, 1893-05-06

RNJb W ~O AcAAASc NV
West India trade.
You can find anything in st. ~Thomas-eyen
'ce-though there is no factory there. Ice
costs about two cents a pound. There are
large cigar houses and several manufacturers
and exporters of bay rum, an article peculiar
to the Danish West Indies. The people are
energetic and do business in the American
way. Nearly everybody on the island is an
xious to become "a subject of the United
States. Not once did | go ashore while
there that some one, knowing me to he an
American. did not ask me the time when St.
Thomas would belong to the United States.
[ understood while there that when the ques-
ton of the cession of the islands to this oonn-
try was laid before the people Of Denmark.
there was only three dissenting votes ont of
several thousand. The population is about
Is, 1000, mostly oolored.
The climate of St. ihomas is warm, but
not go oppressive as that of most of the West
Indies. There is always the cool trade wind
to take the force of the heat away.
By far the greatest business in st. Thomas
is that of the coal merchants. All the Uni
ted States men-of- war coal there when
cruising in the West Indies, and this bust
ness, not a small one in itself, forms a very
small franction Of the total coal trade of the
port.
The operation Of coaling ships in the tropics
is a very peculiar one, and it is more peculiar
on q man-of-war than on a merchantmen.
The ship comes to the dock and large plat
forms are rugged outside the ports. Coal is
taken in at three ports and the baskets are
emptied into the shutss leading TO the coal
bunkers. On "a merchantmen there are few
coal bunkers but on Il msn-of-war With iS
very many water-tight compartments, there
ouo roro1, COS +boO th;rt. aUA o0,oak;U,na
many more. The work Of slowing the coal
in these bunkers is very difficult on account
Of the heat and sloseness. The coal has to
be thrown up close unde, the decks between
the beams. In ordinary weather | have seen
men Iperspirs so heavily that their clothes
we're completely wet through after doing such
work as this, In the tropics it is usual to
have trained showers to do the work. These
men do the work regularly and in the very
hottest weather.
The work on the ship is prosaic, however,
whsn compared with the method of getting
the coal to the ships side. Women and girls.
some of them no more than IL years old,
carry baskets full of coal on their heads.
The big coal pile sis perhaps 500 feet away.
but the women seem tireless. These colored
women have finer figures and a more grace
full carriage than some of our ball room
bellies. They enliven their work by songs,
and, Mt intervals when the overseer is not
looking, by dances. Dancing is a craze with
them, and it was almost impossible to con-
troll them when the band struck up.
They march pastl an Inspector. who gives
all those with full baskets u check Of the
value of one cent, and passes them on, send
ing the others back to the coal pile to have
their baskets re6lled. This women march on
and on hours at u time. They work day
and night till the work is done. 1t
is said that some OF those women earn aN
much as So a day by this work, There must
have been 900 women carrying coal to
the Chicago when we last oosled there.
1t was a very picturesque sight. but the
sense of wonder soon overoame every
other. The endurance Of these women is
marvellous.
The island may not be fertile. Indeed !
have heard that there are other places where
the growth is even mere magnificent, but
the soil of St. Thomas certainly produces
verdure that would be considered wonderful
in the United States. Palms and banana and
orange trees grow rank as woods. The many
shades Of green stand ont prominently and the
view is grand.
The old Danish fort is Town at the water
front. 1t is make:shift affair, that could
do nothing to a modern ship. but was once Il