The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-02-28

| AGSBB OA LAdNC NlCOl oS
 The next island at which the vessel stops is Santa Cruz, famed far and wide
 for its good rum. It presents a striking
 contrast to St. Thomas. Seen in for
 tunate season. the whole island is g
 garden. An enthusiastic French priest
 assured us that it was "the garden of the
 Antilles" There are no mountains on
 Santa Cruz, but the country is a con
 stant succession of round hills, like
 those on the Indian reservation on Mon-
 tauk point. or to take nearer illustra-
 tion, like those in the valley of the
 Quinnipiac In Cheshire and Southing-
 ton in Connecticut. Sugar cane is the
 principal product. Unfortunately San
 ta Cruz is not always a garden. It was green with crops nearing the harvest l when we went down on the Caribee in
 mid winter; it was brown and barren | when we came back, the result of a
 three months drouth. Seventeen inch | es of rain have been known to fall in one day in Santa Cruz and there are 1 periods of months even when no rain l falls, so that this island may be either | a garden or a desert according to the 1 fortunes of the weather. Next to Bar
 badoes, Santa Cruz is the best island in l the West Indies for invalids. It is
 never excessively hot; the trade wind
 uninterrupted by mountains, blows
 across it steadily all the year round. l substantially from one direction-east
 or northeast. In the shade one may al-
 ways be comfortable. It is not safe, how
 ever, for northern man at midday, 1 to expose himself to the vertical rays
 of the tropical sun without an umbrella. | Visitors to this island ought to be warn | ed against the Manchineel tree. It bears fruit resembling the crab apple, which is very tempting in appearance.
 but is deadly poison, producing blis- ter in the stomach. Strangers from the | north have sometimes passed under these trees. which grow in great num- bers along the road sides, to gain shel- | ter from the sudden showers and have | had their faces blistered by the rain trickling from the branches. It is | strange that these trees have not been cut from the road sides, or that no pains are taken to warn people against them. There is no hotel in Santa Cruz and only two rather indifferent board ing houses. There are some planters, however, who take boarders, where the traveller will find himself at home.
 There are no people in the West Indies
 whose reputation for hospitality sur
 passes that of the planters of Santa
 Cruz.
 The next island at which the steamer stops is St. Kitts. On this island the
 mountains rise to four or five thousand feet. Many oe them are truncated g,,1, T
 extinct, there are one or two of them
 still smoking. Down the slopes of these mountains, clean to the seashore, the is- land is scored with deep gullies from a mile to mile and half apart. These gullies, or rifts, are from 20 to 40 feet wide and 30 to 50 feet deep. I have never heard what produced them, but suppose it to be due to earthquakes. They give the island a very strange, wierd look. The sugar cane plantations lie upon these slopes and between these gullies, and the pale green of the un ripe cane gives these mountain sides a beauty that is enticing beyond descrip- ton. Basseterre is the principle port, built somewhat after the fashion of Charlotte-Amelia, but is not as pretty. There is only one hotel in this town. which is, however, a good one as hotels in the West Indies go. The prevailing charge in all the hotels of the Wind ward islands is $2 a day. The steamer usually makes stay here of one day on the voyage down, and on it's return a stay of two or three days.
 The next island. Dominica. Is cer- tainly the queen of the Windward is- lands. It is scarcely possible to con- ceive a lovelier sight than is presented to the voyager as he approaches the har- bor of Roseau. Two mountains rise to a height of over 5000 feet, green with the most luxuriant vegetation clean to the clouds. Between these mountains there is a deep gorge through which a black river flows, and the scenery is picturesque and sublime, and in way wholly new to northern eyes. There are none of the Windward islands where the vegetation is so luxuriant as in Dominica. Palms, mangoes, CO., coanut, gum and mahogany trees and wonderful giant tree ferns go to makeup the forest which covers these noun tain sides. Much of the charm of this tropical vegetation is that it seems wholly new and strange. l am no be- tanist, but to my unscientific eye, there was not a tree, shrub or blade of grass that is such as grows in our northern states; the only plant I recognized fur ther south in Barbadoes was the water cress which grows along our brooksides in Connecticut. One of the most inter- esting features of the island is it's bo- tanioal garden, planted along the sea wall, the best think, in the West In | dies, with the exception of that of Mar unique. A letter recently published in | your paper, called attention to the sul- | phur lake and geysers, and many other | interesting points. So far as my in- | quiries extend there is no hotel on the | island, and only two tolerable board ing houses kept by colored people. In- | deed, there are only about one hundred l white families on the island. There are no carriages to be had in Dominica and those who wish to visit the lake and the geysers, must hire one of the ponies of the West Indies and ride horseback up the mountain The steamers usually make stay of a whole day at this island.
 The next stop is at Martinique. St. Pierre, the principal port of Martinique, lNVrk a1,, i..- 14+r