The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-21

Hol enough or either class to affect the
native jamaican population. They set
along well together without mixing the
blood TO noticeable degree The for
eign clement is composed of the Hindus.
or coolies who were brought TO the ISL
ana under contract and who usually stay
when their contracts are ended The CO.
lonlal government fostered the system,
ana 1 was repeatedly told 1t had given
satisfaction and had been Of great aid in
gIVlng the planters labor on which they
could depend. The IIindus are not num-
erous enough to be of much consequence.
but they have transplanted their customs
from the East to the West Indies 4
group Of them seen in the village street
In tho midst of a multitude of Jamaica
blacks did not need an ethnologist to eN-
PLAIN that the brown or black Aryans are
not of kindred race with the Africans.
Their 1.-THE. arrow-lke figures and their
aquiline features and straight black hair
are too pronounced for any resemblance
TO be found. Yet there was some iucOn-
gruity in the men carrying umbrellas,
blue Bingham or green, when they came
into the town market day II described
reflections incident to finding these repre-
sentatives of the old Indies which Column
bus sought to discover In the new Indies
which he did discover The umbrellas
looked as IL they had all come from a
secondhand store in Boston.
The coolies or Hindus are as thrifty as
the Jamaicans are shiftless. They are
fond of ornaments, and The long folds of
linen which by a skillful twist or two are
wound Into garments are worn with grace.
The trim little brown women are comedy
and neat in appearance. The trans
planted custom which causes all the
wealth of a household TO be turned into
silver jewelry and worn on the person has
its commercial side The Jamaican IL he
finds a rare piece of coral may pick &c up
and by the offer of special inducements
may hunt up a carved gourd or cocoanut
shell which Will pass for native cur.osi-
ty. But the eXeTtion is not one that he
seeks. The Hindu is just the opposite.
The anklets, necklaces, bracelets, ear
rings. nose-rngs and other quaint silver
ornaments fashioned by the Hindu silver
smith and worn by his wife and children
can always be had for a consideration. To
an American traveller the consideration is
usually eight times the bullion value of
the English shillings that are used with
something extra for the workmanship and
a little added for the privilege of knowing
that the ornament was genuine and not
made at some factory In Connecticut Yet
the gold standard is making Roadway even
among these people. An intelligent cooile
showed me with much pride and American
double eagle, which he wore suspended
from string of beads. The beads were
worth 80 cents. On my asking how much
he wanted for beads and gold coin he re-
piled in good English, lone hundred dol
lars" but the bargain was not struck.
An English gentleman who rode with me
about the neighborhood said most of the
Hlndus were Mohammedans. They looked
down on the blacks of Jamaica, while the
latter disliked them. Nevertheless there is
no race conflict and no fear of one. The
coolies were first brought to the island to
work on the sugar plantations. but when
sugar raising began to decay they quickly
adapted themselves to the labor of fruit
raising. 1t was while looking at the moss
covered and vine-grown ruins of a sugar
min at the Hindu settlement of Goldenvale
that the same gentleman tod me sugar
raising was a doomed industry In Jamaica.
Beet roots began the downfall" he said
then bountes and tariffs completed the
ruin. I don't believe we will ever get our
sugar raising on a profitable basis again
and for one ] am not trying. But It wasn't
the right thing to let my cane fields run
back into jungles, and 1 went into fruil
raising, 1t is a pleasant business The
fruits grow in the night without your hav.
ing to stay awake to watch them, Will,
with sugar 1t was night and day watching
and then never certain of profit"
This English planter has more wisdom
than many of his fellows who cling 10 the
hope that something may be done fol
them. Riding through the cocoanut groves
and the banana fields IL did seem as though
there was a means of securing compensa,
ton for the loss of the cane fields. The
orange groves did not look so we'll though
1 was assured that his crop was becom-
ing marketable, and therefore, profitable
But even in the tropics nature does mol
harvest her own CROP and the wild banana
trees on the mountain sides yield no fruit
without cultivation. The cocoanuts are less
exacting, though they, too, require care. II
seems to be a popularity that the cocoanut
gives sustenance to all living animals.
had always doubted Mark Twain's detail.
ed and circumstantlal narrative of cat.
eating cocoanuts. but here the evidence
was given me. Hereafter l am ready e
support the statement that cats eat cocoa.
nuts.
Port Antonio has one attraction which
makes it unique in the West Indies. This
is a ruined fort which is not ruined
Spanish fort It is an English colonial
ruin, a stone stockade with rusty cannons
a century old commanding the narrow
channels which lead from the sea into the
two bays. AT its front are the abandoned
barracks and the fort itself is a play.
ground for children, and a refuge foi
strolling lovers who want to wander by
the sea and imagine they have all crea.
ton to themselves. The place fell into
disuse because 1t came to pass that the
pirates disappeared from the Caribbean
waters, and England had no enemies to
repulse In the West Indies. A fine light
house on the headland across the east bay
is of more benefit to commerce than the
fort was in its day. and the wooded ISL
and across the other channel Is q press.
ing invitation to dreaming away days and