The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-01-25
4 WEST INDIAN POoH-BAH.
Life in San Juan Like Scene From a Comic Opera.
 

I
 From the Chicago Tribune.l
 Henrik Cavling is one of Denmark's S
 brightest writers belonging to the mod
 ern school. Last summer he was or dered by his doctor to take a long sea voyage, and he chose the West Indian
 islands belonging to Denmark as his
 point de voyage" His observations and experiences have now been pub
 lished in a book entitled "Det Danske Vestindien," and some of the chapters
 are most entertaining. In his introduce
 ton MT. Cavling remarks now since
 the fall of sugar and the liberating of the negroes, it costs Denmark about
 one hundred and twenty-five thousand
 dollars year to keep the governor and
 other officials on the islands, whose use none but they themselves understand Without negroes it would look black for
 the officials, and if the negroes should
 one day turn white or emigrate to Pu-
 erto Rico, heaven knows what would
 become of the officials. When entering
 the harbor of St. Thomas a gentleman
 in most gorgeous uniform, whom the
 author thought was the governor, boarded the steamer. This was only the harbor pilot, and the first of long procession of uniformed and bedecked officials. The authors visit to the Is- land of San Juan is the best in the book.
 When one, after three or four hours sail in an open boat, arrives at San
 Juan, the least known of the three Dan
 ish West Indian islands, one receives
 the impression of taking part in an Off, fenbach opera bouffe Since the begin ming of creation no correspondent has ever visited this island and it is there fore with the feeling of premiere we land at Crux Bay.
 This is the capital of the island, and is probably the small5st capital in the world. It consists of seven negro shan ties, two pigpens and a. wooden fort ress. In the old days a company of Danish soldiers were stationed in the fortress. It is now the residence of a many-sided official, Schellerup, a Dane. This official is governor, judge, director of police, collector of customs, postmas- ter, harbormaster, chief of the fire de- partment, veterinary doctor and coro- ner, and is the absolute master of nine hundred negroes, the population of the island, and it is only when the minister and the doctor from St. Thomas once a month make visit that Mir Schellerup Is made to remember that he is not the only white man in the world.
 I was told in St. Thomas that this gentleman was highly incensed at the report that a newspaper man intended to make the island a visit, and I was, therefore, prepared for a rather rough reception.
 Imagine, therefore, my surprise when, on entering the fortress, was received by a distlnguished-looking man dressed in the uniform of a Dan l ish privy councillor, who, with most ceremonious manner, wished me well come to the island. In the stifiing heat | here was a man in tight-buttoned un- form, three-cornered hat, sword, &c 1 I had to suppress my smile and accept l the situation. The conversation and l inspection of the fortress that followed were intensely comicaI.
 The governor had probably not seen strange face for the last twenty-five | years, and secretly was most pleased | to show his kingdom and its interesting | objects, but at the same time he must | be careful Here was a stranger and | he must be impressed with the impor- | ldnCb anu BItdlHeSS OI HIS HbSI hUQ HIS | diplomatic position.
 I was shown the place where the gov ernor kept his prisoners, the court | room where he, as judge, gave sen tence after the old Danish law I was also shown several different desks that | were called post office department, GUS tom house department, and so forth, but the most comical was that as soon | as the governor was seated at one of | these desks he was called by his at- tendants postmaster, collector of cus- toms, Sc. After passing a sentence as | a judge he presided over the punish l ment as a sheriff, and he has a uni form for each position. What materl- | al for a vaudeville. During the whole interview the governor tried to impress us with that if he would only consent to speak there were state secrets that well, somebody might lose his head
 I returned to my boat and the fisher man, followed by my uniformed host and as the island was left in the dis tance the palms, the tropical sun, the negroes, and the gorgeously governor formed a picture that only needed the melody of an or4 ehestra to be a complete scene from comic opera.