, 1874-05-13

steam communication of their former customer
ports.
Spending a day or two in this Introductory
to West Indian life, our party combining with
that of Admiral Boggs of our navy, and the
ladies under his charge, started for this island
upon one OF the packets that ply between these
ports. Laying their course upon the trade
wind, which blows constantly from east to west,
ard therefore serving equally well for the pas
sage to and from, one is never voxed with delay,
nor liable to the occurrence of calm. Five
hours of delightful yachting work brought us to
Christiansted, the principal town Of this charm
ing island, which has ever borne, and still
maintains her title of "the garden of the
Antilles - and very little inquiry served to
place US at rest, in the abode Of a highly cult
waited native family, where we now enjoy
every comfort that the most eXigent traveller
could demand. a few other families share this
hospitality, for such it seems, so truly home
like and comfortable are all our surroundings.
With a most excellent table, and a solicitude
for the special needs and requirements of every
member Of the household, we have nothing
left to ask for, but an enlargement of the
boundaries of our society. In this regard it
is dull, and not desirable for young people, at
present. But with a more general acquaint-
ance with its charms and p~roffered benefits, one
can hardly doubt that a small stream from the
great torrent Of hcalth-seekers that pours down
into our Southern States every Winter, (where
they find few if any Of the attractions nature
and art offer here,) diverted in this direction,
would soon make this a crowded and brilliant
Winter watering place.
The island is one of the loyeliest spots in the
Western hemisphere, diversified in scenery,
which at every turn presents pictures of exqui-
site beauty, that can hardly be conveyed by
the medium Of the pen, demanding rather the
accuracy of the pencil, to do them justice. A
range of hills ribs the centre, rising from five
hundred to a thousand feet, and shielding fer
tile valleys, that in the sugar cane growth
have proved mines of wealth to their owners
but from which, for the past two years, little
has been made, owing to severe and success
sive droughts. Still the island is all under cul-
ture, and the proprietors bide their time, know
ing that a few years of propitiOus weather will
enrich them, as in former years. There are
one hundred miles of macadamiZed roads, equal
to those of the Central Park, intersecting the
island in every direction, besides innumerable
tempting bride paths.
Attractive as all this renders a visit here, it
is soon subordinated in the mind of the seeker
after restored health, when he begins to realize
the climatic benefit which he is sure to receive.
The fact that an unbroken and assured range
of the thermometer, from seyenty-six to eighty
two degrees, is his, with the constant action Of
the gentle trade wind to ameliorate any seve-
rity of heat, Corning a favorable combination
OF the elements, to be found no where else on
this side of the earth,) is all he need consider.
There is balm in every breath one draws, and
to the |incirient stages of throat and lung affec-
lions, it offers the best possible chance of cure.
Mostly these cases are tempered with at home,
till too late to look for cure then this is the
place for alienation. No American physician
should be without a full knowledge of this
American Madeira. Itmay be we'll to add here,
for the benefit of our clergy, who are SO often
compelled to seek such a Sanitarium, that it is
q most inexpensive place, the price of board
being from ten to twelve dollars per week.
The population, numbering about $4,000, is
composed Of Creole whites of pure blood and
foreign parentage) and Danes, and these are
comprised in the small fragment Of 1000 to
1900 the large remainder being colored, Of
every shade of a hybrid race. So far has the
admixture of the races been carried, that the
faint of the negro element, in very many cases,
is so undistinguishable to the stranger, that we
hazard much in relying on ones own judg-
ment, in the matter. In fact, one thus far
becomes " color blind" and cannot " tell black
from white.'' This will suggest as it proves,
how Wretchedly low a condition of morals has