouring yard one portion of a -family party; another crack revealed more, and, putting them together, -we counted some eight or ten very serious people sitting around a large -oval table, singing a curious chant,--if one dare call it such,--some of -them; the others were shaking curious little gourd rattles in time with -the monotonous recitative. The "Witch of Endor" tells us that the -neighbours are celebrating the birth of twins. Deliver us from triplets! - -How far are we from the voodoo and all the savagery of Africa? - -There was a glory in that hotel back yard after all. But, to tell the -truth, we didn't discover it until some one behind us, black and -half-naked, made a murderous assault upon the turkey. He, the turkey, -screaming awful protest, flew into the merciful arms of a -breadfruit-tree which hung its great leaves in a sadly apologetic -manner over the scene of coffee-burning and waddling ducks. To stand -under a breadfruit-tree which was doing its noblest to forget its -environment--well, one ought to forgive much, and we did, until we -learned that even the breadfruit wasn't ready done--it had to be cooked. - -At last the cloth was laid and the table set, and Little Blue Ribbons -unfolded her napkin, and we all did the same, for Little Blue Ribbons -seldom makes a mistake. She is a proper child, and had hitherto fed on -proper meat. Then we chatted and sat there,--and sat there and chatted. -Presently, when we had talked it all over,--the market and the Creole -beauty, and everything else,--we stopped talking and just sat there -thinking. Sister had some bananas left, and she graciously suggested -that fruit before dinner was in good form, so we each took a banana and -sat longer. - -There was nor sight nor sound of Fräulein Stein, nor of any one -belonging to the Stein family. We and our fellow travellers were the -silent occupants of the high-ceilinged dining-room. Noon had long since -gone with the morning,--one o'clock, and still no signs of life. -One-thirty,--from out the silent courtyard, after an hour and a half -waiting; from out the back kitchen, near the duck puddle and the -breadfruit-tree, there appeared a negro in solemn state. He had been -dressing. I suppose he was the one we had been waiting for. He wore an -ancient long-tailed coat with brass buttons, a white waistcoat, and very -clean trousers--and shoes, too--and a flower in his buttonhole, and he -carried in his hand,--yes, dear ones, he carried in his hand (only in -one hand, for the other one was needed for purpose of state)--he carried -in his hand one small plate of sardines, our appetisers, which had been -neatly arranged in two tiny rows of six each. A menial of lower order -followed with the bread, enough for one hungry man, and it fell to the -first and nearest table. We were hopelessly distant from the sardines -and the bread. The solemn head waiter avoided us. We thought we must -have offended him. The sardines continued to pass us. Soon a dish of -smoking yams was carried on beyond. We knew then that his Majesty had us -in disfavour. The "spirit of '76" arose; we would have sardines or -perish. We raided the serving-room. Sister captured a whole box of -sardines and I a loaf of bread. We waylaid a boy with coffee, took the -pot, hunted up sugar, ran into a black woman, who was handing in a few -boiled yams, seized all she had and sat down to the finest meal ever -spread: yams, sardines, bread, and black coffee. At two-thirty, a faint -odour of turkey hovered over the dining-room, but we didn't care for -turkey; we had said so from the first, and besides, we had known that -turkey in his glory. Sardines we had not despised, and we had sardines. -And then the bananas helped out, and so did the bread and the bitter -coffee. I would not have had the dinner other than it was--no, not for -all the waiting; it was all so in keeping with the whole crazy country. - -Fräulein Stein never appeared. I do not think there was a Fräulein -Stein, or ever had been. She was just made up, along with the "_table -d'hôte_" and the "_chambres garnies_" and the "_douche_" and the -"_jardin d'agrément_." But in a feminine way we laid it up against -Fräulein Stein,--that meal and the trees,--and we always shall. For -who else do you think could have cut down the trees? - -[Illustration: COURTYARD OF THE AMERICAN LEGATION - -Haïti] - -There seemed to be a sort of stupefaction over the whole establishment. -I know the poor creatures did the very best they knew how, but they -didn't know how,--that was the trouble. It didn't occur to them to cook -a lot of yams at one time; they cooked enough for one or two, and when -those were ready, they cooked some more for somebody else. You can -imagine the length of time required for such a meal. But then there's -nothing much else to do in Haïti, and why not be willing to wait for -dinner? - -Out of respect to the courtly "_pharmacien_" and to our lovely -Proserpine, there's not to be one word more about the "Hotel Bellevue," -and not a word more about anything else in poor little Port-au-Prince; -but I could not help wishing that some day dear old Uncle Sam would come -along and give Haïti a good cleaning up, and whip them into line for a -time at least; but Heaven deliver us from ever trying to assimilate or -govern such a degenerate and heterogeneous people. Alas, for that ideal -Black Republic, where every negro was to show himself a man and a -brother! - -As we were leaving for ship, the Haïtien daily paper was issued--a -curious little two-page sheet, some eighteen inches square, printed in -French, _Le Soir_--and in it appeared this pitiful paragraph, which -seemed in a way to be the hopeless lament of Haïti's remnant for the sad -condition of things in this beautiful island: - -"The Americans who arrived this morning are visiting our city. But what -will they see here to admire? Where are our monuments, our squares, our -well-watered streets? We blush with shame! They can carry back with them -only bad impressions; there is nothing to please or charm them, except -our sunny sky, our starry nights, and the exuberance of nature." - -Is it possible that the writer of those lines had forgotten the Lady -Proserpine? - -[Illustration: A MILL FOR SAWING MAHOGANY - -Haïti] - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -SANTO DOMINGO - - -I. - -"There's nothing in the least to be afraid of, Mother, nothing in the -least. Why, see, even his Excellency doesn't mind." It was Sister who -spoke, but even so there was a kind of unearthly qualm creeping over me -as I made my way cautiously down the ladder and waited until a generous -swell from the big outside sent the ship's boat within stepping -distance, and then, with a jump, made for the vacancy next to Little -Blue Ribbons. When one is on dry land, fear of the water seems so -unreasoning that the timid soul speaks of it in a half-apologetic -manner; but never yet when landing in an open boat in an exposed -harbour, where the mighty roll of the ocean lifts and drops and there -seems but a veil between the great world above and the great world -beneath--never yet have I been able to take the step from steamer to -boat with any real sensation of pleasure. - -We had been skirting the southern shore of the great island of Haïti or -Santo Domingo since sundown the night before, and at daybreak the word -flew around that we were off Domingo City. We must have left all the -sunshine with the happy darkies in Port-au-Prince, for, as we glanced -from our port-holes, we saw nothing but a tumble of leaden water under a -gray sky--just water and sky. Domingo City lay to the other side. - -Once ready for the day and out on deck, we were met by a gloomy world. -Heavy banks of clouds piled on one another as if determined to hide the -sun. There were no dancing, rollicking little harbour waves that -morning; they were ugly and sullen ground swells, and told of heavy -weather somewhere by their grumbling, threatening heavings. A stiff wind -blew, for we had come to the region of the "Northeast Trades," and it -was no laughing matter to lower the boats and land us safely, especially -with such clumsy boats' crews. There is practically no harbour at Santo -Domingo, the capital of _la Republica Dominicana_; that is, no harbour -for deep-keeled craft. The Ozama River affords a safe inner harbour for -light-draught vessels, but on account of a bar at the entrance to this -charming stream,--upon whose shores the historic old city slumbers,--we -were forced to anchor in the open roadstead and take the ship's boats -for land. - -The fear which had so troubled me when we first left the solid decks of -our good ship was soon forgotten as we approached the City of the Holy -Sunday,--Santo Domingo,--fairy godmother at the christening of Western -civilisation, the first to feel the pulse of those undying souls whose -spirits spanned the centuries to come! - -I recall how I looked with all my eyes and with all my soul at the -wondrous picture opening before me as we swung into the river entrance, -and wondered if I could keep its beauty for ever. Could it be more -lovely, more enchanting, more mysterious under a white sun shining from -out a motionless blue heaven? Who shall say? Old! Old! Kissed by the -winds of centuries, Santo Domingo rests upon the brow of a verdant -plateau, and stretches its sinuous arms dreamily beyond the hills on the -shore. Great red rocks, in whose rifts glossy ferns and graceful vines -have sought safe harbour, break the roll of the sea into a thousand -glistening clouds of spray, enveloping the summit of the cliff in a -translucent mist. Like a weather-worn, decrepit, but stately warrior, -the ancient fort, with massive towers and mossy turrets and bastions and -broken walls, still holds its guard over the harbour; and as we passed -from the sea into the placid Ozama River, the enchanting view of Santo -Domingo arose in full sight. Cloaked in a faintly shimmering mist, under -a gray, tumultuous sky, the ancient city rose to greet us as a dreamy, -nebulous siren of the sea. Crumbling ruins of ancient stone stairways -led from the fort through a water-gate to the river; down those mossy -flights I could all but see a gay troop of Spanish cavaliers approaching -their quaint old galleons moored hard by. Truly it was an enchanted -city; asleep, untouched by the hand of man since the days of its first -great builder; asleep, moss-grown, hoary, throbbing still with the -dying passion of mediævalism. - -[Illustration: THE OLD FORT AT THE RIVER ENTRANCE - -Santo Domingo] - - -II. - -Contrary to our prearranged plan, we decided, upon landing, to engage a -carriage. Just why, I hardly knew, but there was a subtle power at work -in the mind of one of our party, and although it has never been hinted -at since then, in calmly going over that carriage-hiring I think I begin -to read the riddle. We had left our French at Haïti, and this was our -first experiment on this voyage with Spanish, and I suspect some of us -were anxious to see how Cervantes's language--_la idioma -Castellana_--would work when it came to such a common-place proceeding -as the hiring of a carriage. - -We came off with colours flying, and took seats in a vehicle made some -twenty-five or fifty years ago (quite modern as compared with those of -Port-au-Prince), bumped up the steep stony hill, under an old archway, -and had our first glimpse of the solid Spanish architecture of Santo -Domingo. Everything was interesting; the balconies upheld by graceful -supports of wrought iron; the neat appearance of the low-roofed, white -and blue washed houses; the ever-beautiful palms and banana groves seen -in vistas across the river; even our driver was a source of interest, -for I expended my entire vocabulary of Spanish--few words indeed--upon -that youth, all to no purpose. All he did was to look dazed and answer, -"_Si, señora_" to everything, hit or miss, until we came to the -Cathedral, when, just to make it right with my conscience for having -been the innocent cause of all his awful lies, I asked him, pointing to -the building, which could be nothing in the mind of a sane man but a -cathedral, if that was the Cathedral, and he said: "_Si, señora_," and I -felt relieved. - -[Illustration: A CLOSER VIEW OF THE OLD FORT - -Santo Domingo] - -No description can convey to your mind an adequate impression of the -beauty of this wonderful old cathedral, for one needs colour, colour, -colour, everywhere for its proper setting. It is built of the yellowest -of soft porous stone, to which time has bequeathed a luminosity, the -brilliancy of which no language can rightly picture. It is purely -Spanish in its style, depending for its beauty entirely on its symmetry -of form and not on extraneous ornamentation; it is built rather low to -withstand frequent earthquakes, and from its solidity and simplicity -and directness of construction has a charm which few of the later -Spanish cathedrals possess. Time has laid her kindly hands upon this -temple of God gently--ever so gently, and through many a lifetime has -fulfilled the priestly office of consecration. - -I sat down in the shade, for, as we left the carriage, a big cloud -tumbled over by mistake and the sun laughingly plunged headlong through -the mist before the quarrelsome elements had time to gainsay. With -Little Blue Ribbons close by, and Sister and our Spanish Student -disappearing within the arches of the Cathedral, I sat there on the base -of one of the great pillars at the doorway, and filled my eyes with the -beauty of the strong, graceful arches overhead, in whose time-worn -curves hung the ancient bells, beautiful bronze bells, now green with -age, still pealing forth the praise of God as in the days of Columbus's -followers. - -Down the weather-worn and sun-ripened sides of the Cathedral were long -streaks of black, like the silent tears of centuries, shed for glories -now no more. Was it not enough to rest there, where one could look at -the bells and wait for the quiver of the long tongues, ringing out the -hour of mass, and catch the thrill of the mottled gray and blue sky -sifting its mellow light through the ancient towers? There are some -things so absolutely satisfying that it seems an arrant sacrilege to be -discontent and want for more. But Little Blue Ribbons, with the -impatience of childhood, began to tug at my hand, and the dear old bells -must have gone asleep, for with all our longing they hung there covered -by their deep, green silence, and Little Blue Ribbons said we would have -our waiting all for nothing. For nothing is it, dear one, to forget the -stress of living for awhile, and let one's spirit drop into the peace of -a sleeping bell? - - -III. - -We found that the interior of the Cathedral had a very new, clean face, -having been recently "restored" and whitewashed; thus being out of -harmony with the venerable exterior; however, some one remarked, it was -"gratifying to see that the Dominicans appreciate their ancient -monument." That complacent remark struck the ear awry, like the whine of -a deacon's report at a Sunday-school convention. Appreciate? Why, the -people of Santo Domingo worship this spot! It is the one place of -interest to them; it is the one thing they ask the stranger if he has -seen; it is the centre of their life and love,--that ancient pile of -yellow glory,--for are not the ashes of their great _Cristobal Colon_ -guarded there? Would that we Americans had any relic we held as -sacredly! - -[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL AND THE STATUE OF COLUMBUS - -Santo Domingo] - -So I suppose we ought not to quarrel with the Dominicans over the new -coat of whitewash, for they meant it well, but we can at least wish they -hadn't cleaned house so thoroughly. Within those walls rest the bones of -Columbus after their many disinterments and post-mortem wanderings--so -it is claimed; but whether these are the bones of Columbus, or of some -one else, who can say? What does it matter? Somewhere about one hundred -years ago,--in 1795,--'tis said, when this island was ceded to the -French, the Spaniards took Columbus's bones back to Spain. Later these -mortal fragments were returned to Santo Domingo, in accordance with his -expressed wish that they finally be buried in this his beloved -birthplace and funeral-pyre of his cherished hopes in the New World; -which wish had been once before honoured in the first removal of the -remains to the then Spanish colony. Sealed in a leaden casket they were -imbedded in masonry under the stone floor of the cathedral chancel, and -there was no attempt to disturb them until about 1878, when they were -_presumably_ removed to Havana to be re-interred there, and, as the -Spaniards stoutly maintain, again disinterred from their resting-place -in the cathedral at Havana and hurried away to Spain just before the -American occupation of Cuba, there to receive the sad honour of a costly -mausoleum in Seville. But a few years ago a second box was discovered, -buried fast in ancient masonry and cement, about three feet from the -place in which the first one was found; and this leaden box, the -Dominicans claim, holds the real bones of the real Columbus, for they -stoutly maintain that the other box contained the bones _Diego Colon_, -nephew to Columbus, or, as some say, his son,--not _Cristobal Colon_, -our Columbus--and the inscription on a silver plate found inside -seems to bear out the authenticity of the later discovery, as does also -the location of this second casket and the pains taken to render it -secure. Whosesoever bones they were, I was in the proper frame of mind -to venerate them, and it was with a feeling of deep awe and pathos that -I stood before the much-disputed leaden box, now enshrined in gold and -silver, and covered by a very gorgeous white marble tomb, newly made in -Barcelona. The box is about a foot and a half long, one foot high, and -one foot wide--rather a small space for so great a man as Columbus, but -then,-- - -[Illustration: Copyright, 1901, by Detroit Photographic Co. - -RUINS OF CASTLE BUILT BY DIEGO COLON - -Santo Domingo] - - "Imperial Cæsar, dead, and turn'd to clay, - Might stop a hole to keep the wind away." - -And so the Dominicans had a very beautiful and lofty and modern monument -built in Spain and brought across the water to San Domingo, as a fitting -shrine for their great treasure. With many minarets and dainty arches -cut from snowy marble, and ornate with carvings and gilt, it stands more -as a monument to the faithful loyalty of the Dominicans than to the -memory of that valiant discoverer. He was a world soul. He belongs to -all time, as do all the great. The march of Western civilisation is his -monument. The Dominicans plan to erect a building which they deem -worthier this work of gold and marble than is the sad old cathedral -Columbus founded,--worthier the sacred leaden box; but could there be a -more fitting sanctuary for the great Genoese, than within these ancient -walls whose beginnings he directed and which rose after death in direct -fulfilment of his ambition? - -We found built into the wall a huge cross, rudely hewn of wood, which -the stories say was set in a clearing in a little plain by Columbus, -before the year 1500, to mark the place where his great church should -stand. This primitive cross was afterward built into the wall itself. -How constantly memories of the great discoverer hover about these walls; -for it was in Santo Domingo that Columbus was imprisoned by his jealous -rivals, and thence at last he was taken in chains to Spain, where he -died, and hither again came his weary bones. - -[Illustration: WHERE COLUMBUS PLANTED THE CROSS - -Santo Domingo] - -How pathetic, yet how characteristic, is this grim example of the -Spaniard's reverence for the past, even if that past may have been so -cruelly dishonoured! Columbus, the poor Genoese dreamer; Columbus, still -the crazy explorer, but upheld by royal hands; Columbus, the fêted and -flattered discoverer of new worlds, giving to Spain greater riches than -she dreamed; Columbus, the victim of jealous gossip and intrigue, bound -in chains and finally dying,--broken and disgraced. Columbus, in ashes -these four hundred years, guarded in pomp, and convoyed by great ships -in this final retreat, step by step, from the empire he founded! For -with each successive loss of her rich holdings in the New World, Spain -has tried to carry with her in her retreat, these precious relics, until -the name Columbus, framed in dishonour, disaster, and defeat, has become -to her almost a pain. How tragic that Spain should strain to her heart -with fierce jealousy, as the last but most precious remnant left of all -her American possessions, the few crumbling bones of Columbus! - -We left the Cathedral reluctantly, but as the day was moving rapidly on -we were anxious to see as much as possible of the city; so we reëntered -the carriage and drove to the _Correo_ to post letters and get some -money changed. While Daddy was in the post-office, I endeavoured, with -my four Spanish words, to make our driver understand that I wanted him -to move along to the corner, so that we might look out over the river, -but he only smiled and said: "_Si, señora_," and went on putting up the -rubber curtains to keep out the unexpected shower that had blown up from -nowhere. So I sat there in despair, for I did want to get that view, but -I did not want to get wet. At that moment, seeing my predicament, a -gentleman approached the driver and told him just what to do, and then -disappeared into the post-office. When the Spanish Student returned, he -was accompanied by my kindly interpreter, to whom we were presented. - -"Sister," says the smiling Daddy, "this is Señor Alfredo P---- A----, -private secretary to the President, and he has most kindly offered to -show us about the city." We all bow to the señor, and I wonder if he is -really the private secretary, or a private humbug, waiting around to -ensnare us. Shame upon my suspicion! May that moment of doubt be for -ever fruitless in the process of my gradual regeneration! - -Señor Alfredo was one of the handsomest men I had ever seen. And this I -say not in the enthusiasm of a first meeting, but after carefully -weighing my words. Señor Alfredo was dark, and our man blond, so there -could be no comparison between dissimilar types and no cause for -jealousy, and then I said that the señor was _one_ of the handsomest. -That "_one of the_" should make all the difference in the world. The -señor was simply one of the procession of nature's adornments in which -you are marching. There, now, may I go on, and may I say just what I -wish of the señor without offence? - -The señor had been educated in New York City, and his English was most -charming; it had the grace of a rich Spanish accent, and the correctness -of a scholar. I hesitate to tell you of the señor's charms, lest you -think them over-abundant,--impossible in any one man, and you might not -enjoy the day in old Domingo, and that would be an unhappy