, 1874-10-28

by packets across the Caribbean lands the vow.
ager at Chrlstiansted, the principal of its two
towns. The island is twenty.seven miles lono
ana about six wide, and is ribbed by three ran.
ges OF NILS that rise from FIVE hundred to one
Thousand feet above the level, and is divided
INTO some eighty to ninety sugar estates and
stock farms, all of which are most highly cui-
tlvated. The population is twenty-three thou
sand, mostly negroes, the white minority being
Danes and English. The English language
Is most commonly spoken on the island.
1nere are one hundred miles of roads nearly as
good as those of Central Park, and going across
to any part of the island, and presenting at eve.
ry turn views of surprising beauty.
Ihe s%OJOurner seeks his home upon a planta.
ton, the houses of which are all commodlous,
and the requirements of a luxurious table are
all at hand, Of home production, which cannot
be said Of any of our other neighbouring winter
resorts. The beef, mutton and poultry are es-
pecially fine, while the fruits are innumerable
in their variety, and many of them, as melons.
oranges, pineapples and bananas, of special ex-
c~ellence.
Ny winter was spent upon one ofthese es-
tates, and a brief recital Of our daily life will
perhaps most accurately convey what is to be
expected there. A beautifully furnished man
sion, a residence of one of the former COVER
nors, gave US a suite of large chambers, to
which was brought every morning, an hour or
two before breakfast, a cup of coffee or tea
with roll. Our bath room was supplied either
from the cistern or the Caribbean Sea, as we
preferred, and at about 10 o'clock we were
summoned to q breakfast Of fruit, fish and meat,
with all the accomplishments. A luncheon at
about 2, and dinner at 6, satisfied the craving
which an island life engenders.
The drives, which should be daily, if the
roads are to be all trayersed, or, better still, for
young people, q gallop on their small horses,
with walking and sailing, fill out the day. A
pair Of horses can be bought for about one hun
dred and twenty dollars, and we'll kept for nine
dollars per month and they will stand a drive
of twenty miles a day better than our larger
ones. Their gait under the saddle is simply
perfect, and the bride paths are truly enticing.
But the invalid will say, What is there for me-,
if unable to enjoy those pleasures? For you
there is a luxury that you will appreciate much
more highly than your stronger neighbour:
to breathe your fill of the balmy trade wind
that fans the island without intermisSion. The
sense of healing and repair to damaged organs
creates q fount of thankfulneSs and hope that,
you will soon admit, places you at an advan-
tage over the mere pleasure-seekCr. There is
no apprehension of change TO diminish this
pleasure. The thermometer has absolutely q
range of only 76o to $50, and the gentle trade
winds revive one from any oppression from this
unbroken heat, and render activity possible at
all times. This, too, not only during The win
ter months, but throughout the year.
The summer at Santa Cruz is far less ex-
hausting than cur own. There is not, more
over, one generating cause of fever about the
island-not a pool Of standing water can be
found upon it, nor a marsh about it, and the
dreaded Yellow Jack" is never known there,
except it be brought from abroad, and then,
finding no local stimulus, il is soon control
led.
My own decision to spend last winter there
was reached after a most careful comparison OF
The restorative powers Of MgntOne and tho
Mediterranean ports generally, and [ have no
hesitation in affirming that for equability Of
temperature, security from reyerses for the in
valid, a soothing balm in every breath that is
drawn, with the accompaniment of natural
charms, Santa Cruz has no competitor. The
number Of persons who are today residents,
who landed there-some in early youth-in
hopeless despair from hemorrhages and deter
mined pulmonary affections, and who are appa-
rently in full health, is not small. Were this
sanitarium as near Great Britain as it is to us
it would soon be more frequented than Madeira
in its palmiest days, over which it has the ad-