Arizona republican., 1898-05-24

horses. which they race up and down l the sandy stretches along the shore
 and a large stock of good whiskey.
 Particular mention is made of the
 spu,.s. because there is no water in ...,s accursed isle-it has to be brought
 across in boats from neighboring San Antonio-and because sometimes no
 rain falls there for as long as two years at a stretch then it pours and dries up for another two years. The Eastern CaDle company's young men just manage to survive the nine 1 months they live there; fortunately for three months they are allowed a furlough in England or where else they please, and we'll they need it. MT. 4,....er, however, is man of mil lions, and water is therefore no object Indeed, he has it brought over in boat loads, and has in consequence quite a luxuriant retreat and house on one of the spurs jutting out along the harbor. The natives do such labor as there is to -e done, acting as boatmen, steve dores, and servants-they are half Portuguese, half African, and speak Portuguese as their native tongue, and as their favorite occupation do noth- ing. lney somehow manage to exist on the crumbs gathered from the pass Ing steamers. Of town there is none, Just struggling T-shaped street of low houses, here and there a drinking place or filthy joint, and here and there a snip chandler's, and that is all. l l ne society events of the station are usually confined to entertainments gwen by the hoSpitable crew or pas sengers of some steamer or war boat taking on coal, but there is no divers ity; the going of one ship is the com Ing of the next, and there are always two or three in the harbor In fact, the mOnotOny and dust are stupen- dous One of the company's operat- orS once told the wrlCer, with tears of wnlskey and lonliness in his eyes, that he thougL, he would surely go mad, llVlng on under the shadeless blue in the Intense heat, with nothing to rreae-e out air and nothing to see but sun and nothing to urink but inn pure water, and so on through the whole gamut of a disappointed life.
 hven the very ships stay no longer lnan .-ey have to, just coal, i. e., make all the dirt and dust they can, and away.
 Such is St. Vincent at present, the so-called base for Spain's fleet. of tor pedo boats and warships. Of course, 1n reality this is not the fact The islands belong to Portugal, and the coal supplies are the property of an English firm. Cape Verde, however. is not so far from the Grand Canaries. St. Vincent itself could be but the scene of a naval battle, for the only
 vestlge of life, always excepting the miserable lane or street of houses all ready described, are the ships riding at anchor in the offng. Nevertheless, the place, such as it is, plays the part Of halfway house in the worlds happenings. Steamers from South Africa, from the River Platte, the Pa c1fic ocast, and the time-worn, heat
 weary rocks on the African coast are after all factor in our civilization | by virtue of the coal supplies and ca ble station.
 As to LLe interior of the island. there is none, simply rocks, ever higher and higher, till they become mountains. ne neighboring island of San An tonic is equally steep and precipitous.
 but there is abundance of fresh water.
 and, as natural consequence, consid- | erabie vegetation. There is, however,
 absolutely no offing, harbor, or an
 chorage of any kind, and consequent
 ly this land is quite useless to the
 wheels of commerce or monitors of
 war. The rest of the islands are more
 or less of the same nature, but smaller, and some of them are more fertile than
 San Antonio, hence their name
 Poetically, the harbor, or coaling
 station, of St. Vincent, Cape Verde is
 lands, gives one the impression of some
 cave of winds whence issue from the
 empty rocks, in panting gusts, the
 storms that rend tne Atlantic west,
 south, and north, but where itself there
 is comparative but portentous calm.
 The ships that pass by day and night
 appear but as small birds along the
 steep sides of the two islands, and the
 sizzling heat, with the perpetual puffs
 of hot air and accompanying dust,
 make it a verItable entrance to hades. CuriOusly enough, at very nearly the
 same latitude, and right across the At Ilantic, on the coast of Brazil. lies Per
 nambuco, meaning hell's mouth, but
 of the two places the name most cer-
 tainly more aptly fits St. Vincent, Cape Verde