Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1889-03-16
letter from Martinique.
Correspondence CT the Alexandria GAzEr1


exclaimed, id the language OF CoIuulbus
when be discovered Cuba This island IL
so amazingly beautiful it exceeds all others
we have seen rs the day, in splendor, sur
passes the nigh" II seems TO beam and
smile in the sunlight; every ravue was
plainly marked by the darker shadow OF lis
depths, darker even than the shadows caat
by the sharply defined ridges peaks and
mountains, Cultivated fields in every vary
ing shade Of green capped the hills, recliGsd
against the slopes Or nestled under oyer
hanging bluff, and in the uooks aud Crannies
Of the ravines, while the numerous perfectly
coned peaks rose from ridge, bill anu valley
and gave to the landscape O unique beauty
and varied pictu.esQuene5s we had not ex
pected AS we approach closer TO the land
We cen see the town of st. Pierre on the
shore, lying ct the conjunction OF two ra-
vines. The green nose OF the dividing fore
land looms up behind it es huge guardian
and forms perfect back ground for the
grayish white Of the houses, and the old
brick color Of their roofs. 70 the right, Gs
we viewed it, rises the craggy and furrowed
heights of an extinct volcano, its sides ruff
fled and streaked by the melted lava it has
thrown off go many years ago. In the en-
closure formed by the bluffs and the ridges,
and skirting this base on ell sides, is situated
the town of st. Pierre the bouses rise one
above the other as they leave the water and
q succession of gaping windows open to the
sea-each house having been built just high
enough abovo It's neighbor to overlook
its neighbours roof from the third story win
dow.
I'M - Ct
and very clean; in either gutter a small
1t contributions from kitchens and shops and
the refuse generally carried of by sewers in
American cities; in fact these are the sewers
of st. Pierre. The grade of the streets gives
the water q velocity of from four to seven
miles an hour.
The water in the cutters is not shallow,
nor is the current intermittent. The water
is about six inches deep, and walk wherever
you will in the city, you will hear the gurg
ling and ripping of the water in the cutters,
as it rushes to the soa, carrying all sorts ana
kinds of contributions. The supply of water
tains and for sewerage. There are fountains
ALWAYS playing in all the parks, in private
houses, in hotels and even on the sea shore
thew have fountains of fresh water spouting
up high in the air, as If in derision of the
mass of salt water that seems to reach for
and threaten to engulph their Jets in every
wave.
St. Pierre contains botanical garden,
1.-THE Jardir des Plantes), an old Catholic
college. aDd several handsome churches,
one of which aspires to the dignity of and
is called O cathedral. A small fordable
creek (which is called river empties into
the sea at ST. Pierre and divides the town.
On either side of the creek are high walls,
that serve as retaining walls for promenade
and drive and to confine the waters OF the
creek when swollen with heavy rains. Or
dinarily, the water trickles along among
huge round boulders, and amid patches of
grass that find space in the margin between
the water and the walls, to grow until
drowned or washed out by freshet. In
the afternoon, if you look up this artificial
ravine, everything seems white, white on
the bushes covering the stones, hiding the
grass-everyt thing is white.
This is the great laundry of st. Pierre;
the mass of white is the immaculate linen
of the French wardrobe bleaching in the
sunshine the creek itself is the washtub,
and the boulders are the washing or rub
bing boards. The washers or blancbissues
rub the clothes little in their hands and
then slap and pound them on the bouders;
thew stand in the water, which, in nearly
every case, rises to the knees. Do they not
get their skirts wet? Oh, no. Even when
the water is knee deep there is still mar
pin between that and the hem of their skirt.
Yes, and this in broad daylight, too; and
nobody stops to gaze, or criticize, or COM
ment. In America it would draw. Such
an exhibition as this would draw clerks and
proprietors, and doctors and lawyers, every.
BODY would be drawn but here among the
French West Indians, the motto, Honl Solt
0li NAL n pense," seems to have been adopt
ed as a rule of life. not es an ornament for
seal.
The people of Martinique are infinitely
superior to the people of the other islands
we have visited. They possess all the quail
ities of the French people and especially
the great characteristic of politeness, and,
besides, the faculty OF minding their own
business. Julius Caesar described the an
cestors of the French as the most polished
harbarians he had conquered, and what the
ancestors were to the barbarans the French
colonisls OF Martinique are to their neigh
hors ON the English West India Islands.
On the 18th day of June, 1868, there was
horn on this island child who achieved
naost brilliant destiny. She, for it was q
oirl baby, was the daughter of Joseph Gas
pard de Fascher, lieutenant of artillery IN
the French army. At the age of sixteen
she married Alexander de Beauharnais.
After ten years of welded life they separa.
ted. and she, having been taken to France
by her husband, then returned 10 this Island
j. D41t,