state, truly. - -The señor's first question was: "Have you seen the Cathedral?" Yes, we -had seen it in our way, but possibly not in his. Then he dismisses the -disappointed coachman, and we follow the señor again to the worshipped -temple, and have its wonders revealed to us by one who knew every stone -in its construction. After long prowling around, through cloisters and -shrines, and after hunting up the place in the chancel where those poor -old bones were disinterred, and carefully comparing the former -hiding-places of each of the disputed caskets, we leave the cathedral -and wander about Domingo City. The señor guides us, not at our request, -but of his own free will, to all the places of interest in the city; and -then to the old fort which we had seen on our arrival. I should have -been quite satisfied to have stayed there all day, looking from the -massy turrets out to sea, but the señor was solicitous that we should go -about with the officer in command of the fort, and see everything of -interest. Old as it is, it is still used by the army; the native -military school and the naval academy both being within its walls. The -smart-looking men presented arms as we passed from the gateway into the -street again, and we took pleasure in telling the commandant how much -better his troops appeared than the ridiculous Haïtien soldiery. This -seemed to please both of our friends, for the Dominicans apparently have -a feeling of contempt for their neighbours of the Negro Republic, and -rightly, too, judging from what we saw. - -[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE FORT AND MILITARY SCHOOL - -Santo Domingo] - -Then, we walked and walked and walked, up one narrow street and down -another, catching numerous glimpses of most entrancing gardens through -the half-way opened doors. We asked for the daily paper, and were taken -at once to the office of the _Listin Diario_, whose editor was the -brother of Señor P---- A----. He and our Spanish Student had, to them, -an interesting conversation about the political situation in Santo -Domingo and in Venezuela; and after having promised to dine with us on -the boat at six o'clock, we continued our walk in and about and all -around, until, much to our surprise, we were taken into a cool, big -courtyard, up a wide flight of worn stone steps into the señor's home. -There we met his wife and children, listened to beautiful native dances -sympathetically played on the piano by the señor; we rocked in the -ever-present Vienna bent-wood chair, talked to the parrot, played with -the baby, and drank cocoanut milk from the green cocoanut, and lived to -drink from many more. The cocoanut, when used for milk by these Southern -people, is cut quite green, before the solid meat has formed and when -all is liquid within, and is said to be most healthful. Of our party, -the adventurous man and children liked it very much, but the cautious -woman a very little. Then we made our _adieux_, not without the promise, -however, that the señor would meet us at three o'clock for the trip up -the Ozama River in the ship's boats. - -All day the clouds were reeling heavily in bulky, black heaps, now and -then dropping down upon our innocent heads torrents of spattering rain. -But we were not to be discomfited by a rain-shower, for were we not -prepared? We left the ship with but one umbrella, the white one with the -green lining, but as we bade the señor "_Adios_," a sudden shower called -forth his best silk umbrella. He was insistent, and there was nothing to -do but for Daddy to tuck Sister under his wing, accepting the señor's -offer, and for Little Blue Ribbons to trot along by my side, under the -Haïtien umbrella. And the green lining proved fast green; it did not -run, not a particle! - -[Illustration: LOOKING ACROSS THE PLAZA - -Santo Domingo] - -By three o'clock, Domingo City was a veritable _Port Tarascon_, and it -seemed that Daudet must have been here before he wrote of his poor -drenched French _émigrés_. The rain still fell. It ran down the streets -anywhere it pleased; it dripped off the ruined roof of Diego's Palace; -it scampered down the awning of the German Legation; it stood in little -pools on the terrace overlooking the river; it trickled down the face of -the timeless old sun-dial, and made the long seams on its face dark and -wet, as if from tears. - -What bliss if we could only have set our watches by the hour told on the -Dominican sun-dial! But there was no sun and consequently no time. - -I have an inspiration! It has just come to me. Now my course is plain; -now I know what I shall do with the little girls. I have often longed to -obliterate for them the thought of time. I have wanted them to grow into -a feeling of possession of all the time there ever can be,--countless -ages and ages of time, with never a shadow of hurry lurking about; with -never a doubt but that the days will be long enough in which to live -their fullest measure of happiness. I shall invoke the aid of the gods, -in whose arms rests so peacefully this "Island of the Blest," and they -shall build for me an enchanted palace somewhere,--perhaps not just -here, but somewhere. I think I shall leave that to the little girls, but -it shall be an enchanted palace, all overgrown with sweetbrier and moss, -and roundabout shall be a garden--a dear garden, with violets and lilies -and arbutus and anemones--and then the trees,--there shall be no end of -them!--maple and ash, and slender birch and elm, and linden and--but it -seems to me I hear you wondering that we should leave out the palms and -the breadfruit and banana and citron. I know it does not seem just as it -should be, but I am afraid, if we had the palms and the breadfruit, we'd -never feel really at home in our palace, and, of course, we must feel at -home even in an enchanted palace. We could have two palaces if we wanted -to, and have the palms in the company palace, and the cool, sweet maples -we could have for our very own. Yes, that is it! That's what we'll do! - -In the midst of the garden, we will have a Dominican sun-dial, an exact -reproduction of this one. I shall make a sketch of it before we move a -step further, and it shall he chipped and worn and sun-baked and -tear-stained, and it shall look centuries old. Then there must be a -Dominican sky; half-sun and half-shade. And then, don't you see, the -little girls will never know the time at all,--only just as the clouds -run off for a frolic. And I shall arrange an indefinite supply of such -weather, and that's just where we'll all live. Yes--Daddy and all the -dear ones, and it will be such a relief not to be obliged to wind our -watches. - -"Mother!" said Sister, coming up back of me and peeping under the white -umbrella which Little Blue Ribbons was holding resolutely over my head -while I sketched; "Mother! what is it you're drawing?" - -"Do you need to ask? Can't you see it's the sun-dial?" - -"Oh! I thought it was the boy out there in the rain." - - -IV. - -What can the señor do without his best umbrella? Will he take the black -umbrella of his wife's aunt? No, he will not take the black umbrella of -his wife's aunt, dear Mr. Otto, he has taken the umbrella of his wife's -sister, we will say, to adhere to tradition; but, to tell the truth, I -could never say whose umbrella the señor borrowed, but when he appeared -he was really so beaming under the dark covering over him, that I quite -forgot to ask him whose umbrella it was. - -Ah! what would the señor think if he should ever read these words? Would -he forswear the friendship? We should sincerely beg forgiveness, for we -would sooner never see the walls of Domingo again than to lose the -señor's good-will. - -[Illustration: ALONG THE OZAMA - -Santo Domingo] - -The excursion up the Ozama was a world of delight from beginning to end. -The Ozama is one of God's most perfect little rivers, deep and rather -narrow, winding through an enchanting country. The shore is outlined for -miles by never-ending mangroves, and on the higher upper banks are the -breadfruit, and palms, and a world of unknown trees and fruits. Had -there been no palms, no breadfruit or mangroves, it would have been -enough joy to me to know that up this self-same river in centuries -long since dead, there had swept the doughty keels of Columbus's crazy -little ships. But the Spanish Student was not so easily satisfied; he -wanted to know things; how much mahogany and ebony and _lignum vitæ_ was -gotten from the outlaying country, and what sort of dyewoods they -exported. The señor gave much valuable information, but not much more -than the natives themselves, who came gliding down the stream in -dugouts, having in tow one or two or three mahogany logs. Who says that -all the true Santo Domingo mahogany was cut generations ago? There was a -constant and silent passing of these dark craft, for the most part with -but a single occupant. Sometimes a woman in the bow, half-buried by a -cargo of plantains, bending over a pot of some sort, would be cooking on -an improvised camp-fire built on earth above the plantains; and thus -busy--one at the fire, the other at the paddle--she and her black mate -would slip along out of sight under the dark mysterious shadows of the -mangroves, closely hugging the shore. - -Not far from the city, the señor pointed to a mighty tree, one of the -most gigantic of the tropics, a _ceiba_, to which it is said Columbus -made fast his ships. There was no reason to doubt the statement, and, -besides, it is so much pleasanter to believe such natural things than to -be for ever doubting. And why should not Columbus have made his ships -thus fast? The _ceiba_ looked a thousand years old. Who knows but that -it is even older? - -A little way down the stream and closer to the city, there was a spring -of sweet cool water, and above it a stately canopy of stone, built by -Bartholomew Columbus,--Christopher's brother,--and called "The Fountain -of Columbus." - -Oh, such a day, under the rocking, tumbling clouds, ever moving, ever -changing, moulding, blending from black to gray and billowy white, under -fitful showers and sudden baths of sunlight! It was a dream day of -sleeping bells and timeless dials and ruined towers and enchanted -palaces, with the bones of poor old Columbus beating time to the hopes -of the ambitious San Dominicans of to-day. - -Evening came, and we were at dinner on the boat with our delightful -friend from the shore, drinking to the prosperity of the Dominican -Republic, and to the hope that Señor P---- A---- might live to be -President of his beloved country. But, alas, how many Presidents they -have to have in these Spanish "republics" to round out the tally with -Destiny! - -It seemed to me that, for my part, if all Spaniards were as gracious, as -hospitable and genuine as our new-found friend, there would never have -been a Spanish-American War. - -And so next day we sailed away, leaving the City of the Holy Sunday -wrapped in peace and good-will; but who can tell the day or hour when -the land may again be devastated by revolution? - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO - - -I. - -[Illustration: LOOKING TO SEA FROM SAN JUAN - -Puerto Rico - -Copyright, 1901, by Detroit Photographic Co.] - -We were creeping in toward the entrance of the harbour of San Juan, -Puerto Rico, waiting for the pilot, who had sighted us afar off. It was -when almost at a standstill that our brown-skinned pilot in his open -lug-sail boat came alongside and sprang for our rope ladder with the -nimble agility of his prehistoric progenitors. He left two small boys, -one at the tiller aft and one in the bow of the boat hanging on to a -line dropped them from about midships of our steamer. The pilot -continued shouting at the boys as he disappeared over our heads to where -the captain stood waiting on the bridge; but things did not seem to go -well with the boys below, for instead of at once assuming command of our -ship the pilot again turned his attention to the boys. He now followed -up his first harangue by a supplement in very angry tones, evidently -out of patience with the poor little fellows, who, much excited, could -not seem to keep their boat from sheering at a dangerous angle, with her -bow against the side of our ship. A quick flash of resentment toward -that dusky pilot spread from one to the other of us as we saw how -panic-stricken the boys were, and how as our ship suddenly put on a -bigger head of steam the little boat alongside had become unmanageable -and was in imminent danger of being sucked under our side. To prove that -he was powerless to prevent disaster, after incessant yells from his -father, the lad in the stern-sheets of the boat jumped to his feet and -flung out with tragic despair his two hands, in each of which he held up -the fragments of a broken tiller. Then in all the languages of our ship -the boys are howled at to let go. Already their narrow boat is beginning -to careen dangerously against the side of our moving steamer. Not a -moment too soon they let go the rope, and their excited, high-pitched -voices sound strangely out of place as they rapidly drift astern of us -in the open sea. The pilot had evidently assured his boys that he would -look after them, for within a few rods of the harbour entrance a -loitering sail is hailed. To our tremendous relief we follow the rescuer -until we see that a tow is in progress, and then we feel better. - -As we approach the harbour, and at the entrance dodge into a channel -between yellow reefs plainly visible through the clear water, it is no -small thing to see our dear Stars and Stripes peacefully waving over -that relic of mediæval Spain, the venerable Morro of San Juan on the -bold headlands to our left; its wide-spreading fortifications, gray with -centuries and fast going to decay, running in walls and terraces far -above the sea. We throw our whole soul into the soft folds of that flag -with a deep sense of joy. There are among our company some with whom as -loyal Americans we cannot but feel restraint, owing partly to the -whisperings afloat that the aliens are envoys from his Majesty the -Emperor of Germany, bent on a mission not altogether that of pleasure. -However that may be, we are all the more moved to enthusiasm over our -flag when we are conscious of the lack of that sentiment among the -Germans. So when we are near enough to the fort to hear the wild cheers -of welcome issuing from every parapet and tower of that old pile, we -know no hounds and answer the welcome as you would have done had you -been there. Spontaneously "The Star Spangled Banner," started by the -boys on the fort, finds a hearty echo from our ship, and my eyes are -blurred so that the restless, shouting, singing boys on shore look dim -and indistinct. Yes, we are coming home. Uncle Sam owns Puerto Rico, and -I am happy to feel that here in the West Indies he has asserted his rank -among the nations of the world, and intends to make this colonial home a -sweet clean place for all of his children who wander upon Southern seas. -Some day this fair harbour will be filled with ships flying the Stars -and Stripes, and again our merchant vessels will be doing their rightful -share of the West Indian commerce. - -The way in which I found my love for those soldier boys expanding was -really wonderful. The sight of those old blue flannel shirts, those -faded Khaki breeches, those tossing felt hats aroused within me in this -strange tropical island unexpected waves of patriotism. There sprung at -once a dangerous leak in my affections, and had it not been for the -quiet pressure upon my shoulder of a strong hand I so well knew, who can -tell what might have happened? Even so, there was not a boy upon the -island but I could have mothered with my whole heart, and I could not, -however persistently that hand still lingered, quite stifle the upheaval -of that undying mother instinct. - -Although aware that Uncle Sam was fully alive to the great dower that -this island alliance would bring him, I must still believe that his -choice was not a little influenced by the actual charms of Puerto Rico -herself: that, however much he, a man of some years, might appear -indifferent to the allurements of lovely women, he is still like the -rest of his sex chivalrously bent upon fresh conquests. In this case let -us rejoice that he has been so fortunate, and that so pretty a face has -brought so much of real worth. - -Although, womanlike, acknowledging a deeper interest in our troops than -in anything else, I could not be indifferent to the city of San Juan as -we slipped past the reef at the entrance into the wide expanse of -harbour and dropped anchor opposite the beautiful landing quay. _El -Puerto Rico del San Juan Bautista_ (The Rich Port of St. John the -Baptist), as the Spaniards centuries before had christened her, opened -before us like a bespangled fan, and threw from her glittering white -walls the swaying efflorescence of stately palms. From the ancient fort -on the headland to the _Casa Blanca_ and the city beyond, it was a -progression of delicious sights and sounds. - - -II. - -Has it ever impressed you how rarely nature appeals to one's sense of -humour? She brings us infinite delights, but seldom cultivates in us our -faculty of laughing. But down here off Puerto Rico, she for once leaves -her beaten track of sobriety and indulges in the most extravagant -caprices. How she ever thought out such a ridiculous line of hills none -but Father Time could tell you; here her centuries of bottled-up giggles -have burst forth, and she has made herself the most outlandish head-gear -she could contrive, and here she stands, caught in the act of being -silly. From this distance I should say the hills are barren, save for -now and then a palm, which, dotted irregularly over the epidemic of -peaks, gives the hills the forlorn look of a mole on an old woman's -cheek. There is every size of these jagged, saw-tooth peaklets jumping -up in the air like so many scarecrows, and when our ship swings to her -anchor and leaves us broadside to Puerto Rico's shore, the little girls -and I enter into the joke and laughingly wonder how it ever happened. - -Then to match the distant landscape out came the Puerto Rican shore -boats with ridiculous little open hen-coop cabins aft, much like the -funny "summer cabins" affected by some New Jersey catboats--only more -so. There were no end of fine modern launches of all sorts darting about -us, some of them waiting for passengers, and others from our ships in -the harbour bringing officers and ladies aboard, but Daddy would have -none of them. He and the little girls are already under a hen-coop in -one of the miserable little boats and nothing will do but I must go too. -I protest, but to no avail. The stiff shore breeze makes prompt decision -necessary, and I creep down under the coop an unwilling passenger; I -would so much rather have been in one of the puffy boats. So off we go -heeling well to the breeze as our funny, high-slung lateen sail drives -us shoreward at a great rate. - -We were not alone under the hen-coop, for we had some Puerto Rican -musicians with us, and my qualms at the flying boat are actually -forgotten in the strange but fascinating music of those natives. They -carried not only the universal guitar of the usual form, but also a -funny little guitar not a quarter as big as the ordinary sort, and a -curious round gourd with shot or pebbles inside, which, attached to a -handle, they used as a rattle, and other gourds some eighteen inches -long, corrugated with many deep scratches, upon which they accented the -strong beat of the measure by scraping with a bit of wire in a most -dexterous manner. I can well imagine the contempt of some of our -European musicians for such music, but as for myself, although trained -in the most conservative of foreign schools, I could but acknowledge the -deep influence of these untutored artists, and yielded myself in -fascination to the weird rhythm of their music. Music to these peoples -is not a dreary taskmaster, as it is to many of their Northern brothers; -it is as necessary to them as is the outpouring sunlight, and they use -it with a freedom and comradeship and love which is unknown to us. My -senses are suffused with strange emotions of pleasure as I listen -dreamily to the lullings of the water, percolated through and through by -the cadences of low voices and the rhythmic repetition of single notes. -I was unreal to myself even after Captain B---- and his wife, friends -whom we half-hoped to meet in San Juan, had grasped our hands and led us -to an army coach near by. - - -III. - -Instead of being the dumping-ground for all the garbage of the city and -the location for unsightly warehouses, the quay at San Juan is a perfect -delight. I happened to-day to turn to a precious volume of Washington -Irving's "Life of Columbus." While reading along I came across a letter -in which the valiant discoverer endeavours to bring to his king some -conception of the beauty of his newly found lands; saying that he fears -his Majesty may have reason to doubt the veracity of his statements, for -each new island surpasses in beauty the one before; in fact that one -could live there for ever. Time cannot efface the noble bearing of -Puerto Rico, and although far, far removed from the picture which met -the eyes of her early discoverers, she is to-day not only from the -standpoint of the picturesque, but from the practical aspect of -cleanliness and order, a place to which every American may turn with -pride. - -[Illustration: BOAT LANDING AND MARINE BARRACKS, SAN JUAN - -Puerto Rico - -Copyright, 1901, by Detroit Photographic Co.] - -To find upon landing a noble water-front finely paved, relieved by -grassy quadrangles in which choice varieties of palms are set with the -unfailing intuition of the true nature lover, places one at once _en -rapport_ with the best things of life. Why, why are we of the North so -blind to the soul's necessity for beauty? Why are we so dumbly -indifferent to that craving? If we but looked deeply enough into the -psychological influence of beauty, we would be forced to recognise man's -necessity for its expression in public places. There is no city among -the Spanish-speaking peoples but has its restfully attractive plaza, -varying in beauty as the wealth of the community permits--a playground -and a club-house and a concert-hall in one for all the people. And when -my mind reverts in unwilling retrospection to the innumerable hideous -and barren cities large and small of our United States, it seems to me -that we are hopelessly lost in the fog of the common-place. If we -Americans were a poor people, there might be palliating circumstances, -but we are not poor, we have more wealth than any people on earth, and -surely a republic should give its equal citizens all the beauty and -pleasure possible. We are merely blind, that is all. Pray God that our -eyes may be opened and that right soon! - -In these islands the plaza, where the people live largely