The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-10-28
I was offered a rocking

acruss the street. I will walk over With you TO
8 And he aid; and when ! was about to leave
him. with the shillings aud half crowns in my
100 hot drop into my place and. cool on. Wen
he glad TO see you any lime mis- was my first
business espssienGe IN Irlp,dsa, SnH , mention
the kind treatment met all over the island.
The merchant bad nothing for sale that he ex-
pected me to buy: II was merely an act of kind
before we reached the hotel I saw my first
dirty white cotton stun that was wound around
his body and covered one leg as far as the knee.
and an old straw hat completed his costume.
and he leaned contentedly against n sunny wall
and ate his dinner. which was n thick slice Of
bread. half a raw onion, and a stripOf dried fish.
Poor old Fellow I thought TO myself: but !
learned later on that some OF those poor old
and 60 about with bare legs are worth 10000
or $40. 600. They ave all they earn. and often
become money lenders. and buy wonderful guam
titles OF solid gold jeweiry for their wives.
But this IL utility. not ornament. The
jsySlry is generally All IN d ins form nn ,h OF 5rsGeists or
or ankles. Thus she becomes a sort Of savings
bank; and. when money is needed, the Hindoo
THE Hotel de Paris. for which | was bound.
Ia one OF the old build ings with I, second story
inviting from underneath. for the lower story is
used entirely for storerooms and workrUoms,
s and a Ii Only lnhaS'i eiab, az are std ports stsis sh Iso G,hs to
the upper part. and there I was. shown into the
parlor. or rather the grand salon, for the land
Trinidad hotel. they would scorn such a formal
way of doing business. The colored girl went
left me time to look about, for | was the sole
occupant OF the parlor, my little guide heying
been stopped on the threshold Will a Wait
"A hotel parior is not one Of the things that
one usually remembers with greatest pleasure
after travelling. but the parlor Of that hotel in
Port OF Spain was such a novelty to me that 1t
made an impression, and | can see 1t before me
- ia --a - aa. Iaaa-A V.nWn anrN IN - V-N
less than thirty feet square. with a height Of. I
should think, fifteen or sixteen feet. aud TIM
There was no carpet. hut the hardwood floor
shone like a mirror. The only furniture was a
big round table In the centre. with q handsome
chandelier hanging over II, and n great Collec-
tion of Austrian brentwood chairs and sofas, the
chairs nearly all big rockers. for all West In
curtains to the windows, no drapery anywhere.
And speaking. Of windows. there were no
windows. On the front and one side, where the
light came from. we're rows of great ~,loorways.i
should think five feet wide and eight or nine
feet high; o ps n nr gp2iTn inc Si, Gslc yiansd d Lssse
was completing her toiletI stepped out to the
ment OF rocking chairs and sofas. Evil
IDENTIFY the balcony was the favorite lo%unging
be. 1t was about fifteen feet wide. and
the whole length OF the house, perhaps seventy
was partially enclosed. so that in windy or rainy
weather the closing 81 a few windows would
make the whole thing tight. The walls Of i. Of
admit the air and keep out the rain.
1t ia b because 1t was so appropriate for the
climate that ] mention tho parlor of this curious
hotel. The whole idea Is to Admit plenty of air
and at the, same time shut out the sunlight.
and night. Any draper at the windows would
have helped exclude the air. sodrapery was ban
ished. a carpet would have harhored insects;
and handsome hard woods are so plenty in Trim
idad that they use them freely.
The landlady, was good enough to give me
the hotel. a large, airy sleeping room opening
into a smaller room in front, which was a cor
ner partitiOned of from the Balcony. so that at
all hours | had my own private view of the prin-
cipal street OF Port, of, spain, and the narrow
The first, thing that / noticed from the win
dows Of my balcony was the immense number
OF black, %yultures flying about. sitting IN the
rows on the roofs, and scratching in the cutters.
Corbeaux, they call them and they are the pub
all the offal that finds it's way to the streets. and
no one thinks OF mOlesting them. This French
name for the vultures was an early lesson TO
languages in, Trinidad. But | shall come 70
that presently. After looking at the yul,
upon a peculiar creature on the park lawn, that
was certainly alive. for | saw it move slightly;
was an animal or a bird. II seemed rather large
for a bird. being bigger than an eagle or any OF
animal l had seen. While ! was watching II,
and wondering. 1t drew itself up To a height of
something over uNt Ittt anu Wdlkeu calmly
down the street Oh two legs. 1t, was q man, n
coolie, who had been resting himself In the
shade. The coolie. as | Learned afterward, never
sits down In a chair or on n box. When he Is
tired he squats down on his launches. his knees
drawn, NJ toward his chin. and so remains COM
The hotel dining room was a good illustra-
tion Of the thoroughly cosmopolitan character
OF Trinidad. The furniture was all heavy Eng
lish-niade mahogany. and the cooking and SER
vice were Frenchy and alt9getlier good. Il was
the first hotel | had found in the West Indies
where unlimited lDttlps of QODI glaFPt were
supplied ~ part OF the dinner. The French
lsndlady sat at the head OF the table. and among
the guests We're two or three native merchants,
q young married couple Just over from France,
two Spaniards recently arrived in the steamer
The native merchants may have been ot British
descent, but there was no predominating Eng
islands. The French couple spoke only French.
the Sp9niards spoie only Spanish and. Of
rSnrse' spoSe ensi,shi ont ths isnHisdy am
addressing each man In his own Language.
The bathroom Of that hotel was enough 70
show thar. although Trinidad IL a British island,
the bulk OF its transient visitors are not English
men. When the bold Briton goes into a West
the bawth. YOU know They are certainly in |
sane on the subject OF bathing, some OF those
in the morning. they have their 'bawth' before
retiring, and another at y, when they get up
They must be a h er, iiys dIrfG lot :" Ts4a'T To, so
de Paris is a dark hole under a stairway. with a
slippery stone tank. no light or ventilation what,
nm HN' ~ n VI anu I
scorpions thar il fairly made me shuddeT. IL
the principal customers were Englishmen, "A
better bath would soon he provided; but the
French and spanish. battle for cleanliness in
stead OF making II the main business Of life.
Trinidad has been alternately under the rule
OF the Spanish, the French, and the English,
with many immigrants from each nation when
II was in power; 80 IL is easy 20 see why the
population is so mixed; socially, il is not 80
much mixed, because there is good French So
ciety. and good Spanish society, and good Eng
lish society, without much amalgamatiOn. The
Spaniards first cOlOniZed the island in l5ss, and
II was Afterward captured by the French and
then was retaken by the Spaniards. The Eng
lish. under Ahercrombie. took u in 1907, and IL
has been a British possession ever since. In the
asst half century IL has become a place OF such
that the British will not be
likely to give IL up. The population has grown
from 5000 in 1880 to nearly q 1000 in 1894, /
only One-eleventh Of the surface.
about 100, 900 acres, is under cultivation. The
population OF Port Of spain is about $4,000,
and il is a town that the people Of the island
have reason TO be proud Of. II has its street cars
and telephones. electric lights, and a hundred
other things TO prove that IL Is a civilized com
IL has Geographic communication with
the rest Of the world. and | found that could /
at any time communicate with my friends in
New York at the tritling cost Ot $3.50 a word.
These first impressions of Port at spain will /
give yOu some idea OF the character Of
~. 49,. H. -, 4 49,. d. -. .. I'll go, |