Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-08-30
A MYSTERIOUS WHITE RACE.
Cut of from the World They Have Lived
800 Years Unknown.

;
That white race of mysterious ORR
gin and of an advanced grade of civil
lization exist in certain Of the yet I'M
explored plateaus Of Africa has long
been a matter Of tradition among all
those who have devoted their atten-
! ton to the ethnographical and geo.
graphical science of the dark continent,
and Rider Haggard and other English
novelists have found in reports bear
ing upon the subject the theme of
many of their most popular stories.
But no attention has been drawn as
yet TO the fact that in the interior Of
San Jago, the largest of the Cape Verde
islands, which nestle in the Atlantic
off the most westerly point of North
ern Africa, there exists a strange peo-
pie known by the name Of the Can
! tadas, who for three hundred years
past have been absolutely cut off from
all itercourse with the outer world,
and who are fair-haired light-compleX-
toned and blue-eyed, whereas the re-
naming population of the Cape Verde
islands consists of negroes and Por-
tuguese who are almost as swarthy
and sombre in color as full-blooded
Africans
Clear and sharp against the sky line
of San Jago the mountain of San Anto-
Mo towers aloft in a pinnacle to the
height of some 5000 feet. In form
it conveys the impression of an ancient
volcano, with its sharp slope on the
side toward the sea. But on the island
side the declivity is broken by a sort
or cup-shaped intervaf, at tho further
end of which there is the stump of
what seemed in times gone by to have
constituted a second peak of equal
height to San Antonio, but which,
through some great cataclysm of. ma
ture, has been broken off some four
or five thousand feet above the COM
mon base.
Strangely enough the peak Of San
Antonio is accessible to clever noun
tanners, whereas the sister mountain,
that is to say, the broken off peak,
is quite the reverse. From the point
where it rises from the surrounding
tableland. there is nothing but a
steep wall of volcanic rock, not mere
" hundreds, but probably a couple of
thousand feet high. Indeed, the only
point where access could ever be OBJ
tanned to the summit of the sister
mountain Of San Antonio would be
from the cup-like interval which di-
vides the two, and mention of which
has been made above.
This cup, however, is filled with
water and is known by the name Of
the Cantadas Lake. 1t is a great sheet
of water, of marvellous depth and
clearness.
On this further end Of the lake,
and in the interior of this sister noun
tain of San Antonio, dwell the mys-
terious white race known as the Can
tadas Distrustful, apparently, of the
gaze of strangers, these people Of
the mountain seldom leave their habi-
tations during daytime, and on the
slightest alarm Of visitors they seek
the shelter of the rock. But by hiding
on the opposite cliffs until evening,
and with the aid Of glasses, it is pos
sible to get good view Of them when
they begin at sunset to gather on the
grassy meadow which fronts the OPEN
ing of the caves and extends down
to the waters edge.
Beautiful, fair-haired, white-skinned
girls, clad in flowing white linen gar
ments, which scarcely conceal the sin
uous beauty of perfect grace and form,
come out to wash linen in the lake
and to sport on the cool, green grass.
The men, too, are simply dressed in
much the same way their white linen
garments being admirably suited to the
tropic climate. Many other signs of
high degree Of civilization appear and
from certain points near the summit
of San Antonio it is possible, with
the aid Of strong glasses, TO catch
glimpses through assures here and
there in the wall of rock Of the twin
mountain. OF sheep and cattle grazing,
of green fields and trees, and Of white,
hat-roofed houses running parallel
with one another. all brilliantly light
ed by the sun, and therefore leading
n the belief that the interior OF this
sister mountain OF San Antonio must
be ncllowed out into some valley, pcs
siblv I. crater of an extinct volcano,
which, through some freak of nature,
has been converted from barren basalt
and lava into grassy and fertile slopes.
An intrepid explorer would not have
great diffculey in reaching the Canta-
das people. All that would be neces-