in the open -air, is the synonym for all that is congenial to the eye and soothing to -the ear, and this explains much of the enthusiasm which we starved -Northerners express when once within the satisfying influences of such -surroundings. - -Captain B---- and his wife are graciously willing to wait our pleasure, -while we linger idly content, but we must not trespass too long upon -their indulgence; so we enter the coach and rumble up the steep narrow -streets after four lustrous army mules. Our driver, a native Puerto -Rican, speaks to the mules in English, and ready with the explanation -before I could form the question, Captain B---- says: "Yes, the boys use -English, because their mules were brought here from the States, and of -course they wouldn't understand if the boys spoke Spanish to them." -Stopping for the passage of an army freight wagon, it seemed very -comical to me to hear those Puerto Rican lads "gee-hawing" to the sleek -American mules. - -If the politics of our American cities could be as well administered as -those of San Juan appear to be from the cleanliness and order of her -streets we would indeed have cause to rejoice. The streets of San Juan -were so clean that even the trailer of skirts might for once be forgiven -her lack of common decency. She could have walked the full length of San -Juan and not gathered up as much filth as she would in one block of one -of our Northern sidewalks. Such was the cleanliness of the place that -again and again we exclaim over the fine condition of the city; and -Captain B---- bore out our impression that Uncle Sam had done his -house-cleaning most effectively, and was now trying to maintain that -condition by educating a force of native police,--"_spigitys_," our -boys call them. - -As we were going through the Plaza we saw a great crowd on the far side, -gathered about a regular American "trolley-car," and wondering at their -enthusiastic demonstrations, we were told that this was the first trip -of the first electric car in Puerto Rico--a great step toward becoming -Americanised. - - -IV. - -We were in the Captain's hands, and although Sister and Daddy were -decorously unquestioning as to where we were going and what we were to -do when we got there, Little Blue Ribbons and I couldn't refrain from -asking, when we found ourselves clattering out of San Juan to the tattoo -of the hard little hoofs, if the Captain intended to drive us to Ponce? -"Oh, hardly, this evening," he laughingly replied. "I thought we would -merely take a spin out a way on the military road to give you a glimpse -of the country. The madam has planned a Puerto Rican dinner for you at -the Colonial, and afterward there is to be a concert on the Plaza." -"Simply fine," I said, "I do so enjoy trying the native bills of -fare" (but alas, for their after effects!). - -[Illustration: THE FIRST TROLLEY CAR IN SAN JUAN - -Puerto Rico] - -The military road, a beautiful macadamised highway, swept through a -country whose surface was richly covered with broad pasture lands where -many cattle were grazing. The plains were fairly peppered with -palm-trees, which, owing to their long trunks and pluming tops, -interfered but little with the pasture beneath. The military road is -fringed by these noble trees, at least as far as we go, and although now -to us a necessary feature in the West Indian landscape, I never weary of -their aristocratic grace. We must have gone some miles when the madam -suggested our return. A crack of the whip, a vociferous shouting to the -mules, and the coach faces right about with military precision for San -Juan. With many a bewildering twist and turn through the upper town, we -reach the Morro headland, and are glad enough to leave the coach and -throw ourselves into the deep grass, where we sit a long time looking -out to sea. - -Those of you who have been there know; those of you who have not, never -can know the loveliness of that far-spreading vision. No, not if all -the poets joined in one grand panegyric, you would never know what it -all meant. You would need to feel the dull booming of the sea against -the cliffs and hear the cool rattle of the palms crooning over the -children in the Casa Blanca; you must run your hands through the stiff -deep grass down to the earth which makes so sweet and so warm a bed; you -must throw back your face to the uplifting Northeast Trade; then you -will know what it means to sink down upon the green carpet of San Juan -and look out to sea. - -A veil dropped over the still water; the sea and sky melted into one -substance; then we arouse sufficiently to realise that the madam is -waiting. By this time San Juan had made ready for the night; we could -see the fitful flicker of her electric lights down near the barracks, -and here and there the dull red stare of an olden time street-lamp -swinging midway between the dark lanes which intersect the upper town -like long tentacles. - -[Illustration: THE MILITARY ROAD ACROSS PUERTO RICO - -Near San Juan - -Copyright, 1901, by Detroit Photographic Co.] - -We ran down along the sea-wall, under the lattice of the stately Casa -Blanca, and came into the city; turning abruptly to the left we were -about to follow the Captain up the steep street, when I was stopped -suddenly with my whole soul ablaze with wonder, for there on the top of -the hill, as if on the very stones themselves, there rolled a great -yellowish-green moon, and about it there fell a heaven splashed with -emerald and gold. There were green and yellow and strange hues of blue -all blending into a splendour which dazzled the senses and made one feel -dumb. I am so thankful that we saw the moon before dinner. I couldn't -have looked in the face of a green moon afterward, no, I could never -have done it. - -I beg of you to be as considerate of me as possible in your judgment. I -do not mean to be ungrateful to our dear hosts, or unkind or -disagreeable; but after that dinner, planned for us with so much care -and pride, all I could say was, "O Lord, have mercy upon us--miserable -offenders!" We had things to eat I had never dreamed of, and may I be -spared a recurrence of them in my future dreams! There were: - -Tomatoes and peppers. - -Pork chops, and peppers. - -Codfish, vegetables and peppers. - -Chicken and peas and more peppers and some black coffee and cheese, and -the sweetest sweets I ever tasted, with a final dessert of beans with a -sugar sauce. After dinner madam had chairs arranged on the balcony over -the Plaza. She led the way, and said the concert would be delightful in -the moonlight. But as the pepper and the various concoctions of grease -and greens and sugar and beans began to make themselves felt, I turned -my chair around, saying that I never could look at the moon any length -of time, especially a green moon. Then Sister gave me a despairing look -and turned her chair around too; gave my hand a hard squeeze, and -leaning over, said: "Mother, it's the peppers and sweet things; do you -think Daddy could get me some Jamaica ginger?" A whispered consultation -is held, after which the Captain and Daddy disappear, and then something -warm and comforting is fixed up for Sister and me, and we decide that -after all we will turn our chairs around to face the moon, but alas, the -inconstant creature had slipped on her black hood and was scurrying off -like a little fat nun. She was no more to be seen that night. - -But her displeasure does not affect the humour of San Juan, for by this -time the Plaza is filled with people making "_el gran paseo_" around and -around the square in true Spanish fashion. - -Meantime the Plaza is being filled with chairs--rocking-chairs--which -seem to spring up out of nothing. I never saw or expect to see so many -rocking-chairs in any one place. Here the "Four Hundred" sit, having -paid a small fee for the use of the chairs, and here they rock back and -forth and back and forth in endless waves until the music begins. Some -rock with the elegant ease of the portly _señora_ and others with the -sprightly jerk of the laughing _niñita_, and as seen from the veranda of -the Colonial, the eyes ache as they involuntarily follow the moving -crowds circling countless times around the improvised barricade of -oscillating chairs. But the music begins, the people are suddenly still, -and out over the luminous night, still eloquent of the retreating moon, -there fall the first notes. I know that it is rank heresy in me to -acknowledge to any race but the Germans a preëminence in musical -intuition; but I shall do so in spite of all the traditions of my youth. -I believe that if the Spanish-American races could be given the skill -and the knowledge to formulate their musical ideas to such an extent as -has come to the painstaking Germans by generations of grinding, we would -have greater music--and certainly more human music--than the world has -ever heard. The Puerto Rican, as well as the Mexican, the Cuban, the -Dominican, is the natural musician; he feels to his finger-tips every -vibration of sound he utters, and he makes you feel what he does. His -music is akin to that of the wild sea-bird, it is brother to the moaning -of the winds, to the wan song of the dusky maidens in the dance--to -dream sounds in cocoanut and palm-tree groves; it is life, moving, -quickening, pulsating life their music speaks, and without life, what is -the stuff we call music? - -"Thank you, thank you, you have given us an evening we shall never -forget. Shall we not see you in the morning? _Buenas noches._" - - -V. - -It was high noon as Little Blue Ribbons and I left the empty Plaza and -started out with grim determination to do our duty. The streets were -silent as the sun crept over our heads and sent its burning, -perpendicular rays through the white umbrella. But that was of no -consequence. We two had made up our minds to accomplish a certain -purpose, and when we make up our minds neither man nor weather can -prevail against us. We had been idle long enough. Time and time again we -had drifted to the time-ripened Morro. Days had gone by and we lacked -the energy to begrudge their inconsequential passing, but now a time of -reckoning had come. We would have no more such idleness. Little Blue -Ribbons and I had awakened on this particular day to a realisation of -our unperformed duty, and although detained through one pretext and -another all the morning, by noon we forswore further procrastination and -hurriedly left the Plaza before our good intentions could again be -lulled by inaction. - -[Illustration: INLAND COMMERCE - -Puerto Rico - -Copyright, 1901, by Detroit Photographic Co.] - -It was to the Square of Ponce de Leon we were going; and although not -sure of its exact location, we remembered a fine old church near by, and -that was our landmark. - -It is strange indeed what a web of dreams the past weaves about its -heroes, however recent their careers; but when the hand of time leads -us back to the remote events of centuries gone by, we are hopelessly -bewildered by the discordant wrangling between the real and the -improbable. - -Although the early companion of Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of -Florida and the intrepid voyager on many seas, the conqueror and the -first governor of Puerto Rico, and later the powerful and hated rival of -Columbus's son, Ponce de Leon's one unrealised hope, his tireless search -for the fountain whose waters were to contain the elixir of life, has so -over-shadowed his actual achievements by the glamour of the legendary, -that his very name has become the synonym for the stuff of which dreams -are made. Standing thus as the embodiment of the unattainable, the -knight errant of roseate hopes and undying aspirations, he has ever -been, in spite of the irascible humour given him by history, a figure -from whom none could wrest the talisman of romance. - -Where are his contemporaries, where are those greater discoverers, abler -rulers, better men who thronged these alluring waters during the two -generations of Ponce de Leon's eventful life? Dead, even in name, many -of them, or else safely embalmed in the musty pages of some old history -seldom read. But in him there was the spirit of the poet and the mystic, -which ever has and ever will appeal to the imagination of mankind and -through imagination attains immortality. - -Thus it suggested much to us to find his statue in San Juan and to have -heard some one assert with an air of authority that his bones rested in -the old church hard by; all of which bore incontrovertible testimony to -the fact of his having once been an actual living personality. So we two -decide without saying a word to any one that we will make a pilgrimage -to that church of the uneasy shades and prove for ourselves Ponce de -Leon's identity with fact. - -With a feeling of affinity for the doughty old cavalier, and with half a -sigh that I can never again lift my feet with the light-hearted grace of -the little maid at my side, we wander on through the deserted streets -until we come to the square of Ponce de Leon. It looked as it had -before, only much whiter, much brighter, and oh, so silent! The church -stood passively asleep; there were only the still hot rays reflected -into our faces from the sun-baked pavement. The same, and yet not the -same, was the empty square, for as we made nearer approach we found that -the pedestal upon which before the figure of Ponce de Leon had stood -with lofty bearing and haughty mien was now but a bare block of stone -glaringly white in the noonday silence with naught but the inscription -left. - -The figure was gone! "Can it be that we have been dreaming, that it was -never there?" I ask, in consternation. "No, Mother, surely not, I -remember perfectly well a statue was standing there as we drove through -only last evening." With a startled tremor I wish the place were not so -deserted, I wish some one would come, I dislike being so alone, and I -wish that we had Daddy with us. But pulling ourselves together with a -frightened glance over our shoulders, we pass the abandoned pedestal and -go toward the church, unquestioningly sure of safe sanctuary within its -open door. To our amazement we find it barred and locked. We try a side -entrance; that too is mysteriously fast; but hearing a faint sound, as -of retreating feet within, we venture a timid knock on the door. But -our rappings bring no response save a hollow echo and a momentary -cessation of the footsteps. - -Still hesitating as to our next move, we stand there in the white glare, -while a sensation of strange unreality creeps over us. Hesitating, but -still unwilling to relinquish the pilgrimage without further effort, we -spy an ancient iron-bound gate in the high stone wall adjoining the -cathedral. We try its rusty latch and find it unlocked. We cautiously -push it open. It turns heavily on great creaking hinges stiff from long -desuetude, and swings to after us as with an ominous sigh. - -We find ourselves in the secluded corridors of an ancient cloister. The -sun still lingers on a patch of green courtyard dropped in the midst of -the shadows, and up from the luminous verdure a cool fountain plays its -restful measure. An ancient sun-dial speaks of the deathless tread of -time, and in the deeper shade of a dark recess, on tables of venerable -age, huge volumes lay, on whose yellow pages were strewn adown the -wide-spread lines of the quaint Gregorian staff, the great square notes -of an ancient Latin chant. Then,-- - - "On a sudden, through the glistening - Leaves around, a little stirred, - Came a sound, a sense of music which was rather felt than heard. - Softly, finely it inwound me; - From the world it shut me in,-- - Like a fountain falling round me--" - -My hand is held close and with wide eyes Little Blue Ribbons asks if she -may drink at the fountain. Half-refusing, half-assenting, we are about -to draw near, when from out an opening door, whence seemed to come the -music, there appeared a figure bent in contemplation and wrapped in the -shadows of the past. It was so like the statue on the square without -that the one at my side gasps, "It is he, Mother, what shall we do?" and -shrinking spellbound, I hold the dear little hand, glad to feel the -human warmth of its pressure. With dread and yet with fascination I -watch the lone, sad, weary figure, as it were the phantom of old age -eternally unreconciled to the flight of youth. I watch while it moves -eagerly toward the fountain to lean forward and drink deep, deep, with -an insatiable thirst; and then with a hopeless sigh it paces back and -forth among the shadows. - -[Illustration: A RANCH NEAR SAN JUAN - -Puerto Rico] - -A bell clangs out the hour of one, and the great wooden gate swings open -of itself, while we two, much affrighted, slip unnoticed behind the -columns of the corridor into "the twilight gloom of a deep embrasured -window" which for long years had been sealed from the light by the gray -masonry of the ancient church. - -Even as we look the silent figure has vanished, and we are left there -with only the sound of the plaintive, ever murmuring fountain. - -Awed and silent, we creep from our hiding-place and drag open the -unwilling gate and once again we are out in the dazzling sunlight. - -There--wonderful to relate--on its pedestal was the statue as it stood -the day before, with outstretched hand and far-away look, scanning the -distant horizon where to his ever disappointed eyes was just lifting the -palm-fringed shore of that mythical island of Bimini, where at last -flowed the long-sought fountain of youth. - -Lest the unhappy shade again returning should seek sudden vengeance for -our bold espionage, we took our flight toward the Plaza, nor stopped to -breathe until again we found refuge in the crowded shops. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -CHARLOTTE AMALIE. ST. THOMAS - - -I. - -After the long stretches of ocean, you from the North will find that -there is something positively cosy about these dear islands. You tuck -your head under your wing with the parrots at night, off one island, -and, the next thing you know, it's morning, the sweet land-breeze steals -in through the port-hole, and you're up with the monkeys off another -island--perhaps more enchanting than the last. Why, it seems not half -the trouble going from port to port that it is to make fashionable calls -in the great city, and such a lot more fun. - -But speaking of parrots and monkeys: the only ones we have seen thus far -were some very solemn little creatures which have been brought to the -ship for sale,--poor captives, chained and unnaturally pious, sitting -alongside their black captors. - -We have not heard a single bird-note since leaving the North. Is it -possible that there are no song-birds here, and in fact no birds of -plumage left about the settlements? We fully expected the latter, but -not a glimpse have we had of them,--no, not even in the forest along the -Ozama, did we distinguish a single bird-note. Can it be that the -plume-hunters for our Northern milliners have ranged through all these -sunny islands? Ah, my friends of the feather toques and the winged -head-gear, what have we to answer for? It all seems so empty without the -birds where trees and flowers grow so gladly; just as if Nature's feast -were spread to empty chairs. After all, how fondly we do love that -particular expression of creation with which we are long familiar! My -heart reaches out in homesick yearning for the notes of our dear -Northern songsters. How brutal are the details of the "march of -civilisation!" - -From San Juan, Puerto Rico, to St. Thomas it was only a night's journey, -and I am sure, had we been so disposed, we might have touched some -other islands equally lovely on the way. But there must be some time for -rest,--even though Little Blue Ribbons said she did not want to sleep -(she knew she couldn't), and Sister thought it a great waste of valuable -experience not to make all the ports there were. Nevertheless, when -morning came and the sun was wide awake, I had no little trouble in -arousing the children. - -And now it came to pass that all those threatenings and fitful tears and -dire forebodings of the day before were simply whims and weather jokes. -The sea fell into a gentle calm, and on St. Thomas there never shone a -brighter sun or blew a sweeter breeze; and we realised that at last we -were under the lee of that smiling windbreak of the Caribbean--"The -Windward Islands." Getting our anchor early, we moved from our first -stopping-place, well out in the harbour, over to the wharves; where the -huge piles of coal rose up before the port-hole, with other ranges of -piles, like mimic mountains, farther on, while we were so close to the -dock that I could see the gangway being lowered, as I bent over the -sleepy little girls. - -[Illustration: THE HARBOUR - -Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas] - -"Look, children!" I said,--"look, wake up, you're losing so much!" And -they rub their pretty eyes and want to know what's the matter. - -"Here we are, dears, at St. Thomas, the coaling-station. Daddy is -waiting for us. I'll go up on deck. Send word by Rudolph if you want me -to help with the ribbons." - -So I hurried up the after companion stairs. Close to our side were the -mammoth piles of coal, from which we were to make requisition; off about -a mile to the other side of the great amphitheatre lay Charlotte Amalie -(the chief city of the Danish Islands), making for herself as beautiful -a picture as one could wish. We were in a superb harbour, with high, -dome-shaped hills embracing us on either side, and the little city of -Charlotte Amalie to the right of us on the beautiful slopes above, like -a white lady reaching out her jewelled hands in gracious welcome. -Whatever tales of buccaneer and pirate, of scuttled galleons, of buried -treasure, of maidens fair, of romance, I had ever heard, came hurrying -back to me in that delicious spot; and when the Castles of Bluebeard, -and that erstwhile king of pirates, Blackboard, came into view, it -seemed truly as if we ought to fly at our main-truck the black flag with -the skull and cross-bones, and run out the cold bronze nose of a -"long-tom" over our bulwarks, just to add the finishing touch. - -The little girls and I were simply determined to let romance run riot in -Charlotte Amalie. We would eat pomegranates and wear flowers in our -hair; we would dream dreams on Bluebeard's turret, and win into smiles -his villainous, wrinkled, old ghostship. But, firm as was our purpose, -it required no small effort to keep it uppermost in our minds. We -thought Daddy would certainly be dragged into the water before he had -engaged his shore boat. He was howled at, pulled at by the sleeves, -jerked at by the coat, by great roaring blacks, fairly gnashing their -teeth in impotent rage at Daddy's indecision. But who could decide in -such a mob? We were beckoned, at last, to come along, and picking our -way down the ladder, plumped ourselves into "Champagne