The Republican journal., 1896-04-16

The arcades which front the public build
ings and give them such stately aspect
when seen from shipboard in the harbor.
prove on close inspection to be clumsy
and crumbling to decay; the streets I'M
paved and irregular, and the negro cabins
squahd and comfortless. By the way,
when you read in some Northern news
| paper that a fire or hurricane has swept
away several hundred houses in West
Indian town, don't imagine that much
valuable property has been destroyed
The negro houses are about the same
throughout all the islands, the frailest
kind of wooden structures, set up on four
posts or few stones, and generally close
| together. There is no floor but the earth
no glass in the windows, and the roofs
are thatch of dry grass on palm leaves,
that burns like finder when ignited. Each
house has only one room, or two at most
but they are used merely to sleep in or as a
shelter from the rain. At night SO many
persons huddle in that the wonder is how
they can all find space to lie down. though
packed ''heads and points like sardnes
in box; but by day the family lives al
together out of DOORS cooking and even
eating in the open air.
A very pleasing feature of st. Croix is
the number of excellent roads, nearly all
of them between rows of splendid cocoa
| palms. Over one of these roads We
drove to Frederickstoed, OF ''West End, "
in queer carry all, drawn by three mules
harnessed abreast, on one of which, or
rather on first one mule, then another or
sprawling over all three with the agility
of monkey, rode the darkey driver.
| Indeed, the searcher after the connect
ing link between the human and simian
species need not 60 farther than the
Antilles to find it numerously. Nature
atliict i'll these sunny islands by
! hanging goblets of delicious nectar on the
Astounding cocoa palms. There is always
a grinning darkey at hand who is IL jght-
ed, for penny OF two, to shin up the
smooth, tall, telegraph pole-like trunk
and bring down a few OF the golden green
globes, You open one end OF the cocoa
nut with your pen knife cor with d hat
pin. if you are wonan,) lift it up to the
proper angle, and let the cool beverage
glide gently down your throat. At the
( first sip you say it is too sweet, that it
tastes like condensed milk diluted: but
you are sure to want more and more, and
presently find yourself able to dispose of
the contents of half dozen cocoanuts ut
a sitting.
Flowers OF all shapes and colors adorn
the roadsides of Santa Cruz, from Grim
son and yellow cacti to the fragrant white
| jasmine. The banana tree, with its
! huge clusters of fruit and purple cone like
blossoms, tlourishes everywhere; and the
culiously formed frangipani, as common
as COW slips in marshy meadows at home,
perfumes the air. Diverging from the
road are many narrow green valleys which
we long to explore, where a world of
( strange flowers allure us, and delicate
| Ieaved tamarind trees, and the giant fam
boyant tree, leatless but all aflame with
scarlet flowers; and the silk cotton wood,
with enormous misshapen roots writhing
about like colossal serpents turned to
stone, and long horizontal branches on
which grow a multitude of parasites and
air plants. On this overland journey be-
tween ''Bassin'' and ''West End we
! visited a sugar plantation, or rather an
estate which is now "a days devoted to the
making of Santa Cruz rum instead of the
saccharine product. Since time out of
mind this Danish island has been famous
for its rum, and hardly any tale of pratt
cal days is without some allusion to it, If
half the stories told of the old buccaneers
are true, they disdained to get drunk on
anything else They used to put into
Santa Cruz for the express purpose OF
'loading up' with rum both themselves
and their ships; and anyone who is famil-
lar with the powerful qualities of it,
CdH Itduliy QuutISlduSl CLC SuUS6QucuU
ferocity of the pirates. The plantation
we visited is under the care and manage
ment of a retired Maine sailor who knows
the Spanish Main and all its islands by
heart, and has deliberately chosen to
spend the remainder of his life in Santa
Cruz as the most desirable place of resi-
dence, all things consided, that he can
find. Although the present outlook for
business is discouTaging enough in these
parts, he has managed by the introduce
ton of new machinery and personal SUI
pervision of his fields and mills. to make
fair profits in spite of ''hard times" In
another part of Santa Cruz lives Captain
Perkins, a New Haven ship owner who
boasts of having made more than hun
dred voyages from New England to the
Caribbees. The piazzas that surround
his charming villa look out upon the
bluest seas of the globe; it's garden is full
of tropical fruits and flowers, and at the
~c