Birmingham state herald., 1896-01-19
A Land Where the Children
 Wear No Clothes.
OTHER WONDERFUL THINGS
As Seen and Described by Birmingham Man. Sea Cows Cocoanvts-famous
 Pitch Lake.

morning TOT JdIlalcd, 'IfdNIfB the last bit of lumber and taken on 10000 =cocoanuts I couldn't get full cargo here, but hope to get what I want in Jamaica. I am in hopes that can get 100, 900 more at some of the other islands. Cocoanuts grow in the greatest profu- sion here, but unfortunately other ves- sels had been along just ahead of me and bought up nearly all the nuts ready for market
 The cocoanut tree is to me an object of interest and few words on the subject may interest you also. When about four or five years old its top-knot is full grown, but the trunk is so short that It's leaves, about 20 feet in length, bend over gracefully and touch the ground. As the tree grows older its trunk grows taller, sometimes attaining the height of 60 feet, and it is as straight as an arrow. When young 1t is exceedingly pretty, but it loses it's beauty with age, like some one else know. At the age of six 1t be- gins to bear. A good bearer will pro- duce from 200 to 300 nuts per year. The frees grow and bear best near the coast, in fact, right along the waters edge. The meat and milk of the young cocoanut is very much relished by the natives, but to me it is insipid. The trees are so tall and slender that it Is quite difficult to gather the nuts, but God has helped over come the difficulty by creating a high tempered monkey that is especially fond of building it's nest in cocoanut trees. When you are ready to have your nuts gathered all that is necessary to do is to throw a rock at one of the monkeys and 1t will immediately begin throwing nuts st you.
 But speaking of building nests reminds me that this is the land of the cuckoo; not the kind found in Alabama, but the real cuckoo--a lazy, thieving bird, that, rather than build it's own nest steals the nest of some other bird. That seems to be the only thing for which 1t Is famous. There are many beautiful birds found in the tropics, but very few songsters. The fashion of wearing birds in hats very nearly depleted this country Of beautiful birds, but stringent laws were passed for their protection and there is a chance for them to now wax fruitful and multiply. The plumage or some or the birds Is about the only thing that IS real pretty; everything else verges on rankness.
 Flowers for instance, grow in abun- dance, but they are gaudy and haring and lack the indescribable tenderness of our buds and blossoms. The roses are large and luxuyiant, but they seem blowsy compared with the moist delicacy of our more northerly product. The pure white lily and violet would wither In the consuming breath of this heated atmos- phere. To me there Is more beauty In modest little pansy than in all the glar- ing gorgeousness of tropical flowers
 Trinidad is more famous for other things than it's flowers and coeoanuts. It Is infested with scorpions. tarantulas. centipedes and a weed called cow-itch- 1t Is hard to tell which is the worse, the centipede or the cow-itch. For the first there is no remedy for its bite, and as for the latter there is no remedy either. If 1t gets on you 1t produces an itch that either causes you to scratch yourself to death or die of spasms. You can take your choice.
 1t was here that Columbus found oysters growing on trees, and found the same thing, so you may know that Columbus didn't le It isn't that the oyster is any different from other oysters, but 1t is because the trees are different and grow in the water.
 The one thing of all others for which Trinidad Is noted is it's pitch lake, which contains an inexhaustible supply of as Sphat This wonderful bituminous sheet has an area of nearly 100 acres. It IS a broad surface of pitch, scanned with small channels of water. The pitch Is dug from the hardened top. and the quantity taken away is constantly replenished by the soft asphalt oozing up from below. which becomes hardened by the evaporation Of it's constituent oil in the sun. Night SUD- plies the exhaustion of day. Some power
 
 to the surface. It was formerly supposed that the deposit was subject to volcanic action, but recent investigation dlsproVes this theory. The accumulation IS simply vegetable matter. which. In the process of degeneration, becomes melted by the hot tropical soil into mineral pitch and asphalt, instead of being transformed by hardening influences into peat or coal, as it would be in Ireland or Alabama. A large quantity of this asphalt Is exported .. r,..t to1 fu tnc fnr mi 1 k. ing pavements.
 In 1895 Sir Walter Raleigh, in search of Fl Dorado, touched here and calked his ships with the pitch. He had some nght- ing with the Spaniards in possession, In which he held the advantage, Just as John Bull expects to get the adVantaSe of the Spaniards in Venezuela.
 hope you will pardon me for spr1ng1ng another wonderful thing upon yeu- It Is nothing more or less than the sea cow, or manatee, several of which l saw hearded together, grazing on sea weeds. These animals are peaceable and in- offensive and are from IS to 20 feet in length and weigh nearly ton. The flesh of this peculiar fish is very much relished by the natives, so it has been almost en- tirely annihilated. Much or the yellow fever prevailing in the tropics is caused by the destruction of the sea COW, as I will explain Under the torrid seas grow any quantity of weeds and grass which was devoured by vast herds of sea COWS. which used to roam these subterranean meadows. But the manatee has disap- peared and the sea weed, having nothing to destroy it, grows rankly, decays, posons the air and thus produces yellow fever I am indebted to no less a person than the distinguished French scientist, Jules Verne, for my information on-this subject.
 Although this isn't Panama. the finest Panama hats can be bought here for $1. hats that cost s6 at home. These bats are made here by the women, 6 large share of whom appear to be engaged in the business. Thousands of women are to be seen, seated at windows, in door ways and along the streets. with fingers busily occupied in this work. They make hats of different grades and prices. the finest ones being exported and the cheap CT ones are kept for local use. Many of the children wear nothing but hats and some of them don't wear even that much I bought cheap hat for six-pence and gave it to a we1l-grown boy, who had on no other clothes, and said to him, "Take this and dress up." It seemed strange to me at first, but soon got used to it, inst ' naod to seeing girls in low