Charlie's" boat, -leaving "Uncle Sam," "Honest William," "Captain Jinks," and a score of -others screaming a medley of imprecations and their own praises in a -mad scramble for the next victim. - -We were not only beset by those in the boats, but also by a swarm of -semi-amphibious imps,--not little imps by any means, but huge, muscular, -bronze Tritons, who pursued, with wonderful rapidity, "Champagne -Charlie's" catch, and clung to the gunwale of our boat, and dove -underneath and about us, wholly indifferent to our terror at the thought -of being capsized. They howled, they swore with Southern abandon because -we would not throw them pennies to dive for; and away off lay the little -White Lady--the beautiful Charlotte Amalie. What a naughty lot of -children she had! Daddy told "Charlie" that if he would not hurry us out -of that mob, he'd not get a penny for his trouble, and Daddy used -forcible English, too; for, strange to say, English is the common as -well as the official language of the Danish West Indies. But I must not -mislead you. It's not your English or my English they use; it's a funny -kind of jargon; a baby talk disguised by Scandinavian intonations and -besmirched by generations of African savagery. Sometimes you think you -understand it, and then you think you don't, and again you wish you -hadn't--so there you are. - -Well, "Charlie" is at last aroused and a few good strokes of his oars -free us from the vermin and bring us into less troubled waters. On the -way across the land-locked harbour we passed a Danish man-of-war, a -Russian frigate, a Venezuelan cruiser, a little schooner-rigged sailing -"packet," which carries the mail to other islands, and a number of -powerfully built trading schooners; still nearer shore, there was a fine -floating dry dock, where a very shapely little schooner--evidently once -a yacht--was out of water being repaired. - - -II. - -[Illustration: HILLSIDE HOMES - -Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas] - -As we stepped on land and walked up under the shade of mahogany and -mango trees, while the boatman's fees were being struggled with, it -seemed to me that I had never walked in so clean a street, or stood in -such delicious shade. Oh, it was so clean and cool and beautiful! The -macadamised streets were sprinkled and moist, the houses were all -white and green, hugged close by high-walled gardens overflowing with -flowering vines,--in particular that marvellous _Bougainvillia_, which -flourishes in such triumphant splendour over these tropic walls; and -everywhere the odours were sweet. The sky, as it glistened through the -heavy, glossy mangoes, was as blue as blue can be, and the women -carriers of water moved with rapid, noiseless tread, bearing their -burdens upon their turbaned heads, and the little children offered us -flowers. I find, as I write, that my mind constantly reverts to the -cleanliness of the place. First, I said: "Oh, how charming!" and then, -"Oh, how clean!" but, before I proceed further, you should be told that, -the widely followed example of Spain--mother of the picturesque--is not -responsible for this delightful condition of things, for in the -Spanish-speaking islands, alas! it is otherwise! - -Just here I must make a confession. I couldn't tell you of the petty -blemishes on the time-furrowed brow of wonderful old Santo Domingo--no, -I could not, for there were those tears that for centuries had worn -their cankering way across the face of the weary old Mother -Church,--and then the long-suffering bell, and the tired, sad-faced -sun-dial! No, I could not tell you then; and now that the memory of -those tears comes to me again, I hardly feel it in me to confess to you -after all. No, I never can! Those half-forgiven regrets could be told -only to the dispassionate bells of the City of the Holy Sunday; you -shall never hear them. - -Yes, Charlotte Amalie's face was clean. She wore a fresh pinafore and a -green frock, and her bonnet was pink and starry white; and she was very -prim and quiet, was the Lady Charlotte, despite her merry, laughing -eyes. But the little lady has a funny lot of children. She doesn't mind, -though--not she. She folds her hands, and shakes her pink and white -bonnet, and makes no apology. A funny lot of children she has indeed: -blond pickaninnies and black babies,--black whites with kinky hair and -white blacks with straight hair, all higgledy-piggledy, and they all -speak a blond pickaninny's language. Charlotte Amalie herself, when in -state, speaks real English, and some of her officials Danish and French, -as well. Her little daily paper, which came to us wet from the -press,--_Lightbourn's Mail Notes_,--was printed in English; so you see -her ladyship knows the real world-language when she sees it, even if she -is a foster-child of Denmark and burdened with the everlasting curse of -Ham. - -[Illustration: IN CHARLOTTE AMALIE - -St. Thomas] - - -III. - -While some of the party were writing postal cards and letters in a cool, -flowery retreat, reached by devious shady passages and looking out into -an open court, known as a post-office, I strolled up the quiet street to -the first turning, where the cross road came to an abrupt, but very -beautiful end in a little white chapel, sheltered by waving palms. There -seemed to be but one main street, which followed the shore awhile and -then went loitering off up the hill in a most indifferent manner. - -The houses, with one story in the rear and two in the front, were built -on the hillside, so that the chapel before me--well up on the slope--was -approached by a long flight of stone steps. Snow-white columns upheld -the simple portico, and the royal palms rose higher and higher from one -terrace to another, their regular trunks like stately shafts of stone, -until their warm plumes met over the golden cross. The picture, with -chapel and palms and terraces and flowers and delicately wroughtiron -gateway, was so compact, that it seemed as if some one just a little -bigger than myself might tuck the whole affair right into a pocket for a -keepsake. - -Turning slowly about to look for the children, I glanced through the -half-open blinds of a house on the corner, and there met a pair of very -engaging eyes, which besought me in the universal language, to come in -and see what there was for sale. The eyes belonged not to a maiden, but -to a tiny, stoop-shouldered Spanish-Danish-English woman, who fluttered -about in great excitement at the prospect of a sale. Strangers do not -drop from the sky every day in these remoter of the West Indies. I -bought a piece of needlework, and my change, in St. Thomas silver and -Danish copper, was brought me by a regal old negress, in a voluminous -red calico gown, standing out like the "stu'nsails" of a full-rigged -ship, flying as her proper colours aloft, a brilliant green and yellow -bandanna. My! but she was tall--six feet, it seemed, and she smiled all -over her face with the meaningless good-nature of her race. What teeth -she had left were glistening white. By the way, why is it that on these -islands you find so many women, and not necessarily old women by any -means, but girls from fourteen up--both white and black--with many of -their teeth gone? Has the American dentist yet untrodden fields? - -Black Susan salaamed me out, and seeing Daddy and the little girls ahead -of me, I followed the clean--I repeat, clean--narrow street, as it wound -up the well-tilled hillside to "Bluebeard's Castle." - - -IV. - -It was a long, hot walk, that climb, in spite of the good breeze and the -white umbrella's shade, and we stopped a number of times on the way up -to cool ourselves, and, incidentally, to envy the carriage of the brisk -and leathery old women, who came striding past us up the hill, with -great water-cans on their heads and water-jugs in their hands, stolidly -indifferent to the hot sun and the heavy burdens they were carrying. It -comes to me now that I did not see a young negress in the whole town, -but this was explained on our return to the ship. - -It was next to impossible to be keen enough to appreciate fully the -remarkable vegetation and flowers and animal life all about us. The -flowers seemed hung at the wrong end, and all the vegetable world -strange and topsy-turvy; even some insects that we saw seemed quite -outlandish. For a long time, as I sat between two rusty old cannon, -dangling my feet with most awful irreverence over Bluebeard's fortress -wall, I kept my eye on an old bumblebee--a black and yellow pirate that -bumbled of the peaceful present and the strenuous past; but even the -every-day bumblebee was twice as big as he had any right to be, and he -had the deep-drawn drone of a sleepy country parson. Then, just as the -bumblebee hummed himself out of sight into the heart of a deep red -_hibiscus_ nodding its heavy head at me from the top of the wall, out of -the mouth of one of Bluebeard's piratical cannon there peeped two -shining, yellow eyes in a little green body, and they stared at me, and -I stared at them, each most curious about the other, until the -inspection became rather embarrassing, and I rapped on the rusty, -weather-worn old murderer, and away scampered Mr. Eyes, back with the -ghosts and memories--all dying together. A little green lizard, with -life for a wee bit of awhile; an ancient cannon of curious shape, -rusting, but outliving a little longer; a great gray rock underneath, -disintegrating piece by piece, going back again into the universe; and -an immortal soul in a human body; are we all part and parcel of the same -cosmic dust? - -Twenty cannons dropped into the heavy embrasured masonry of Bluebeard's -wall looked down with grim irony upon a pious, self-complacent, -twentieth-century gunboat, entering thus unchallenged their own waters. -Whether it was the lizard rustling among the grasses inside the cannon, -or whether it was a reawakened pirate's ghost, I shall not venture to -assert; but there certainly came to me a whisper which translated itself -into the most disdainful reproach of our much-vaunted humanitarianism. I -tried to explain to this little voice that nowadays we had reduced the -killing of men to a science; that it was less painful to be blown to -pieces by dynamite shells from a torpedo-boat than to be hacked to -pieces by a pirate's cutlass, therefore, more honourable, and that -fighting was still necessary because diplomacy was too young to be -weaned. But from certain mysterious sounds, very like the chucklings of -an old man, I thought best to beat a retreat. Besides there were Daddy -and the little girls waving to me from the top of the sturdy old -watch-tower, so I gathered my umbrella, hat, and basket, and put to -flight the flock of geese which had been examining my umbrella with -long-necked curiosity. They, little caring for the sanctity of my -far-reaching thoughts, went hissing and squawking down the hill in a -most irate humour. I took a long breath, pinched myself to get awake, -and started up the steep tower steps. - -[Illustration: CHARLOTTE AMALIE FROM "BLUE BEARD'S CASTLE" - -St. Thomas] - -From the top of this tower of "Bluebeard's Castle" (kept in repair by -the Italian consul, whose residence is here), one could look out across -the pretty town to the rival fastness of old "Blackbeard," crowning -another hill of surpassing beauty. A road, white and smooth and shaded -with palms, clung caressingly about the white-crested bay, and I longed -to follow it. Yonder another road struggled up a hillside, through -sugar-cane and fruit-trees, and tumbled off somewhere on the other side. -I longed to follow that one, too. Another, white and edged with -tamarinds and oranges, wandered off somewhere else, and I wanted to go -there. But the last carriage had clattered off, and it was too hot to -walk "over the hills and far away;" so, after a long quiet feast of the -glory about us, we leisurely made the descent, and were again among the -cannon crowning the ancient parapet. We strolled along down the steep -winding highway, stopping now to trim our hats with flowers, gathered -with much difficulty from behind a prickly hedge, and then to look with -rapture upon the scene below, and again to talk about it all. The sun -beat down upon our heads, but we did not mind that, for the cooling -breeze came up from the sea, sweetly and gently, as if it loved us, and -the mountains and the earth were oh, so richly clad, and the eyes so -content with seeing and the nostrils so glad with the fragrant air! - - -V. - -I wondered then why we Americans should not settle the matter at once -with Denmark. As I understand it, there were negotiations for the -purchase of these islands approved by General Grant, then President, in -1867; but, for some reason, the proposed treaty with Denmark was not -ratified by Congress, and the little island was forgotten; but since the -recent growth of our navy and the necessity for its constant care of the -Caribbean Sea, and especially now that we seem destined to become -sponsors to an Isthmian canal, the island of St. Thomas comes again to -the front as one of the most desirable possessions the United States -could have in these waters. The harbour of Charlotte Amalie is so -protected by mountains and guarded by bold islands, with deep water -inside, and an unimpeded channel from the sea, that, with sufficient -fortification, it could be made absolutely impregnable, a West Indian -Gibraltar, and at the same time a most valuable and protected station -for naval supplies, docks, and the like. - -[Illustration: ON THE TERRACE - -Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas] - -I do not believe in war, battle, or bloodshed, but I do most forcibly -believe in the present necessity for our policy of expansion,--not alone -because of the advantage to ourselves, but as well for the good of the -yet unborn West Indians; and if we can extend our power through -diplomacy and peaceful measures, I should be glad to see "Old Glory" -floating over all the Greater and Lesser Antilles, provided--and this is -the terrible _if_--that the present mixed and degenerate population -could be miraculously reformed or removed. - -In the case of Charlotte Amalie, there seems to be among the educated -middle classes a sincere desire for American supremacy, and, although -there is some opposition--largely sentimental--from leading Danes, the -only important points that have arisen seem to be the question of how -much we are to give, and whether certain influences in Denmark will -permit the confirmation of a treaty for the transfer of the islands to -the United States. I was told that the price suggested was somewhere -about $5,000,000. This, I presume, does not include the rest of the -Danish possessions among the Virgin Islands; but, while we are -interested, why not take in the whole family; St. Thomas, St. John, St. -Croix, and the other small islands adjacent? - -Will the Germans try to block our acquisition of this group? The -Kaiser's subjects talk fair enough, but they unquestionably want St. -Thomas--and who knows? - -All through this day our fellow passengers, the German officers, were -very busy making photographs and writing notes, and their interest even -went so far as to lead to the suggestion by one enthusiastic Teuton that -some day the German flag would fly over this beautiful harbour--but that -was a slip of the tongue, and no doubt he would gladly have recalled the -hasty remark a moment later. - -There is truly no limit to the possibilities of these islands, if only -the natives can be taught the value of their soil and the Adam-given -necessity of labour. Here the mango grows; the mahogany, tamarind, -guava, orange, lignum vitæ, cypress, bay, cocoanut, pomegranate, fig, -and palms of all varieties--rare woods and rich fruits. Vegetables would -grow more freely if only tilled and encouraged a bit. The export for -which St. Thomas seems famous is its bay rum, made from the bay leaves -and berries, brought mostly from Lesser St. John's Island, and distilled -in great stills well-nigh filling the fragrant cellars of several of -Charlotte Amalie's largest establishments. - -[Illustration: COALING OUR SHIP - -Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas] - - -VI. - -"I'll give you a quarter if you'll throw Mary in!" shouted one of the -passengers from the rail of our ship to a great powerful negro, the -bully among bullies of a crowd of blacks which swarmed as thick as bees -on the pier close to our moorings. - -"Mary" was one of several hundred negro girls who had been coaling our -ship since early morning. All day long, the endless procession of -short-skirted, straight-backed, flat-hipped, bare-legged, bandannaed -negresses, carrying on their heads the baskets of coal to be emptied -through the coal-chutes or into a barge, had gone on amidst deafening -roars of laughter, insane oaths, and noiseless tread. The barge, when -filled, was towed alongside the vessel and unloaded into our starboard -coal-bunkers. The port bunkers were filled direct from the dock by -similar baskets of coal dumped into the port coal-chutes. - -We were watching the black children from the deck, and Paterfamilias -turning to me, said, in a wholly justified tone: "There, now, my -reformer, you see a practical working example of equal rights for women! -It means equal or greater labour, as well, and a sad breaking down of -all womanliness. The women do the work and the men loaf around at home -to spend the money." "Do you mean to infer, my dear, that if we women in -America had equal suffrage, you men would stay at home and wait for the -money we earn? Surely I'd never believe it of our American men--never!" - -Whatever other men would do, the negroes of St. Thomas certainly did not -do the work, as far as we could see. There were a few fellows who helped -with the barge, and who handled the shore boats, but the heavy loads -were borne on the heads of the women, and they appeared to be in every -way equal to the occasion. We were witnessing a marvellous exhibition of -endurance, for the sun was by no means gentle, and the baskets of coal -weighed well up toward a hundred pounds each, but they were carried with -the ease of so many feathers, with a light, active step, from morning -until evening, without cessation. - -"Throw her in and I'll give you a quarter!" Mary was a young girl, black -as night, with a hard, cruel, unsmiling face, and the restless watching -eyes of a wild animal. She, too, had been carrying coal all day, and -when her work was done, she, with some fifteen or twenty others, had -followed along the dock to the ship's bow, where pennies were being -tossed to the pier by some of our plethoric passengers. A coin would fly -through the air, drop on the pier amidst a scrambling, wriggling pile of -howling negroes, with legs and arms and heads in a hopeless heap. Mary -fought well; she already had a mouthful of pennies; she was as swift as -thought, and as merciless of the others as the unfeeling elements. It -was easy to see that she was a match for any man in the crowd, and it -was easy, too, to see that, when the promise of "a quarter"--a mighty -pile of money to those poor children--was held out to the one who should -throw her into the water, there was more willingness to get the money -than to approach Mary. She knew enough English to take in the situation, -and stood there on the pier, not ten inches from the edge, with her bare -arms folded, her thin, powerful legs tense, her head thrown back with -defiance in its motionless poise, her fierce eyes rolling from side to -side, watching for the first who would dare approach her. - -One more word from the ship, and Mary was caught around the waist by a -black giant who had been waiting his chance. In an instant, she seemed -to grow a foot taller. She made a plunge for the man's throat,--bent him -down, down, down, with her eyes fiercely terrible; and there she held -the unhappy creature until he begged for mercy, and amidst cheers from -Mary's admirers, slank away out of sight. Her spring was so sudden, so -silent, so fierce, that I could not think of her as being human; she was -more of the wild beast than one of her Ladyship's children. And yet we -cheered for Mary, too, and she it was who won the quarter. - -I wish the Lady Charlotte would look after her children better. