Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1867-05-17
Editorial Corre-ponisrce q the Free Press
From the "cS Indies.


Topography or s.. Cr0i-
ST. CnoIv. April 10, 1867.
Dear Free Pro-
In 1853. only twenty years after St. Craiz
came permanently into p session Of the Dan sh
Government. ani ghile Of course by f.r the grea-
'sr part Of the i-lsni must hsve been in a state
Z uaturs, Che great roads ,f the island were
I'D out o. an engineer named Beck-eyil. .ntly
uin Of sas,s.ry aad good i1lsmen, The
nos, noticeable of these roads is "t the great
centre road, which extends ia a direction
from Z. y. z. 70 W W. from the vicinity Of
Christsustei, the chief town, on Basin bay
N the north shore AMI seven or eight miles
from the extreme easterly point Of II, 10 the
yes; enloi the islaul This road is male in q
'riig'' line taf,er It leaves the billy vicinity
2 the biy,) with the exception OF two or three
,'art ietolrs to pas. around steep hills, drecily
cough the caatre Of the great level trsct Of
.niry II which l spoke in my lsst The
9Th si this straight line mus, De a5ou, twelve
.es, aal '5r alm1s: entire extent it is bor-
red byrovs Of Lofty COCO. and cabbage palms.
--o,easionaliy interspersei with maumee ami
other fne shade trees. The first drive Of stran
rar over this road Is an event which be viii not
on forget. The perfection Of the roadway,
ouly surpassed ID evenness By the roals Of the
great Ceatral Park Of New York city,-ihe
white stone guarls Of solid mason work which
turn the corners Of the intersecting roads. tn
extensive fields Of cane in its different stage, Of
growth on either side, the groups Of white
buildings which are seen on the ests,es far and
near, the occasional ghmpses OF the sea which
be will get on the one hand. aud the steep green
sides Of the fantastic mountain peaks. constantly
N view on the other-al together Will stamp
an ineff.cesble picture on his memory sni he
will be really to eKelsim ss'in sai again as he
goes along was there ever or anywhere such
another beautiful scene TO be f5luIa this Is 7''
This d" great centre road forms the principal
line Of trsnsit between the two seaport sad otl7
towns Of the island. Christilustci aui Fred
erickEte1. Between ;he sea on the south side.
and the mountains on the n0-.h side. ;here are
three or fur other roads parallel to the % grea;
centre roAd,' and 4; ella. distances from each
other. but not 80 long and more interrupted by
eminences The travel is much LEES on th m.
but all are kept in most admirable condition for
travel Between these parable. r1lls. the es ates
are seen-dividel Of by transverse public roads,
and estate divisions, (ofb.ank spaces apparently
twelve to twenty feet wsie,) the lines m,,rsect-
ing the great roads Al riyh, anglss-so that the
general appearance Of all that portion Of the
island is much like that Of checluer board.
The estates are thus aid out IN rectangular par
alleograms, the lengths Of the sid = being
originally in the proportion Of two to three, the
/ longer sides being those which Il extended,
would cut the long parallel roAis above de-
scribei, st right angles. The respective sress
OF the estates IS originally laid out, were one
hundred and fifty scres each, or some multiple
OF that number Where the estAt, lines run to
the ses, the irregulsrity Of the shore line would
Of course cause sc irregultrity in the number
Of scres in estates 90 situated. In the official
lists of the estates great proportion Of them
are even now put down as containing $50, or 500
or $50 Scres Some Of them contain much
larger areas. The regular checker bosri az
pesrsnce Of the nearly level estates, is not seen
in the mountainous districts, the cultivated fields
and the roads of necessityconforming to the shape
Of the country. But | was told tina, the dividing
estste lines, nevertheless, are carried straight
across the hills, as on the plains, though not
made distinguishAble to common view. few
little streams run from the Mountains to the
,ea. but chiefly they become dry in dry time
In heavy rains torrents rush violently down the
mountain gorges, and by short route to the sea
As for fences, saving the stone walls which
in town and country occasionally enclose yard
and gardens, there are none in i5e entire Is
land. Roads, cane fields, tracts devoted to pas
ture. or to fruit trees, mountain and valley, il
short everything lies all open from sea to sea
In this respect, with the petty exception
above mentioned, the IsIGad Of 81. CIOiI
is one and but one great field
Yet the neat cattle, horses, mules, sheep. goat
and hogs on the Island amount to many thous
snds and one accustomed to fenced farms ma
well e1clsim how is it possible to prevent Al
entire destruction Of the crops by the animals J!
, Such destruction would be inevitable wer
there not a large number of labOrers, young an
old, employed to watch the animals during tn
day and keep them from committing depreds
tions on their owners or their neighbors' pr
4 perty At night all the large animals, csttl'
: horses, mules and sheep, are brought up and II
D closed in strong pens, usually surrounded
' strong stone walls, to be fed there on long top
i guinea grass and whstever else is provided 4
e them A double purpose is answered by III
. arrangement. The animals are kept out
= mischief during the night, and the manure
d kept where il can be made available for the ca
} fields. In the morning the animals are driv
abroad again; and wherever. be 1t in falloW cs
field or 9 mountain bush pasture (for gre
smooth pasture fields such as We see at
North, have no existence bers) q group of th'
al animals il seen, there are to be seen also is'i
q. lsborers on the watch sbou, them. From ca