Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1880-06-19

Life In Crater.
We c0rdenso tie following description nf th
little kocwo tropical islnnd of Saba from a ST.
Kits ie;er to the Hartford Times:
The i>!aoi of Saba owes It's chief repu atiun
20 lis difficulty of acc ss. 1t has % harour, DC
| roeGstcad even, and 90 landing plac, that ie a
civilized country would be digoif,d ny that
| Daue. Tie people 9ho inhabt this half sub
merged mCuutsu take their lives in their hands
ottcper, presume, than those of any other
isard in this sea; they tempt fste, and ,un the
risk Of uatery grave every time they leave or
| re,uro 70 th, ir ipsu ar homa. There are but
| Two polnss at the base of this mountain wall
that boat can land at. one called The Fort"
used orly when the wind is we II to tue north
and west, ard the other, at which l landed,
kuown as The Lsddsr," oftenest used, though
the worst. AZ il is more sheltered ftom the east
and prev4iIing wind. Fearful stories have cir
culaed about this LADDER that it was SO
steep that oply the natiVss could Climb it. and
that visitors must be carried up on their backs;
That the Bsceut could olly be safely accomplish,
ed by tho aid of ropes aud that some required
10 b. drawn up 10 q bucket. These stories,
trom their vague nature. inspired the would be
visitor to Saba with great aud dreadful ave,
lnasmuch as it required careful search to dis
cover any msn-Uo. Sebarte-who had as
cerded that ladder to the nights beyond aud
had returned alive
Ooe may reasonably assume, then, that | en-
tertaioed grave doubts of my ability to reach
the town above 10 my then exhausted STATE;
sud it was with trembling, if not With fear, that
commltted myself 10 the guidance OF one of
me men and set my fsce upward. The other
nan was left to wach The thiDrs over night.
Why detail hat dreadful Climb? 1t was oue
sUorious effort for nearly an hour up an itclIne
so steep that the roof OF house was easy walk
| ing 10 cnmparisoo, where the stones looscDed by
| be feet til straight down to the beach; aud
his sort Of climbing contioued to thu very bitter
cod, The path zlgz4uging and doubling upon it.
SELL beneath great rocks ready to tsll. along tt
bricks of prt cioic. s which | saw afterwards, BY
daylight, to shudder at.
Af.er stou, 700 feet perpendicular OF this
woik felt like 81 ting down, and ong before The
| summit was reached | could have wished S.bs
sunk In the sea- Tne darkness Was dense, bui
be steady Land Of my bsrefooted guide pre-,
veuted ne from slipplug, and We at las, reach
| ed point whence the mario path Wuusd amonc
| the rocks al 40 easy grade. Al the frst house W.
passed through large crowd of blacks, come
doSo to i qulre the neWs, and to boy 10 the
crowI my guide coumltted me and returned t.
he bay Tne boy lei me to house, soma dis
| 'apce farther oh,rwhere the hsoor master lived,
and about the door Of this house The croXd coI.
Iec,td TO nsve a lock a. the stranger.
Even in my oppressed and exhausted coudi.
ton | coud not fail to notice the universal
prevalence of tow heads among the juvepie
population. And the complexion Of every oue
vas tsir aud rosy, with freckIes oe some, but
with lit'le tan. They were 10 ssrikiOg contrast
to tie duskv faces around theu, these white
boys, With their f .xen hair, ruE noses, wide
mouths and blue eye, yet all, black and white,
miug!ed together iu perfec5 freedom and
equality. With them also We're those of other
cowplexious- brown, yellow aud chocolate-9ho
tcrm the connecting ok between the two races,
and are. in many cases, by far, the most come
ly-spd iosolcot.
Previous to retiring | walked out 10 the gar
den to look at The weather. vii the hsIbof
master, and so doing stumbled over long, low,
white OF ct. asked him what it was but
later wished | hadn't, for at once discovered
that it was tomb of mason work, covering
shallow grave. This custom of buryiog the dead
10 their gardens is touching insiance Of the
| affection these people have for one ano her. L.
is slso au illustration Of the SCARCITY Of soil 10
| which they could elsewhere be planted. Il is
estimated that if all the people Of Sata should
| die at occa there would not be space enough of
| tracsbe earth to bury them in. Fortunately
| for Saba, the majority OF her Inhabitants are
| scatarUg men, and dis away from home.
In the morning went out for walk, aud
| was surprised TO SEQ directly 10 front of the
house a steep hill, and Immediately behlud it
| aoGther, sn east OF it her, and west still
| another. lu fact this little owu OF Bottom was
c>m pletely surrounded Dy hills. with so openUg
| to the east aud mother TO the west, through
| which the iohsbitan,s reached the SEA. 1t is
900 feet ub I'VE the sea- aud occupies the leVelrd
surface of great mass of debris that has,
ages stree. filed the crater OF an exllct
volcano. | don't know how many houses
there were, they were too few to count; each
house was whit, with low roof painted red,
and each surr0uoded by garden. dlmioutive
and rocky The steets were merely tootI b,
vailed iu between great piles OF rock aod stones
so that in nsoy o :sas the walls o'ertopped my
head and such proiusion Of cactus, Of vines
and prickIy pear, as covered these walls! Across
these ~ 81 pcuresque lanes darted the tioy,
glt-cspped, hummlug birds, and among the
plants yellow breasts aud sparrows played
hide aud Sc. k Capt. Rich aud myself walked
Gu: in the cool of the morning down one iaue
and up another, arouoG one c0roer aod then
another, but never 10 straight lloe, DOR ever
over levi path. until We cane to q little cot,
tsge, with its front yard filled with lmes and
crotous aud trumpet & 'Wets, and with wooden
beDch,s along its tagged entrance, most iovt
iog TO sit upon. meek snd melancholy ",
mao bsds us eDter, and with her Capt. Rich
quickly arranged Tor ne 10 board. Then he
vent with me TO the GJsetnor's, which geutle
Usp-a Dutch mao, but speaking EugIish-
kodly received US and quickly granted me per
mssoo to shoot, waving the customary pay
nept of two puiideIs for such privilege
Then the good nsn retired TO bis private room
and after little while returoed and bandec
me paper that would. he said, be my prolec
lion from the police -four 10 numberl VIII
ranged the island set king what they might de-
your.
J For ten days lived n this quaint town o