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -MARTINIQUE - - -I. - -There are so many different ways of seeing things--I suppose as many -ways as there are souls to see; and yet, in a measure, one can -generalise these many ways under two great heads. Just as we call the -infinite variations of light, from the first bird-note of breaking day, -through all the changing fancies of brilliant sun and wandering -clouds--as we call it all day; and the wonders of darkness, night; so -can our ways of seeing things be generalised under two great heads. -There is the orthodox, scholarly, scientific way, and there is the -heterodox, unscholarly, and unscientific way. Following the law of -compensation, there is much to be said on both sides. If the mind is -fully prepared, through study and research into the nature of the -object to be seen, one has the satisfaction of viewing it as one would -the face of an old and familiar friend. On the other hand, when the mind -greets the object to be seen, unprepared, in an absolutely unprejudiced, -plastic state, it has all the delight of surprise, enthusiasm, and -novelty, over a newly acquired possession. And none will deny that this -unscholarly, unprepared way of seeing things has its merits. In -travelling where the countries visited are interesting mainly from an -historical standpoint, no doubt much would be lost to the traveller -whose knowledge of the background for his picture is indistinct; in that -case, truly, the scholar is the one whose enjoyment should be keenest. -On the other hand, where the charm of a place lies largely in its -picturesque beauty, in its possibilities of surprise, through novel and -curious phases of life, I believe that the traveller who is wholly -unprepared has pleasures in store for him equalled only by the exquisite -and spontaneous enthusiasms of childhood. - -This long preamble is not so much to explain the two ways of seeing -things, as it is to console myself for having known so little of the -West Indies before starting on this cruise. There is no use in trying to -appear wiser than one is, because, before one knows it, along comes some -one who does really know; out flashes the critical knife, and off -vanishes that beautifully flimsy wind-bag into thin air. For instance, I -might have stood complacently unmoved when the great mountain peaks and -the sleeping volcanic craters of Martinique rose in green majesty from -the Caribbean Sea, and I might have said: "Why, certainly, that is just -as I expected!" But I did not say so, because I had not expected such -mountain peaks in the West Indies, though somewhat prepared by the -islands we had thus far seen. - -Once on a time I had a very charming picture in my mind of the West -Indies, but, charming as it was, it was not the real islands as I have -found them; and ever since having known the reality I have been trying -to revitalise that former picture and compare it with the genuine -impressions; but I find it of so ephemeral a nature that I can scarcely -recall it. All I remember is, that I expected to find the islands low -and flat, and mostly of a coral formation. Some of the islands are -indeed of this nature, but comparatively few. As we sailed under sunny, -cloudless skies, over a brilliantly blue sea, the monarchs of the -Caribbees arose one by one in glorious majesty; and especially these -Windward Islands, a great windbreak to keep out the big Atlantic, with -Martinique the crowning summit. At times, single gigantic rocks, the -homes of sea-birds, lonely and desolate, stood out from the deep; and -then great ranges of mountains, covered to the summit with densest -foliage, lifted themselves to the sky many thousands of feet. It is said -with authority that, on these islands--particularly on St. -Vincent--there still survive some of the ancient Caribs, the aboriginal -West Indian race, no doubt descendants of those brave Indians so harried -and murdered by the early Spanish explorers. In Martinique, the mixture -of Carib blood is still apparent, showing, even through generations of -negro pollution, in many a coppery skin, wild fierce eye, and proud head -with straight black locks. - -To me it seemed that Martinique is an epitome of the whole West Indies. -In appearance, in products, in people, in history, it might taken as -the highest type of these garden isles, once enjoyed by vast tribes of -pure-blooded and self-respecting savages, but now held by the -conglomerate descendants of all colours and all nations. - - -II. - -Now had I been more familiar with the rare though limited treasures of -West Indian literature, I would not have marvelled at the glorious -mountain summits of Martinique that day we came to picturesque St. -Pierre; I might have said to my companion: "Ah! here they are, quite as -I expected; old, old friends; little white city, square cathedral tower, -narrow, hilly streets; above and beyond little irregular fields--all -hanging to the mountainside as they should!" But, instead, I stood -fairly on tiptoe in the bow of our great ship, as she cut through -high-running waves, with my hair blowing in a thousand directions, -grasping for an impish pin to gather up as much as was amenable to -reason, marvelling with all my senses at the approach to Martinique, as -the dim mountains, coming nearer and nearer, were humanised by the -habitations of men. - -We four were there together. Sister's curls were a flutter of gold in -the low afternoon sun, and her sweet gray eyes were straining far ahead -at the slopes of Martinique; Little Blue Ribbons clung to Daddy's strong -hand, while she leaned over the bow to watch the laughing foam dance up -to kiss her pretty lips. How good it was to have them with us!--the two -little girls--so keenly joyous in all the new marvels of sea and land. -If Laddie had only been there, too--But for the other three boys, far -off in our warm Northern nest, I had no longings. With them aboard, life -on the ship would have been one vanishing streak of six black-stockinged -legs, with an avenging Mother in pursuit from dawn till evening. - -[Illustration: THE SUGAR MILL NEAR ST. PIERRE - -Martinique] - -Now, whether it happened while I was trying to pin my hair together and -could see nothing, or whether I was so absorbed with the great wonders -that lesser ones failed to attract me, or whether it came by magic, I'll -not say; but at all events, in less than no time after we had taken our -pilot aboard, the sea seemed to be alive with innumerable small sailing -craft. I would look out toward Martinique on the port bow, and see -what appeared to be the crest of a combing wave,--for the "Northeast -Trades" were blowing fresh, and we were not yet under the lee of the -island--a second more and this same white crest would change into a -sail, darting off, close-hauled, into the wind, as swiftly as a pelican -plunging at his prey. These materialised wave-crests continued to appear -until I counted over thirty of them on all sides of us, on the same -tack, making for land; low, narrow fishing-boats, coming in with the -day's catch. These were replaced, as we finally made port and dropped -anchor, about three-fourths of a mile from shore in an open bay or -roadstead, by a horde of little canoes, filled with chattering, -copper-coloured natives, who came swarming out to us, each in a single -boat, except a few who shared some larger canoes, and each arrayed in a -bit of loin-cloth. These remarkable natives were so interesting to us -all that I cannot resist giving you a description of their -peculiarities. - -As I told you, I came to the islands sadly lacking in information -regarding the island of Martinique or the city of St. Pierre. I knew a -little about it, to be sure; I knew that the Empress Josephine--the -beautiful and unfortunate wife of the great Napoleon--was a creole from -the shores of this island; I read in our West Indian guide-book -(fortunately a very tiny affair) that Martinique is 43 miles long and 19 -miles wide; that it has a population of 175,000; that its mountains rise -to the height of some 4,500 feet; that the annual rainfall is -great--some 87 inches; that the mean temperature is high, about 81 -degrees; that the soil is rich and readily responds to cultivation; that -the island was discovered by Columbus in 1502 (or in 1493, as some say), -and settled by the French in 1635; that the belligerent English had, at -different times, interfered in its peaceful life, capturing it first at -the end of the Seven Years' War, and subsequently holding it for two -periods covering a considerable part of the Napoleonic wars; that it had -been occasionally frightened by volcanic eruptions from Mont Pelée, and -more often shaken by earthquakes; all of which sounds very much like an -encyclopedia, in fact all of these historical data were copied word for -word from our guide-book, which I took down at Daddy's dictation. It -is really all his fault. He said I was not definite enough; that people -wanted facts, not tinselled trivialities, so I acquiesced: "Very well, -read it off," and there it is. You see how it sounds. I don't like it -myself, but some people may. - -[Illustration: COMING TO WELCOME US - -St. Pierre, Martinique] - -There was one fact about Martinique which was worth more to me than all -the data put together. I had a servant--a French woman--who for years -took care of the children. - -Once upon a time she had lived in the household of the Governor of -Martinique, after he had returned to Paris; and she had darned his -stockings; think of it! My good Elise had darned the stockings of the -Governor of Martinique, and many a time she had darned mine! Wasn't that -enough to establish a lasting bond of interest between Martinique and -the wanderer from the North? - -But these dark things in the water--where do they belong? Elise and the -Governor of Martinique's stocking could never help us settle that -question. As I said, they swarmed about the ship like so many insects. -They were an entirely different type of people from the black imps of -St. Thomas. - -At St. Thomas the native was quite as ready with his guffaw as he was -with his oaths. He was a big African animal, black as coal, with the -flat nose and heavy lips, with all the idiosyncrasies we know so well; a -somewhat exaggerated, wilder, freer type than the Ethiopian we meet in -our Southern States. But these natives of Martinique were altogether -different from the blacks of St. Thomas. Their bodies were often of the -most beautiful copper colour, verging on red; their features were -regular, and in some cases rather attractive,--rare cases these, -however; their expressions were fierce and saturnine, even in the -youngest children of eight or ten years. They had to a marked degree -that animal trait of fixing their eyes upon an object and never leaving -it until what they wished had been granted them. - -These swarms of men and boys had come out to dive for coins--silver -preferred--and how had they come? Mostly in slender canoes, some seven -to ten feet in length, varying in dimensions according to the size of -the occupant, one boy in each canoe. These flimsy shells were about a -foot to fifteen inches wide, and six or eight inches deep, made of thin -boards or even the rough sides of light packing-cases skilfully joined -together and payed up with pitch. They were flat-bottomed, sharp at both -ends and barely wide enough for the single occupant to sit in, and -without seats, oars, or paddles. In what one might call the bow--if bow -there is to such a craft--the low sides were bridged over and boxed in -underneath, with a narrow slit in the top of this tiny locker into which -to drop the captured pennies. This was the diver's bank, where he -deposited his capital after his mouth was too full to hold more. In lieu -of paddles, he had a bit of thin board about the size of a cigar-box -cover in each hand; sometimes this artificial fin had a loop to fit back -of the hand, and sometimes the little fellows would use only their hands -to paddle themselves about, sitting well down, leaning forward, darting -rapidly through the water. Meanwhile some bigger boys and men appeared, -two or three together, in larger skiffs propelled by oars or paddles. - -The divers whisk in and out among the host (for there were also other -larger boats now come from shore to see us) with marvellous skill, and -when we toss a coin into the clear sea, away go the paddles and boats, -and down go a half-dozen copper-coloured bodies, each making for the -same shining point, and all we can see for awhile is several pairs of -whitish soles gleaming under the water, and sometimes the short turmoil -of a fight below the surface; then up comes a sputtering heathen with -the coin in his hand, to show he has found it. Into his mouth it goes -and then off he chases for the abandoned canoe, which by this time is -full of water and looks a hopeless derelict. But that is nothing to this -semi-aquatic creature, for he grasps the two sides of the boat, gives it -a dexterous roll and lift combined, emptying most of the water, bails -out the rest with a rapid movement of his hands, throws his body across -the canoe and is inside before it has time to capsize. - -[Illustration: LOOKING FROM THE DECK OF OUR SHIP - -St. Pierre, Martinique] - -These boys and men gave us a most remarkable exhibition of swimming. For -the consideration of a little silver, they even dove under our steamer -amidships, coming up on the other side in about the same time that it -took us to walk across the deck. It must be remembered, however, that -these divers do not go to the bottom for the coins, as we are often -led to believe by traveller's accounts; they dive underneath the coins -and catch them as they go zigzagging toward the bottom. It would be -well-nigh impossible, so I am told, to recover a coin in thirty-five to -fifty feet of water, even were it not very difficult and dangerous for a -swimmer to reach the bottom, on account of the pressure of the water at -that depth. - -During the entire performance, the shouting was continuous, at times -almost deafening, and yet not a sign of laughter or merriment with it -all. They were fearsome creatures, these divers. With no very great -stretch of the imagination, I could picture a cannibal feast with these -very men the chief actors. Their fierce looks were unlike those of any -human being I had ever seen. They suggested at once the ancient -inhabitants from whom the Caribbean Sea has taken its name. - - -III. - -After our ship's papers had been duly passed upon, the process of -disembarkation began, and although late in the afternoon, we were all -most eager to land and see the charms of Martinique at closer range, -and, incidentally, to post our letters. We anchored as I said, quite a -distance out, which was rather a surprise, for as we approached the -shore we saw that sailing craft of all sizes and descriptions, from -sloops to full-rigged ships, were moored within a hundred yards or so of -the levee, with anchors ahead from each bow, and stern-lines out to -shore. This was a most unusual sight in an open roadstead. It was partly -accounted for by the fact of there being deep water close up to the -shore, but principally because St. Pierre is in the latitude of the true -northeast trade-winds, which at this season are as sure as the rising of -the sun, and this harbour is on the leeward side of the island, and thus -smooth and protected. - -We had been sailing under the beneficent care of the trade-wind for many -days now, without fully appreciating it, and it was only when the daring -of these trading vessels was explained, that we realised why it was that -they had nothing to fear from contrary winds, or from the danger of -being blown on the rock-paved beach. - -[Illustration: THE HARBOUR AND SHIPPING - -St. Pierre, Martinique - -Copyright, 1901, by Detroit Photographic Co.] - -Some years ago, at home, I was quarantined with a case of fever, and -I recall most vividly my demand for suitable literature, paper bound, -something that could be burned up if necessary; and I can yet see the -amused expression on my nautical husband's face as he handed me volume -after volume of sea stories. I had no choice in the matter; I read my -books and ate my food as it was handed me, and asked no questions. Now, -long years after, in the harbour of St. Pierre, with brig and -brigantine, and bark and barkentine safely moored to the levee, the -charm and fascination of those delightful sea yarns comes stealing over -me once again, and I can appreciate how surely the mariners must have -counted upon the time when the trade-wind would rise and carry them on -their course. Steady and hearty it blows. At ten or eleven o'clock of -the morning, the heat of the tropics lifts its hat to the "Doctor" as -the natives call the trade-wind. At six o'clock it bids him good night. -At eight o'clock, he calls again for the few hours of darkness, so that -both day and night are tempered by his salubrious presence. - -Our joy would now be complete if we could but see the Southern Cross, -for we had felt the rushing hurry and the firm caresses of the -Northeast Trades, and despite all our former indifference to the sea, -the mariner's spirit was surely asserting itself. - -It was at the close of a long, delicious tropical day that we four -stepped from the shore boat to the paved beach of St. Pierre, to the -beach where empty the clear streams of mountain water flowing down -through the streets of the town above. Had our coming been that of royal -guests, our hostess could not have been trimmer or neater. Sister left -us at the pretty white lighthouse right on the beach, and ran on ahead -to pick up an especially beautiful shell which she could not resist, and -we walked on along the street that follows the shore, under the shade of -the mangoes, until, when we turned to wait for her, she seemed to have -been caught into the very arms of the tower and held there for hostage. -To be sure, she was only arranging her shells in the basket, but she was -so quiet and the tower beyond was so old, old--so white and so -still--that I called to her in a kind of dumb terror at some impending -evil: "Sister, come, you must not loiter behind, keep with us!" - -[Illustration: THE LIGHTHOUSE ON THE BEACH - -St. Pierre, Martinique] - -It is possible that had our landing in St. Pierre been at noonday it -would not have been so ever-memorable. We might have felt industrious, -we might have thought we ought to see things and do things. But, ah! we -were spared that! It was at the drop of day when men do not work nor -women weep; and so we had nothing to do but follow where the people were -going, on beyond the little lighthouse tower dozing by the sea. - -The bells in the white church under the hill had been ringing as we -rowed toward shore, and it was not long before the church emptied itself -into the street, nor long before we were part of the happy worshippers -who scattered in every direction. St. Pierre arose from the very water's -edge. A row of substantial stone buildings shaded by wide-spreading -glossy mangoes stretched as far as I could see in the twilight. The -street made a turn away from the beach and the buildings followed after. -In the other direction it led to the church and then came to an end. - -But St. Pierre couldn't have built on a straight line had she wished to -do so. She has chosen a mountain for her home and she had to plan -accordingly. So she builds until her streets become a series of stone -steps, up--up--up; and then, when they finally run against a sheer wall -of rock, they stop going up and go round, for they seem to go on -indefinitely. - -But we were not to be baffled by stone steps, we only pushed on a little -more vigorously, and started the climb into St. Pierre to post the -precious letters which had been written under such stress of -circumstances. We went up and about, and found the post-office, just too -late to satisfy the demands of Martinique red tape; for the black -officials were still redolent of sealing wax as the last sack of -outgoing mail was closed; and what were we to do next? We were advised -to hunt up the American consul, and possibly he could, by special -suasion, find some way of caring for our letters. So we went on through -the clean, narrow stone streets, passing many a home which shone out in -the early twilight very enticingly, through the high gateways, down to -the consul's house, which we found barred and bolted for the night. - -[Illustration: THE STREET ALONG THE WATER-FRONT - -St. Pierre, Martinique] - -Oh, these comfortable American consuls of the tropics! They live among -flowers and palms, arise late and go to their town offices by noon; -then "business" grows dull and they bolt the office at three or four -o'clock and take flight to a gardened home, in some cool mountain -suburb, to rest from the wearisome grind of diplomacy. Would that we all -might rise to the _dolce far niente_ of an American consulate! But after -all we need them; for if our flag is now seldom seen in out-of-the-way -ports, who but the American consul will protect the wandering American? - -Two gentlemen, standing in a notary's office hard by the consulate, -explained that the ship _Fontabella_, which was to carry the mail, had -not yet arrived, and that perhaps our letters must go to New York by way -of Southampton. Then it was not too late after all. Why not leave them -in the box at the consulate? "Would they be sent?" we ask. An -affirmative reply decides us. What mattered a short delay? Those letters -couldn't be hurried however urgent their contents. They must wait for -the _Fontabella_ until she was ready, and when that time would be none -could say. What could be more romantic than to send our letters by this -fancifully named ship, however long her voyage, however indolently she -loitered in these fair seas; wherever she strayed she was still the -_Fontabella_. Who knows but some of her charms might miraculously sift -in through a rent in my package and breathe a spell upon my words? Ah, -_Fontabella_! Heaven bless you; and I stand sighing over the mysterious -music of a name! - - -IV. - -Do you remember a game we children used to play, which had this little -refrain? - - "Look to the East, - Look to the West, - And choose the one - That you love best!" - -We, too, were uncertain which way to choose, so we looked to the East, -and we looked to the West, and we chose the one that we loved the best; -it happened to be a side street up a very steep hill, beguiling us to a -broad avenue, evidently one of the approaches to the famous _Jardin des -Plantes_, of which our felicitous little pamphlet guide had made -particular mention. For fear lest, in our delight over the novel -experiences of the evening, I should forget to mention one feature of -St. Pierre peculiarly and distinctly unique, we'll stop for a moment to -look down the funny little street, up which we have just laboured. You -see on each side of the narrow pavement a deep stone gutter, two feet -deep and nearly as wide, down which plunges a constant torrent of light -bluish water, with the colour peculiar to all mountain streams; this -rush and tumble of water you will see not only in this street, but in -all the streets of St. Pierre. It gives one a generous sense of -well-being. You feel as if you might take a bath on Monday and Tuesday, -and all through the week, and the town would not be threatened with the -water famine that is ever hanging over one in some of these tropical -towns. How delightful for the children, too! - -It is a positive relief to my mind to have finished telling you about -those wayside streams, for, ever since our arrival in St. Pierre I have -been followed by the thought of them, until almost in a state of -distraction. Something was continually hammering into my ears: "Why -don't you tell about the aqueducts? Don't you know they carry down the -mountainside and into the city the finest water of the West Indies? Why -don't you give more information?" - -But now we may go on, and would you mind if we didn't try to learn one -bit of anything more for the rest of this beautiful evening? Is it not -enough to stroll idly on under the shadow of the mountainside, wild with -tangled vines and interweaving foliage, black as night and deep as the -sea? Would it cause you, in the rush of Western civilisation, a pang to -lean with us over this high wall above the city, and watch yon bark lift -her sails athwart the blood-red sun, merging his grandeur into the peace -of the ocean? Let us call her the _Fontabella_; to be sure the -_Fontabella_ is probably a matter-of-fact, puffy, old mail-steamer and -is not to arrive for days, but that's no matter. Yonder ship is our -_Fontabella_. We shall name her such, truly she is worthy the honour; -she is getting ready for sea; her sails rise slowly with the sleepy -yards and stand out in black relief against the iridescent sea of glory -about her; from afar comes the faint creak of her incoming -anchor-chains, and, as she rests there motionless, down drops the -sun, and a ship we shall see no more fades into the night. - -[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL AND WATER-FRONT - -St. Pierre, Martinique - -Copyright, 1901, by Detroit Photographic Co.] - -Stopping to inquire of a small boy if we are on the main highway, and -not on some path which may lead us either to destruction or to nothing -at all,--either of which events would be undesirable,--a well-dressed -man, of more than middle age, offers to give us the needed information. -We are so continually beset by volunteer "guides" of all classes and -colours, that we have of late grown most short in our rejection of -unasked-for advice; who knows