Evening star., 1899-07-29
ON A LONELY ISLE
Visit to an Almost Forgotten Spot in
the West Indies.
'SFATIA Was ONCE QUITE A PLACE
There Our Flag Was First SaIuted
in Foreign Waters.
NOW A LAND OF YESTERDAY
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
L once found myself in land of yester-
day, stranded island which the mu-
tations of trade had left the verge of
the world so far as modern progress was
| concerned. 1t is island of the Caribbees,
! belonging to the Dutch, and lies about
midway between Saba and Saint kits.
| When Christopher Columbus sailed this
| way in 1f93, he named it Saint Eustatius;
! but he did not land here, being anxious to
| revisit Hispaniola and the north coast of
Haiti.
One of the earliest accounts l have seen
calls it a huge rock rising out of the
waves, in the form of a pyramid, about fif-
! teen miles in circumference. 1t consists, in
fact, chiefly of extinct volcano and the
| detritus washed down from its cliffs, to-
| gether with the eruptive matter from the
| crater. There is real peak to this iso-
| lated mountain, but a circular crater brim,
1850 feet above the sea, and the sweep
| of its pyramidal sides makes it one of the
most symmetrical natural objects any
where to be found in the world.
| Neither is there any harbor or good land
| ing place and the visitor has to take his
| chances Of getting safely through the surf
that beats continually upon its sandy shore.
| Yet, time was when this surf-pounded shore
| was strewn with the products of every
| cline, and merchandise of incalculable val
ue lay unprotected on the strand.
About the middle of the last century, dur
| ing the general war in Europe, the Dutch,
taking no part in belligerent operations,
We're the greatest gamers, as they supplied
the other powers with naval and military
stores.
| During the Revolution.
And at the beginning of the last quarter
| of the last century, when that little dispute
| occurred between Great Britain and her
American colonies, the Dutch again, by
sending out all sorts of stores and munitions
to her West Indian colony of st. Eustatius.
| was of very material assistance to both
| France and America. John Bul suspected
| something wrong was going on, but could
not prove it until, by the capture of
American packet, his eyes were opened 10
| the true inwardness of the situation. Then,
| with a promptness that fairly took the
| Dutchmens breath away, he declared all
| treaties between his court and Holland alb
| rogated and sent out a fleet to investigate,
| in the customary British faShion-by TAX
| ing everything in sight and then putting
the blame upon the other fellow" In
| the roadstead of Port Orange, Sta
| tia's apology for harbor, a large fleet Of
| East lndiamen was congregated. laden with
| cargoeS OF immense value and the beach
| was piled high with what former ships had
| landed there and for which there was no
| storage room.
A declaration of war against Holland
| and a powerful fleet under Lord Rodney
| had been sent out simultaneously, so that
when the British admiral hove in sight.
| having on board his ships a large land
| force under General Vaughan, poor 'Statia
| was thrown into CONSERVATION.
| The island was under the rule of brave
| old Governor Degraeff, creole Of Dutch
| parentage. whose sympat thies We're decidedly
| with the struggling American colonies, but
| whose forts and military force were made
| quate to combat this immense aggregation
| and armament under Rodney. So he sur
| rendered, of course and the island, with its
| vast riches, all conveniently stored in the
| ships and piled up on shore, fell into British
| hands.
| Cost More Than Its Worth.
| With an instructive attraction toward the
| place that would afford the greatest loot,
| the British had pounced upon this island,
| and the plunder far exceeded their most
| sanguine expectations. 1t was estimated
| at more than $4,000, 000 but while Rodney
and N2ughan We're quarreling over its dis
tribution they let slip the golden opportu-
nifty for crushing the rebelliouS Americans,
and in the end the capture of Statia cost
John Bull rather more than it was worth.
| In other words, if Rodney had sailed TO the
| relief of Lord CORVALLIS, then penned up
| at Yorktown, instead of tarrying at this
| little island, he might have changed the his
tory of our revolution. He tried to make
| amends afterward, by the destruction of
| the French fleet, under De Grasse; but that
was more in the nature of revenge than a
compensate for the loss of the colonies.
| And again, it happened that as the riches
thus ACQUIRED on this occasion were in transit
| to England the ships containing them were
Intercepted by the French and twenty-one
of them taken. The French, also, later cap
tured the island and held it for some time;
| so after all the British made little out of
| their breach of faith with the Dutch. The
| latter seemed, however, to have come out
| of the affair as poorly as their enemies for
| they lost their merchant fleets. and the
| island never recovered its prosperity.
Has Had Many Owners.
Like other West Indian islands, 'Statia
| has changed hands many times. First it
| belonged to the Carib Indians, who were
| driven out by some Frenchmen who had
| been expelled from ST. Kits by the Span
| iards, in 1890; in 1899 the Dutch appro-
| priated it, but were afterward elected by
| the English, they in turn being put out by
| the French, to whom it was ceded at the
| treaty of Breda; Notwithstanding which
| Louis XIV restored it to the Dutch, in
| whose possession it was at the time of the
| invasion by Rodney, and to whom the Brit
| ish finally relinqushed this poor squeezed
| orange, after all the juice had been sucked
| out of it.
| So today we find poor 'Statia but a re-
minder of former greatness; with immense
| warehouses gone to decay, fine old Dutch
| mansions in ruins, and the best part of its
| population in its neglected cemetery, where
| magnificent marbles display the epitaphs
| of Dutch ard Hebrew merchants who once
| rolled in wealth. The hegira of the He
| brews tells the story, for they never re
main long in a place whose prosperity has
| departed. They were once numerous here,
| and very rich; but not of them stayed
| after Rodney sailed away, except he had
| been laid by the heels and planted in the
| graveyarC:.
| Its Natural Charms.
Still, 'Statia is a most attractive place
| for all its natural charms remain. The
| yolcano-pyramid rises out of the sea with
| majestic sweep nearly 1000 feet into the
| sky. And though it has no great sulphur
| deposit (no Hell Gate" like adjacent Sa-
| ba), it has peerless crater loo feet deep
| and accessible to its very floor.
AS 1 went to 'Statia seeking rare birds,
| it was part of my province to explore the
woods and mountain districts I god