The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-09-09
FIELDS IN THE SKY.
a TISIr TO THE HIsHEsr SUGAR
PLANTATION IN the WORLD.
where the Mou-tai, Peas rs Couti-usIy
CatchinR CIouss s.s ths Clouds Are
Everisst,nsiy N.hi-s shewer--A rIs.t-
srss Dousts About the Rrookiy- Bridge.

Catching CIoud. s.a The Clouds Ar-
EverIsstinsiy Nskirs shower--A PIs.t-
srss Do1bts About the Brookiy- Bridge.
perhaps you never saw a mountain catching
clouds ~ said the young botanist who, a few
days ago. described his visit 10 Montserrat and
Redonda. II have often noticed It in my noun
tain rambles; but never did | see IL done to such
perfection a. II Is done by the great mountain
peak Of st. Kits. Few mountains have as good
a chance. because they generally have so much
land around them; but the mountain Of St.
Kilt rises right up out Of the sea till its peak IL
5000 feet In the air, and II spends Its entire
time catching clouds. Sometimes II catches so
many that II becomes dangerous. II got It's
name. Mount Misery, by catching such a guam
tity one day years ago that the water came
pouring down the slope and drowned half the
Inhabitants Of the town at its base.
1T is a very curious thing tn watch the clouds
gather and see them huddlo close about tho
peak until they reach the precipitation point,
and then drop their water all over the island. l
had to wait several days before I saw the tip
top Of the mountain at all, there are always so
many clouds around II. But at length | caught
It. and then | had n chance to see the whole
process from the beginning. You must under
stand that tho whole island Of st. kits is just
one mountain, with sloping sides. A little dark
cloud came sailing along, and when 1t reached
the mountains peak 1t stuck there and could
not go any further. Then came another and
another. and the thicker they became the
blackcr they grew. But the people paid no at
tention to Il for a while. They are so used TO II
that they can tell to q nicely when the clouds
are thick enough to dlsgorge and give them q
shower. Presently a very large white cloud
headed straight for the peak. The sun was
Mat, L-lulN H. a. aaaN lxnN 4 - t1n na1-1a
hurrying along ~ though they expected n storm.
The man l was with said to me:
Here. we will go into this store till tho
shower is over
"'Shower.' said I F.; why, the sun Is shining
Nevertheless, we went Into the shop, and in
less than a minute the cloud was caught by the
mountain. The front part of 1t stopped ut once,
and I could see the rest of IL banking itself up In
hills against the mountain. IL turned black 40
the mass thickened, and our daylight was nearly
shut out. though on the sea the sun WAS still shin
ing as bright rs ever. There was no thunder,
no wind, no warning at all except the darkness.
Then the rain came. To say that IL was the
hardest shower I ever saw Is to draw II very
mildly. There seemed to be just one continuous
stream Of water coming down. 1t lasted less
than ten minutes, but in that time the dry gut
tiers were turned into rushing streams, and
every little rivulet became a torrent. Then the
sun shoue again, and the blackness was gone out
Of the clouds around the mountain peak.
Enough clouds were still left about the peak TO
hide IL from view. but they were white clouds.
And in five minutes more the peak was catching
more clouds, preparing for another shower.
YOU may think that this was nothing won
derful; but you must remember that this same
thing is going on every day. sometimes twenty
times n day, and that these showers are in addi-
tion TO the regular rain storms that CONF to st.
Kits MS well as to other places. This Is the Sc
cret Of the wonderful greenness and fertility of
the island. These showers make II possible for
the inhabitants TO cultivate the land as high up
the mountain side as they can climb, and to
keep 1t looking, from the sea, like a vast green
The green you see is not grass. but sugar
canes. st. kits grows nothing else.
Tho people arc always more interesting than
the scenery let me tell you something about the
people of ct. kits. It is an English colony, OF
course you know. with the usual West Indian
preponderance Of negroes. But IL has more
working white men than most of the islands.
because a great many Portuguese have emigrated
to it. / was beginning to think that white mon
could not do hard labor In that climate. but the
Portuguese in 81. Kits taught me better. They
work at anything that offers, save their money.
and often grow rich on plantations that have
driven the more aristocratic English settlers TO
poverty. The first white lady | met In 81. Kits
was the daughter of one of these Portuguese i'm
migrants and the wife Of a prominent native
merchant. Her father went to 1t. Kits a gener-
alton ago with nothing but the clothes he wore.
aud found work on one of the large plantations
work in the fields with the negroes. He noticed
that a great many colored people passed the place
every day on their way to the town after pro-
visions, and at the end Of the first month he in
q little shanty shop BY the roadside. and sold hf.
han Nhtnna and hta Ahnn DEaxu and l..
made money IN a few years ar i he had ' such Iii iitt is
shops all over the island, and a big wholesale
long odds the richest man In ST. kits; so rich
that when a few years ago his first employer
yU ih In p ass% Of nTo %fG s sIS. went ysn $50 S f o5o he s sold
for your plantation;' and when the orer was ac-
copied and the deeds drawn he opened his safe
In 81. Kits have not done as well as this. but
they are the m~oney-makers OF the island.
enough s ! to i GIVE ONE me ts Sspi biaes OF W W. t', DO yo Us
think OF a town OF 5000 Inhabitants without q
hotel in iii There is no hotel because there Is
no business for one, and a stranger has 70 in
qutre for the one boarding house. The only
thing OF interest in the town Is the public gar
Die building; but most Of the houses are mere
shanties, still bearing evidences OF the hurricane
that racked them several years ago.
BY the way, there Is one more interesting
thing in Basse Terre that ] must not overlook.
This IS ,hr newsboysi There are scores Of them,
the sheets hung over one arm as they run about
the streets with u cry that sounds like 'Cass-wa
Bwa" But do not think that newspapers are
hawked about the streets OF sleepy old Basse
Terre. The sheets the boys carry are sheets OF
bread. for | cannot calf them lOaves. They are
made OF cassava, and they are very good eating
when you can manage 10 forget that they have
been s!ung over a perspiring little darky's bare
arm. The cassaya reminded me of Robinson
CrusOe's island, TObago, which Is not far from
-. kits. tassava is a great tuber something
ike tho sweet potato, but much larger, and
hard and white, The cOlored women grind IL
into -four and make bread dough, which they
roll out AS thin rs pastebOard, and bake II on
hot stones IN sheets about twice the size OF q
sheet Of foOlsCap paper.
:" When ! drove ont into the country In search
OF a stopping place ! found the same excellent
roads AZ the have In Jamaica, hard as a rock
and smooth as a floor, running frequently over
immensely solid arChed stone bridges. did not
have To ask why the bridges were made so
strong, for | had seen some Of the mountain
streams swell into torrents after q few minutes
shower. We were hardly out ~ the town be-
fore tho cOlOred driver stopped his horses and
got out and began to roll down the curtains.
- What's the matter = ! asked hin
- shower comin', boss he replied; and the
curtains were hardly fastened down before it
came. | had not noticed the Darkness Of the
clouds about the mountain peak, but the boy
haI l.aV. a..Y.E0.Vn.A al liz a 60 80