how many angels we may have thus turned -away unawares? This evening, our new acquaintance not only tells us -where we are going, but calmly joins the party, and, taking the lead, -pilots us in spite of our protestations. He speaks the French of a -cultivated gentleman, and goes on leading the way and the conversation -most agreeably. And so we start along the Boulevard toward the public -gardens, which lie back of the town in a gorge of the mountain. - -We are followed by a half dozen or so children, who, for the most part, -stare at us very curiously, and then chatter among themselves in low -voices; I noticed that, as our self-appointed guide walked along, he was -continually knocking and poking with his long cane at stray bunches of -leaves which had fallen upon the road, and now and then he would let -fall a remark about "_les serpents_," which he said were often on the -road after nightfall. - -If there is one thing above all others upon this beautiful earth which -my feminine soul abhors, it is a snake; the very thought is chilling to -my blood! I had no intention of running any risk of an encounter with -serpents,--poisonous or otherwise,--if it could be avoided. Still we all -felt that this might be something similar to the rattlesnake stories -told to trusting travellers in our country, and fancied that our leader -shared the popular theory that we were gullible American travellers, who -supposed that all tropical forests were alive with venomous reptiles. - -By this time it was night, heavily black with the deepening curtain of -the mountain, hanging over us on one side, and the sombre shade of the -trees on the other. Curious sounds came from the undergrowth, and long, -low, melancholy whistles dropped from among the trees; heavy odours -hung their narcotic spells about us, and our leader, in his long frock -coat, was just visible as he strode ahead of us, sweeping the path for -serpents. - -Little Blue Ribbons was clinging to my hand, and her persistent whisper -begged me every minute to please not go any further. I called to Daddy: -"What's the use going any further? I want to go back. I don't see why we -have to follow this man if we don't want to." But Daddy's and Sister's -steps rustled among the leaves ahead, and Little Blue Ribbons went on, -whispering, and we all kept following. - -Taking courage, I skipped ahead of Sister, and caught up with our new -friend, and very gently expressed to him our wish that he reconduct us -to some place a little lighter and less deadly; but it didn't make the -least impression upon him; he simply went on and kept up a string of -talk about the wonderful Botanical Garden, whither he was leading us, -part of which I understood and part of which I didn't. "But," I -exclaimed, "we do not wish, desire, expect, or hope to see the Botanical -Garden in the night; we have not survived the perils of the deep to be -devoured by wild animals, or poisoned by reptiles, or slain by -man-eating Caribs, at this late day. All we want is to be peacefully -allowed to go home in our own way." But you might as well have talked to -yonder bark asleep on the breast of the ocean as to the grim back of our -black-coated companion. It was another case of the "Pied Piper of -Hamelin," and it would not have surprised me, such was the mood of the -night, and the mystery of the place, had he marched us up into the side -of Mount Pelée, hanging far above, and slammed the door in thunder -behind us. - -Lights--grateful, beautiful, heartening, most entrancing lights--finally -glimmered at the end of our long détour, and we were brought to the gate -of the Botanical Garden, which of course we did not enter, but, turning -into another way, followed the people who were coming down this road -from Morne Rouge into the city. It was remarkable to observe how the -conversation revived. We talked about the island and its people, of -their various occupations, their exports, their schools; we stopped to -lean over the walled-in river, to see through the dark the white -clothes drying on the rocks, like much-discouraged ghosts, and then we -became hilarious, and as we neared the possibility of food, passed jokes -and had a very jolly time. Then our friend--let us now call him -"friend"--said that he must leave, that we needed but to follow the road -ahead of us and we would reach the Grand Hotel; and he turned his way, -and disappeared,--a very tall attenuated figure in a long, black coat. - - -V. - -We hurried on, still in a state of suppressed excitement, I, for one, -wondering if we should ever find the Grand Hotel. But we did find it, to -my relief. Why, I was so hysterically glad to see the familiar faces of -our friends again that it was all I could do to refrain from embracing -Herr Baron von Donnerwetter, who stood with others, sad-faced and -dejected, waiting in the hope of a meal. - -The usual state of things prevailed: hungry Americans were clamouring -for impossible foods; helpless waiters were doing their best to pacify -the ravenous demands; a feeble, unhappy host was beating the air with -oratorical violence, and the Americans--always good-humoured, in spite -of their clamourings--waited and waited, only to be satisfied with poor -stuff at last; and finding it thus we fled. - -The man of the family had, it seems, been quietly reading the signs as -we first wandered up into St. Pierre, and the name of a modest little -inn had stuck well in his memory; but, manlike, he kept still about it. -So with his bump of locality well in evidence, we followed his sturdy -steps; in short, found the place in question, and entered a dark, -covered, arched passageway, which opened into a number of dimly lighted -apartments. - -The room we first entered was a kind of _salle à manger_ and _salon_ -combined, for it had a sofa--a very hard, rock-like affair--a number of -chairs, a quaint old sideboard, a table in the centre, and a lamp on the -wall which gave a feeble, flickering light. - -Do you remember about the children who followed us so silently on our -long walk? Well, when our tall friend left us, the children kept right -along, and, as soon as it was discovered that we were trying to find a -place all on our own responsibility, their number was augmented by -others--big grown men, black men--whose services being rejected, quietly -but firmly joined the procession. - -The keeper of the inn was a magnificent, great creole woman, well on in -years, with a pleasant, winning smile, and an air of hospitality more -for the guest than the purse. She said, if we could wait for awhile -until the noisy students in the adjoining rooms were pacified, she would -do her best for us, but she feared she had nothing suitable. - -Ah, friends, how humble doth an empty stomach make the human animal! We -told her that we adored fried eggs. In fact we could not picture to -ourselves anything more delectable. (We hadn't had fried eggs at every -turn in the West Indies for nothing, our stomachs were becoming -acclimated.) Whereupon she bowed her gracefully turbaned head and -leisurely left the room. Then the process began, and we may as well keep -you right in the room, for to adequately appreciate the repast that -followed, good appetite must be seasoned by hilarity and waited upon by -patience. - -We had on the table a red oilcloth cover, various well-used -salt-cellars, and a motley array of knives and forks. Two long-limbed -negresses began to arrange our feast, speaking as usual one of their -home-made languages, impossible to comprehend as a whole and difficult -even in part. These two black cupbearers began, as I said, to arrange -the feast, and we sat by, looking on, hungrier every moment, as the -prospect grew less promising. After a while some bread, several big -chunks,--or loaves, I suppose I ought to say,--were laid on the table. -They were shaped like small turtles with heads pulled out at both ends. -Next came a bottle of red wine (from the old country!) and the glasses. -Then we sat there and sat there fully three-quarters of an hour. - -The dusky nymphs had flippety-flapped off; the hostess with the smile -had also disappeared, and there was silence. I began to think that, -perhaps, the bread and wine was the first course, that so things were -served in St. Pierre; and besides there wasn't even a whiff of garlic -anywhere. I was confident that no creole cooking was going on; and, the -more I thought, the more I became convinced that we ought to begin. But -Daddy thought we ought to wait, and Sister and Blue Ribbons thought so, -too, they are such proper lassies. Why did they ever have a mother who -would be so unconventional? But I was famished and that bread turtle was -put there to eat. I knew it. So in awful silence, with the family -holding its bated breath, I began to pull at the bread. I got one of the -heads off the turtle, and poured forth the ruddy nectar into the -pressed-glass goblet, and took my first delightsome taste of French wine -in Martinique. I was just about to continue, when into the room -sauntered the black waitress with a steaming dish of soup, and as she -discovered my glass of wine well begun, she set her bowl down on the -table, fastened a reproving look on me, and putting her arms akimbo, -exclaimed: - -"_Oh, lá, la!_" - -Then the other black heathen came in, and with her eye upon me, added -her astonished: - -"_Oh, lá, la!_" - -And then the head of the family said, in a "told you so" tone: - -"_Oh, lá, la!_" - -And then the youngsters joined with a choice duet of: - -"_Oh, lá, la!_" - -And I said, "Why, certainly, '_Oh, lá, la_,'" and took another swallow -of wine. - -I felt perfectly justified in my conduct under the circumstances, but no -amount of explanation, I am convinced, could have ever placed me in the -proper light in the minds of those two black women. I had even some -difficulty in explaining the matter satisfactorily to my own family. - -I do not think there are in all the French language three small words -which can express quite the scorn and derision of "_Oh, lá, la!_" From -the high courts of justice to the dim little dining-room of a Martinique -inn, "_Oh, lá, la!_" withers and humiliates. So I took my bowl of soup -very meekly, and said: "_Merci, mille fois_," and went to work. After -the soup, we waited again long, and, with appetite appeased, more -patiently. - - -VI. - -A noise in the dark passageway caused me to look in that direction, and -I saw, leaning one at each side of the doorway, two big, black -negroes--two of the crowd of an hour before. They stood there silent -and motionless; they had "standing-room only," but they were there to -see the finish. - -"What are these?" I exclaimed. - -"Cherubs," replied his lordship. - -"Go 'way!" I say. "We don't want you!" - -Then comes a humble voice from the dark: "Gif me dol' an' half. Gif me -dol' an' half!" - -"Go 'way, go 'way, Cherub! We don't want you!" again we cry out. - -"Gif me two cents! Gif me two cents!" comes from the cherub. - -What a fall, my countrymen! At that juncture, her Royal Highness, the -big landlady, swept through, her very presence clearing the premises, -and peace was restored. - -Then the dinner progressed through the invariable course of eggs and the -delicious sidedish of fried bananas, until we came to the salad, which, -I confess, has been my inspiration for many pages. - -Now, here was a case where the wholly unexpected created a sensation -which no amount of information, regarding the relative merits of the -dish in question could produce. In a way, I rather expected to find in -the West Indies all manner of curious fruits and vegetables, but I did -not expect to eat immature palm-leaf fans with French dressing. - -We had finished with our bananas, and were waiting with that good humour -which characterises the third course of dinner, when the black heathen -appeared, flanked by the entire retinue of kitchen retainers, the big -creole hostess bringing up the rear, bearing in her hand a deep dish, in -which she had prepared our salad. It was none less than the famous palm -salad, about which so many travellers have told. We, too, must add our -encomiums. It is taken from the centre of the palm head when the inner -leaves are very young. It looked very much like fine cabbage as our -hostess sliced it in long strips for salad; in colour it was -creamy-white, and in flavour as delicate as a rose. It was so tender -that it seemed to melt in the month, having none of the tough qualities -of either lettuce or watercress or cabbage. The taste is something I -could never describe, for it was a combination of such sweet flavours -that even those who partook thereof were at a loss afterward to recall -its peculiar delicacy. - -The following day, we tried to buy some palm in the market and went from -one group to another, asking for palm salad; but it had all been sold -early in the morning, and, as I recall the experience, I am quite -content that we were not successful in our morning's marketing, for who -knows but the dressing had something to do with the irresistible palm -salad--or perchance even the surroundings--and who but those replete -with the blood of many sunny races could give that touch? - -Guava jelly made by the madame herself, black coffee from berries -roasted freshly for us; ripe, mellow, richly flavoured mangoes, sweet -honey oranges, and star-apples finished the dinner. - -Do you think we noticed the red oilcloth table cover, the dingy lamp, -and the rock-bottom sofa? - -There are so many different ways of seeing things! - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -MARTINIQUE, "LE PAYS DES REVENANTS" - - -I. - -Beautiful, beautiful Martinique! Well named art thou, _Le Pays des -Revenants_, for my spirit will ne'er rest content until I have again -revisited thy marvellous treasure-trove of beauty! If I were asked where -in all the West Indies I would return with greatest delight, where I -would wish to remain indefinitely, where I would choose to live, I -should say first and last, in fair Martinique,--Empress of the -Caribbees--with, however, an occasional visit to our dear Lady Charlotte -of St. Thomas. - -In the brilliant morning light when the sun crept to the tip of the deep -green mountains and threw its slanting streams of glory over the white -walls of St. Pierre, it seemed that, for the first time, my eyes were -beholding the true essence of beauty. I had never before known what -colour meant, I had never seen blue before, nor azure, nor green. I was -in the mixing-room of Nature, where her first, and deepest, and richest -dyes were thrown together in experiment; where, freed from all schools, -she let loose the riot of her senses, producing effects of colour never -dreamed of in her saner moods. - -It has been my desire in these sketches to reproduce, as nearly as my -powers permit, the exact impression which the Islands of the Caribs have -left with me. I have hoped to take you to the islands with the same -surprises awaiting you which awaited me, wishing thus to cling to Nature -hand to hand, and to draw the picture freshly as our eyes first beheld -its wonder. This has been my desire. But now I intend to change my -habits for a moment. - -Instead of asking you to join us in our morning walk, in sweet innocence -of what might befall the traveller were he always to go thus unprepared -on the island of Martinique, I shall ask you to sit with us here upon -the broad white deck of our good ship, to talk over some of the -marvellous tales which have been whispered to us, sullying the name of -yonder fair isle. I cannot say that it will increase our pleasure, but -it will certainly heighten the interest of the morning excursion. Do you -recall the warnings of our black-coated friend of last evening--warnings -against "_les serpents_," as he called them? He spoke from experience. -Our derisive remarks about people who are for ever looking for snakes in -every brush-pile were ill-timed, to say the least. - -It seems that there is upon the island a species of reptile classed by -the scientists as one of the family of _Trigonocephalus_, and known to -the natives as the "_Fer de Lance_." The bite of this serpent is so -deadly that, unless immediate help is procured, the victim cannot -recover, and even with prompt medical aid recovery is doubtful. The -island, one might say, is fairly under the domination of the _Fer de -Lance_. - -[Illustration: THE CITY AND ROADSTEAD - -St. Pierre, Martinique] - -True, the East Indian mongoose has been imported in the hope of -exterminating this common enemy; but when it was found that this little -rascal, after a short period of snake-hunting, preferred to content -himself with eggs and chickens,--a less dangerous prey,--leaving the -forest wilds and taking up quarters in the more congenial surroundings -of the farmyard, the hope of help from the mongoose was abandoned. The -West Indian cannot live without chickens and eggs,--at least so he -thinks,--and consternation prevailed when it was discovered that instead -of his deadly enemy, his pet object of diet was being imperilled. So the -mongoose, however worthy, must go. Just why the tiller of the soil could -not, in the face of such danger, erect fortified chicken-houses, to -protect his fowls against the felonious depredations of the mongoose, I -cannot quite understand, unless it was too much trouble. At all events, -he prefers to keep his chickens and the _Fer de Lance_, and do away with -the mongoose, rather than run the risk of an occasional raid upon the -hen-coop. So now the question is, how shall he get rid of the mongoose? - -The mongoose is a plucky little fellow; and so Kipling vividly pictured -him as "_Rikki-tiki-tavi_,"--a bright-eyed, big, brown weasel in -appearance,--very efficient in killing the dangerous snakes of India. We -saw them in confinement, the snappiest, most vicious little animals one -could imagine. It is inexplicable to me that the inhabitants of -Martinique should be willing to give up the fight against this great -danger for the sake of a few hens; for my part, I would not object if -all the fowls were destroyed and the feathers flew away to far Jamaica, -if only after the little robber had had his feast, he would be willing -to hunt his legitimate prey, the _Fer de Lance_. - -From the various forms in which chicken appears on a West Indian table, -and from the frequency of that appearance, I have come to the conclusion -that, to do without fowls would be a greater grief than to be in -constant peril from the bite of a snake. As for me, well--there are -times when I feel that, without the least sacrifice, I could miss an -occasional meal of fried eggs and stewed chicken. In fact, I am -convinced that, if I had had fried eggs three hundred and sixty-three -days of the year, I might not pine if the hens didn't lay the last two -days. But there is no accounting for tastes. The West Indian doesn't -look at it in that light. - -The _Fer de Lance_ has been described as a rat-tailed, red-skinned, -powerful-looking brute, from four to eight feet long; and, unlike most -snakes, he is fearless, and as a rule will not get out of the way when -he hears one coming. He takes his walks at night, unfortunately -preferring the open road to the garden; the smooth patch before the -house to the brushwood; and he even comes down into the gardens and -paths about the city. This is the great danger of Martinique; yet, while -it may seem more sure, more quickly certain to us, than the danger of -other places, I do not know that it is so. - -Wherever the foot of man finds habitation, danger goes hand in hand with -beauty. Unseen danger of a thousand kinds, in poisonous vapours, in -decaying flesh and vegetation, lurks hidden within the dwellings of all -mankind; deeper, deadlier danger, too, than bolt of _Fer de Lance_, -looks sullenly forth from the soul of God's own image--man; danger unto -himself more terrible than the writhing, striking reptile of the -night-shade; and, as knowledge comes only from an understanding of -comparisons, I do not feel that Martinique, afflicted as she is, can vie -in her troubles with the clangers which threaten mankind in some of her -sister isles. - - -II. - -The little girls and their father have all but lost their patience. "I'm -ready now," I call to the beckoning eyes. "Just wait until I get the St. -Thomas basket, and I'll be there." After a quick dash to the stateroom -and back, I'm armed with the basket and umbrella. But after all these -snake stories you would rather not join us in our morning walk? You're -not nervous? That's fine; I like your spirit! Suppose we go first to the -market, and then in a roundabout way to the Botanical Gardens. - -There are always guide-books to be bought in every town; there are -always those on shipboard who never separate themselves from a red -cover; there are always those who tell you what you ought to see, and -especially afterward what you ought to have seen; but we four are born -dissenters; we kind o' forget about the mummies when there are live -human beings to watch. We know the mummies will be there when we're -tired of the rest, but we're not so sure of the people. It's such fun -to find out what the natives are doing, thinking, saying; what they -wear, what they eat, how they live, how they dance, and walk, and play, -and work. - -Here in Martinique we find the market a perfect babel of voices, all -speaking a curious French _patois_. - -It is next to impossible to distinguish one word from another in all -that hum of highly pitched creole voices. The famous -"_porteuses_"--long-limbed, slender, shapely, tall, and agile half-caste -and negro girls--have brought their heavy burdens from the mountains and -the country roundabout; and here they sit, like flowers in a garden, -surrounded by their goods. Some have little piles of fruits, or of -vegetables, cooked and ready to be eaten, wrapped in banana leaves; some -have a stock of dried meats, made up into tiny portions; some sell fancy -cakes; some, pies; others crouch down, fairly hidden by showy piles of -calico and bright silks, with needles, threads, coarse laces, and beads -scattered about them in great confusion. - -And here are the sinewy men; the fishers with heaps of fish. Such -beautiful fish! Does it seem credible that you can stand in a smelly -fish-market, and be fairly enchanted by the colour and beauty of great -trays of fish spread out upon a stone pavement? Their beauty is amazing. -Here are enormous trays of flying fish, glittering silver, sweeter to -the taste than any trout; here are others, all pink and red, and here -are wee bits of fish sold by the glass--some sort of "white bait," -maybe. - -We elbow on through the babel of voices, looking, as I told you we did, -for the palm salad, but there is none to be had. Still I remember its -flavour, and I remember that the creole madame brought us a piece which -she had bought in the market for four _sous_. It was very like a round -stick of ivory, a foot and a half long and two inches in diameter. We -shall have to be content with that one