The Press., 1897-11-04
Number 32.
A MYSTERIOUS RACE.
A SETTLEMENT OF WHlTEsn WHO HAVE LIVED 300 YEARS UNkNewN.i

Cut Of From the World In Their Noun
 tain Home Beautiful, Fair Haired,
 White Skinned Girls Clad In Snowy
 Linen Garments.
 That white races of mysterious origin and of an advanced grade of civilization exist in certain of the as yet unexplored plateaus of Africa has long been a mat ter of tradition among all those who have devoted their attention to the eth biographical and geographical science of the dark continent. and Rider Haggard and other English novelists have found in reports bearing 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 of the most westerly point of northern Africa, there exists a strange people known by the name of the Cantadas, who for 300 years past have been abso- lutely cut off from all intercourse with the outer world, and who are fair haired, light oomplexioned and blue eyed, whereas the remaining population of the Cape Verde islands consists of negroes and of Portuguese, who are almost as swarthy and somber in color as full blooded Africans.
 Clear aud sharp against the sky line of San Jago the mountain of San An tonic towers aloft in pinnacle to the height of some 8, GOO feet. In form it conveys the impression of an ancient volcano, with it's sharp slope on the side toward the sea, but on the inland side the declivity is broken by sort of cup shaped interval, at the farther end of which there is the stump of what seems in times gone by to have consti- tuted second peak, of equal height to San Antonio, but which, through some great cataclysm of nature, has been broken off some 4,000 or 5000 feet above the common base.
 Strangely enough, the peak of San Antonio is accessible to clever noun taineers, whereas the sister noun tain that is to say, the broken off peak-is quite the reverse. From the point where 1t rises from the surrounding desert table land there is nothing but q steep wall of volcanic rock, not merely hun. dreds but probably couple of thou sand feet high, Indeed the only point whence access could ever be obtained to the summit of the sister mountain of San Antonio would be from the cuplike interval which divides the two, and mention of which has been made above.
 This cup, however, is filled with water and is known by the name of tho Cantadas lake It is a great sheet oi water of marvellous depth and clearness
 On this farther end of the lake, anC in the interior of this sister mountain of San Antonio, dwells the mysteriou white race known as the Qantadas Dis trustful, apparently, of the.gaze of stran gers, these people of the mountain sel dom leave their habitations during day time, and on the slightest alarm o visitors they seek the shelter of the rock But by hiding on the opposite cliffs un til evening and with the aid of2 glasse it is possible to get a. good'view ofthen when they begin at sunset to gather ol the grassy meadow which fronts tht opening of the caves and extends dowI to the waters edge -..,. .....
 Beautiful, fair haired, white skinned girls, clad i'll flowing white linen gar ments, which scarcely conceal the sinu ous beauty of perfect grace and form come out to wash linen in the lake ana to sport on the cool green grass. Tn men, too, are simply dressed in muol | &1oS~ ments being admirably suited to tn trop1c climate. Many other signs of high degree of civilization appear, ant from certain points near the summit o San Antonio it is possible, with the ali, of. strong, glasses, to catch glimpse through Assures here and there in tn wall of rock of the twin mountain, O sheep and cattle grazing, of green field and trees and of white, flat roofed house running parallel with one another, al brilliantly lighted by the sun, and there fore leading to the belief. that the inte rior of this sister mountain of San An tonic must be holIowed out into som valley, possibly the crater of an extinc volcano, which, through some freak c nature, has been converted from barre basalt and lava into grassy and fertil slopes.
 An intrepid explorer would not hay great difficulty in reaching the Oantada people. All that would be necessar would be to ascend the San Antoni peak, to descend oh the other side unt one reached the cliffs that overhang tn Cantadas lake, to have oneself lowere by means ef;a rope to the surface of tn latter and then to swim across the lake which may be anywhere, from four t six miles in length.
 Certain scientists who. have invest gated the tradition and rumors that e1 ist about the Cantadas among the 1T habitants, African and Portuguese, ( the Cape Verde islands, are inclined the belief that they are of Cornis origin. This theory is due to the faC that what is stated to be their tongu resembles the dialect of the natives ( Cornwall more than any other know language. New York Journal.
 A Woman MatadOre at Cordova. Now comes the denouement, for upt a final flourish of trumpets the matadoI t. who in this particular performance W , a woman, steps forth with a bright S1 red flag or cloak on a staff in her l(