Birmingham state herald., 1896-02-16

ed and partly elected. Sir Arthur Henry Blake is the present governor. The legislative council consists of five members appointed by the crown and nine elected members, presided over by the governor and four ex-efficio officers. A property qualification for voters ex- ists, and seems to work admirably in this land where the negro population so far outnumbers the whites. There are but 2S,0OO qualified voters, or only one in every twenty-three of the population. The following epitaph, therefore, can readily be accounted for:
 Here lies the body of Dr. Hayward A man who never voted.
 Of such is the kingdom of heaven"
 Another epitaph which made an im- preSsion on me and incidentally reminded me of the Montgomery Advertiser was this:
 "Here lies. a man beneath this sod Who slandered all except his God: And Him he would have slandered. too, But that his God he never knew" After 8 pleasant stay of ten days in Jamaica I set sail for the Caymsnas. three small islands half way between Ja-
 maica and Cuba. They are dependencies of Jamaica, consisting of Grand and Lit tie Cayman and Cayman Brac. Grand Cayn1an is seventeen miles long by four to seven miles wide; Little Cayman nine miles by one and Cayman Brac ten miles
 
 Grand Cayman, a distance of 250 miles, in tWenty-SiX hours.
 These islands are of volcanic origin. and consist of nothing but rock and sand A little earth, due to disintegration can be found about the crevices of the rocks, and this earth is very rich, capa- ble of producing anything that grows The islands are very low, and are cov- cred with all kinds of tropical fruits, vegetables and melons. We lived on h. mi iVa A ln hn nDln like it. They are harmless and can be eaten in any quantity and at any time. There is no need for the inhabitants of these islands to work, and many of them avail themselves of the advantage. Yet many of them are hard-working and sav- ing. There is but one pauper on the islands out of a population of about 10,- GOO. Only one doctor, no dentist, no drug store, no jail, no policemen, only two churches, no theater, no dance hall and one saloon and billiard table: An eiIort is being made to do away with the iatter They are a quiet, God-fearing, honest law abiding people. They rarely hear from the outside world, care not as to who is mayor of Birmingham or the champion pugilist of the world The oniy things that seem to interest them are the weather and the ocean currents. Ihey look upon card-playing. dancing, COCK fighting horse racing and prize nghts as sinful. more hospitable people never met They live in a little world or thelr own, far from the madding crowd or clt- les and the machinations of designing politicians. Having no politicians or newspapers, they have nothing to discuss at their country stores lwmcn they haven't. either). Discussing politics gets one excited, and excitement IS loo ieat ing for this climate. Their houses are all small, some buiit of wood and some of plaster. They are about 20 feet wide and 30 feet long. A large room or hall in the center ana two small rooms, about 5 by rect, at sacn end. Is the general arrangement. lpey are built to be cool. but at night every crack and crevice is closed and It IS sweltering inside. The natives through out the tropics wear heavier underciothes than we do in the dead or winter anu claim that they are cooler tnah nur gauge underclothes. Ihey may pe iis'' but doubt it
 They haven't the faintest idea of now 1 to live easily and comfortably as pe- fitting their climate drop or ten oe- grees in the thermometer freezes them l 10 the marrow but it may get ever so | hot and they revel in it. If lived here' would clothe myself in atmosphere, sleep under fhe canopy of heaven ana do nothing but eat fruit and read. The inhabitants of Little Cayman ana Cayman Brac derive large Tevenus l's from their cocoanut trees. The trees on Grand Cayman were all killed few years ago by some kind of insect. As yet it has not been discovered what kind l of insect did the deed
 Mosquitoes are plentiful but believe there are few other insects on the 1s- lands There are no wild animals but | plenty of birds. Doves and wild pigeons are plentiful. and are never hunted. | There is a funny little lizard there with a curIed tail like q pug dog. There is another kind of lizard that used to be found on these islands, called lgnana, and was eaten and very much relished by | the natives. The natives are probably the largest people in the world. not a man or woman being less than feet inches tall They are all descended from shipwrecked sail, | ors. They are all great sailors, and make their living by turtle fishing. 1 wrecking vessels or running fruit yes l sells.
 We now have aboard about 24O.00O l cocoanuts and will set sail for Mobiie 1 just as soon as I can send this letter l ashore.
 l If never get there tell my friends that I died bravely.