sight. - -But what is the use in going to a market unless we can buy something? So -we stop in front of a _porteuse_ as she squats behind her pile of fruit -on the market floor, and buy oranges, and get almost a pint of coppers -in change for one silver piece; but not without grave doubts on the part -of the seller. She looks at our silver and shakes her head, and all her -neighbours come together, and the colours of their bright turbans and -the little funny ends of handkerchiefs tied so that they stand up on top -of the head like plumes,--all these ends flutter and bob as they comment -in their funny French, while we tell the women that our money is good, -good silver. Finally a big-eyed, handsome girl comes elbowing along and -proudly explains to her doubting sisters that we are right; then at last -we get our change, distribute it in our various pockets, take our -oranges, and leave the market. - - -III. - -Eager as the children are to reach _Le Jardin des Plantes_, the famous -Botanical Gardens of Martinique, we must stop on our way for a closer -inspection of one of these bright birds of the forest,--the Martinique -_porteuse_. - -The women of the tropics have an affinity for nature such as we of the -North cannot comprehend. As the forest and the flowers and the birds and -the insects abound in marvellous hues, so do these children of the sun -love to bedeck themselves in all the schemes of colour known to the -dyer's art. Let us, just for the sake of the picture it will give us, -stop this woman coming and make excuse to buy one of the green cocoanuts -of which she seems to carry a great load on her head. Look at her! Isn't -she magnificent! - -Have you heard of the feats of endurance which these young girls -perform? How they will carry upon their heads, over one hundred pounds -out from St. Pierre across the mountains, a distance of fifty miles in -one day? And this while barefooted and at all times of the year, through -all kinds of weather, through dry seasons and wet seasons. Not only on -such days as these, when the air is sweet and cool in the shade, but -days when the sun scorches and withers, even under the deep recesses of -vine-clad porch and lattice. She is the ever-willing burden-bearer, the -unloader of ships, the handler of cargoes, the welcome carrier of bread -for the early breakfast in mountain homes, the vender of all stuffs and -utensils by the roadside where no cart could well be taken; where even -the patient donkey might refuse to go. Agile, nimble, erect of body, -motionless of head, with eyes that pierce into every crook and turn -of the way, and poised like a queen, she is the dweller among the green, -yellow, red, and purple of the forest, and in her love of colour she -follows in her adornments the strong instincts of nature. She it is -whose burden is so great that were she herself to attempt to lift it or -take it from her head, it might mean a rupture, a dislocation, or a -broken vein; she it is whom all men, from the richest to the poorest, -help to unload, so great is the respect in which she is held. - -[Illustration: NEAR THE LANDING-PLACE - -St. Pierre, Martinique] - -And yet we talk of the idleness, the weakness bred in the tropics! It is -true that continual summer enervates, and necessitates slow methods of -living; but I can truthfully say, that (outside of Haïti), I saw less -vagabond-age, less indolence, in the West Indies, than in any of our -Southern States. We were constantly witnessing most remarkable feats of -endurance in both men and women. In these countries the horse is scarce, -and the donkey costs money, so that the human back becomes the carry-all -for the plunder of man. - -This motionless bronze statue before us, with the great tray of fruit, -appears--to one unaccustomed--more than indifferent whether we buy or -not, for she stands there, mute, her fruits higher than our own heads; -she is tall to begin with, and the great tray itself is six inches -higher, and the head pad on which it rests is more than an inch thick; -so, altogether, it is so high that we can only make a guess at the fruit -she carries, from the fringe on the edge and the pyramid on top. This is -our first experience with _la porteuse_, and we wait for her to stoop, -camel-like, to unload. But not she! She knows too well the possible -penalty of such rashness, and quietly stands with her quick eyes -questioning us, and we stand wondering what she wants us to do. - -The kerchief about her shoulders over a light chemise rivals the -rainbow. I try to fix my eyes on some predominating colour, but when I -decide that it is yellow, in will blaze a green stronger than the -yellow, and then huge red roses splash their lurid colour into the -yellow and green, and royal purple and blue daisies and magenta -buttercups career around in wild indifference as to conventional form -and tint. A loose calico frock hangs to her ankles, with the bare, -tireless feet, straight, shapely and well-formed, showing beneath. - -Intelligence dawns upon us at last, and the tall man reaches for a green -cocoanut, just toppling on the edge of the tray, for we realise we must -reach for the fruit if we want it. This cocoanut, encased in its green -husk, is just about the size of a small melon, and has a striated, -light-green, smooth skin. A vender near by, interested in the purchase, -and charitable to the strangers, takes the cocoanut, and, with a sharp -knife, dexterously pares off one end, and with a slash straight across -the top, cuts through the still soft shell, and hands it to us ready to -quench our thirst with a long pull, for there is as yet no meat in the -cocoanut, only a quantity of the rich milk. I cannot say that it is -particularly good, or particularly bad; it has an inoffensive sweet -taste, is said to be perfectly harmless, and is one of the few fruits of -the tropics that the uninitiated can eat with impunity. After we have -all drunk, there seems to be quite a bit of the milk left. So it goes to -the most insistent of the crowd of small boys, who are, as usual, -escorting us with much enjoyment, and a constant merry chatter of -French. - -Let us move on now up the clean stone street, up, and up, and up, -passing many a walled recess where sparkling jets of water fill the jars -brought to the fountain by barefooted girls,--up and on, on and up, past -votive shrines--_les chapelles_--and high-walled gardens, coming finally -to the broad avenue leading to the Botanical Garden,--the same road from -which we were so glad to escape the night before. We follow the white, -dusty road in the bright sunlight, with now and then glimpses of the -mountains above, and come at last to the broad stone gateway of _Le -Jardin des Plantes_, which, entering, plunges us at once into the deep -shades and marvellous beauty of a tropical forest. - - -IV. - -Oh, that I had words and power and skill to paint even a shadow of the -beauty before me to a likeness of itself! Here Nature defies all art of -pen, of thought, and brush of man! She seems to glory in the impossible -loveliness of her face and form--impossible to reproduce through art or -reason. Here one should find new words--words more intense, more -poignant, more vividly keen to cut into the heart of the matchless -colours and shades. No description can ever bring accurately to the mind -the wealth, the magnificent beauty of such a spot upon God's earth. - -With skilful art, the French have utilised the hand of Nature in the -formation of this wonderful garden to such a degree of perfection that -none can tell, unless a master, where the two fair sisters, Art and -Nature, first embraced. The natural tropical forest, running up a great -ravine into the mountains, is intersected by broad and winding paths -that lead from one fair view to another by mossy flights of rough stone -steps. Through a rift in the hillside, down an abyss of heavy, wet -foliage of a green so intense that the eye can scarcely conceive its -depth of colour, cataracts of water leap through the abiding shade, -through the ever-growing, ever-dying processes of nature, down into a -pool whose depths reflect the blue glimmering sky and the vivid green of -over-hanging vines in opalescent sheen. Great clumps of bamboo, with -long, slim, arrow-shaped leaves, hang gracefully, waving like giant -grass, over the walk; and an ancient bridge, ablaze with purple vines, -reaches out from under the rustling thickets and spans a branch of the -_Rivière Roxelane_, a delicious mountain stream which murmurs on through -the forest, filling one with poetic musings as to whence came its -romantic name. - -On we sauntered heedless as to time, sheltered from the sun by the -impenetrable shade of arborescent ferns and towering palms, and lured -ever deeper into the forest, into the wonders of God's marvellous -creation by some unspeakable burst of beauty just beyond. - -Here we find not only the trees indigenous to the soil, but trees native -to all tropical climates, from all parts of the world, for this garden -is the pride of the island and a wonder of the Indies. The names and -habitations of foreign trees are most skilfully marked on enamelled -plates fastened to the trees, part of the plate bearing the carefully -engraved botanical name, the lower part containing a coloured map, -indicating the country to which the tree is native. - -What a pitiably weak understanding we have of God's unending and -infinite creation! However much we read of life in remoter countries the -mind, like a rubber ball, ever reverts with persistent force to its -original point of view. So that we, the dwellers in the North, in the -land of ice and snow, of pines and duller hues, where Nature bestows her -gifts with somewhat sparing hand,--we of the North forget the limitless -power of creative energy, and when we come into such an overwhelming -feast of colour as in this mighty forest, sighing and breathing for very -burden of beauty, we try in vain to reconcile our former crude -conceptions of the Creator with this new, vast revelation of his -unspeakable power. - -As we penetrate deeper and ever deeper into the forest, the mind reels -under the effort to grasp the marvels of plant and tree and earth. Vines -hang in long festoons from tree to tree, and drop down before the face -in thousands of living ropes, which seem to have the power of returning -upon themselves and growing up again without any visible support. -Parasites, air-plants, and orchids--not singly, but in millions--cover -giant trunks so that the tree itself is lost in the growth external. Off -through a break in the deepest green, I see for the first time that -queen of the tropics, the _Amherstia nobilis_, called--and well named, -indeed--"the Flamboyant," the most magnificent flowering tree in the -world: tall and heavenly leafed, of graceful form, its top covered by a -mass of brilliant flowers so vividly red and of such size as to seem -like a blaze of fire in the forest shade. And taller than all the others -of its kind, the Royal Palm lifts its regal head out into the freedom of -light and air, and sways its majestic plumes in rhythmic motion. How -well the Spanish do to call it "_the palm_," in distinction from all -others. - -Everywhere about you, life, life ever coming, ever going. A deep, -impenetrable wall of green, denser, thicker than any fretwork, keeps you -to the path. A native lad springs into the black, green, brown depth, -and you shudder involuntarily; there might be danger. The two -figures--hand in hand, Life and Death--haunt the dim green shadows about -you. - - -V. - -We are joined by friends as we wander on, following the sound of -tumbling water. It comes to us as a surprise, for the forest has been -wrapped in a deep silence; its slumberous shade has not been broken by a -single bird-note; all animal life is quiescent. A few steps more and we -come to a cleft in the mountain, an opening in the green vault, and a -veil of glistening water drops between us and a wall of cool, sweet -ferns. The spell of the forest is about us. We turn down a steep path in -silent awe before so great a masterpiece. - -Our party separate, we linger behind while our friends stroll on and are -lost in an abrupt turn of the path. The straight noonday sun makes white -patches upon the walk; strange heavy odours, as of earth dead a thousand -years lifting up her soul again in rebellion against her long, deep -sleep, steal about us. Suddenly from the deathlike stillness of the -forest there comes a shriek, followed by sounds of commotion. We run -quickly in the direction of the voices. My friend's white face tells the -story; it was the _Fer de Lance_. We could see nothing. The flight had -been swift; it was impossible for her to say how it ever came there, -whether it had dropped from the limb of a tree, as she thought, or had -sprung from a bush, but suddenly it was there, lying in a double coil -at her feet. It made a strange rapping sound upon the earth, and darted -swiftly off into the undergrowth. A few of us, much affrighted, lead the -way most precipitately down the ravine to the gateway. We carry our -umbrellas aloft in spite of the shade, and, shuddering, secretly envy -the one who saw the _Fer de Lance_. - - -VI. - -After all, I am glad that we did not accept the offer of a carriage for -Morne Rouge, for it is a long drive to the summit of the -mountain,--fully four hours there and back,--and had we gone, the -journey must needs be made with great haste; so we chose rather to leave -before satiety deadened our enjoyment. But there will come other days in -Martinique--there must come other days, for is not this _Le Pays des -Revenants_? Must we not see Gros Morne, Capot, Marigot, and La Grande -Anse, hidden away in the mountains, asleep in their sunlit valleys, and -the wild forest--_le grand bois_--and _La Pelée_, the old volcano with -the queer lake in its extinct crater, and the cavern-like opening in -its cleft side, where it is said that even yet there may be occasionally -heard strange groanings and fearsome hissings--shall we not come some -day to see all this? - -[Illustration: THE RIVIÈRE ROXELANE - -Near St. Pierre, Martinique] - -We take the road to the left and follow down the _Rivière Roxelane_ to -St. Pierre. As we join our friends returning from the mountain, they -share with us a calabash of wild red strawberries which they bought by -the roadside. The berries have that rare, delicious _bouquet_ found only -in the wild fruits, and, as one would naturally suppose, have their own -funny way of growing; small and pointed and very compact. We hover -around the one who holds the calabash until all are gone, and then -indolently follow the stream, passing a group of women under a shady -mango-tree, spreading heaps of cacao (chocolate) beans on the ground to -dry; where we linger, tasting the beans and trying to chat, ever -fascinated by the natives and their ways; and then wander on toward the -stony pavements and narrow streets of the city; and thence down to the -landing-place. - -Night draws over. The quickly falling luminous night of the tropics. How -can I bring again the witchery of that vision? The greenly liquid sky, -the great yellow moon, the near, the brilliant stars, and the deep, dark -Morne, covering her wild luxuriance with violet clouds, and back of all -"_La Montagne_"--_Pelée_, the sleeping; the sounds--distant, low, -mellow; the moving, glistening phosphorescent water, and Martinique, in -white slumber, fading astern. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -ISLAND OF TRINIDAD. PORT OF SPAIN - - -I. - -"I'se here, Missus; I'se here, waitin' fo' you" (from one of a crowd of -chattering Spanish, English, French, Portuguese creoles, outnumbered by -the ever-present black, in every shade, from deep chocolate to light -saffron), greets us as we step on land at Port of Spain, Trinidad. - -We do not feel quite sure which particular one, in all that pushing, -scrambling, good-natured crowd, is waiting for us; whether it is the man -with the two monkeys, or the man with the green and blue parrot, or the -woman with the baskets, or the boy with the shells; but whichever one it -is, he's there, and all his friends are there, with everything salable -they possess, strung around them, fastened to them, hitched to them, in -some fashion--any way to allow them free use of their arms. - -"Well, we're glad you're waiting, Sambo. We fully expected to find you -here. It wouldn't be Trinidad without a monkey or a parrot. We'll buy -later. Oh, no! Not the monkey; we have one at home, and Heaven knows -that's enough! But maybe, by and by, we'll see about a basket." - -If there is one thing in the world Sister and I can never resist, it's a -basket. That distressing mania breaks forth at the slightest -provocation; it doesn't seem to make any difference where we are, or how -impossible it is to gratify it; difficulties only whet the appetite. The -more inopportune the occasion, the more we want the basket. - -[Illustration: THE DRAGON'S MOUTH, ENTRANCE TO GULF OF PARIA - -Between South America and Trinidad] - -So we stood there on the quay at Port of Spain, with the lofty headlands -of grand old South America away to the south of us, taking their morning -bath among the clouds, and off in the north the mountain sweep of -Trinidad, watching the queer old city at its feet, and betwixt the two, -the Gulf of Paria, loosened from the Dragon's Mouth, spreading and -expanding, with its waters a commingling of the blue of the Caribbean -and the brown of the near-by Orinoco, washing the outstretched feet of -the great mother and child; and we stood there, with all this grandeur -ablaze in the first light of the morning, wondering if we would better -buy the basket right then, on the spot, or whether we should wait until -our return. - -To be sure, we had one big basket--and a beauty, too--from St. Thomas, -but it was always full, a sort of catch-all for our curious leaves, and -seeds, and coral, and beads, and newspapers, and precious bills of -fare,--treasured reminders of old balconies and lingering melodies; and -it really seemed to be our duty to provide a number two size to carry to -market. We could use it in so many ways, and then we wanted another -basket. But, before we had time to strike a bargain,--for it's a -half-day's work in these ideal lands to buy anything,--some one cried -out: "If you are going to the Coolie Village, you'd better come right -now, or the carriages will all be taken!" - -"Who are the coolies?" Blue Ribbons asked, as we rattled along up -Frederick Street. The answer to her question was squatting not far -distant, where some cars, just arrived from San Fernando, were being -unloaded. His hands were clasped around his thin bare legs; his face, -serious, dark, immovable; his hair, black as ink, and straight; on his -head, a voluminous white turban bespoke the worshipper of Brahma, -Vishnu, and Shiva. It was with mingled sensations of awe and fear that I -beheld this unexpected Hindoo. His apparent unconcern of mundane affairs -recalled not only deeply treasured teachings from his great masters, -but, in his eyes, there was the black, unforgotten story of Lucknow. It -was hard to reconcile the two. - -It seems that the Hindoo "coolie" is imported by the ship-load into -Trinidad, and indentured for a period of ten years; at the expiration of -which time he may return to India at his company's expense, if he so -chooses (and he usually does choose to do so, taking home with him a -goodly store of gold). He makes a most valuable and reliable labourer, -and has really been the salvation of the vast sugar and cacao estates on -the island. It has been next to impossible to exact any continuous -labour from the negro, without some system of slavery, and had it not -been for the Hindoo, the resources of Trinidad would have been -practically undeveloped. - -The coolies were in evidence everywhere. In fact, they seemed to form a -considerable proportion of the population. We do not wonder any longer -at the emaciated pictures of the famine-stricken East Indians, for here, -in a land of plenty, where food, almost ready cooked, is only waiting to -drop, the Hindoo is the sparest, leanest creature imaginable. His -ever-bare legs are not like flesh and blood, but small-boned and thin to -emaciation, and almost devoid of calves below the knee; they have the -hard statuesque look of bronze stilts. And the arms, too, are thin, and -terminate in slender little hands that seem incapable of heavy and -prolonged labour. - - -II. - -Port of Spain, compactly, squarely built, and well paved, extends for -quite a distance over a flat, alluvial plain to a grassy _savannah_, two -and a half miles wide; one side of which, facing the Botanical Garden -and the Governor's Mansion, brings you to the base of the mountain. - -The city is neither beautiful nor clean. Its architecture, dominated by -the taste of the Englishman, is about as unattractive as that of our own -country. The business streets are dusty, shadeless, and devoid of -cleaners, except for the vulture, who, with his long, bare legs, his -skinny neck and head, and huge black body, plays the part of city -scavenger. These ungainly, hideous, repulsive creatures stalk around -everywhere; they are under the horses' feet; they roost on the eave -troughs asleep in the sun, sit reflectively on chimney-tops, or come -swooping down after some horrible piece of carrion in the street. - -How can a civilised people be willing to turn the civic house-cleaning -over to a lot of vultures? No wonder that plagues and fevers rage upon -these beautiful islands. Under existing conditions, they surely have the -right of way. - -[Illustration: THE BUSINESS SECTION - -Port of Spain, Trinidad - -Copyright, 1901, by Detroit Photographic Co.] - -Did I understand you to say that the carriages were all gone when you -came ashore? Come in with us! There, the front seat with the driver -is just waiting for you, and really, to walk is hardly safe under this -vertical sun. Would you mind if we make a stop or two on the way out to -the village, for the man of the family must have some fresh white ducks -to wear in South America; let us wait for him here in the carriage. - -It seems pleasant to-day not to make any exertion. I've no doubt we can -get a lot of information from the driver, if we question him. He -responds, oh! yes, he responds with great ardour, but with what result? -One word in ten, we recognise. He thinks, of course, he's speaking -English, and I suppose we might better let him think so, but, bless you, -if that's English, what are we speaking? It's just another of the West -Indian surprises. You come to a country which has been under the -beneficent English rule for over one hundred years, and you find the -natives--the men who drive for you, who row you ashore, who carry your -plunder, the women in the market--all speaking an almost unintelligible -jargon of French, Spanish, Portuguese, English, with a little Hindustani -and Chinese thrown in. Try the native on your best