The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-03-22
THE WEST INDIES.
The Land OF the Palm, Nutmeg and
Glove, Snakes. Lizards and Earth


Quakes.
"Gath" has been interviewing a gen.
tleman just returned from tour In the
West India islands, and the following
extracts are from an account given in
The Cincinnati Enquirer:
~ suppose that you get all kinds of
bugs and reptiles in those islands,"
90, yes. There is lizard there
called the iguana, which is perfectly
harmless, but it looks like the devil It
has alligator scales, long, powerful tail,
q pouch under its throat, and is of sup
pressed green and yellow tints. and has
q rich, darting eye. The people eat it
like chicken. It grows to the length of
five feet, or almost as big as man,
though you generally find them about
two feet long"
"Do they raise cocoa in those islands?'
eyes, and cacao too. Cocoa is
palm-tree, which bears nut, the cocoa
nut; but cacao is a very small tree or
bush, which grows the material of
which chocolate is made. The plant
was discovered in Mexico very early,
and Cortez found the Aztecs using it.
The cacao-tree looks like chestnut.
It produces the third year, but bears
the best at seven or eight, and requires
to be planted under shade. This
cacao grows so spontaneously and
brings such good reward to the negro
planter that, like the bread-fruit, it is
a cause of his laziness. With about
one acre of these trees he can live
pretty well. "
what does the cacao look like ?"
at looks like the cucumber which
had turned yellow or red, and is six
inches long, and grows something like
lemon or citron, from the tree,
changing color, as it develops, from
green to crimson, yellow and purple.
The seed is taken out of this cucumber
and dried and cured, and then put into
bags for shipment. The trouble with
the cacao is that it is adulterated with
vanilla and other beans. Monkeys and
rats are very fond of eating these GU
cumbers."
"Did you see much OF the sugar cul-
ture?"
"Yes. Coolies have to some extent
succeeded slaves or negroes in the cul-
tivation of sugar, and get very low
wages cents day for children, Is
cents for women and 20 cents for men.
In these islands the laborers can live
for 2 or 3 cents a day on fish, bread
| fruit, yams, plantains, sweet potatoes
and bananas. They only work five days
in the week, taking Saturday for them
selves, and Sunday nobody works. They
drink rum The coolies beat the ne
groes saving money, buy goods and cat
tie, and when they have served out
their time they go to the little towns
and set up shops, often rum shops.
which make things worse"
"Do they cultivate the spices in the
West Indies? ?"
"Yes, they cultivate mango and Gin
namon, the Glove and the nutmeg. Some
of these seeds were sent from the main
land of South America. They do not
| do well in the West Indies, however,
| the nutmeg making out better than any
other. The nutmeg tree looks like an
orange tree trimmed down. The Glove
tree, where successful, yields about
seven pounds of cloves"
"What is the bread-fruit?" ?"
"It is tree which was intoduced into
the West Indies that grows Jumps of
fruit several inches in diameter. In
side OF the shell is sort of watermelon
flesh, which is just as nutritious as
bread, and the laboring classes there eat
it for bread. With twenty of those
trees man can live all his lifetime, and
need do nothing else but sleep. The
tree does not want to be cultivated at
all, but takes care of itself. It bears
eight months in the year, and for the
remaining four months is kept like po-
tatoes under the ground or under
leaves"
Where did the bread-fruit come
from?"
at came from Polynesia, and to bring
that tree to the West India islands the
ship Bounty was fitted out in 1897. As
she was coming back, with 1000 roots
in pots, tubs and boxes, a mutiny broke
out, and the officers were set adrift by
the crew, and did not reach land for
forty-one days. The mutineers were
afterward executed, with the exception
of a portion of them who got to Pit
cairn island and founded colony there
This same lieutenant who commanded
the Bounty was given another vessel
and returned to Otaheite. He brought
the bread-fruit to st. Vincent's island
in 1898"
"Do they have snakes in the West
Indies?"
"Yes; in Grenada there are plenty o.
them which live in the forest and oc
cas;onally steal out and rob the planta
tions. Indeed, there are no animals il
the Antilles, no four-footed animals O
much account, except the monkey, thu
armadillo and the agouti. The peccar.
, is extinct in every island but Tobago
There are some wild hogs in Dominic'
and st. Vincent, and, what is very singu
lar, there are wild cats in some of thos
islands which are descended from tam
cats, and yet are just as wild as will
cats, though not as powerful. There /
q sort of opossum from South Americ
in some of those islands, and there ar
few raccoons. have seen monkey
tearing down bananas and plantains
"What other island did you visit?"
! Grenada. That is portion of wha
are called the Grenada islands. Al
, these islands are thought to be portion
, of q sunken continent. Another theor
, is that they were thrown up by fire
There are a good many volcanoes still
in them, not very active, and mainl
sulphuric oozes and ehimneys. /
, Grenada there are number of extinc
= craters, some of which are filed wit
water, and one of them makes lax
two and half miles around, 1000 fee
above the sea. Nearly all these island
q have forts, and you can see the Soutf
: ern Cross standing out magnifcently
y the night. By the way. on that islam
: you can see oysters climbing trees.