The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-10-20


would disappear, sunken slowly back
into the parent mass This slow-run.
ming quality makes the cargo the most
detested among the captains in the
island trade, for when the ship has
been listed over to port or starboard for
q couple of days, while running before
strong wind, the whole cargo will
quietly shift over and have to be broken
up and trimmed back to its proper posi-
ton to keep the ship on even keel.
Trinidad, the island from which
practically all the asphalt of the world
is now drawn, is British possession in
the West Indies. It was one of the lit
tie spots of terra firma against which
Columbus ran when, in 1893. he pushed
his explorations farther westward in
search of that mariners phantasm. the
northwest passage The island was
then inhabited solely by Caribs, a wild
and warlike, but withal intelligent
race, not unlike the North Amer
lean Indians. peculiar in their
language, which, like the Choctaw Of
our own western tribe, has been mas
tered by few if any white men. For
many years the island remained neg
lected dependency of Spain, with con-
stantly dwindling population, mostly
natives and imported negroes. In 1897
it pissed into the hands of the British
government and has remained an En-
glish colony since
There are but two towns of impor-
lance upon the island, Port of Spain
and San Fernando. These live mostly
by their imports, the chief productions
Of the island beyond its own necessities
being asphalt and cocoanuts. The sugar
crop is large. but at the present prices
it does not pay to export it. The popu-
lation of the towns is mixed. English
Is the court language, but the majority
OF the people are negroes, descendants
Of the old slave stock, who talk q pa tots
of mingled French, Spanish and English
that is described as the most back
handedest lingo any heather ever in
vented. The negroes are like those of
the United States, beginning to feel
their freedom, and on the strength of it
getting the big head in the second and
third generation. The resident whites
designate them as sassy and as a
class unbearable when they have risen
above the stage Of picking asphalt.
This is true of all but the French ne
groes from Martinique and the adjacent
tricclor provinces, who by long associa-
ton have acquired the suave manner
of their former owners, and are all of
them fit instructors for an ordinary
master. Among them impolite-
ness is unknown.
Some of the original Caribs are still
to be found among the island people,
but they are rapidly disappearing, and
in their places is now seen the imported
coolie. The coolie trade, which was
instituted to furnish cheap
labor for the plantations, was in former
times a terrible disgrace to the islands
and partook of more than all the hor-
rors OF the African slave trade. Thou
sands of the miserable Asiatics were
sacrificed in the business by the greed
md inhumanity of the masters who
brought them over, and, although inn
ported under the guise of labor con-
,ract, not one in hundreds of them ever
lived to return heme. Stringent laws
governing the traffic are now enacted,
and, what is more to the pur-
BOSE. as well enforced, and many of the
coolies by the time they have served |
heir eight years contract out are we'll |
,o-do citizens, being paid for their work |
~ the piece and saving nearly all they
,arn.
The great pitch lake, which is the !
thief wonder and attraction of the |
sland, is situated in low, sandy |
stretch of the southwest coast. near |
ape Corbaray. The surrounding coun-
ry is low and malarial, in striking con-
rast to the high hills and rich wood
ands of the coast further lack The |
AXE is owned by the British govern
nent and leased by it to the Barber
Asphalt company, an American firm of
immense capital which controls the
rade for the United States. Their
resent lease has forty-two years yet to
un. The laborers are all negroes,
ven the coolies shrinking from
he heat and low fevers of
he place. The lake itself is about
nile in diameter, hard at the edges,
nd softening toward the middle The
urface is continually changing, APP
arently from some subterranean
ction, and little GASES of dry land, and
ven trees and shrubs, will disappear
a q single night, and fresh islands or
oil will DE reared in other places.
The lake is in ali proba bility merely
n unusually large deposit of bitumen
r soft coal that has undergone trans
,rmation from decaying vegetable
latter in contact with water, and too
ear the surface for the earth pressure
oove to harden it thoroughly. Hun
reds of negroes the year round toll at
re lakes edge, taking out cargo after
srgo from the supply that seems never
, diminish They work under over
.ers Of their own color. and are paid
the rate OF seventy-two cents day.
he asphalt crust is broken up with
lcks and crow bars, and is loaded on
drawn by single sun-dried
ule, in whom the constant boiling !
seems to have concentrated
i the native meanness OF his species
he carts crunch through long. sandy
'ad down to the wharf at the waters ,
lge, where the load is dumped and
lrried by wheelbarrows on board the ,
ghters, which in turn carry it out to |
lie ships, lying balf-mile out in the ,
zeal water The rough Jumps OF pick ,
gs are hoisted on board in baskets .
Id piled in the hold, where they sink $
,wn into compact mass. requiring |
esh filing the next day, and so on till
e solid cargo is completed. Washing ,
u Star, d,