French, and at every -five or six words he brightens up with understanding. Take any of the -other languages and you have the same result; for your Trinidadian -understands when he wants to, but woe betide you when you ask a question -and want to know the answer. The native in Trinidad is bright and quick; -he is not like his big lazy lout of a brother down in our Southland. He -is a mix-up of many people, intelligent and active, and his language -tells what a conglomerate he is, and what a happy-go-lucky life he -leads. - - -III. - -What can be keeping the shoppers so long? We shall certainly have to -hunt them up; let us look inside. - -I have often wondered what our mammoth cheap stores of the North do with -their leftover plush albums, china shepherdesses, antiquated ready-made -clothing, tin jewelry, their untold unnumbered tons of clap-traps; and -now I know. It's all dumped right here in the West Indies. From South -America to Cuba, there is one vast collection of trash imported to catch -the pennies of these long-suffering people. It is always difficult to -obtain any of the native work; we have to go among the natives -themselves for that. One glance at Port of Spain's emporium, the _Great -Colonial Stores of Blank and Co. Limited_, is enough! - -"Mother," said Sister, "I have an idea! Let's try the deaf and dumb -sign-language on the cabby." And she does. It works like a charm. Off we -swing for the savannah, a great, green, grassy plain, the playground for -the Trinidadians. Here, they have their horse-racing and golf and -cricket and polo under the fierce, tropical sun; here, the -merry-go-round and pop-stands burst forth every Saturday afternoon; here -the inevitable "picnic" is held, and as we happen here on a festival -day, we see the children--big and little--gathering from every -direction. There is something indestructible about the customs of an -Englishman. He does not change his methods of living, as do other races, -but, wherever he goes, he carries from pole to equator the customs and -habits of his own country. So he plays golf and cricket and polo in -Trinidad, when, at its mildest, the heat is about equal to our August. - -It is on this savannah that we have our first good opportunity of -viewing the mighty ceiba tree near at hand. You remember it was a great -ceiba to which Columbus made fast his ships on the bank of the Ozama -River in Santo Domingo? The ceiba may not be the largest tree in the -tropics. I do not wish to say it is, for it would seem then that one was -limiting to a given scale the grandeur of the tropical tree. There is -apparently no limit to anything in the way of size or beauty under these -skies. There may be greater trees in the "High Wood" than the ceiba, -but, in our experience, it was by far the most wide-stretching of -anything we had yet seen. One stands before it awed, stupefied by its -immensity, its age, its strange manner of growing. And we think over all -the words we know to express its size and beauty, and we feel so poor -and powerless in expression. - -[Illustration: A VILLAGE GREETING - -San Fernando, Trinidad] - -The ceiba on the wide savannah has endless room in which to spread. It -is perfect in form, like a mammoth gray and green umbrella, and reaches -out its immense branches toward every side in perfect symmetry. And such -branches! They alone are as large as our forest oaks, and they throw -themselves out from the trunk horizontally, in stupendous strength. Its -foliage is rather thin; the power of the tree seems to be spent in trunk -and branch. Its bark is like an elephant's hide, and its trunk has a -strange way of buttressing out its side in huge wings. It is even said -to be the worshipped tree of the superstitious black natives--a -mysterious sort of _fetich_, the mighty, silk-cotton ceiba. - - -IV. - -Fine residences skirt the savannah, each garden a marvel of beauty, in -palms and trees whose names we do not know. Each little villa, has its -English name plastered upon the gateway. This part of the city is clean, -and the road is fine, so we will try to forgive and forget the shabby -appearance of the lower town. We pass countless gardens, and then the -houses grow fewer, and the gardens turn into banana patches, and the -people begin to look different; the negroes disappear, and we are in the -beginning of the "Coolie Village," where a row of thatched roofs, -supported by bamboo poles, ranges on either side of a long street, -which disappears under an avenue of palms and breadfruit-trees, quite -out of sight. - -And here are the Hindoo men and women,--quiet, serious people, -displaying very little curiosity about us, going on with their work, -just as if we were not near them. What a relief from the hideous faces -of the negro are these straight-featured, well-poised East Indians! - -The men dress in white and are not overly clean. It does not look to me -as if shirt and turban were often washed, but as their artisans work -sitting on the ground, there is really small chance for immaculate -linen. It is upon the women that the Hindoo displays his sensuous love -for colour and jewels. She is his savings-bank. Every bit of silver or -gold earned is taken to the jeweller to be fashioned into ornaments for -her. - -Let us leave the carriage and wander about among these interesting, -silent people. Little Blue Ribbons would like to carry away one of those -curious silver bracelets the women wear, and as if our thoughts are -divined, we are in no time surrounded by a lot of girls who are simply -covered with silver and gold. They wear as many as twenty bracelets on -each arm, of different designs, some very beautifully twisted into -serpents' coils and heads, others engraved with intricate arabesques, -others merely crude bands, with a few ornamental lines. Every part of -the body, where a ring can hang, is covered with ornaments; head, ears, -nose, fingers, arms, waist, ankles, toes. And some of the dear little -brown babies, from two to five years old, were dressed only in pretty -silver whistles, tied about the waist with a black string. - -We examine many bracelets. The arms held out are more beautiful than any -bits of silver about them, and the women have low, sweet voices, and -their eyes are brilliant, and their skin is lustrous, and the -fascination of the Orient is about them. The Hindoo women may have a -hard time of it in some ways, perhaps, off in East India where the -missionaries are, but here in Trinidad they have every appearance of -being well cared for. - -Daddy is the one who buys the trinkets. He has a way of finding always -the most curious and the most beautiful things, and the Hindoo women -crowding about him, and the little girls, too, seem to have suspected -his talent. After examining the wealth of a dozen arms, two silver bands -are selected, which, after being carefully washed by a very particular -Daddy, are snapped about the white wrists of the expectant girlies. He -has not only a way with him for finding beautiful curios, but, alas! I -must confess he has a decided talent also for discovering beautiful -women. My only consolation in the matter is his catholicity of taste, -for he shows no preference, as a rule. His is a universal admiration, -the simple homage to beauty of an artistic soul, and that comforts me. -There is safety in numbers! - -So it did not surprise me, while we are prowling around back of the -huts, in search of some Hindoo needlework, to return and discover him -chatting in a one-sided conversation with a little girl, about the age -of Little Blue Ribbons. She was leaning in a dreamy attitude in the -doorway of a shop--the most prosperous one in the village. - -Just then he spies hanging in the shop some odd pipes made of clay. He -goes in and buys one or two. The proprietor and his wife are standing -behind the counter; she, fat and comfortable, a mass of silver -bracelets, smiled at us as we approached; but he, thin as a churchwarden -pipe, and solemn, my! solemn enough to be Buddha himself, with long, -gray hair, curled up at the end, and impassive face, answered our -questions about the pipes in precise, curiously clipped Oriental -English, without once looking at us. His eyes were fixed on something -beyond us, and they were the eyes that speak but rarely, and then -terribly. Daddy praises the shop, the wife's ornaments, and finally the -little girl, and asks if he may take her picture. The mother smiles a -"Yes;" the father just looks outside. Immediately the little one is -called into an inner room by her mother. She stands in the doorway so we -can see what is going on. I cannot tell you how much the mother loads -upon her. - -The straight, low forehead is covered by three circlets of gold and -silver; the little ears are weighed down by filigree hoops of gold, -reaching to her shoulders; her pretty pierced nostrils hold a delicately -fashioned gold plate, which drops below the sweet red lips; a tiny -jewelled rose screws into the side of her straight little nose; her -graceful neck is loaded with chain after chain, hung with many silver -dollars of different countries, while one necklace is of twenty-dollar -United States gold pieces. Ten of these necklaces drop from the round -throat to the slender waist. A band of silver, two inches wade, spans -her upper arm, and from the tapering wrist to the shapely little elbow, -the brown, soft skin is covered with bracelets. A bright silk skirt -falls to the ankles, which, in turn, are encircled by bracelets or -anklets, while little rings are fitted to each toe of her slender, -shapely feet; and then, to cap the climax, the mother brings out a long -yellow scarf and starts to wind it about the little one's head. - -That was too much. Daddy begs the mother off. He wanted to catch the -beautiful oval outline of that little head. So the yellow scarf was -discarded, and the little one came outside, and stood under the porch -against a green, leafy background, and her small hands were folded -before her very demurely, and she looked at us with her father's black, -serious eyes. All the while, he stands within, like a motionless gray -shadow,--absolutely unmoved by our admiration of his daughter. - -A few feet beyond there is the goldsmith, squatting cross-legged on the -ground outside the door of his shanty. This is his shop,--this dirt -floor. Here, on a bit of cloth, are his wares, very beautiful some of -them, masterful pieces of work, and this diminutive bed of charcoal is -his furnace, these tiny hammers and pincers are his tools, and that -little black anvil is the scene of his daily toil. Can it be that, with -these few crude tools, he can fashion so wonderfully? His pattern is the -insect that hovers for an instant on its flight at noonday; or the -sleeping serpent, hidden under the bamboo; or the palm above the -village; or the spider's web over the doorway. Nature close to him--dear -to him--is the master of his art. - - -V. - -The road on through the village is too beautiful to leave; we must go -farther, deeper down among this strangely silent, mysterious people; and -we drive on to where the palms meet over our heads, and we get glimpses -of the blue and green Gulf beyond, and some one tells us--or have we -dreamed it?--that, farther on, we shall come to the Big White House, -and we wonder if we are really ourselves, or some one very unreal out of -a book. - -Surely we shall soon awake and rub our eyes and find that we have just -been asleep in the library corner, and that we never reached the Leper -House, and never heard the whispering of Hindoo feet; that it was all a -daydream, a sweet heavenly dream, made long by some good fairy; but, no, -we look at one another, and it must be true, for we hear the waves -lapping the beach near by, and the brown, naked coolie babies look -wonderingly at us, and we jog along under the fitful showers and sun, -and Blue Ribbons raises the white umbrella, and Sister looks ruefully at -the sad, discouraged, rain-bespattered ribbons, so it must be real. - -Yes, real; and yet to see the Big White House, now visible through the -mangoes, and know that within its walls live victims of the most awful -disease of all time,--a disease whose origin is lost in the dim vistas -of antiquity,--to come thus unexpectedly, in the twentieth century, upon -a manifestation of the "sins of the fathers" of thousands of years, we -cannot make it seem real to us. Had we been off in the South Seas, -sailing toward Molokai, or had we been looking over the hills of -Galilee, it might have seemed more probable. But to find a leper -settlement here, not three miles from a thickly peopled modern city,--a -settlement which must be a constant and deadly menace to society,--was -beyond my powers of credence. - -I remember so well, in reading Stevenson's account of his visit to the -leper settlement in the Sandwich Islands, that I wondered how he dared -go among them, for even so great an object as the vindication of Father -Damien, and lo, here we were, without any warning, almost in the midst -of the same plague. Although fully aware that leprosy did exist, just as -we know that the moon must have form and solidity, it still seemed an -uncertain, far-removed possibility,--in a way half-legendary, half fact, -a tradition of the far East, a memory of the days of the Holy One of -Nazareth; not a tangible awful reality, to be met and battled with all -the force of modern knowledge. I could not convince myself that within a -stone's throw were lepers whom we might see, to whom we might speak, -and I wondered if it would be safe to enter the enclosure. All this time -we drew nearer to the gateway, while the white house in the centre of a -large, shady park, fenced in by high iron pickets, seemed to us like the -great Cross on Calvary, raised for the sins of the world. - -In various parts of the yard, inside that fence, groups of men are -sitting on the grass under the shade of great trees. It is white noon. -It cannot be possible that these men, lolling about and visiting -together, are _lepers_, for, from a distance, they bear no signs of -disease about them. They look like the rest of the people we have been -amongst all day. They are mostly Hindoos (some with a touch of negro -blood), very dark of skin, and apparently in good health, that is, -viewed at a distance. I must confess that a terrible feeling comes over -me as the man of the family--for here we are at the gate, with the -horse's head facing the sad white house--suggests that we enter the -enclosure. I remember how it was said that the lepers in olden time must -cry out: "Unclean!" "Unclean!" and that he whose garments but swept the -shadow of one thus afflicted must undergo a long purification before he -could be allowed intercourse with the world once more. - -As these old stories recur to my memory, and beseech me for my life not -to take so great a risk,--but how long it takes to tell it all!--a big, -jolly-faced black gatekeeper quiets my apprehensions by saying that we -would not be exposed to the least danger whatever; that some of the -labourers and attendants have been employed to work among the lepers for -years with no bad results. With this comfortable assurance of a doubtful -safety from the gateman, the driver whips up, and we move on into the -yard, and up the avenue to the hospital, made gruesome by horrid -buzzards perching on its roof and eaves in grim expectancy. - -But it is the coming closer into the deep shade which reveals to us its -true significance. From without, this white house is long and low and -restful to the eye, and the trees bending over it, with clinging arms, -seem to breathe only life and beauty, and the white-coated men here and -there under the shade are the labourers resting during the still noon -hour. - -But a nearer approach and a closer acquaintance changes the whole scene. -Was it upon such wrecks of life that the gentle _Saviour_ gazed in -pitying love? These are not men; they are pieces,--parts of men, hung -together by the long-suffering cord of life. - -The first leper we see near at hand seems to take an interest in us. The -others we have passed lie around in a dull, listless way. I presume they -see us, but they evidence no concern other than keeping in the shade. -But this leper--I hardly know how to designate him--has more life in him -than the others; he is walking about and nods to us as we pass. He has -strange, unnatural ears; they are twice the normal size and have nodules -on the outer edge. His face is swollen into mushroom-like patches, and -deeply seamed by ridges, and yet the skin has apparently the same -appearance it had in a state of health, except a little grayer and more -lifeless looking. Another patient hobbles toward us, and we find that he -is walking on stumps of feet, without toe. We throw some pennies to -another group, and the one nearest the coin picks it up by making a -scoop of his flipper-like palm. His fingers are gone, only little points -are left, as if they had been whittled off with a jack-knife. An old man -looks at us with one eye, the other eye, eaten away by the relentless -advance of the disease, has commenced to run out. These are only the -moderately sick patients. - -[Illustration: WHERE THE LEPERS LIVE AND DIE - -Trinidad] - -As we drive nearer to the hospital, a dozen or so horrible-looking -creatures crowd to the end of an upper gallery and stand there, leaning -out over the railing, a ghastly picture of misery. I scarcely dare look -at them, their faces have been so mutilated by the disease; and others -worse there are inside, whom the heroic Sisters--Romish and -Protestant--care for and comfort until the living hideous death is at an -end and life begins. - -We move slowly along up the drive, and come quite near to the great -archway which leads into the courtyard. There we call to the cabby to -stop, and the tall man, who is never afraid of anything, gets out, and -his leaving the carriage becomes, unwittingly to us, a signal for the -poor lepers to approach. One hurries away from his companion--an -emaciated, becrutched Hindoo--and comes to within a few feet of us, and -just as he does so, our protector turns to me and says: "Did you ever -think I would find myself talking to a leper just three feet from me?" -and, interesting as the experience is, I recoil within myself for fear -that the money which we want to give them may necessitate a closer -proximity than we desire. But the unfortunate victim understands the -situation and keeps his distance, while the tall man coming back to us, -stands there with one foot on the carriage-step, still turning toward -the leper. - -By a certain sort of mental telepathy, I know that he cannot say -good-bye without leaving some word of cheer for the poor fellow, and -just what to say, how to say it, how to express a wish which we know can -never be fulfilled, makes a moment's very embarrassing silence. If you -had ever been in the presence of such a living, unpitying death, such a -picture of horrible hopelessness, and felt it your duty to make the -burden easier by some word of cheer, when you had all things--life, -health, and happiness--about you, and he only the refuse of a rotten -body, if you must presume to tell such a martyr to be brave and all that -sort of thing, when you know that his absolutely uncomplaining silence -is greater bravery than you, in all your health and vigour, know how to -comprehend--well, I tell you it's no use! However optimistic by nature, -it's hard to find the words. Why, even a parson would be dumb! - -And so he lingers there uneasily. He looks at the two dear little -sweet-faced maidens at my side, so white and clean and fresh and young, -and then at the gray, misshapen, mutilated silent figure before him, -living his lonely death of agony each day, and says, with a choke, -"Good-bye,"--that is all. Tell me, what would you have said? - -END OF VOLUME I. - - - - -INDEX - - -Botanical Garden, The, St. Pierre, 228, 235-236, 254, 257, 264-270. - -Boulevard, The, St. Pierre, 233. - -Cape Hatteras, 27, 29. - -Capot, Martinique, 270. - -Casa Blanca, San Juan, 144. - -Castle, The, Charlotte Amalie, 179-185. - -Cathedral, The, Santo Domingo, 90-105. - -Ceiba-Tree, The, 288. - -Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, 164-196. - Castle, The, 179-185. - -Columbus, Christopher, 97-105, 288. - -Columbus, Diego, 98. - -Coolies of Trinidad, 279-281, 292-297. - -Coolie Village, The, Port of Spain, 292-297. - -Fer de Lance, The, Martinique, 248, 252-253, 269-270. - -Grand Hotel, The, St. Pierre, 237-238. - -Grande Anse, La, Martinique, 270. - -Gros Morne, Martinique, 270. - -Gulf Stream, 29. - -Hotel Casino Bellevue, Port au Prince, 66-79. - -Leper House, The, Port of Spain, 298-307. - -Marigot, Martinique, 270. - -Martinique, Island of, 197-271. - Capot, 270. - Fer de Lance, 248, 252-253, 269-270. - Grande Anse, La, 270. - Gros Morne, 270. - Marigot, 270. - Morne Rouge, 236, 270. - Mount Pelée, 236, 270, 274. - Natives, The, 205, 210-215, 254-263. - Rivière Roxelane, 266, 273. - -Morne Rouge, Martinique, 236, 270. - -Morro Castle, San Juan, 128, 153. - -Mount Pelée, Martinique, 236, 270, 274. - -Natives, The, of Martinique, 205, 210-215, 254-263; - of St. Thomas, 193-196, 210; - of Trinidad, 275-276, 285-286. - -Ozama River, 85, 86, 112, 118-122, 163, 288. - -Plaza, The, San Juan, 140, 148-150. - -Ponce de Leon, 154-156; - Square of, San Juan, 153-160. - -Port au Prince, Haïti, 35, 42-80, 84, 89. - Hotel Casino Bellevue, 66-79. - -Port of Spain, Trinidad, 275-307. - Coolie Village, The, 292-297. - Leper House, The, 298-307. - Savannah, The, 287-291. - -Quay, The, San Juan, 134-136. - -Rivière Roxelane, Martinique, 266, 273. - -St. Croix, Island of, 189. - -St. John, Island of, 189, 190. - -St. Pierre, 205, 216, 219, 220-245, 246, 273. - Botanical Garden, The, 228, 235-236, 254, 257, 264-270. - Boulevard, The, 233. - Grand Hotel, The, 237-238. - -St. Thomas, Island of, 164, 186, 189, 190. - Natives of, 193-196, 210. - -San Salvador, 33. - -San Juan, Puerto Rico, 124-161, 163. - Casa Blanca, 144. - Morro Castle, 128, 153. - Plaza, The, 140, 148-150. - Quay, The, 134-136. - Square of Ponce de Leon, 153-160. - -Santo Domingo, 84-123, 173. - Cathedral, The, 90-105. - -Savannah, The, Port of Spain, 287-291. - -Southern Cross, The, 219. - -Square of Ponce de Leon, San Juan, 153-160. - -Trinidad, Island of, 275-307. - Coolies, The, 279-281, 292-297. - Natives, The, 275-276, 285-286. - -Windward Passage, 29, 35. - - * * * * * - -Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: - -her persisent whisper=> her persistent whisper {pg 235} - -Hayti=> Haïti {pg 310} - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Gardens of the Caribbees, v. 1/2, by -Ida May Hill Starr - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GARDENS OF THE CARIBBEES, V. 1/2 *** - -***** This file should be named 43770-8.txt or 43770-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/7/7/43770/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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