, 1886-02-17
ON THE ISLAND OF ANTIGUA.
An Unruiy cow-Dig Fields OF Sugar
neutrality-suspicious.

~" -
Can.-oId-Fashioned WindmilIs-
We drove out into the country, and a
pretty, billy, rolling country it is, with
out any mountains, but with a great
deal Of quiet beauty. We went follow
ing n OF the principal roads, smooth
and in excellent repair between the
fields Of sugar cane. In one place fom
or five colored natives were walking
along the road, and a small cow came
running along, her head down, looking
As II Ia would consider il n privilege
and a pleasure to toss somebody into
the air. Ii was "a caution to see those
darkies disappear among the sugar
canes until the COW got past. Mr.. Jack
son told us that some Of the Antigua
cows are vicious and delight in taking
people on their horns, and that it is Gus
tomary for pedestrians when they see
one coming to slide gracefully in among
the canes and wait till see is past and
out OF sight.
These big sugar fields, or "cane
fields you must understand, are never
fenced in. The rows OF cane run right
up 10 the side of the road, and nobody
disturbs them. When the cane is
nearly ripe and full of Juice, 80 that il
would afford good eating for the darkies,
n Waterman is stationed in each field.
And what a sinecure it must be
for a colored gentleman in the West
Indies to be paid to stay in a field of
twenty acres Of juicy sugar camel To
steal cane" is n Of the gravest crimes
known TO the Antiguan law; it is onlya
triie short OF horse stealing In the
west, and a colored gentleman who is
caught going along a country road with
a bundle of it is liable to be stopped and
made to give an account of himself.
Most of the sugar mills in Antigua, as
in the rest OF the world, now, are run
by steam. There are the remains OF
many old-fashioned windmills, but
nearly all Of them are falling to decay.
The first one we saw in operation, a
small one. was on a piece of low
land, and was used for pumping water
TO the steam mill that stood close by.
But there are some large ones, with
four great arms that reach out over the
space of a city block. Often they are
used in connection with the steam mills
for pumping water. Mr.. Jackson was
just telling me about some big planta-
ton that was not far from where we
were driving.
There is its chimney, said he, point
ing TO it.
l looked where he pointed, and saw,
about a quarter Of a mile away, a great
big chimney, as l thought, towering up
=. A., IL Will. .--. l.l.-- -. "a I.
toppled W and fell right down side
ways to the ground. 1t gave me a fine
start, and | was about to exclaim that
the chimney had fallen over when n
other n just like it came up and took
its place. Before | had a chance to say
anything about it, fortunately, l saw
that | had not been looking at a CHM
ney at all. but at one of the great arms
of a windmill, reaching far up above
the low trees. AS fast as one arm went
down another naturally enough came up
and took its place, and when each big
arm was straight up in the air it looked
just like a great tall chimney.
We drove past the largest sugar es-
tate on the island, Ia consolidation OF
three or four smaller ones), where the
absentee proprietors had started some
three or four months before to take out
the old machinery aud put in new of an
improved pattern. But the change took,
Of course, much longer than was ex-
pected; 80 when the mill ought 10 have
been grinding the years crops it was
all torn out and could not be started.
For some un~accountable reason the