New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-03-04
A WINTER HOLIDAY.
THE ISLAND OF NEw-pRovIpENcE.

|
| IFRoM A STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE.l
| NASSAU. N. p, Feb %" You see." said Samp-
| son, as the yacht Triton was flying through the
transparent waters with stiff north wind on her
quarter " when dey has it right cold IN New-York,
some of de scruff gifts blown over dis way ana den
we has dc tail of it here" Upon this theory he ac-
counted for recent prevalence OF cloudy DAYS, Tor
which, in the interests of an island where cloudy
days are unusual he felt bound to offer an apology
| and an explanation. But we certainly bad no com
plant to make of the weather. No dav was all
| cloudy; rain light and rare; the mercury con-
tnued TO indicate gentle summer warmth; and
presently came week of uninterrupted and Drill
liant sunshine. with the thermometer at 73'
every morning and from 75o to TO every afternoon
thunder-shower this morning broke In
not unp easanly upon the monOtOnous round OF hne
DAYS. But there s change in the mercury. Inc
week of "scuf" probably represents the worst that
Nassau can do in the way of winter weather
As the island enters upon It's genial and luxurant
spring. think the soft influence of cOntented lazi-
fastens itself upon rs more firmly than ever.
sympathze with population which refuses TO
work when it is so much easier to 90 a-hshng, and
when three feet of sugar cane can be bought ior
penny. The Bahamas made for lazy people
Here ruit-bearing trees grow upon nothing, andthe
cOcoa-nut, tossed by the into crevice or
Sambos rocky garden" yields spontaneously after
little while, a crop supposed to be worth 30 year.
The indOlent town. lacking the energy to climb up
hill crowds itself into the space between
tue harbor and range of gentle slopes from 40 to
100 feet in height, and spreads its suburbs nearly
two miles along the shore. Behind the ridge are
several settlements of black people, popuous, com
pact and amazingly extended. known by various
names. though Fox Hill. GrantstOwn. Jamestown,
Delaneytown, shade into another by
inn
patch of rock, to which somehow have fast
ened themselves cocoanut, a few banana
plants, a sapodia tree twhose russet-brOwn fruit
tastes like a rotten pearl, and mayhap shaddock
tree, its cousin, the grapefruit, the contenteu
black builds his little cabin and rears hs half
naked family. He owns the land" if land such
preposterous piece of stone be called: and as he
pays no taxes and buys little or nothing to wear he
has no use for any more money than he can earn by
peddling small baskets of fruit about the hotel or
the market Yet every house is shop. Half-penny
lengths OF sugar-cane are exposed on the window
sill or on an old box by the gate. Sweet cakes.
ONION and tomato salads. bits of fried fish, bundles
of fodder, invite customers. L wonder who buvs
where the whole community is trying TO sell. Per
haps some primitive system of barter prevails, and
she who has fried whole fish exchanges portions OF
it Tor the suecuent cane and the toothsome potato
cake. 1t does not appear that any cultivation is be-
slowed upon the fruits which spring up around
these picturesque cabins. The cocoa palms have
been bent and twisted. and seemingly half
uprooted, by hurricanes. but they raise their
graceful heads toward heaven all the same
with the mighty weight of nuts peren
nially forming and ripening under the plumes. The
banana grows poor and tattered, but its generous
lunches still rlpen and if the shaddock get rusty,
sour and dwarfed through neglect, the negro would
"a, her eat poor fruits than work for good ones The
fruit of idleness is always sweet to him. and what
he really can't eat he sell to the fresh Yankees at
the hotel
Beyond the negro towns there are plantations
none of them very large-of oranges and cocOanuts
Nothing can be grotesque than the appearance
of field newly cleared for setting out these fruits
1t is literally nothing but few acres Of chalk-white
stone broken up as If for macadamzlng aroad. and
utterly destitute of any vesige of SOIL Yet in these
dazzling white beds of coral limestone vegetation
ourshes luxuriantlv 1t odd to talk Of farming
in AN island where there and never conld
he plough where neither spade nor hoe but only
stone hammer, could be used for tllage and where
beans must lie planted with crow-bar; but
the farmer might be a happy man here, II he
could ouly induce the negroes to work for him. In
the middle of the island there is an extensive growth
IF pine but it is much easier to buy shingles IN
the United States than to cut down trees that this
charcoal burners. Beyond the pine is thick growth
Of inugle and them BY nearly impossible wagon
track Won come to the desoate south beach. Save
q few cabins there are no habItatiOns 10 be seen on
New.Providence Island after you get beyond the
city and suburbs of Nassau. You can sail around
the island IN long day if yon have fair wind
but so arduous an adventure does not commend it.
self TO the indolent temper OF the place, and the
south shore is almost unknown. In common WIN
many other coral islands, New-PrOvdence Is shaped
something like a saucer, having raised rim and
depressed centre. In the midst Of the jungle there
lake two or three miles in diameter whose brackish
waters, communicating with the sea through sub
terranenn channels, rise and fall with the exterior
tides.
yoodoo superstitions prevail to surprising ex
tent among the negroes. heard great deal about
a witch who victimized some Of those poor people
severely q year or two ago. and there was certain
wooden baby in particular which exercised malchc
spells of the most fearful potency. / asked Isaac
to tell me the story. Isaac is very black and very
pood.natured young man who drives a carriage and
this is what he gave me-the tale Of Miss Mary
johnson.
"Well, sir dere come man here from Jamaica
he was a discharged sodIer-an he had a wooden
baby bout so long" measuring from wrist to elbow;
lit had glass eyes and glass belly, an de name OF
de wooden baby was written across Its belly; It's
name was Miss Mary Johnson De man from
Jamaica he went to MIR. Taylor-SiOnday Sergeant
Taylor. down dere at dc guard-hOuse-an'b he said,
Mr. Taylor, If you give me "a Pll save your life
Mr. Taylor say he like very well to save his life.
but he want to know what all dis mean. Oh,
we'll say de man from Jamaica. you just watch
WHATS goin' to happen at half past
o'clock tonight. an take you amt dead afore
morning.. Well, Mr.. Taylor he went home, an shut
his garden gate an watched. NothiR didnt happen
at half-past 8; but about o'clock he heard a
scratchn' an a scrachin' out in de yard He was
nfrnid tn ont lie looked thrnn oh the kevhnla