The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-04-02
NASSAUS WILD BEAUTY.
A LADY TOURIST DESCRIBES THE
QUAINT ISLE.


Tree-A Mixed Regiment of zouaves
Hotels and Hospitalities of the
Island-Thrifty Commerce During
the Wharf.-The Female Fruit Vendors
of Nassau-American Hotel Wanted
There.
Three weeks ago the steamship Cienfue-
gos, from Nassau for New York, arrived in
Jybee roads and landed a number of tour
lists at Sava nnah. Some of them went on
to Florida, but the surroundings here were
so pleasant and enticing that quite num-
Der remained. Among them was a p rty
consisting of the sisters Misses L. s., j. A.
and H. C. Converse, of Burlington, Vt,
who are still in the city and stopping at ia
South Broad street.
Miss L. S. Converse seems to have lost no
opportunity to study life in Nassau while
wintering there, and talks very pleasantly
of the place. In an interview with a
MORNING NEWS reporter yesterday she
said:
ON A CORAL STRAND.
''Nassau is place which once seen IS never
likely to be forgotten. Ii is a tiny West
Indian city, built on and from n coral
strand, half submerged in the Atlantic
ocean. 1t is unique both in formation and
civilization Situated on the slope of a hill
it verges gradually by easy descent to the
hsrbor below, and with its belt of blue and
emerald water offers to the eye of the
traveller an exquisite harmony of glowing
color. Its narrow streets, white as if CHS
eled from the snow-drift of the last North
ern blizzard, wind up and around the hill,
many of them over arched with the glossy
leaved foliage OF tamarind and almond trees.
The houses cream, yellow and chocolate,
and chimneyess, with gabled or hipped
roofs are not, perhaps, architecturally beau
tiful. but seen through the long, pendent
branches of the cocoanut trees, with their
red roofs half hidden in the verdure, are ex-
ceedingly quaint and picturesque. TIE
heart of the city presents foreign appear
ance. as if French or Spanish, and the lower
part Of Bay street, with its esplaEade and
long-galleried barracks, with Fort Char
lotte in the distance is said to be much more
Spanish than English in aspect.
THE TURBANED SOLDIERS OF NASSAU.
Marching through the quaint old streets
the West Indian regiment in their gay uni
forms may be daily seen, their zouave dress
as unique as picturesque. With their tur-
bans of scarlet and white, with the long
tassels swinging over their shoulders, their
blue trousers, yellow waistcoat and scarlet
gold-laced coat and above all, with their
beaming, ebony faces, they afford brilliant
bit OF color against the white coral of the
streets. This zouave regiment is composed
of East Indians, Jamaica (colored) troops
and Congo Africans, and are as well dis
ciplined soldiers as one often sees They
are commanded by English officers, sent
over for the purpose from England.
ION approaching Nassau, as we rounded
the point in the harbor, wherein stands the
lighthouse. we discovered that we were
floating in water as transparent as air, and
could distingui h the bottom thirty feet be-
. low us. 1t is a strata of white coral colored
here and there with the yelows and browns
of the sea weeds, and it is so clear that if a
nickel lay at the bottom it could be easily
distinguished Ascending the coral steps
which lead to the pier, we were greeted by
so many black faces and so few white ones
that we seemed to have fallen into the very
midst of an African colony. Negroes Of
every description and age, from to SO, and
varying in shade from bakers chocolate to
an Indian INK swarmed around us all eager
to carry our luggage and earn an honest
penny.
HOTELS AND HoSPTTALITIES OF THE ISLAND.
The Royal Victoria Hotel, our hostelry,
Is situated near the summit of the hill, and
overlooks the entire city and harbOr below
it Ii was built by the Colonial government
at an expense Of Sl25, 900, and is large,
commodlous and picturesque, and with the
attentive kindness of the proprietor affords
to the traveller delightful resting place
AT the head of George street, on the high
est elevation, stands the Government House.
approached by several flights of marble
steps, at the head of one of which is a CO.
lossal statue of Columbus large but I'M
pretentious mansion, surrounded .by hand
some grounds. Sir Ambrose Shea, the
newly made Governor resides there and
both he and Lady Shea unite in courteous
Inequalities to English and Americans alike.
Through the thoughtful kindness of our
American Consul, Hon. T. j. McLain, our
winter on the island was rendered very de-
hghtful. true American gentleman, he
unites the highest scholarly attachments
with great personal refinement.
Much clemency is displayed here as re-
CARDS the position of the vicegerent and
chief officials, and a certain degree of state
is sustained by every English Governo".
The entrance to his mansion is always
guarded by soldiers of the West Indian
regiment and an escort of the same accom-
panes his carriage when on official duty.
The new Governor is d practical, sensible
man, and so far has been very successful i'm
his Office. At the opening OF Parliament he
strongly advocated MANY effective meas
uTes for increasing the commercial pros
perity of the islands, one of them being the
establishment of telegraphic communication
with the United States by means of sub
marine cable.
HAS OUTLINED ITS COMMERCIAL BOOM
Nassau for the last hundred years has
had but a moderate commercial interest
with the execution of the four wears of our
civil war, when the harbor was full of IRON
clads and business rushed like lightning
express The wealth of the place to-day
lies almost exclusively in the hands of those
who coined their money by their strict
neutrality. But these days are long since
over, and the island is again taking a sesta.
Thrice happy land, where wars and rumors
of wars are unknown and one needs go to
the post office only twice month There
is rest in the air, repcse in every breeze and
tranquility in the wings of the trade wind ~
THE NATIVE FRUIT VENDORS.
"a feature in the Nassau landscape.
almost Oriental in aspect, is the market
house in early morning The colored peo-
pie, many of them pure Africans, and, il is
said, retaining among themselves the real
African language, each female bearing on
her head a tray of sapodillas oranges and
pineapples, her shoulders draped with a
scarlet or yellow scarf, with, perhaps. a
bright-hued handkerchief bound about her
head; the foreign sailors, with huge gold
earrings cleaning in their ears. their ma
hoga1y-colored skins showing through the
~. 4 81. =. 4 -