The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-04-17

1t is Near Porto Rico and Was the
FaVOrite Haunt of Pirates.

FaVOrite Haunt of Pirates.
AT the center of the sea of the Antilles,
at the middle of the passage which separ-
ates st. Domingo from Porto Rico, there
raises itself about the waves a steep rock
to which the ancient Spanish navigators
gave the name of La Mona" or Mo
nito," the Little Monkey. Among the sail
ors of the Antilles, La Mona is always
called the Island of Pirates, and is
thought to conceal mysterious treasures.
1t IS an immense chalky block, seven
kilometres long and four or five wide, rear
ing its summit, fiat as a table, TO thirty
of forty meters above the sea. The waves,
always agitated in these coasts have shap-
er this block into a pedestal of pointed
cliffs, and, except on two or three points.
where narrow stretches of shore advance,
the island is almost inaccessible. Ships
are kept az a distance, as much by the
violence of the waves as by a chain of
rocks which surround It and where alone
open few passages for small vessels.
AT the southern point of the island an
enormous rock seems miraculously sus-
pended from the crest of a cliff The
sailors have named 1t "Caigo no caigo,
which means Shall I fall, or shall | not
fall" In spite of its perilous position.
the rock in equilibrium has resisted for
many ages the attacks of storms and
waves.
But one of the most curious particulars
OF this island, so strange from MANY points
OF view, is that its chalky mass is through
out pierced by immense caves, innumerable
grottoes which ranify in all ways, and.
having their entrances under the face of
the chn, conduct by snuous passages 10
the very summit of the plateau. The grot-
toes, inhabited by bands of sea birds. were
but lately, in part DISTRACTED by guano.
which has been nearly all taken away.
The adventurer intrepid enough to en-
gage himself in this formidable struggle
soon finds himself arrested by two very
unexpected obstacles; in effect among the
tangle of plants are hidden swarms of i'm
mense wasps, which, at the least rustllng.
preclpitate themselves on the intruder,
and can by their dangerous stings put his
ne IN danger; again, If he escape from
these guardians of the jungle, he has to
brave the darts of opuntias, a kind Of
dwarf cactus which, in many places stud
the earth, and the pricks of which, without
being as dangerous as those of the wasp,
are very painful. and cause high fever.
One can understand that this rocky Isle,
so well defended by the forces OF nature.
may have offered a refuge to the daring
ilibusters who have been, during many
centuries, the terror of the Antilles After
having passed by secret passages in the
belt of rocks they sheltered their vessels
in some intricacy Of the cliff and esteb-
lished themselves in those grotfoes which
formed impregnable natural fortresses.
There no one could reach them, and sup
posing that a daring assailant had sue
ceeded in forcing an entrance 10 their
haunt. the bandits would fly through the
detours of the inextricable labyrinth and
would gain the impenetrable thicket of the
upper plateau, where 1t would be impossi-
BILE to track them.
Some of these caverns, in the vicinity of
Cape Caigo. present still the undoubted
traces of pirates. One Of them called Cueva
Negra-Bfack Cave-from the thick coat
of SCOT which covers its vault, is a vast
chamber, around which spreads a network
of other chambers and passages, The walls
of this chamber are stif craven with SIN
lister designs, representing gallows sup
porting rows of bodies and above which
are inscribed the names of the victims
names where are found represented all the
nations among which these rascals re-
cruitcd their band and which are doubt
less those of traitors or rebels executed by
their companions. unless they were the
unfortunate captiyes sacrificed by these
wretches. Some cannon balls sun en-
crusted in the walls Of the cliff, near the
entrance, also prove that the place was
besieged, without doubt, by some war YES
sci sent in pursuit Of the pirates.
These grottoes did not serve as places
of refuge merely; the pirates used them
as storehouses and kept in them the pro-
ducts of their captures. So when at the
close of the last century, France and Eng
land had succeeded in destroying this
breed, 1t was thought that the island
must contain some of the immense treas
ures which the pirates had hidden there
during many years Searches were made,
but the extent of the caverns to be gone
over were so great that no result was OBJ
tained. However about forty years ago,
an American, guided, 1t appears, by a
mysterious document, landed on the ISL
and with a troop of negroes from San
Domingo and succeeded in unearthing in
one of the grottoes an iron box contain
ing nearly $4,000 in ancient golden coins
and jewels. Allured by this result. an
american company was formed in 1880
and undertook to search methodically
while taking up the thick bed of guano
deposited by the sea birds on the floor of
the grottoes; but outside the precious
uttan0 No fraae1ra vUac GAINED